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Seven Marines Killed In Crash; Two U.S. Troops Killed In Afghanistan; More Deaths In Syria; Gas Prices Are Soaring; AZ Debate: Santorum The Target; Revisiting Reproductive Rights; Jeremy Lin's Unexpected Rise To Fame; Married Moms' Family Portrait; Interview With Margaret Cho; Curing Alcoholism With A Pill?
Aired February 23, 2012 - 13:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: WHITFIELD: Hello, I'm Fredricka Whitfield. It's 1:00 on the east coast, 10:00 on the west coast. We've got a very busy hour straight ahead, let's get straight to the news.
First, a deadly accident involving two Marine helicopters. A Marine spokesman says seven Marines were killed last night when the choppers collided over a remote area over Yuma Arizona. The Marines were on a routine training mission, operating out of the Marine Corps air station in Yuma. The aircraft involved included a Super Cobra and a Huey, both part of the Third Marine aircraft wing. Miguel Marquez is joining us on the phone there from Yuma. What more can you tell us, Miguel?
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, this is a -- it sounds like an accident, at this point. These guys were training late at night. It may have been a live fire exercise. It just sounds like they were in some fairly intense training.
These are two (INAUDIBLE) that provide close air support for Marines on the ground. They were training for Afghanistan, as you said. And they did -- they train very, very hard at night and it is possible that they -- there was just an accident. The Marines, at this point, are saying that they collided in the air. Obviously, something went very wrong during that training, whether it was darkness, whether it was dust or dirt that blocked their view. It's not very clear yet. But the Marines said they are investigating it.
WHITFIELD: And among those items they are looking into it, those were new images, by the way, that we were showing just as we were talking, Miguel, of what is believed to be that crash site. They are also, of course, looking into whether there could have been any mechanical problems?
MARQUEZ: It's possible. Look, the one Huey helicopter is -- can typically hold up to 10 individuals in it. This one may have been configured to be more of an attack helicopter, so it may have been holder fewer. Five people were probably in that helicopter. By the way, the Marines have just released that six of the Marines that were killed were from Pendleton in California and only one from Yuma. The two squads that are involved here are out of Pendleton, they were just training here. And yes, it is possible that it was something to do with the -- you know, the inner workings of these helicopters. They are incredibly complex machines. The Huey may have been overloaded, perhaps. It could have been a gust of wind. It could have been just about anything, that's something that they'll all -- they'll be looking into.
WHITFIELD: All right. Miguel Marquez, thanks so much for joining us from Yuma, Arizona.
On to Afghanistan now. Angry protests over the burning of the Quran by U.S. troops continues for the third straight day. President Obama has apologized to Afghan's president, Homes Karzai, calling it an inadvertent error. In a letter, Mr. Obama pledged to take steps to prevent something like this from happening again.
Afghan officials are urging people to stop demonstrations. Two American troops were killed today by a person wearing an Afghan army uniform, but it's not clear if it was a revenge attack. At least seven Afghans have been killed since the protests erupted on Tuesday.
Government forces in Syria continue. The relentless shelling of the opposition stronghold at Homs. This is the 20th consecutive day in a city that has seen and experienced being the target of heavy bombardment. Dissidents say that more than 60 people have been killed across the country today. A United Nations commission is calling the assault against civilians a gross human rights violation, a manage of crimes against humanity.
Meanwhile, Britain and France are demanding that the government stop attacking Homs to allow three wounded journalists to receive medical attention. They were injured in the shelling that killed American reporter on the left, Marie Colvin, and French photographer, Remi Ochlik.
Across the U.S., it is big time sticker shock. Gas prices are soaring and right now the national average for a gallon is $3.61, according to AAA. But the price can jump in a blink of an eye, which seemed to be the case here. At the start of an ABC report last night, the price at an L.A. station was $4.99, you see it there behind a reporter. And then she tosses her tape record, it's about two minutes long, and then, when they come back to her, the price had already gone up 10 cents to $5.09.
So in some areas, prices are already much higher than the national average. Hawaii leads the way with prices topping an average $4.24. Analysts say the spike could be due to increasing tensions over Iran's nuclear program and rising oil prices.
All right. You can bet that the high gas prices are on President Obama's mind. Next hour, the president will talk about ways to expand oil and gas production. That's happening at the university of Miami, a live picture right now from the place in which he'll speak. A senior administration official said Mr. Obama clearly understands the impact that high gas prices have on middle class families taking an apparent swipe at the president's Republican rivals for the White House. The official said Mr. Obama isn't interested in engaging in false debates and phony promises.
And sparks flew in the latest debate among the Republican presidential candidates. They squared off in a CNN-sponsored event in Arizona last night and the favorite target was Rick Santorum, apparently because of his recent rise in the polls. Here, he is knocking heads with Mitt Romney.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: While I was fighting to save the Olympics, you were fighting to save the bridge to nowhere.
RICK SANTORUM (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You're entitled to your opinions but you're not entitled to the -- to misrepresent the facts.
ROMNEY: I've heard that line before. I've heard that before.
SANTORUM: You know, to misrepresent the facts and you're misrepresenting the facts.
ROMNEY: I'm --
SANTORUM: Yes, governor, you balanced the budget for four years. You have a Constitutional requirement to balance the budget for four years. No great (INAUDIBLE). I'm all for --
ROMNEY: Federally (ph).
SANTORUM: I'd like to see it federally (ph), but don't go around bragging about something you have to do. Michael Dukakis balanced the budget for 10 years. Does that make him qualified to be president of the United States? I don't think so.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: All right. If you enjoyed these debates, you're sort of out of luck. The next one probably won't happen until this fall.
Women's reproduction rights are constantly up for debate but now one lawmaker is turning the tables on them.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
YASMIN NEAL (D), STATE REPRESENTATIVE, GEORGIA: The day has come where men should feel the same pressure and invasion of privacy that women have faced for years.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: (INAUDIBLE) with an anti-vasectomy act and Georgia representative, Yasmin Neal, joining us live next to explain why.
But first, I want you to take a look at a mom who is giving a new meaning to the add edge (ph) leading by example.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sandra Coast, (INAUDIBLE.)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Sandra Coast joined the U.S. Army. Nothing unusual about that except she is 51 years old. She had served in the Navy for 11 years but left to raise her son. So, what sparked this interest this time? Her son joined the Marines, so Coast enlisted in the Army. She's a real stand out. She not only finished basic training but also had one of the highest physical fitness scores in the company. Army Sergeant Sandra Coast, you are clearly one strong mama and today's Rock Star.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: All right. So, you know about the fuss over mandatory health insurance coverage for contraceptives, but reproductive rights and the role of the government are debated all the time in state Houses all over the country. Well, just last week, lawmakers in Virginia and Oklahoma past so-called personhood bills saying life begins at conception and embryos have rights, too.
Further votes are pending in both states. And then in 2011, a review found 36 states passed 135 laws pertaining somehow to reproduction, most clamping down on abortion. A bill in the works in Georgia would limit abortion to the first 20 weeks of pregnancy down from the current 26 and that's provoked a countermeasure that's getting a whole lot of attention.
State representative Yasmin Neal has introduced House bill 1116 which would outlaw vasectomies, except for the life and health of the would-be father is at stake.
The bill states, and I quote, "It is patently unfair that men avoid the rewards of unwanted fatherhood by presuming that their judgment over such matters is more valid than the judgment of the general assembly. It is the purpose of the general assembly to assert an invasive state interest in the reproductive habits of men in this state and substitute the will of the government over the will of adult men."
Representative Neal is joining me right now in the newsroom.
All right. Good to see you. So, are you serious about this bill or are you out to make a statement?
NEAL: I -- it's a little bit of both, actually. We found that -- the committee file says when we were debating the actual abortion bill, I saw how women kind of were disregarded in a lot of sense, and our bodies were treated like shells, like it -- like we didn't matter.
We're just here to give birth to children and what we want or need doesn't matter. So at the same time, I felt that the male -- our male counterparts needed to know what we felt or how we -- or how -- what we go through when we -- when there are bills debating our bodies coming out and we have no say so.
WHITFIELD: So, you're not against vasectomies, but that was the parallel experience that you wanted to bring to this argument?
NEAL: Yes. Yes. That's exactly what it was.
WHITFIELD: OK. One of the sponsors of the new abortion limits said it -- or put it this way. This is a serious topic deserving a serious debate and said that he feels -- or the feeling is that this bill feels like a poor attempt at humor. And how do you respond to that?
NEAL: Well, it's unfortunate that when a woman proposes a bill about strictly men that it's considered comical and that kind of proves our point. Why is it funny or humorous when we propose something in reference to a man, but it's really serious when it's one that's strictly for a woman.
WHITFIELD: So an issue is telling women what to do.
NEAL: Correct.
WHITFIELD: Or legislating the reproductive rights of a woman versus that of men.
NEAL: Right.
WHITFIELD: So, what is the compromise? What's the message here whether it's in the Georgia state House general assembly or whether it's in any other state?
NEAL: Well, essentially -- especially in Georgia, and like the United States, we're a melting pot, and at the same time, when it comes to individual rights such as being able to reproduce or lack thereof, it's only fair that we let the individual make that decision.
That's not an issue that a majority of male House representatives needs to decide upon. That's a personal decision for a family, or a husband and wife or significant other. That's not our place to decide whether it's a male or female bill that's proposed to the House of Representatives.
WHITFIELD: Getting lost in this argument is the issue of whether abortions can take place after 26 weeks or 20 weeks, is that happening?
NEAL: Yes, it is because right now, the current law is 26 weeks, and there's a lot of reasons for that. On top of the fact that it gives women time to make an educated decision, along with that, it gives the doctors the opportunity to do any more exploratory research in order to ensure if an abortion needs to happen or not. So with that, it hasn't really been explained well as to why we're just taking six additional weeks. It makes us question, are we really trying to solve a problem or is it a political move?
WHITFIELD: So, what is the timetable right now on either one of these proposals?
NEAL: Right now, it's 26 weeks. Pardon me, 26 is the current law. Right now, the proposed week would be 20 weeks.
WHITFIELD: Right. But where is it in terms of votes? When will these proposals actually be acted on?
NEAL: Well, that's the question. Right now it's still a committee -- we're still having a hearing on it. I'm not clear when the actual vote's going to come up.
WHITFIELD: And your countermeasure?
NEAL: I'm not sure. We just dropped it. It's not even moving through the committee process yet. But we're going to watch it. I'm not going to pull it, and we're going to see how far it goes.
WHITFIELD: All right, Representative Yasmin Neal, thanks so much.
NEAL: Thanks for having me, I really appreciate it. Thank you.
WHITFIELD: All right. Jeremy Lin -- are you a big NBA fan? Well, his rocket to fame, well, it keeps picking up fans, including our next guest, comedian Margaret Cho. Her thoughts on this Lin- sanity. Plus, we'll talk with her about the news of the day. You'll want to stick around and not miss this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: All right, you can't turn on the radio or the television these days without hearing something about Jeremy Lin.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JON STEWART, "THE DAILY SHOW WITH JON STEWART": New York City, right now, is in the grips of Lin-sanity. It's gripping the city. But this uplifting story has a dark side, as Ossit Mondu (ph) reports in this edition of Lin Decision 2012.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ESPN became part of the story over the weekend when a headline writer was fired for using the phrase "chink in the armor."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) says he's "Amasian."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I mean he's unstoppable. He's like that sign said at Wednesday's game, Lin is the Knicks good fortune.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's sweet, not sour.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He turned Kobe into Kobe beef.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: OK. All joking aside, Jeremy Lin is in a unique position as an Asian-American basketball player. His is making headlines everywhere really around the world. But his rise has also unleashed a wave of racist stereotypes about Asians that are, quite frankly, pretty hard to ignore. All the attention has a lot of people reassessing what we think and know about the Asian community, what and how do we digest the phenomenon. Comedian Margaret Cho knows a thing or two about this issue. In fact, she's written about the Lin-sanity very poignantly on her website. And as she puts it, for you in -- for your Lin-formation, she has a few things on her mind.
Good to see you.
MARGARET CHO, COMEDIAN/ACTRESS: Good to see you.
Well, I need to say like, we've all got to brace ourselves for the puns. Whenever there's an Asian person in the news, it's just like a flood of puns.
WHITFIELD: And what do you -- because I feel like you like that, embrace that?
CHO: I don't mind it.
WHITFIELD: (INAUDIBLE) a delicate balance.
CHO: I don't mind it. You know, for me, you know, my name has always sort of Lin-spired a lot of puns. Like the Cho must go on. And Cho- 'nuff. And it's so like, you know, it's such a regular thing.
WHITFIELD: And sometimes that's very complementary.
CHO: Well, it's complementary.
WHITFIELD: But then what about when it's not?
CHO: I don't know when it's not. I mean I don't know. Like --
WHITFIELD: So the bit about the fortune cookie there and --
CHO: Well, I think for Asian-Americans, the deal with the racism against us has to do a lot more with invisibility and not being talked about and just kind of being ignored, not only as a part of this American population, but as, you know, we're sort of like considered to wear our foreignness on our face. So people very rarely consider us actually Americans. That's why Jeremy Lin is so exciting.
WHITFIELD: You said -- you know you wrote that, you know, this is meaningful beyond words. So tell me more about what you mean about that and that lifting that veil of kind of the sense of invisibility that you feel a lot of Asian-Americans have experienced. Do you include it?
CHO: It's so moving. I mean it's so moving to see somebody who plays with such grace and talent and with this ability that is so undeniable. And you see a whole generation of Asian-American men just feel lifted up. You know, as Asian-Americans, we don't have these icons to look too. You know there are -- there are definitely Asian icons in sports. I mean, you know, look at Yao Ming and I think he's really great. But he is actually from Asia. You don't' have the American equivalent of that. And here's somebody, Jeremy Lin, who's just completely Asian- American. He is humble as can he. And he just plays amazing. And it's beautiful to see.
WHITFIELD: And you talk about that will-inspired, his athleticism, which every athlete, you know, has that special ingredient where, you know, really 50 percent of their ability is will.
CHO: Right.
WHITFIELD: That willpower. And he's exhibiting that.
CHO: Yes.
WHITFIELD: And you see some real parallels in kind of his rise, you know, of achievement and even accessment (ph) -- or achievement and accessibility and how that paralleled experience to yours, how you were kind of overlooked but then you broke through a male -- white male dominated industry.
CHO: Yes.
WHITFIELD: And, you know, really --
CHO: It just --
WHITFIELD: Yes, made a statement there.
CHO: Yes, his rise reminds me of my own career because I think he and I both were made out to be exceptional because we weren't expected to be. The surprise factor is the best part. The fact that we can do what we do and we're totally like not like anybody else in this field is really the great thing.
WHITFIELD: (INAUDIBLE) he was overlooked or, you know, benched or not really valued many times over before suddenly, boom, something happened here with the Knicks.
CHO: Yes. Which is about this kind of assumption that we have about race and this assumption that we have how race informs ability. And that challenges are assumption. So he's not just an icon for Asian- Americans, he's an icon to everyone who feels that they are underestimated.
WHITFIELD: You really are one who is very versatile in so many different ways. You've been a giant advocate of gay rights for a long time. You and I spoke extensively about a year about some of the things and your involvement. And at the time it was about the New York law, same-sex marriage, how you were going to be officiating one of the first ones.
And now we're at another juncture where not only is that ban on same- sex marriage in California now being ruled unconstitutional, but New Jersey is on the precipice of same-sex marriage. But the governor, despite what the general assembly said, the governor says he wants it to go to the people. So, you know, what are your views on the many twists and turns that same-sex marriage has been taking over the past year?
CHO: I think it's really disappointing because I think we just need to have equal rights. And I don't understand what the problem is with that. Like why can't people understand that concept. Equal rights is all we're asking for. That is not a huge thing. That is not anything but equality. You know, so I'm very frustrated by the slowness of the process. You know --
WHITFIELD: Do you feel like with one step forward there becomes yet another step back?
CHO: Well, I don't know -- understand why people's prejudice has taken over the idea that we should have equal rights. Like, you know, that's just a simple, simple, simple like concept. I don't understand why it's not happening.
WHITFIELD: In the meantime you're with "Drop Dead Diva." You've got a little break right now. You still having fun with that enterprise?
CHO: Yes. Yes, it's very great (ph). Yes, it's very exciting. I love it.
WHITFIELD: What's next?
CHO: We're waiting for Kim Kardashian. She's coming on set. So we get to have her on.
WHITFIELD: What is it about the K factor?
CHO: It's -- you know, they're kind of this exciting thing, too, because they're, again, like you have -- it's sort of intense like new minority. You know, you have a kind of an unseen kind of -- these family members totally like different and they're like different in their celebrity and it's different ideas of celebrities. So I think, in a same way, they are sort of like, in the same way, inspired to a Lin-sanity. Lin-spired it.
WHITFIELD: OK. All right, Margaret Cho, always good to see you. Thanks so much.
CHO: Thank you.
WHITFIELD: All right, gay rights advocates aren't just fighting for the right to marry, they're also fighting for equality in other ways. Coming up, we'll introduce you to one same-sex couple who is married and finally feeling hopeful for their future thanks to adoption. That's next in "I am America."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: So what is as the heart of being an American? We asked our one million i-Reporters to define today's America, how we're evolving culturally, socially, economically. And many of you shared your stories with us and now we're sharing them with you. Today a story about love and family from the Eagle Rock neighborhood of Los Angeles. Two women, together for 25 years, knew they wanted children but they weren't sure if that would ever happen. Thelma Gutierrez has their journey to marriage and parenthood.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
VANGIE GRIEGO: What are you guys going to do in soccer today? Is there anything special?
THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Meet the Forney- Griego family. Their kids, Toby (ph) and Gabriel (ph). Their parents, Vangie and Marita.
GRIEGO: This photo is of us. And this is in our very early stages of early love, huh?
MARITA FORNEY: Yes. (INAUDIBLE).
This is Gabrielle's adoption day. And it was a really happy day.
GRIEGO: And this is Toby's first Mother's Day with us.
GUTIERREZ: Vangie and Marita showed me snapshots of their lives together as a couple. A relationship that has lasted a quarter of a century.
FORNEY: From the first day he loved his brother so much.
GUTIERREZ: For many years, they knew they wanted children. But as a lesbian couple, they had doubts about whether it would happen.
FORNEY: I remember vividly Vangie, when I was Vangie's friend, we had a friendship, and she came out to me and she cried. And in the many things she said, one of the things she said was, I'll probably never have children. And that was heartbreaking.
GRIEGO: It was agonizing for us to -- because, I mean, we thought we would -- you know, are we hurting a child by bringing them into this life? You know, they're going to have interracial parents, they're going to have lesbian parents.
GUTIERREZ: After a decade of introspection, Vangie and Marita adopted their first child.
GRIEGO: This is the day that our first son, Gabriel, was adopted.
FORNEY: We were just really happy. We were a family.
GUTIERREZ: Six months later --
FORNEY: That was crazy. Just like it would be for anyone, right --
GRIEGO: For anyone.
FORNEY: To receive a call, your child's baby brother was born. Do you want him? And within hours you have two babies.
GUTIERREZ: And for a short four and a half month long window, when it was legal for gays and lesbians to marry in California, Vangie and Marita tied the knot.
FORNEY: You know I joke that it was really about saying "I did" rather than "I do."
GUTIERREZ: Other gay and lesbian couples are coming out as families. New census figures show same-sex couples make up every one in 100 California households. And like this family, one in five in the state are raising children.
GREIGO: I just sat down and cried. I thought, wow, look at us. We're here on the front page. It was three lesbians and a little daughter. I thought, wow, we're finally here and they don't have to be afraid that their house is going to get firebombed or that their daughter is going to get attacked in any way. I mean -- and then I thought, what courage.
GUTIERREZ: A family, they say, that generations past were not allowed to have, but one that future generations will no longer be denied.
Thelma Gutierrez, CNN, Eagle Rock, California.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: All right. For more of "What It Means to be an American," go to ireport.com/iamAmerica.
Gas prices are on the rise, jumping more than three cents across the country over night. Plus, the economy is still a mess. So do any of the GOP candidates have the answers to our nation's financial problems? That's "Fair Game," next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: All right. On a day that a lot of cities are experiencing a spike in gas prices, President Barack Obama is now landing in Miami where that's going to be a point of his discussion. He's going to talk about ways to expand oil and gas products. He is arriving there at the university. Actually, he's arriving in Miami. He's on his way now as he gets into the limo.
He's going to head to the Coral Gables area where the University of Miami awaits and a pretty strong crowd there awaiting to hear from the president of the United States. He's just actually had some personal time with the number of people that you see right there on the tarmac when he arrived, the lucky ones who got a chance to shake the hands with the president and have a few words with him, too.
And now they'll watch his limo pull off as it makes its way about 10 minutes or so. It may be faster because of the presidential motorcade there in Coral Cables, to the University of Miami. So the GOP presidential hopefuls and their plans for the country were under scrutiny at CNN's Arizona debate last night. It was a pretty tough battle and some say Mitt Romney came out shining while Rick Santorum missed his big chance. Among the hot topics, budget and the economy.
So who has the key to lift the economy? That question is "Fair Game" today.
Democratic strategist, Robert Zimmerman, joining us from New York, and Republican strategist, Ana Navarro, in Miami.
Ana, let me begin with you.
Did the president, might he be able to deliver on the right kind of message for gas prices or some alleviating of the gas stresses for the voting public in Miami?
ANA NAVARRO, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: I don't know, Fredricka. I can tell you that I put $83 in gas of my four-door sedan this morning and I'm ready to shriek. I'll see the president a little later this afternoon in Coral Gables. I plan to show the president my receipt because we need some relief here.
WHITFIELD: At last night's debate, this is what Newt Gingrich had to say about gas prices, the economy, et cetera.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NEWT GINGRICH, (R), FORMER HOUSE SPEAKER & PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: the energy issue is enormous, an enormous flow which would drive down prices to $250 a gallon would help us balance the budget and we create millions of jobs.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: So, Robert, does that seem probable? Or is the former speaker just playing to the crowds there?
ROBERT ZIMMERMAN, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: I don't think it would shock anybody to see the speaker play to the crowds. He didn't issue a plan. He issued a bumper sticker slogan and a press release. We know what Newt Gingrich's strategy is and we've been living it for decades. Yet, even if we opened up every possible avenue for domestic oil drilling, someone like Douglas Holtz-Eakin, the chief economist for the McCain campaign and former head of the Congressional Budget Office, said that's not going to lower the price of gasoline because of the geopolitical impact that we have around the world impacting oil. We have to look to alternate sources of energy. We've got to be independent of oil if we're going to be able to, in fact, be an independent country, free of the dependency in the Middle East.
WHITFIELD: So gas prices are a closely related topic. Some see a correlation, Iran. Gingrich, Romney and Santorum all agree that Iran is dangerous and must not get a nuclear weapon. They had hot words for Syria as well. Santorum went so far as to say that Obama is afraid to stand up to Iran.
So what do you think about those foreign policy views that we heard last night, Ana?
NAVARRO: I thought that was probably the best segment of the debate. It's actually where we saw some contrasts, where we saw some Republican vision, where we saw differences between the current administration, and when Republicans weren't fighting amongst themselves about minutia. I thought it was a good segment.
And I think Rick Santorum is right. We've seen, for example, Ahmadinejad who has been touring around Latin American with people that should be our allies and doing anything he wants in Latin American without a reaction from the Obama administration. That to me, somebody that hails from Latin America, is very worry some.
WHITFIELD: And, Robert?
ZIMMERMAN: Ana, there should be certain issues that should be just above partisan rhetoric and talking points. You can't intellectually, with any integrity, say that Ahmadinejad is proceeding in Iran without the administration focusing on it. Even Republican leaders in the Bush administration, like former ambassador, Nick Burns, has given the Obama administration credit for the aggressive sanctions.
Let's understand, listening to Rick Santorum and his colleagues lecture us about Iran and the dangers it represents, they were the advocates of the Bush administration policies that destabilized the Middle East that, in fact, empowered Iran. And who is Iran's biggest ally. It's the new Iraqi government that the Bush administration put in power.
WHITFIELD: OK, and quickly.
(CROSSTALK)
NAVARRO: Robert, I hate to tell you this, but the only arguing I've seen and the only reaction that I've seen from the U.S. government on Ahmadinejad's ties in Latin America are from the House Foreign Relations Committee. I have yet to hear one strong denouncement about from the Obama administration.
(CROSSTALK)
ZIMMERMAN: That's because, Ana, you're --
(CROSSTALK)
NAVARRO: And believe me, in Latin America, when the U.S. speaks, it matters. The U.S. has not spoken. The U.S. president has not spoken on this. and, in my view, he should. He's making Ahmadinejad a --
(CROSSTALK)
WHITFIELD: OK. Last comment on that? Last response on that, Robert?
ZIMMERMAN: Ana, I think realistically, you've got to read more than Republican talking points to understand the leadership this administration has shown in addressing the Iran crisis. We all know it's a difficult situation but we also know that we're going to pursue every possible avenue to make sure they don't have nuclear weapons and to try to bring support for Israel and stability for our allies there.
WHITFIELD: All right, thanks to both of you.
NAVARRO: If you give me some cable from the State Department or the White House that I can read, I'll be glad to read it as well.
WHITFIELD: Sounds like we're going to have a -- to be continued on that one.
Ana Navarro, thanks so much, Robert Zimmerman. Good to see both of you.
All right, Danny Bonaduce, of "The Partridge Family," remember, yesterday, he was with us and talked candidly about battling addiction for 20 years. He says he has been sober for about 13 months not necessarily because of help from an addiction center or religion but because of this --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DANNY BONADUCE, ACTOR & RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: It's called Antabuse. It's a pill. It turns alcohol into poison.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: So can a pill really be a solution to addiction? Dr. Sanjay Gupta will be live to explain more on this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: All right. The medical community says addiction is a brain disease, not to failure of will power. There are several approaches to treating addictions but what about medicine, pills to help short circuit addiction. These medicines aren't widely used.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta explains why and how the medication works in our in-depth report, "Cold Turkey in a Pill."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: This is the last place you'd expect to find a recovering alcoholic.
WALTER KENT, RECOVERING ALCOHOLIC: One of my old favorite watering holes.
GUPTA: But this is where Walter Kent hangs out, a bar called Goober's. He's a giant of a man, but for most of his life he couldn't find the strength to put down that bottle. KENT: I was the type of guy that the only time I drank was when I was alone or with somebody.
(LAUGHTER)
Other than that, it was never a problem.
GUPTA: He tried rehab and A.A. Nothing worked.
KENT: Nothing seemed to get rid of that urge. But then in 2000, he tried again, an experimental program at Brown University. He got daily counseling and a pill and this time it worked.
KENT: When you can lose the total urge, total craving for alcohol, there's no doubt in my mind, because I'm proof.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA: 12 years sober now. 16 weeks is how long he took that pill. It obviously worked for Walter Kent.
Look, Fred, it's not for everybody. These were people who, for nothing else, worked. They improved their likelihood of actually staying abstinent by about 17 percent if you look at all the studies. And it has these side effects. He basically tamps down the euphoria that somebody feels from alcohol, so they don't crave it as much. But the concern is does it tamp down natural pleasure that you get through other things as well. It's tough to get through the whole treatment. Again, we show Walter Kent in a bar, a place where he could not go before essentially 12 years sober.
WHITFIELD: It is intriguing. There are options from a lot of people with addictions. For example, just yesterday, I spoke with Danny Bonaduce. He said, you know what, I tried a lot of things over a 20-year period and the only thing that works for me and the reason he's been sober for 13 months is because he takes a pill. This was that moment yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BONADUCE: Would you like to know how I got 13 months not drinking?
WHITFIELD: Yes.
BONADUCE: It's called Antabuse. It's a pill. It turns alcohol into poison.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: And so is it as simple as that, it reduces his craving because it's no longer enjoyable to reach for --
GUPTA: Well, it makes you sick. If you're on Antabuse, which is a daily pill, and you drink alcohol, you feel really ill. Alcohol goes through all these different processes. But essentially, the poison that Danny is talking about is one of the chemicals that alcohol is converted into and you feel awful. You have a headache, you feel hung over, for example, nauseated, throwing up. You don't want to drink. That's how it works. But the disadvantage is, if you don't take the pill, then you don't have those types of feelings. So it requires the will power to say --
(CROSSTALK)
WHITFIELD: A lot of people may not want to take a pill to feel terrible.
GUPTA: If they don't drink alcohol, they will feel fine. So that works very different, for example, than what happened with Walter Kent, which was tamping down the well being and sense of euphoria that you get from the sense of drinking alcohol. There's other drugs that take away the side effects of anxiety or withdrawal that people get when they stop drinking. So it's different avenues.
But the bigger culture change is that we think about treating addiction to substances with another substance at all, and that's a culture shift. Not everyone buys into it. It's controversial when in the world of addiction, but it's happening.
WHITFIELD: Lots of options.
All right. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, always good to see you. Thank you so much. GUPTA: Yes, take care.
WHITFIELD: Sacha Baron Cohen, well, he's at it again. He's had a run-in with the Oscar police. Who knew there was the Oscar police? Cohen has dressed up, as many as his controversial characters for the award shows, but the Academy is not laughing over the latest character. Why he may be banned from the Oscars altogether, next.
But first, few people though would reunite. Apparently, they are back together, in a way, singers, Chris Brown and Rihanna. Forget the rumors. Rihanna and Brown are putting it out there in the Twitter- verse, tweeting away about their two new remixes. This is following a 2009 assault that left Rihanna's face bruised and cut. You remember that, right? Brown was charged with felony assault and making criminal threats against Rihanna. You'll remember this photograph obtained by TMZ of Rihanna. All forgiven? What is this all about? Love? Money? What's at stake? Their careers? Mixed messages to abusers and assault victims? So we're just going to put it out there. A confusing mess. Rihanna, Chris Brown, your 15 minutes are up.
(SINGING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: All right. The man behind Borat wants to dress up for the Oscars as his next character. The academy isn't a fan. It told him it doesn't want the red carpet to be used as a promotional stunt. There was buzz he was going to appear as General Aladdin. He appears in "Hugo," one of this year's best picture nominees. In southwest Arizona, searching for clues to the deadly collision between two Marine helicopters. A Marine spokesman says seven Marines were killed while on a training mission along the California/Arizona border last night an investigation is under way to determine the cause.
The Marines who died were training for deployment to Afghanistan. Six were from Camp Pendleton, in California, and one from Yuma, Arizona. The aircraft involved were a Super Cobra and a Huey, both part of the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing.
From Orlando, a new perspective on a historic tragedy. More than 26 years after space shuttle "Challenger" blew up just after takeoff, a rare home video has surfaced on the web site newscientist.com. It was shot from the Orlando Airport some 50 miles from Kennedy Space Center by the father of a woman who works at New Scientist. His name is Bob Carman. He'll join us live tomorrow. Just take a look at the images and listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(CROSSTALK)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: As chilly as the picture is, the complete lack of shock from the onlookers at the time. Clearly, no one realized what was happening. This is only the second amateur video of the "Challenger" disaster to go public since 1986.
To Tampa now where two cars crash on live television, but the reporter in front of the crash doesn't flinch. WFLA's Adrian Peterson was talking about rising gas prices when it happened. And then this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ADRIAN PETERSON, WFLA REPORTER: Costs go up too, so it could be fewer people driving.
UNIDENTIFIED WFLA ANCHOR: Right behind you, did you see that, Adrian?
PETERSON: I didn't, but now I did.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(LAUGHTER)
WHITFIELD: Because she was looking ahead as opposed to behind. As if that wasn't enough, the question was asked by an anchor which furthers, I guess, a confused reporter.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED WFLA ANCHOR: Probably shocked by the gas prices.
All right, Adrian, looks like everybody's OK there, getting out of the car.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: OK, one driver reportedly went to the hospital with minor injuries. Thankfully, it wasn't more severe.
Next up, we go to Davis, California, west of Sacramento. That's where 19 U.C. Davis students and alumni are suing police and school officials over this -- November's pepper spray incident during an Occupy rally. They're seeking financial damages and policy changes when it comes to dealing with protests. We expect the University of California task force to issue its report on the incident next month.
Mitt Romney is fighting to stay at the front of the pack. He seemed to shine at last night's debate. So will that translate into the votes? And how are the other candidates faring? A live report on the GOP race next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: The GOP candidates are looking ahead to a big round of primaries next week followed by Super Tuesday. So how is Mitt Romney preparing for it?
Senior congressional correspondent, Dana Bash, joins us now from Washington.
Dana, tell us what Romney's campaign is doing today.
DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: He's trying to continue on some of the points that he thought he made, big points at least he thought he made in CNN's debates last night, specifically hitting Rick Santorum on the issue of the votes that he made, where I am here in the Senate when he was serving here for about a decade or so.
Listen to what he said about the kind of defense that Santorum had about some of his votes on spending.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MITT ROMNEY, (R), FORMER MASSACHUSETTS GOVERNOR & PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: What happened was we saw, in this case, Senator Santorum, explain most of the night why he did or voted for things he disagreed with. And he talked about this as being taking one for the team. I wonder which team he was taking it for.
(LAUGHTER)
All right? My team is the American people, not the insiders in Washington. And I'll fight for the people of America, not special interests.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: And, Fredricka, Santorum is hitting Mitt Romney on the airwaves in the very important state of Michigan, where Rick Santorum is, according to most polls, he has a slight edge over Mitt Romney, which would be a huge, huge upset because it is Romney's sort of adopted home state.
And in the ad, Rick Santorum tries to hit Romney on some of the social issues that really would be offensive to Michigan conservatives, like on gun control. He said, I don't line up with the NRA. On abortion, I preserve a woman's right to choose. So Rick Santorum was somebody who did not have a lot of money. He has been raising money big-time and now spending it on ads like this.
WHITFIELD: Dana Bash, in Washington, thanks so much.
Thanks so much for watching. You can continue the conversation with me on twitter @whitfieldCNN. Much more of the NEWSROOM straight ahead with Brooke Baldwin.
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, Fred, thank you so much.
