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Protesters Rally for Trayvon Martin; Standoff Ends, Suspect Dead; Can't Erase Etch A Sketch Quip; Mr. Congeniality, Firefighters Battle Blaze In Pageant Wear; Click and Drive; Al Qaeda Leader Message; Wisconsin Town Looking For Answers
Aired March 22, 2012 - 12:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: Live from CNN headquarters in Atlanta, it is 12:00 noon, 9:00 in the West Coast. I'm Suzanne Malveaux.
I want to get you up to speed for this Thursday, March 22nd.
Buses packed with protesters making their way to Sanford, Florida, that is this hour. They're heading for a rally tonight for Trayvon Martin. He is the unarmed 17-year-old who was shot and killed by a neighborhood watch captain.
Yesterday, hundreds of demonstrators gathered at New York's Union Square.
They called their protest the One Million Hoodie March. It is part of an online campaign to demand the arrest of Martin's shooter, George Zimmerman. So far, more than 900,000 people have signed the petition on change.org. Just ahead, we're going to have a live report from Sanford, Florida.
This is the man suspected of shooting it out with police over two days in France. He is now dead, killed by commandos two stormed the apartment where he was holed up. He is the same man, they think, that killed seven people in France, some of them soldiers, some of them children.
More about the suspect, more about frightening standoff. We are live in Toulouse, France, in just a moment.
And rebel fighters in Syria target an army tank. Just watch this.
(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)
MALVEAUX: This is in the city of Hama. The explosive goes off as a Syrian tank passes by. We hear voices cheering afterwards.
Now, an opposition group says that Syrian forces are again heavily shelling Hama. At least 14 people are reported killed today in fighting across the country.
"We are drilling all over the place," those words from President Obama just moments ago as his last stop -- latest stop in the energy tour. The president officially announcing plans to fast track, it is the southern part of the Keystone Pipeline project.
Now, Republicans, they want him to approve the entire project which would stretch from Canada to the Gulf Coast, and they blasted him over the high gas prices.
But he is defending his energy policies.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Since I took office, our dependence on foreign oil has gone down every single year. Last year, we imported 1 million fewer barrels per day than the year before. Think about that.
America at a time when we're growing is actually importing less oil from overseas because we're using it smarter and more efficiently.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: We have amazing video from the war zone in Afghanistan. This is a U.S. Army attack helicopter slamming into the ground, shattering into pieces. The unbelievable part of this, nobody was hurt, nobody on the ground, nobody in that helicopter.
The Pentagon is checking to see if it was mechanical problem or if the pilot was flying dangerously.
Supporters for Trayvon Martin, they want the man who shot and killed him to go to jail. Now, George Zimmerman told police he acted in self-defense when he gunned down this unarmed teen last month. Well, last night, the Sanford city commission passed a no confidence vote against the town's police chief.
Right now, bus loads of protesters, they are heading to Sanford for a rally lead by the Reverend Al Sharpton.
Our CNN's George Howell is live in Sanford.
George, first of all, what is the purpose of the protest? What do they hope to accomplish by gathering tonight?
GEORGE HOWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, there are a few main purposes. The first and foremost is to see George Zimmerman put behind bars. People are coming together to share one united voice for that particular purpose.
The second is to see this city police department investigated by federal officials to determine what the problems are, the problems that they say exist between the police department and the black community. So a big rally scheduled today right around 7:00.
And I have also learned that Trayvon Martin's family will meet with members of the Department of Justice today around 3:00, and we should actually have a press opportunity with them around 4:30 to hear the results of that meeting.
MALVEAUX: And, George, are people already starting to gather? Can you give us a sense of the mood and the flavor there?
HOWELL: It's interesting. You know, I see more and more people down this street. It may be indicating that more and more people are coming to town. Right now, we are right near city hall. So, that actual meeting will be at For Mellon Park here in the city.
We're expecting again hundreds if not thousands of people from all over the country in support of Trayvon Martin.
And on a local level here, there's a no confidence vote. What does that mean? Is that actually binding here? What is that mean in terms of who is responsible or who potentially could be in trouble here?
HOWELL: No, essentially it means that the city officials no longer have confidence in the police chief's ability to lead this police department, whether that affects the investigation, not likely, but it could have an indirect effect. The city manager says that it will be important to him as federal investigators come in and look at this police department, also looking at the particulars of this case, that city manager has the power to fire the police chief and this vote of no confidence certainly weighs heavy in his mind, Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: And, George, do we think we could see any activity on that front today, or is that something that will eventually play out?
HOWELL: The city manager has made it very clear that he will not make any decisions until the federal investigators look through this case, this particular case. And also after they look through the police department, to find ways that the police department could perhaps improve relations with the black community here, look for problems within the department. But that could take some time. We also know that a grand jury will decide whether George Zimmerman will be put behind bars. That will happen on April 10th.
So, this time line could take some time.
MALVEAUX: OK, George, we're going to be following that very closely. Obviously, there's going to be a lot of activity where you are later today. Thank you, George.
Here is a rundown on some of the stories that we are covering.
First, questions over what George Zimmerman said on the 911 calls the day Trayvon Martin died. Was it a racial slur? Our audio engineers listened to the tape. We're going to play it for you.
Plus, a 31-hour standoff with an al Qaeda terrorist. It is now over. The tense moments as police burst into the apartment.
And then a student loan shocker, right? Americans owe $1 trillion. Is college worth all the money?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: Taking a closer look at reports that neighborhood watch captain George Zimmerman used a racial slur moments before shooting Trayvon Martin. It was recorded during Zimmerman's conversation with 911 dispatchers and our Gary Tuchman, he examines the case along with our top audio engineer.
I want to warn folks that the phrase in question will be played many times during this piece and they are offensive.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is edit room 31 at CNN Center in Atlanta. This is one of the most sophisticated audio edit suites in the broadcast news business.
And right here is Rick Sierra (ph). He's one our audio design specialist. He's of the best audio experts in the business.
Rick, if you can, I have not listened to this portion of the 911 tape at all. I just want to hear it raw right now if you can play maybe 10 seconds before it and let's listen.
RICK SIERRA, CNN AUDIO ENGINEER: OK.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
GEORGE ZIMMERMAN: Down towards the other entrance of the neighborhood.
DISPATCHER: OK. Which entrance is that that he's heading towards?
ZIMMERMAN: The back entrance --
(END AUDIO CLIP)
TUCHMAN (voice-over): You may not have heard the moment in question, because it was so quick.
(on camera): How long does that portion last that everyone is talking about?
SIERRA: A second, 18 frames.
TUCHMAN: A second, 18 frames. So, that's about 1.6 seconds.
SIERRA: Correct.
TUCHMAN: So, let's listen to it 10 times in a row if we can.
SIERRA: OK.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): What we're listening for is the racial slur coons. It follows the "F" word. Some people say they hear it, others say they don't.
(on camera): It's certainly a lot clearer when we listen to it this way.
SIERRA: Correct.
TUCHMAN: Is there anything we can do to make it clearer?
SIERRA: Well, I already did a little boosting at 2.3 kilohertz and at 4.6 kilohertz. That's boosting the high end of the voice.
TUCHMAN: It sounds like it's powerplex capacitor.
SIERRA: That's right. That's right.
TUCHMAN: OK.
(voice-over): What Rick has done is lowered the bass.
(on camera): So, why is it that you want to get rid of the low end of the audio, the bass of the audio?
SIERRA: Well, to minimize the noise.
TUCHMAN: To minimize, so that takes away the noise and allows us to hear the voice more clearly.
SIERRA: That's correct. I'll boost it up a little more there. We'll give it a shot here.
TUCHMAN: That does sound a little clearer to me.
SIERRA: Yes.
TUCHMAN: You know, it sounds like this allegation could be accurate but I wouldn't swear to it in court. That's what it sounds like to me.
SIERRA: Yes. Very difficult to really pinpoint what he's saying.
TUCHMAN: Rick, can we play just that second word what we think the second word is and hear if that sounds any different?
SIERRA: OK.
TUCHMAN: It sounds like that word to me but you can't be sure. That sounds even more like the word than using it when it was with the "f" word before that.
SIERRA: That's correct.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): Only George Zimmerman knows if he used the slur. But he's not talking, so the phone call like so much of this case remains a mystery.
Gary Tuchman, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: There's no word on where George Zimmerman is now. But a friend and fellow neighbor watch captain is defending him. Frank Taaffe told me yesterday that Zimmerman is a good guy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FRANK TAAFFE, FORMER NEIGHBORHOOD BLOCK CAPTAIN: George Zimmerman is a good dude. He's straight up. That's why I'm front running for him today. And have been since this incident broke.
MALVEAUX: You say he's a good dude and yet we have reports from eyewitnesses and people who explain a situation that looks like he is hunting down this young kid and that he is killed in cold blood, not in self-defense.
How do you explain what we've heard so far?
TAAFFE: Suzanne, in our neighborhood, we've experienced eight burglaries, one of them being a daytime burglary. I myself credit George for thwarting a burglary to my own house. I don't condone the use of the gun. Being a former block captain, we were never instructed to use weapons as lethal as a 9 millimeter.
Maximum I would ever use maybe is a pepper spray or a taser, something nonlethal. But, no, George -- I'm going to go on camera and say George is not a racist.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: Zimmerman's family is also denying allegations that race played a role in this shooting. They say Zimmerman has several minority relatives and friends.
The armed standoff in France, it is over now. Suspected killer is now dead.
Want you to listen to this. CNN's cameras were rolling when French commandos sprang into action. Bullets started flying.
(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)
MALVEAUX: This happened just a short time ago. When the gunfire stopped, a 23-year-old man who held police at bay for two days was killed. He's suspected of killing several people in southern France.
We're learning more about the suspect and how he was killed.
I want to go to Toulouse, France, and that is where CNN's Diana Magnay is.
And, Diana, we just heard the French interior minister talking to reporters. What is the update here?
DIANA MAGNAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Suzanne, he gave a lot of details. Let's start with the way that Mohammed Merah, this 24- year-old self proclaimed al Qaeda affiliate was killed. Basically, he had a long period of sort of discussions with negotiators via walkie- talkie.
Then they heard nothing. The police heard nothing for a good eight hours. They had thrown stun grenades into the house to try to sort of shock him into handing himself over, but they had no sign of life or death, which means that sort of, you know, a good 28 hours into the siege, they decided to move in.
Moving in slowly, checking each room in the house. They couldn't find him anywhere and then he burst out of the bathroom shooting with Colt pistols, shooting incredibly violently. It sounds like an automatic gunfire but it wasn't. It was just the speed with which he was shooting.
He then ran and jumped off the balcony and was shot with a bullet to the head. We know, Suzanne, that he had had a lot of talks with the negotiators, not really asking for anything on his side. More just telling them why he had done what he'd done. And sort of giving details about the weapons that he had, where they could find them. Also, a bag where he had a camera with the tapes of all the killings that he'd filmed, pretty gruesome stuff, Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: And, Diana, why did they decide to end the standoff today in this way?
MAGNAY: Because they hadn't heard anything from him. They'd had such a long period of negotiations, and then they heard two gunshots in the middle of the night. They didn't know where they had come from or they didn't really know, you know, what they were referring to. And they heard nothing before or since.
So, really, you know, six hours later, they had to do something, and they decided to go in.
MALVEAUX: And, Diana, this guy said he belonged to al Qaeda. Does al Qaeda claim him as one of their own terrorists?
MAGNAY: Well, there has been one al Qaeda linked group that has claimed responsibility for his attacks, claimed he's an affiliate of theirs.
The authorities here say that they do think that he acted alone, a sort of lone wolf. He did go and train in training camps in Waziristan, in Pakistan, but we don't think as far as this sort of investigation goes so far that he was part of a cell here. But, of course, that is the way the investigation is going now. They're going to be looking at who helped him, whether anyone helped him, and that is why really it would have been better for the security authorities here to have got him alive rather than dead. He would have been able to give them more info.
MALVEAUX: All right. Diana Magnay -- thank you, Diana.
So you got the degree, but you've also -- you got the debt to show for it. I want you to brace yourself here. Americans owe a total of $1 trillion of student law debt. The number, (INAUDIBLE).
First, this week's edition of "THE NEXT LIST," a double amputee says his bionic limbs are part of his identity. Hugh Herr says the limbs he's inventing are going to transform lives and change the psychology of the world disability.
You can see his story, it's this Sunday, 2:00 p.m. Eastern. Here is a little preview.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HUGH HERR: I'm often asked if I was granted a wish from a magic fairy, would I wish my biological legs back. I always say absolutely not. My bionic limbs are part of my creation. They have become part of my identity.
And what's really fun is they're upgradable. So, every few months, I get a hardware and software upgrade and as my biological body ages, my artificial limbs get better and better. So it's interesting that I'm kind of getting better and better, at least that part of my body anyway.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: One trillion dollars, we're not even talking about the size of a bailout for Greece, of the automakers, rather. It is about Americans and how much they owe in student loans. Federal agencies say it could hurt the housing market as well.
I want to bring in Patricia Wu. She joins us from the New York Stock Exchange.
Patricia, wow -- I mean, I remember paying back my student loans. How great it felt to pay them all back. It took years and years and years.
Now, we're talking about a trillion dollars that folks owe for their students loans. How did we get here?
PATRICIA WU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, Suzanne, a lot of it has to do with the economy. Over the past few years, more people took out loans to go to college because they can't find work. So, they're hoping to have a better shot at finding that job when they graduate.
Now, at the same time tuition is going up. You know, state budgets are crunched for cash, so they're making cuts in higher education.
And finally, many people can't make the payments on their student loans, so their debt load is growing. If you think about it, if you don't have a job, you're probably more worried about keeping your house and putting food on the table than paying off those student loans.
So the result is that student loan debt hit $1 trillion. And this comes from a preliminary report from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Their number is much higher than the recent estimate that we got from the Fed -- Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: And so when you consider so many families struggling to pay off this debt, is it still considered a good investment?
WU: Well, you know, let's take a look at some numbers. Numbers don't lie, right? You are more likely to get a job if you have a college degree. The unemployment rate by education level, if you have a high school diploma only, the unemployment rate is 8.3 percent.
Now, that's the same as the national average. Now, if you take a look at the unemployment rate for those with a four-year degree, that drops by half, 4.2 percent. And with a college degree, you're more likely to get a higher paying job to pay off those loans -- Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: And, Patricia, there are some government officials who are saying this even poses a threat to the economy, to the larger economy, right?
WU: Absolutely. Because you could be paying off those loans for years, so that has a trickle down effect.
Now, if a big chunk of your paycheck is going to those loans, you're likely to delay those big life milestones -- getting married, buying a house.
And here is why that hurts the economy: when you buy a house, you buy furniture, you're spending more, and consumer spending is key to economic recovery. And when you're buying a house, you're also helping the housing market to recover.
But, you know, the bottom line is you don't have to rack up a lot of debt to get an education. Average tuition for a four-year public college is about $8,000 for in-state residents. Compare that to about $29,000 for a private four-year school.
And also don't forget, community colleges and trade schools, those could be less expensive alternative as well -- Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: All right. That's good information. Patricia, a real quick check on the market?
WU: Oh, absolutely. Right now, you know, the sell-off continues. The Dow is down half a percent. The NASDAQ has dropped about ten points and the S&P also slipping about nine points.
And, you know, of course, this is all due to worries about the global economic growth slowing down because we got some weak manufacturing data out of China and Germany.
MALVEAUX: All right. Patricia Wu, thank you. Good to see you.
He's running as V.P., but could Joe Biden set his sights higher in 2016? President candidate perhaps? Some people think not such a crazy idea.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Time now for the help desk where we get answers to your financial questions.
Joining me this hour are Jack Otter, he's the executive editor of CBSmoneywatch.com and author of "Worth It, Not Worthy"; and Stacy Francis is the financial adviser and the president of Francis Financial.
Thanks for coming in today. Let's get right to the first question.
David in Texas is asking, I am considering opening a 529 plan for my new grandson. How will this affect his financial aid, Jack?
JACK OTTER, EXECUTIVE EDITOR, CBSMONEYWATCH.COM: Great move, but it's a little bit tricky. So when a grandfather, grandmother opens a 529 plan, there's no effect. When the parents fill out the FAFSA form that you have to fill out for college aid, it's not there.
But when they actually contribute to the tuition, then it shows up as student income, and that is tapped at a higher rate. It's considered, it dents you -- let's put it this way -- it dents your financial aid more than parents' assets do.
So he's got two options. One, he can just figure that he's saving for senior year because he will contribute for senior year. There's no more college after that, so it's fine.
If he's really putting in a lot of money, though, he might want to actually gift it to the parents. They can put it in a 529 plan and it will have less of an impact on financial aid.
And, finally, I would say people obsess over this too much. Saving for college is way better than not saving for college. If you dent financial aid a little bit, OK, you still saved a lot of money, that's a great thing.
KOSIK: All right. That sounds great.
All right. Our next question coming from Andy in Pennsylvania. He says, "My wife and I have a gross income of $275,000. I max out my 401(k) and contribute $10,000 towards our mutual fund. How else can we save for retirement?" He wants to know, Stacy.
STACY FRANCIS, FINANCIAL ADVISER: Well, it sounds like his wife might be working, too, and so I wonder why are we not putting money into her retirement plan at work? If she doesn't have a retirement plan at work, guess what? That $10,000, $5,000 should go to his IRA, the other $5,000 should go to hers.
If they're over age 50, guess what? Bonus, they could put even more. They can actually put $6,000 into each of their IRAs. That's the best way to save. And much better than just putting in a taxable mutual fund.
KOSIK: All right. Spreading it out a little more.
FRANCIS: Spread it out.
KOSIK: All right. Thanks for coming in.
If you have a question you want answered, send us an e-mail anytime at CNNhelpdesk@CNN.com.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: Here is a rundown on some of the stories we're working on next.
Mitt Romney's team probably wishes it could erase yesterday and start over. How etch-a-sketch became the latest buzz phrase on the campaign trail?
And then whether they're in or out of uniform, these firefighters are getting the job done. Jeanne Moos, she explains.
And later Clark Howard stops by with some money saving advice. Don't miss the deal of the week.
So I bet Mitt Romney wishes he could erase the etch-a- sketch comment from one of his top advisers. Romney's rivals jumped all over this remark that the general election is a chance to shake it up and start over again kind of like an etch-a-sketch, right?
Let's bring in our political panel here, Democratic strategist Jamal Simmons and Crystal Wright, editor and blogger of conservativeblackchick.com.
So I remember when the Kerry flip-flops became a prop back in 2004 election covering him. Now you got the etch-a-sketch here. I didn't even know they still had them out there, but you had Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich, even reporters, all of them pulling them out yesterday.
Do we think -- let's start off with you, Jamal, do you think he will be able to shake this off, so to speak?
JAMAL SIMMONS, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: You know, normally he would be able to shake this off. One quick gaffe and you keep moving. The problem is there's such a history with -- I almost called him John Kerry.
There's such a history with Mitt Romney here that it's hard. And the thing about etch-a-sketch is there's nothing there when you start. It's not even a flip flop because there's nothing there and then you write something and then you erase it and you start again.
That's what people are worried about with Mitt Romney that, in fact, there is no real policy core to the guy, that he's just sort of making it up as we go along and when conditions change in the political atmosphere, he changes positions to meet whatever it is he needs to do at the time. That's why people are a little worried about him, both conservatives and Democrats.
MALVEAUX: Crystal, how does he get out of this metaphor, this analogy with this etch-a-sketch?
CRYSTAL WRIGHT, EDITOR, CONSERVATIVEBLACKCHICK.COM: I think he should start by firing his senior aide.
MALVEAUX: No.
WRIGHT: Guys, look, I'm serious. It was a serious blunder on a day when Mitt Romney was coming into his own as the frontrunner. He had a huge win in Illinois across income groups, across, you know, all types of workers. You had the working class vote he picked up, higher income. He had got the female vote, the male vote, and then his senior aide goes on national television --
MALVEAUX: It was CNN.
WRIGHT: Right, on CNN, thank you, Soledad O'Brien because she made great news and he says, don't worry about it. He reinforced like Jamal said, the flip-flopper image of the frontrunner. I think it's awful and I think it's reprehensible.
I do think though it will go away, but anytime you start bringing children's toys into the political debate. It's pretty bad. I do think Barack Obama, however, would probably like a do-over with respect to his record --
MALVEAUX: We knew Crystal was going to get into Obama. You knew you had to get Obama here.
WRIGHT: I know.
MALVEAUX: I want you to listen to this. This is fresh sound here. This is Rick Santorum again weighing in on this etch-a-sketch analogy taking it one step further. Let's just listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICK SANTORUM (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: By giving people a choice. You win by giving people the opportunity to see a different vision for our country, not someone who is just going to be a little different than the person in there.
If they're going to be a little different, we might as well stay with what we have instead of taking a risk of what may be the etch-a-sketch candidate for the future. (END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: All right, we'll see how long these guys can use this. I don't know. It just keeps going on. Romney's wife, Ann --
SIMMONS: Suzanne, what's t he said is really a big deal. What he basically said is maybe we should keep what we have instead of taking a gamble on the etch-a-sketch candidate. That's a pretty remarkable thing for a Republican candidate to be saying for the guy who may be their potential nominee.
MALVEAUX: Crystal, do we think that that could be potentially, mortally wounding gear. I mean, how does a guy like Romney recover when he has his fellow Republicans really hammering him?
WRIGHT: Look, Santorum is a sinking ship. Nobody is paying attention to Santorum or Newt Gingrich for that matter. And I disagree with what Jamal said, especially when the president's approval ratings now.
People disapprove of him at 50 percent and on his handling of the economy 59 percent of Americans think Obama is doing an awful job. So Romney is not the same old thing. It's now voters want anybody but Barack Obama.
MALVEAUX: Crystal, I want to bring in Romney's wife, Ann here because she was on an interview with Piers Morgan and she was asked about Robert De Niro's comment that America is not ready for a white first lady. She says everybody needs to loosen up here. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANN ROMNEY, MITT ROMNEY'S WIFE: Let's take it for what it is. We're all overreacting to so many things and making things so difficult, which means we have to watch every single word that comes out of our mouth.
We can't be spontaneous. We can't be funny. We can't -- I will tell you in politics the fastest way to get in trouble is to make a joke. So I think Robert De Niro has just learned that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: Jamal, has it turned into that kind of atmosphere?
SIMMONS: Suzanne, I think Ann Romney handled this absolutely appropriately. You got to sort of make light of it if you're the person involved in this. I think De Niro probably wishes he could take that joke back.
Whenever you start getting on issues of whether it's religion or race or, you know, gender stuff, it's always tricky ground. So De Niro probably should, you know -- I'm sure he wishes he could take that joke back. MALVEAUX: Crystal, I'm going to leave this one to you here. We've got a lot of water cooler speculation already about 2016 and the Democrats and who guys might be up against perhaps Biden 2016? Would you rather see a Biden 2016 or a Hillary Clinton 2016? Who would you want to go up against?
WRIGHT: You know, Biden is obviously who we'd want to go up against if he's still standing by that point in 2016. He's not getting any younger.
But look, I think Biden is a weak vice president, and you talk about not knowing what's going to come out of somebody's mouth. That guy showed on a campaign trail and continues to show when he's let out of the cage, he really doesn't know what to say.
I think you know what? Good for you, Biden, if you think that you want to be yet -- this would be a third retread for him if he runs again. I mean, the tire is getting worn on that, worn down.
MALVEAUX: Jamal, you have to weigh in on that one.
SIMMONS: Uncle Joe Biden.
WRIGHT: Well, but I do agree with Jamal, I think Ann Romney handled that in a classy way. We were talking about that earlier. I want to hear more of Ann Romney talking.
She's funny and I think she would be a good first lady, but De Niro's comments, it makes you wonder, what are you saying, Robert, black first ladies, do we have more groove than white first ladies? I don't know. It was crazy.
SIMMONS: I have to do a quick --
MALVEAUX: That's for a whole other conversation. You have one sentence, Jamal, one sentence.
SIMMONS: In 2016, I think Hillary Clinton would make a fantastic nominee if she wants to do it. I'm not sure she does. She's going to be four years older, but you've also got Governor Cuomo, Governor O'Malley. There's a big list of Democrats who are getting ready for that.
MALVEAUX: I'm putting my money. I think she's going to go for it in 2016.
WRIGHT: I do, too.
SIMMONS: She'd be great.
MALVEAUX: All right, Crystal, Jamal, thanks. Good to see you guys.
Check it out, firefighters doing their jobs in dresses.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You did a great job holding the hose when he was in his pretty green dress.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: Bad timing for these guys.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: Call it firefighting at its best, best dressed that is. Jeanne Moos checked out what happened to a group of firefighters on their way to a parade.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): If you think fighting a car fire could be a drag, imagine fighting a car fire in drag.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That is awesome.
MOOS: Two burly firefighters in gowns, Ted Aubart is in the pink.
(on camera): Did you realize you were fighting a fire in a dress?
TED AUBART, SEDAN FIREFIGHTER (via telephone): It kind of dawned on me when we were in the middle of fighting it.
MOOS (voice-over): When did it dawn on Ben Terhaar wearing the green gown?
BEN TERHAAR, SEDAN FIREFIGHTER (via telephone): I remember looking over to my right and seeing people with cell phones up to their face. I thought, my gosh.
MOOS: But the firefighters didn't have much choice. The Sedan, Minnesota, volunteer fire department had a float in the St. Patrick's Day parade in a nearby town.
The firefighters dressed up to promote a beauty pageant they hold every year as a fundraiser. But when a pickup truck caught fire, they leaped into action.
Even if it meant fighting not just the fire, but falling straps on Ted's gown. As for Ben --
(on camera): You didn't seem to have any trouble with your straps.
TERHAAR: That's because I didn't have any.
MOOS (voice-over): He wore a strapless accessorized with a hose.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He did a great job handling the hose in his pretty green dress.
MOOS (voice-over): Fire chief Barry Bowman has a name for his men.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I call them my girls.
MOOS (on camera): They may look like a rope halls of firefighters, but they managed to put out the blaze in just a couple minutes. And the chief points out that though they lacked normal protective gear, the firefighters played it safe and stayed focused.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These guys can stand out there in underwear and wouldn't care. They're that way.
MOOS (voice-over): Though some angles were less than flattering. Still, well, you looked very pretty.
(on camera): You're the prettiest fireman I ever saw.
(voice-over): But one burning question remains, gentlemen, who were you wearing?
TERHAAR: I'm pretty sure they got them from J.C. Penney.
MOOS: Now, that's hot. Jeanne moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: That's a good one.
Renting a car, one web site does all the hard work for you and finds the best deal to save you some money.
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MALVEAUX: At CNN we're always looking for ways to save you some money. And when it comes to rental cars, a website called AutoSlash promises to help drivers skip the hassle at the rental counter and get out onto the open road. Money expert Clark Howard, he's got more on the deal of the week.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CLARK HOWARD, MONEY EXPERT: I've talked in the past about the strategy I use to save money when I rent a car. What I do is when I originally book my airline tickets, which is usually quite a distance from when I'm going to travel, I book a car at that same time. Then one week before I go, I reshop the rental car. And about 90 percent of the time, as I told you before, that saves me money on the rebook.
But a lot of people aren't going to remember to do that. It's more trouble than it sounds like it's worth. So I've been testing a new offer out there called autoslash.com. AutoSlash is very controversial with the car rental industry. What they do is you book your original car through AutoSlash and then they automatically continually check the rates for you. And every time there's a cheaper rate available, they go ahead and rebook you and alert you to your new deal, your new lower price. So it makes automatic pilot what I do manually.
I'm Clark Howard. For more info on AutoSlash go to hlntv.com/clark.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: And for more money tips, check out Clark on the weekends. It's every Saturday and Sunday, 6:00 a.m. and noon Eastern, on HLN.
A threat from al Qaeda leader telling Afghans to rise up against western troops.
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MALVEAUX: The leader of al Qaeda wants the people of Afghanistan to rise up against American troops. We're talking about Ayman al Zawahiri. He became al Qaeda's leader after Osama bin Laden was killed. There is a new message, an audio message, that is popping up on several websites today and he mentions some recent events and he also speaks directly to the people of Afghanistan. I want to go to Kabul and Sara Sidner, who joins us here.
It has been a while, Sara, has it not, that there's been a public statement from Zawahiri. What is he saying today?
SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: He's basically asking anyone in Afghanistan to rise up against the foreign troops, particularly the Americans, basically saying, you know, fight with us against them. He's also referring to some of the things that have happened here that have outraged Afghans and Muslims across the world really. One in particular, he talks about the photo that's out there, the video that's out there that shows U.S. troops what appears to be urinating on the dead bodies of insurgents. And he says, you know, this is their values. Look at their values. This is how Americans feel about others, particularly Muslims. So he's trying to sort of inflame passions again.
And certainly you'll remember 40 people were killed after the Koran burnings here. And that really, really set people off, not only here, but in other parts of the world. So certainly trying to get support and also trying to get people to really look at the Americans and the U.S. and NATO forces in a different way.
MALVEAUX: What do we think is going to be the impact of this message? Does he actually carry the same weight as bin Laden did when he would send those messages out to folks?
SIDNER: If you listen to what some of the analysts say, he doesn't have the same power, the same charisma, even the same name recognition as bin Laden did. And he's obviously working towards that. And you may not see anything. You may not see any reaction from that. Remember, you know, even after the massacre of 16 people allegedly by a U.S. soldier, who's now accused in that, we didn't see any violent protests and only a few protests, and none in the last three or four days.
MALVEAUX: And, Sara, it has been, you mentioned that, 10 days since the massacre by that U.S. soldier in Kandahar. Do we see any kind of emotional responses, the anger quelling in the Afghan community here?
SIDNER: There is anger. People are frustrated. It seems like they're more frustrated than outraged at this point in time. Frustrated that time and time again there have been these incidents that keep coming up. Certainly the government has said that. We've heard it from President Karzai talking about this is the end of the rope, referring to a lot of the different things that have happened that are not protocol that the U.S. and NATO says this does not represent our troops. But yet it happens. It gets into the public sphere and it makes people so angry. But then, in some ways, there was just nothing they could do about it. It's not like troops are just going to quickly move out of here. It's just not possible. But certainly you're seeing frustration in this country.
Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: All right, Sara Sidner. Thank you, Sara.
Mysterious noises. Unexplained shaking. There is something that is going on in Wisconsin. And these residents, they think they know why.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it's manmade.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sinkholes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Like ground shiftage.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't know if it's manmade or something geological.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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MALVEAUX: People in Clintonville, Wisconsin, say they don't even know what's next. They've been dealing with noises that sound like explosions. This is happening every night for the past three days. And last night they held a town hall meeting hopefully to get to the bottom of what is going on there.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm not trying to incite panic or anything, but, like, how do we tell if it's, like, getting dangerous or if we need to evacuate?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We assure you that if we felt it was necessary to evacuate, we would indicate that. (END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: So, city officials, they promised to hire an engineering firm to investigate what is happening there. We are joined by Jim Spellman. He is in Clintonville searching for the answers. Chad Myers is here. He's working on a few other theories as well.
I want to go to you, Jim, first here. What are the main concerns here of the city officials? What are they saying about what residents are upset about?
JIM SPELLMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the biggest problem here is the uncertainty. They don't know if these things are going to stop and they'll never figure out what caused them, or if they're going to continue. If maybe a sinkhole's going to open up. It's really that uncertainty.
They've ruled out just about every manmade potential cause. You know, electrical substations exploding, gas leaks, sewers collapsing, even military operations they've checked on. None of those things have panned out. So now they're left with trying to figure out if it's some sort of geological cause, which is much more difficult than something like an electrical substation, which they could easily fix.
MALVEAUX: Sure. And, Jim, do we know how long this engineering study is going to take? Because I imagine these folks want to have some answers fairly quickly.
SPELLMAN: Right. I just spoke with the city administrator here. Those sensors are on their way. They're going to set up four sensors in a triangle pattern with one in the middle and try to detect the epicenter. When they have that nailed down, they're going to drill down into the ground and use sensors, cameras, to try to find out if there's some sort of unknown void, a cavern down there or something like that. They're going to leave them up for about a week to try to figure that out. If they get more info faster, great. But at least they contracted to have them up for a week. They're on their way. They expect them to be placed later this afternoon.
MALVEAUX: All right, Jim.
I want to go to Chad here.
Chad, do we think this could be a mild quake that's happening here in this community?
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It could be some type of quake. Something's obviously shaking. You're -- look at the seismograph behind me. That's actually from very close to Clintonville. Things -- the ground is moving a little bit. But not like an earthquake where you'd see the bump and then all of a sudden it goes down. Their ground is shaking like a truck is running over the interstate. You know, sometimes you're on a bridge, you can kind of feel it right when the truck goes by you?
MALVEAUX: Yes. MYERS: That's the kind of shaking they're feeling, but it doesn't come all the time. It comes and it goes and it comes and it goes. So it could be something to do with the mild winter as well.
MALVEAUX: And it -- do we think it's seismic activity? Do we think it's possible that that is taking place? Is that a dangerous situation these folks are dealing with?
MYERS: I have a couple of theories and we can go back to Jim on a couple of them too. Something -- it was a very dry winter and the groundwater table may be going down because people are pumping water out of the ground for watering, for whatever they might be doing and there was just no snow and no release back into the water table of melting snow or rain. So as that water table goes down, the rock that's holding that water table may be collapsing a little bit on itself and that's one of the possibilities of the boom.
But, also, it's been 80 degrees there. It shouldn't be 50 degrees there. So maybe the frost or the lower layers of the frost beginning to shake a little bit. But it's only in one part in one town.
MALVEAUX: Yes. That's what's so weird.
MYERS: But last night Montello -- Montello, Wisconsin, had a shake. They had a boom. And that was the first time any place else other than Clintonville had it.
MALVEAUX: All right. It might be spreading.
MYERS: It is spreading.
MALVEAUX: Oh, God (ph). Chad, Jim, thank you so much. Appreciate it.
MYERS: You bet.
