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Mourning Whitney Houston; Whitney Houston Died Saturday at 48;; Obama Unveils Budget Plan; Soldier's Dad Reacts To Santorum; Greek Parliament OK's Austerity Measures; Coroner's Office on Houston's Body; Red Carpet Launches Designers to Fame

Aired February 13, 2012 - 10:00   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: And it is the top of the hour, we are talking about Whitney Houston's remarkable voice, compared to angels, but this morning much is made of the personal demons that haunted her final years and new questions surround her death now even as fellow stars immortalize her at the Grammy Awards.

Wow. More on the tributes and remembrances in a moment. But first CNN's Don Lemon just outside the coroner's office there in Los Angeles. Don, you know, cops saying it will be weeks before a cause of death is released. What do we know?

DON LEMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We always hear that, it will be weeks. Then inevitably, having done this a couple of times, sadly with Michael Jackson and other stars, the toxicology results come back earlier because there's such a demand for them.

And that's what we know right now. The assistant chief coroner to L.A. County, Ed Winter, spoke yesterday. As a matter of fact, the news conference was held live, Kyra, on CNN. He said it would be six to eight weeks. They wanted to get everything, every piece of information before they gave a cause of death.

What we do know, Kyra, is that at 5:55 on Saturday Pacific Time, Whitney Houston was pronounced dead on the fourth floor of the Beverly Hilton Hotel. What Ed Winter told us yesterday is that her body was found in a bathtub by someone who went into the room and found her.

Then what he said is that they pulled her out of the bathtub and emergency medical workers tried to resuscitate her, but that didn't happen. That happened about 3:43. Then at 3:55, she was pronounced dead. So they're saying again, caution.

They don't know exactly what caused her death. A lot of people are speculating about what could have happened. But right now, they're saying wait for the toxicology results to come in as Whitney Houston's body lays in this coroner's office right behind me here, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: And Don, her 18-year-old daughter also taken to the hospital just hours after her mom's death. What do we know about that? What do we know about her this morning? LEMON: Well, it is believed that she may -- I think she went to the hospital twice because on the evening of her mother's death, she went to the Beverly Hilton Hotel and they wouldn't let her in the room. She was actually staying there with her mom. She went back to the hotel. They wouldn't let her in.

She had an argument, a shouting match with police. It is believed that she went to the hospital there because she was so exasperated. Then the next day, which was yesterday same thing. She had to be taken to the hospital and then she was released.

And we do know now that her father, Bobby Brown, is here in Los Angeles. He came to Los Angeles. He was doing reunion tour with his old group. He left there and came here to pick his daughter up and he is believed to be here with her and he's going to take her back to the east coast. That's what we know right now -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, Don Lemon in Los Angeles for us. Don, thanks so much.

And last hour, I had a chance to speak with one of Whitney Houston's closest friends, gospel artist, Kim Burrell, first a special glimpse of their magic as they performed together and then Kim on her heartbreaking loss.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KIM BURRELL, FRIEND OF WHITNEY HOUSTON: When I landed in L.A., I did call her because she and I were supposed to go to the Clive party together.

And she left a message and it's on my phone right now. She left a message at about 2:00, and she says, Kim, where are you? I need to see you. Call me back. We were playing phone tag. When I did try to call her back, it was no more and doesn't feel good.

PHILLIPS: Yes, she --

BURRELL: It will never feel good.

PHILLIPS: She said she needed to see you. What do you think she was saying?

BURRELL: That was just her. Whenever she knew I was in the air, that we needed to see each other and express our love. Express our love for each other. And it's just very hard today to see all of this. It's very surreal.

But I'm trying very hard to be strong for her wanted so much for me as an individual, she loved me dearly and I loved her. We just wanted to see each other, hug each other and love each other. I don't think it was necessarily anything, but with Whitney she always would let me know when she needed me most.

And it was always in that way. She always wanted to protect me as a friend from anything she knew that I would feel from her that could be hurtful. And I don't think she was trying to mask anything. She was in Great Spirit. She was singing. She had gospel music playing when she left the message. So, it sounded like typical happy Whitney ready to see me.

I just hate we didn't get a chance to do that. I was on my way to her. I ended up going to the hotel, but it was just little too late.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: It started with a prayer and ended with an emotional song, just hours after her shocking death, the music industry came to remember and honor Whitney Houston at 54th Grammy Awards. CNN's Kareen Wynter has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just want to say to Whitney up in heaven, we all love you, Whitney Houston.

KAREEN WYNTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At the 54th Grammy Awards, the focus shifted from music to mortality.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've had a death in our family.

WYNTER: Host LL Cool J led a prayer for Whitney Houston whose death on the eve of the Grammys stunned the recording industry. Jennifer Hudson paid tribute a haunting version of Houston's greatest hit "I Will Always Love You."

If this had been a normal Grammys, the headline would have been the sensational return of Adele, the British singer saying publicly for the first time since vocal surgery last year and left no doubt she's back.

As expected, she won the Grammy's top honor, album of the year, along with five other awards including record and song of the year.

ADELE, SINGER: Thank you so much. This is ridiculous.

WYNTER: But on a night when Glenn Campbell is struggling with Alzheimer's gave a farewell performance and the Beach Boys reunited on the Grammy stage, the show will be remembered for an artist who won her last Grammy over a decade ago. Kareen Wynter, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: In the next half hour, I'll be joined by Frank Ski of the "Frank and Wanda" on D103 FM right here in Atlanta. I'll ask him about the most memorable moments that he had with Whitney in one of her last interviews.

In Syria today, explosions reported at a cemetery in Homs where government forces step up brutal attacks. The man who actually sent this video to us says that even the dead don't stand a chance here. His neighborhoods are reduced to rabble. Activists say women and children are dying.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A lot of kids and women have been injured. A few women lost their babies, pregnant women lost their babies. We just want from Assad to give us permission to move the injured babies. They are just babies.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Syrian government is dismissing the Arab League's efforts to get peacekeeping forces in Syria, and Russia now says it is open to supporting an international agreement on Syria.

Nick Paton Walsh live in Beirut with the latest. So Nick, why the shift in Russia's position?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I think Russia seems to be playing for time here. Yes, it did veto the last U.N. Security Council resolution condemning Syrian tribes to force change inside the country.

Today, it is simply saying that it's willing to entertain this idea and explore it further. Other things it wants, though, before willing to see this peacekeeping force on the ground, it wants to see a cease-fire and it also want to see no outside intervention in the country.

But a contradiction frankly given the Russians themselves are outside a setting terms of what can happen inside Syria. So many roadblocks ahead, not the least the Syrian government has come out pretty quickly today calling any Arab League plan to a flagrant intervention into its sovereignty, a violation of its sovereignty.

So it doesn't seem to be a huge amount of chance here for this plan as it moves forward towards the U.N.

PHILLIPS: Nick out of Beirut for us. Nick, thanks.

If you're maxed out on politics, we have some good news. No primaries or caucuses for nearly two weeks, that doesn't mean that the candidates are not busy.

Here's some of the campaign stops today. Rick Santorum is in Tacoma, Washington for a campaign rally. Newt Gingrich visits south Elmonte, California for Hispanic leadership event. And then Mitt Romney is in Mesa, Arizona for a get out the vote rally.

Also this morning in Washington, well, they're crunching numbers and they're pointing a lot of fingers. Here are live pictures now of President Obamas 2013 budget plan arriving at the government printing office bookstore right now.

Dan Lothian is at the White House. Dan, even before the budget was made public, a lot of angry Republicans said it looks like a stimulus plan. DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right. You know, more spending. The White House though says that this is really a balanced approach. Yes, looking at reducing the deficit, $4 trillion over the next ten years, but also making some investments now.

And in the short-term what they believe will help to stimulate the economy so in this budget, the president will be seeking billions of dollars to invest in infrastructure, education, research and development.

Just to break it down on a few of those points, $476 billion for infrastructure upgrades over the next six-year period. That includes fixing up roads and bridges. The president has talked extensively about that in the past, $350 billion for job creation to bring down that high unemployment rate.

And $30 billion to hire teachers, police officers and also in a speech last year in Kansas, but as part of investment and again the other side of the balancing of what the White House say, that the president will focus on cuts as well.

We'll see some of that in military cuts and also asking the wealthy, the wealthiest Americans to pay more. So we'll see in that budget again what is the so-called Buffett rule, those making more than $1 million to pay their fair share.

The Republicans, though, as you pointed out are pushing back on this saying it's more of the same. Certainly there will be a lot of criticism on this up on Capitol Hill.

PHILLIPS: All right, Dan Lothian at the White House. Later this morning, tell you once again, the president addressing the 2013 budget. He will deliver those remarks at Northern Virginia Community College. We'll carry that speech live right here on CNN.

Republican governor takes exception to Rick Santorum's comments about women in combat. Why? Because his daughter was so cool under fire in Iraq. Virginia Governor Bob McDonell joins us next.

And also protests and explosions, the same thing that caused this uproar in Greece could cause stocks to soar in the U.S. today.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, if you're running for office, you're going to offend someone. Republican candidates have had their moments. Romney when he talked about the very poor.

Gingrich when he talked about the food stamp president and Rick Santorum when he said about women in combat.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICK SANTORUM (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I do have concerns about women in frontline combat. I think that can be a very compromising situation where people naturally may do things that may not be in the interest of the mission because of other types of emotions that are involved.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: All right, that was on Thursday. Then on Friday a proud political father hit back at CPAC just before Santorum spoke.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOVERNOR BOB MCDONNELL (R), VIRGINIA: My daughter was an Army platoon leader in Iraq about five years ago. And let me just -- let me just say, during that time over there, it was her, army platoon leader, 25 men working with her.

And I have to say, there were a couple time she's would call and say that was small arms fire she encountered, yes, I did get emotional, but she didn't. She got the job done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Virginia Governor Bob McDonell is here. So Governor, why was it so important for you to say that at CPAC at that moment?

MCDONNELL: I've got a great respect for all four of these candidates, even though I endorsed Mitt Romney and I like Rick Santorum a lot. I just disagree with any inference he might have made that somehow women are not capable of serving in the front lines and serving in combat positions.

And I base that in part on my own daughter's own experience as a platoon leader in Iraq with 25 men working with her. She did a great job. Was in some risky situations, yet endured and led and I'm proud of her.

So, I just wanted to make sure people didn't think that women are not capable of doing the job. I've got firsthand experience in saying that.

PHILLIPS: So, how did Santorum's comments go over with your daughter? What was the talk like over the phone or in person?

MCDONNELL: Well, I didn't talk to her about it a whole lot. I think she probably has experienced some of those kinds of comments in the past, that somehow women in leadership positions in the military aren't much up to the job.

She doesn't pay attention to that. I think most women in leadership positions don't. They go forward, lead, do well, and serve our country in its highest tradition. I don't think it bothers them anymore.

PHILLIPS: So let me ask you about Santorum's explanation after he made those comments. He said that he was talking about men's emotions, how they want to protect women. What do you think about that?

MCDONNELL: Well, listen, I accept the senator's explanation, if that's what he meant. There was at least an inference to the contrary that women are not up to speed and aren't capable of leading and that I absolutely disagree with. That was the context of my remarks, but I accept the senator's explanation.

PHILLIPS: So, Governor, is the issue of women in combat a divisive issue within the GOP right now?

MCDONNELL: No, I don't think so. Look, this election is not about that. We might have differences with President Obama on national defense and his dramatic reductions in military spending and draw- downs in the navy, which I think is wrong for homeland security.

This election is about leadership, jobs, and spending. Senator Santorum and all the other candidates are far better than President Obama on that. That's what this election is about.

That will be crystallized today when he releases his budget with a $1.3 trillion deficit, more debt, more spending, and more taxes. That's the issue in the election, not this one particular sub- issue on women in combat. I think it's pretty clear.

PHILLIPS: Well, it did come up, however though and you did choose a popular place among conservative movers and shakers, you know, to make a comment about that.

Let me play devil's advocate for a moment. You know, you're a Romney guy. So what do you say to anyone who might say, OK, he just looked for an opportunity there to slam the competition?

MCDONNELL: Well, I was certainly making it clear that to the degree the inference of the senator was that women are not capable, I disagree. I think Mitt Romney disagrees. And I did want to make that point.

But the broader speech that I made was that Mitt Romney is the guy to lead America at this time. Because he's got the results oriented, consistent experience as governor, as Olympic's chair and in the private sector in order to create jobs and opportunity. And this president failed on the big issues that America cares about, creating jobs, creating a comprehensive energy solution for our country, and getting us out of debt and deficits.

That's where this election is all about, Kyra. So, that's why I think Republicans are going to win. And I think again, after that budget comes out today, I'll have a lot more to say about why this president is leading us in the wrong direction because he won't lead and won't make the tough choices. That's what this election is about.

PHILLIPS: Governor Bob McDonell, appreciate your time and we thank your daughter for her service.

MCDONELL: Well, thanks, Kyra. I appreciate it.

PHILLIPS: Crowds of people violently protesting budget cuts in Greece, banks, cafes, movie theaters set on fire. Coming up, we're going to explain why people in other areas of the world might have reason to cheer.

Plus in Atlanta radio host who came to know Whitney Houston pretty well while she lived her shares some of his fondest memories.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: One agreement, two very different reactions. The Greek parliament agrees to massive spending cuts that prompted rioting in the streets of Athens yesterday, but here in the U.S. investors are actually cheering the deal. Alison Kosik at the New York Stock Exchange -- Alison.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, what you're seeing here happened on Wall Street as you watch these riots happening in Athens is optimism and a healthy dose of skepticism that Greece will get its second bailout worth $170 billion. This is one of those do or die situations, Kyra.

The Greek parliament basically had no choice, but to pass these spending cuts, but if you live in Greece, these spending cuts are really tough to take. It's the reason why they've taken to the streets.

But Greece really needs the bailouts to pay its bills. They have a big payment due next month, if they can't make the payment, Greece could default, get kicked out of the E.U. and that could cause even more financial instability in Europe, which could spread to the U.S.

So the stakes are high not only for Greece, but for the global economy as well. Now they are clearly controversial because if you think about the cuts that are happening, these are cuts that any worker would hate because it's less money in peoples' pockets. These cuts are specifically job cuts. They're pay cuts. They're pension reforms and they can't be happening at a worst time because Greece had been in the recession since 2009.

It's unemployment rate is sitting at 21 percent o these cuts will only make things worse. And guess what, more cuts are coming to get $170 billion bail out. Greece still has to cut another $400 million in spending.

So what you're seeing happen on the streets of Athens is they're very upset because there will be more financial pain ahead and they know it -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Alison Kosik from the New York Stock Exchange. Alison, thanks.

George Soros is one of the richest guys in the world? So why is he taking a strip off Republicans for wanting to cut taxes? We'll tell you at "Political Buzz" straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: The L.A. coroner on Whitney Houston's death. We're going to listen in.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is there a report that you ruled out drowning because there wasn't enough water in the lungs that report is not true?

ED WINTER, ASSISTANT CHIEF, L.A. COUNTY CORONER'S OFFICE: That did not come from us?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you saying it's not true or it didn't come from you?

WINTER: It's too early to say. The autopsy was yesterday and there's additional testing that's ongoing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Toxicology report is just confirmation, but you have some idea usually just from the initial look at the scene and looking at her body as to what cause of death might be. I know you don't want to speculate --

WINTER: No, that's not true. You can look at a body and not know what cause of death is. You might have a suspicion, but the person could have suffered a heart attack or an embolism or something. No matter what medications they're taking, until we run a tox and see the level and what's in the system, we're not going to speculate.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That aside, was it drowning -- do you believe she died of drowning?

WINTER: No, we're not saying that. She was in the bathtub when she was found.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Was it full.

WINTER: I don't know, because she was removed from the bathtub by a family member, a bodyguard and fire department, when they got there she was already out of the tub.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you see anything about the amount of water in the lungs?

WINTER No, I don't have those figures yet. That's still pending. So we're not going to speculate.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: can you -- do you know -- Ed, do you feel like you know what her cause of death was and cannot release it because of the security hold or do you not know yet because of the toxicology report.

WINTER: We do not know yet. And when we find out, we will be in contact with Beverly Hills PD. But first we'll also be in contact with the family and give them our findings.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So - so it's not because of --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you know how long her body was there?

WINTER: Pardon?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you know how long her body was there, how long she was dead for before she was found?

WINTER: Not at this time, no she was last seen -- she was seen within an hour by somebody at -- family or somebody at the hotel. And then she was discovered.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Will you be releasing the body today to the family for funeral arrangements?

(CROSSTALK)

WINTER: She would --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did she have any clothing on her body --

WINTER: I'm not going to comment on that. I'm sorry.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Will you be releasing the body to the family today?

WINTER: The family is making arrangements. I don't know when the family is going to have the body -- have her body picked up. But they are making arrangements and sometimes it takes a couple days.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There were reports that she's going back to Atlanta --

WINTER: I'm sorry.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are they technically allowed --

WINTER: Yes they are allowed, there is a security hold on the case, and that doesn't restrict the family from having the body.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let me get this straight, just to clarify are you not able to give us more answers because you sincerely don't know the answers or because there's a security hold on the case and you're not allowed to give us answer.

WINTER: Two, number one, there's a security hold on the case so we're not going to discuss it and there is still is testing going on.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Could you, for the lay-person describe what toxicology testing in this case might involve?

WINTER: I'm not going to comment. It's toxicology. They'll test the blood and urine, but it's a routine tox that we do. Ok?

Anyway that's all I have to say. We probably won't have any update for anybody for a couple days.

PHILLIPS: Ok. This is Ed Winter, assistant chief there at the L.A. County Coroner's office. Bottom line, no confirmation yet on exactly how Whitney Houston died. He said there is still tests that are being done, toxicology tests, also there's a security hold on the case. So it's those two issues that Winter is saying is the reason he has no new information in Whitney Houston's cause of death.

You heard the reporters there asking about the allegations of prescription drugs, the fact that she might have drowned in the bathtub. He is not answering any of those with any type of clarification. We do know is we are going to wait for those toxicology reports to be released and then we will know. Tests still being done according to Ed Winter there at the coroner's office.

All right, we're going to take a quick break, more on Whitney Houston and her life and legacy next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Ok. This just in to CNN, a Pennsylvania judge has ruled that former Penn State assistant football coach, Jerry Sandusky can visit with his grandchildren except -- except for three of them. And this is why. Sandusky's -- one of Sandusky's sons is currently going through a divorce. And the soon-to-be ex-wife does not want to grant Sandusky rights to see her children.

So while that's going on, three of his grandchildren will not be able to see him. However the Pennsylvania judge ruling that the others can. We're following this for you.

All right. "Political Buzz", you're rapid fire look at the best political topics of the day. Three questions 30 seconds on the clock. And playing today: Goldie Taylor, political analyst and editor of the Goldie Taylor Project; and to get the funny of things, Dean Obeidallah, he's the co-founder of the Arab-American Comedy Festival; and the Lenny McAlister, he's a senior contributor to Politics365.com and the host of the radio show "Get Right with Lenny McAllister".

Ok guys, first question Mitt Romney wins the CPAC straw poll. What happened to the Santorum momentum, Goldie?

GOLDIE TAYLOR, POLITICAL ANALYST: Nothing. I mean, straw polls are straw polls. The folks that participate them are often subsidized sometimes paid, sometimes plied with food and other goodies. And so I think Mitt Romney really got himself organized and delivered people to the straw poll.

I think the Santorum push is still on. And Mitt got a little bit to be worried about.

PHILLIPS: Lenny?

LENNY MCALISTER, SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR TO POLITICS365.COM: Goldie is right. Nothing. If you look at who is at CPAC you take a lot of Republican establishment folks, put them in a room with conservative grass roots folks, let the Republican establishment pay for it have the ACU lead announce Mitt Romney what are going to get? You're going to get an eight-point win by Romney, a strong showing by Santorum.

Hey you look at Ames, who won? Michelle Bachmann. Look at Illinois straw poll, Herman Cain. Look at who won last year? Ron Paul where are they in the polls? Nothing has happened to the momentum from Rocky Santorum.

PHILLIPS: Dean?

DEAN OBEIDALLAH, CO-FOUNDER OF THE ARAB-AMERICAN COMEDY FESTIVAL: Well, I mean from Santorum's point of view he's moved up. A year ago, he got two percent at CPAC, this year 31 percent. But I'll be honest, this is still Mitt Romney's race to lose and he's losing. He's about to lose to a guy who wears a sweater vest. You know how insane that is?

Romney's campaign has got no life. I've seen zombies with more life. I think Romney has got to do something bold, maybe get a tattoo that has a word flip-flopping, and a big "X" through it or drive a mini cooper, date a Kardashian, do something to get your campaign going.

You've lost your Mojo and just falling off a cliff. I'm not, it's over for Mitt Romney if he doesn't turn it around soon.

PHILLIPS: Ok guys, second question, mega billionaire George Soros says that he is worried about politics getting in the way of the economic recovery and he's blaming Republicans. Here's what he told our Fareed Zakaria.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE SOROS: Because the Republicans don't want to face the elections with Obama can claim to have -- to see the economy recover.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Do you think he's right, Lenny?

MCALLISTER: No, I think he's left. And it's obvious he's left with his comments. He's going to lean left, bigger government, more spending from big government. You can't get prosperity for people that need jobs, that need to come up from the working class and lower class and move up by way of government top-down spending.

We haven't seen it work over the last three years we're not going to probably see it work in 2012. And if we continue to take this approach, we're looking at a longer recession than what we have already been facing.

PHILLIPS: Goldie?

TAYLOR: No, I don't know, Lenny. I think at the end of the day, you know, the economy is getting in the way of politics. This economy is recovering. We were out last night. Parking lots that were empty a year ago. People who were out spending, enjoying themselves, they're getting back to work and they're starting to, you now, sort of understand that this economy is actually recovering.

Republicans, unfortunately, that's bad news for them. They really needed this economy to go over a cliff to win this fall, and well, that just isn't happening. The American spirit is alive and well.

PHILLIPS: Dean?

OBEIDALLAH: Kyra, are you telling me that somebody is saying politics might get in the way of policy? I've never heard of that in my life. Are you -- of course it might get in the way. This Congress both Democrat and Republican --

PHILLIPS: We're talking about sabotage, the allegations of sabotage here.

OBEIDALLAH: Well, there's a possibility. I mean I think -- but I don't think austerity is going to work. Look at the UK, David Cameron, a conservative, enacted an austerity plan a year ago, unemployment has gone up this year and their GDP is contracting.

We don't need that. During a recession, if someone can show me the money. Show me the money, show me in what country austerity has worked during a recession and turned their economy around, I haven't seen it anywhere.

PHILLIPS: All right. Your buzzer-beater -- 20 seconds each on this one. Sarah Palin catching a few laughs at the President's expense. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARAH PALIN, FORMER GOVERNOR OF ALASKA: He says that he has a jobs plan now. A jobs plan to win the future. WTF, I know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Oh, boy. All right. So what do you call the WTF plan -- Goldie?

TAYLOR: Well, you know, she would like to call it "waiting to fail". I think President Obama is calling it "watch this fly". And so I think she's having a bit of a problem with her acronyms.

PHILLIPS: Lenny?

MCALISTER:: I would probably call it BTD, balancing through deficits, here's another balanced quote-unquote "budget" coming from President Obama that does nothing more than increase the national deficit.

Now, of course, he doesn't have to worry about it because Senate Democrats don't pass budgets any way.

PHILLIPS: Oh, Dean? OBEIDALLAH: You know, when I watch her, I think of what could have been. Oh, as a comedian I wanted her to win so much. I head Comedians for Sarah Palin. I have an acronym, BTSPCEETO that plan is better than anything Sarah Palin could ever, ever think of. Are you kidding me?

PHILLIPS: Could you repeat that one more time please.

OBEIDALLAH: BTSPCEETO. That's my acronym for that plan. I miss Sarah Palin. Sarah, please run. We need you as comedians, please.

PHILLIPS: Goldie, your mouth agape.

TAYLOR: That is hilarious, Dean.

PHILLIPS: We'll end on that note. Thanks guys.

OBEIDALLAH: Thanks.

MCALISTER:: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: And as we head to break, of course, we are remembering Whitney Houston. Just ahead I'm going to talk live with an Atlanta radio host about his last interview with the pop icon with that powerful voice.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Some of the biggest artists reacted to the death of Whitney Houston last night on the music industry's biggest night, the Grammy's. Here's just some of the sound from the Red Carpet.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There will never be another voice like that.

JOHN LEGEND, SINGER: She was beautiful. She had great songs, you know. She had the whole thing.

ADAM LEVINE, MAROON 5: It's just so shocking and so sad.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's a hole in the heart of music today.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She was an awesome, awesome gift to the world.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I loved her. She's my sister. And she'll always be my sister.

BILLY RAY CYRUS, SINGER: You are never prepared to lose someone that young, that talented, that much of a light in this world.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I lost a friend. I lost a dear friend.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Every little girl dreams watching her. And she was beautiful. Absolutely beautiful.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The great Whitney Houston. The greatest singer I ever heard.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Also speaking out, Frank Ski of the "Frank and Wanda Show" right here in Atlanta, V103 FM. You actually had the chance, Frank, to interview her a number of times.

FRANK SKI, "FRANK AND WANDA SHOW": Yes. A number of times.

PHILLIPS: Probably one of the most memorable, because it was considered her comeback album was 2009.

I want to play a clip in just a moment --

SKI: Ok.

PHILLIPS: What do you think was the most memorable part of that interview for you as you are probably thinking a lot about that interview?

SKI: I asked her, you know, I'm so happy to have you back because you're like the diva. She began to define what a diva was. She said there are a lot of people that call themselves a diva. Here's what diva means and there's not many like me. I just thought that was great.

PHILLIPS: How did she define diva?

SKI: Regal. Just all the definitions. Prima donna. The top of her game. The top of her class. You know, there's a lot of people that can sing good. There's a lot of people that are in the entertainment industry but they don't have the staying power or to be able to be the diva.

I mean when you figure how many albums she sold. There's a lot of people that sold music, but those numbers -- it will be a hard time to find somebody who's going to hit those numbers again.

PHILLIPS: We can see how being a diva though can also be really dangerous.

SKI: You know what; we talked about it this morning on our show. The pressure of being a mega star is hard. If you think about all of these mega stars -- every time you hear them having a down time, you hear the same issues, the depression. You know, the seclusion, the feeling like I'm not good enough anymore. It's really tough in this industry.

The industry makes it even tougher because the bar keeps getting higher and higher and higher. And you know what, maybe there's a time where you will sell 15 million of this album and you can be happy selling a million of the next one. Because selling a million albums is great. Once you sold 15, selling a million in this industry it's like you're falling off.

PHILLIPS: Interesting you bring that up. There's a number of people -- you know, famous individuals I would never name saying to me in private, I don't want to become irrelevant. Is that amazing? People that are so famous, have so much talent, it seems like they have everything before them, the one thing they're worried about is becoming irrelevant.

SKI: Because they don't want -- they've gotten used to living in a certain sphere. When that doesn't happen anymore they're wondering why and they're wondering did I do something? What's wrong with me? You know. Instead of saying, you know, you've done a great job.

It's like having children, right? And then the only thing you want is for them to be successful. And then after they're successful, you want to retire and relax, right?

(CROSSTALK)

PHILLIPS: Yes. But you never do.

SKI: But artists -- yes, you never do but artists always want the next big thing. There's never a satisfaction being an artist. Ask any artist if they're satisfied. They're never really satisfied. Let's not waste one more hit that can come out of them.

PHILLIPS: Let's listen to part of your interview from 2009.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SKI: Which person called you that really -- it made your hard tear up when they said, girl, you did it? Which person in your life?

WHITNEY HOUSTON, SINGER: You know, I would have to say it was my cousin Dionne. She came to my listening party in New York, and I wasn't expecting to see her. I didn't think she would be able to make it. And when I looked down and saw her, it just filled my heart with such joy because she said to me -- she looked at me at me and said I have not seen that light in your eyes in a long time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Even Kim Burrell said that when they performed together at the gospel --

SKI: Isn't that something? I haven't seen that light in your eyes for a long time. That's sad.

PHILLIPS: What do you think happened? You interview so many of these stars and they battle with their demons on a regular basis. They don't always admit to that. That's one thing Kim Burrell told. Whitney said I need help, I need guidance, I need prayer.

What do you think it was about her. Because you've got to know her, you have been to her home. You socialized with her in Atlanta when she lived here with Bobby Brown. Why couldn't she beat it? SKI: Yes. I think you get to that plateau when you're at the top and it's so difficult. Think about this -- imagine today if they say Kyra, you can no longer go to Lenox (ph)? You can no longer go to a restaurant by yourself. You can no longer do regular things regular people do. You can no longer get an ice cream cone, because everything you do takes all of this effort to make the whole world move at the same time you have to move.

PHILLIPS: And you're constantly scrutinized.

SKI: You're constantly scrutinized. You walk out the house, somebody says, oh, did you see her hair? Did you see her shoes? Did you see this? This is constant, constant, constant. We're all human.

At the end of the day Whitney is human like we're all human. We all have feelings and we all want to be loved and accepted. When you have gotten that much love and that much acceptance and then all of a sudden it cuts off for the next big thing, it's a hard thing to get over. It's a lot of pressure.

PHILLIPS: What a message. Therapy with Frank Ski, you can tune in on a regular basis every morning to lift up great singers and also get a little therapy. So nice of to you stop by.

SKI: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: You really make a great point, Frank. Thanks a lot.

SKI: Thank you very much.

PHILLIPS: Well, coming up in the next hour of CNN NEWSROOM, we're going to continue to follow the latest developments into the death of Whitney Houston.

And also we're going to hear from R&B icon Brian McKnight who knew Whitney extremely well. We'll have that and more when the NEWSROOM continues.

(MUSIC)

PHILLIPS: A pair of designers made their mark on the fashion industry without using any advertising, instead they got celebs to do the advertising for free at the most high-profile events in Hollywood. Alina Cho has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): You don't have to travel far on the red carpet to hear the name.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: One of a kind, Marchesa.

CHO: This year alone, dressing Viola Davis, Sophia Vergara, Lea Michelle, Renee Zellweger was the first wearing this red Marchesa dress to the 2004 premier of Bridget Kelly, the Edge of Reason.

(on camera): Do you remember what it felt like to see her walk down the Red Carpet.

GEORGINA CHAPMAN, MARCHESA CREATIVE DIRECTOR: It was amazing. I woke up the next day and said every newspaper with a name Marchesa, oh, my gosh, I couldn't believe it.

CHO (voice-over): When Zellweger wore that dress Marchesa was just starting out. Designers Georgina Chapman and Karen Craig didn't have the budget for ads so they made a strategic decision to build Marchesa not on advertising but on the backs of celebrities instead.

HAL RUBENSTEIN, FASHION DIRECTOR, "INSTYLE" MAGAZINE: The celebrity or the star in effect is their advertising campaign. And you know, the more women who are coming down there wearing Marchesa and the more beautiful they look, the more desirable the brand becomes.

CHO: So what does it take to get a Sandra Bullock in Marchesa for the Oscars?

During award season Marchesa takes out a hotel suite in Beverly Hills.

CHAPMAN: We have like, you know, racks of dresses. We have beautiful shoes.

CHO: then the real work begins. Take this gown Vanessa Hudgens wore to the Oscars in 2009.

CHAPMAN: I took the whole dress apart and started again.

CHO: Wow. In five days.

CHAPMAN: We were working through the night. We actually got miner's lights so we can put them on our heads so the light was good enough to work in the dark.

CHO: Then there's this.

What about what they call the Harvey Factor?

CHAPMAN: The Harvey Factor, oh, my goodness.

CHO: Chapman is married to producer, Hollywood producer of the artists and the iron lady. Does having a Hollywood heavy weight behind your label help.

CHO: It doesn't hurt.

CHAPMAN: It doesn't hurt. No, of course, it doesn't hurt. I think you know his relationship with actresses is a very different relationship. I don't think that anybody is going to let Harvey tell them how to get dressed.

CHO: And when it comes to the Red Carpet, actresses make game time decisions.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They usually have about three or four choices. So I give myself some leeway to have a feeling on the day.

CHO: Because those pictures can last a lifetime and that's good business for Marchesa.

CHAPMAN: I think Red Carpet dressing really has made Marchesa what it is today. And I'm not sure Marchesa would be here today if it wasn't for red carpet dressing.

CHO: Alina Cho, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: That does it for us. We will be back here bright and early tomorrow morning. Christine Romans in the hot seat for Suzanne Malveaux.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, she's off. So I'm here for the next couple of days. Very nice to see you.

PHILLIPS: Perfect for you, because there's a lot of business news today.

ROMANS: Yes, there really is. There's a lot going on in general. So it's nice to be here in the seat today. And I'll see you tomorrow.

PHILLIPS: See you.