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WTC Reclaims Tallest Title Today; One Year Anniversary Of Osama Bin Laden's Death; Politics Of Bin Laden's Death; Escape Tests U.S./China Ties; Video May Hold Clues In Disappearance; One Killed, 100 Hurt Outside Sports Bar; Crash Kills Seven At Bronx Zoo; Jennifer Hudson Family Murder Trial; Witness: There Was A Second RFK Shooter; Dr. McDreamy's Real-Life Rescue; Lin's Advice to High School Students; Billionaire to Replicate Titanic; Lin's Advice to High School Students; More Stay-at-Home Dads
Aired April 30, 2012 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. I'm Carol Costello. Stories we're watching right now in the NEWSROOM, a blind activist, a daring escape and diplomatic tension.
A Chinese man who stood up for the rights of the disabled and victims of forced abortion apparently hiding out right now in the U.S. embassy. This morning, Hillary Clinton on her way to China.
Missing in Arizona the search for 6-year-old Isabel Celis who vanished from her bedroom nine days ago. The focus this morning, a new surveillance video capturing at least three people outside of her home.
Heights of freedom on the eve of Osama Bin Laden's death, One World Trade Center marking a milestone today becoming the tallest building in New York.
And blasting the bible, Dan Savich from the "It's Gets Better" campaign goes on the attack saying we should learn to ignore the B.S. in the bible and what it says about gay people. This morning he's not backing down.
Up first, though, a milestone takes shape in the New York City skyline. In just a few hours, One World Trade Center inches upward and officially becomes the tallest building in the city. That's the building that's in the middle of your screen with a crane on top of it.
The skyscraper is rising from the side of the twin towers demolished in the 911 attacks regaining the title as tallest has added significance.
It was one year ago tomorrow that Navy SEALs killed Osama Bin Laden, the mastermind behind the attacks and for one brief moment the death of the al Qaeda leader seemed to bring Americans together, spontaneous crowds celebrated outside the White House and both parties embraced the mission as a final measure of justice.
But that has changed in the harsh light of presidential politics. Chief political correspondent Candy Crowley has more for you.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was only a matter of time about 365 days before the death of Osama Bin Laden got into the political ground water of 2012.
BILL CLINTON, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: He took the harder and the more honorable path and the one that produced, in my opinion, the best result.
CROWLEY: The former president praising President Obama for approving the risky raid in a campaign ad suggesting Romney wouldn't have. Which path the silent screen asks would Romney have taken.
It quotes Romney's criticism of candidate Obama's promise to strike inside Pakistan if needed to go after terrorist. It quotes Romney in 2007 questioning whether the pursuit of Bin Laden was worth moving heaven and earth.
Where to begin and what can be best described as situational politics. It seems only four years ago the Obama campaign was outraged by an ad from the former president's wife then candidate Hillary Clinton.
She used a picture of Osama Bin Laden to question candidate Obama's credentials. The Obama campaign accused her of acting like then President Bush trying to invoke Bin Laden to score political points.
Four years later the Obama re-the election campaign has different rules.
ROBERT GIBBS, OBAMA CAMPAIGN SENIOR ADVISER: There's a difference in roles they would play as commander-in-chief. I certainly think that's fair game.
CROWLEY: Playing the part of the aggrieved this time, the Romney campaign accusing the president of turning a unifying event on its head.
ED GILLESPIE, ROMNEY CAMPAIGN SENIOR ADVISER: He's managed to turn it into a divisive, partisan, political take. I think most Americans will see it as a sign of a desperate campaign.
CROWLEY: That is mild compared to President Obama's 2008 Republican rival John McCain who ran on his tough foreign policy credentials. He called it a chief political attack and a pathetic political act of self-congratulation.
Sunday, the White House offered up the president's counterterrorism adviser for a relatively rare round of Sunday morning political talk. John Brennar arrived with high praise for his boss and nothing on the ad.
JOHN BRENNAN, WHITE HOUSE COUNTERTERRORISM ADVISER: First of all, I don't do politics. I'm not a Democrat. I'm not a Republican.
CROWLEY: It wasn't like this the night Bin Laden was killed. Not in public where the president said there would be no spiking the football or in private when he called the people who most wanted to hear the news.
MICHAEL DUFFY, EXECUTIVE EDITOR, TIME MAGAZINE: The raid happened the first two people president Obama called were in this order George Walker Bush and then Bill Clinton because he knew at some level both men had tried to actually kill Bin Laden and been unable to do it.
CROWLEY: Public reaction a year ago may not have been as solemn as the phone call sound, but Bin Laden's death was greeted across party lines as a matter of justice, not politics. Candy Crowley, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: Also this morning, a daring escape and a diplomatic quandary. China's best known dissident, Chen Guangchang has managed to slip away from house arrest and is apparently hiding out inside the U.S. embassy in Beijing.
And that sets the stage for an extraordinary tug-of-war between the two countries. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is now on her way to China. Just last hour, we heard from a former assistant secretary of state who described the delicate dance that will be needed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMES RUBIN, FORMER ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE: Every indication is that the dissident, Mr. Chen does not want to leave China. In which case what he's going to be seeking is some confirmation from the authorities in Beijing that he can leave the embassy.
That he can live out his life in China without the brutality that he's experienced this past 18 months as you've shown with your reporters going, trying to get to his house. He's got unauthorized extra judicial thugs blocking visitors and making his life miserable.
Because this is about Chinese behavior towards an individual inside their country, this is very different than the famous case of the Chinese dissident physicist back during the first Bush administration who lived in the U.S. embassy, I believe, for a year and a half before he was allowed to come the United States.
If Mr. Chen doesn't want to leave China that makes this even harder.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: James Rubin, the former assistant secretary of state under Bill Clinton. This is the example of what James was talking about. This is the Chinese government officials preventing Chen from seeing visitors. This happened back in December. We were the only crew accompanying an actor trying to meet with Chen. He was roughed up by Chinese security guards.
On to Tucson, Arizona now, a surveillance video that may offer new clues in finding a missing 6-year-old girl. It shows a group of men and women leaving a bar around 1:30 in the morning just a block from the home of Isabel Celis.
She was discovered missing just hours later when her father said he found her empty bed and her window screen removed. Police are not revealing what these potential witnesses have to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LT. FABIAN PACHECO, TUCSON POLICE SPOKESMAN: If anything, it's one less thing that we have to concentrate efforts on. We've seen these people. We've identified them. We have statement from these folks and now with just in the process of evaluating that information and determining how valuable that is if at all to us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: CNN Thelma Gutierrez is live in Los Angeles to tell us more. How are investigators able to I.D. anyone off that tape, it's so blurry.
THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you're right, Carol, that tape is grainy. It appears to have been shot from some kind of overhead parking lot camera. Now Tucson police released that surveillance tape to the media hoping that someone will recognize the five people captured on tape leaving the bar between 1:00 and 1:30 in the morning.
Isabel Celis' father said he put his daughter to bed around 11:00 p.m. Now one of the people in the tape did come forward, contacted police and investigators say they now have spoken to three of the five people seen on the tape.
But they are not revealing any of the details, Carol, at this point of what they may have said.
COSTELLO: Hopefully they will gain something valuable from them. Thelma Gutierrez reporting live from Los Angeles.
Checking other top stories this morning, a celebration turned tragic Saturday when a sports bar tent in St. Louis collapsed, killing a man. Baseball fans were celebrating at a tent behind the bar near Bush Stadium when a thunderstorm hit.
Nine were others seriously injured. One hundred others were treated at the scene for cuts and bruises. Up to 150 fans were underneath that tent.
Three generations of one family killed in a car accident that ended up at the Bronx Zoo. Happened Sunday in New York after a van carrying seven people including three children plunged off a guardrail and fell more than 60 feet into an area of the Bronx Zoo that's closed to the public. Police say everyone was wearing seat belts.
It's the start of week two in the John Edwards trial in North Carolina. Back on the stand this morning the wife of the former presidential candidate's aide. Cherry Young is expected to talk about her role in the cover up of Edwards' affair.
In the trial of the man accused of murdering three relatives of singer Jennifer Hudson resumes today. The trial started on a highly emotional pitch with Hudson's testimony last week.
Our Ted Rowlands is on the phone from Chicago on what we can expect today. Hi, Ted.
TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Hi, Carol. More testimony from the prosecution, their case really turned last week on Friday with the girlfriend of the defendant, William Balfour on the stand.
It was one of those points in the trial that ended a conviction and you look back and say this was a turning point. This was damning for Balfour. Basically, she got up on the stand and testified that Balfour admitted to her that he killed Jennifer Hudson's family.
Before we get underway today, the judge will have an emergency hearing on the 911 tape that Julia Hudson, the 911 call that Julia Hudson made after discovering her mother dead in her house.
The media wants a copy of that. The judge will rule on that. The judge doesn't exactly like the media. At one point, he threw out a reporter that had a (inaudible) in her mouth. So we don't know what the ruling will be, but we'll have that before testimony resumes today.
COSTELLO: Wow, interesting. Ted Rowlands reporting live from Chicago.
High school students at a National High School Journalism Conference thought they were going to talk about bullying. Instead many of them walked out in tears after a prominent anti-bullying advocate Dan Savage called parts of the bible B.S.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAN SAVAGE: We can learn to ignore the -- in the bible about gay people. It's funny who someone is on the receiving end of beatings that are justified by the bible, how -- people react when you push back.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Savage is the founder of the "It Gets Better" campaign, an anti-bullying campaign that features President Obama.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: If you ever feel like because of bullying, because of what people are saying that you're getting down on yourself, you got to make sure to reach out to people you trust.
Whether it's your parents, teachers, folks that you know care about you just the way you are, you got reach out to them. Don't feel like you're in this by yourself. The other thing you need to know is things will get better.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: This morning those high school students and gay conservatives want an apology from Savage. Not first time he's made waves.
In a few moments, we'll talk to a teacher who brought his students to that speech. I'll ask him about his student's reaction.
A witness to the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy comes forward dispute the FBI report she says there was a second shooter. You will hear her account. That comes your way in 10 minutes.
He saves lives every week on TV. Up next, hear how Dr. McDreny, Patrick Dempsey came to the rescue in a real life drama. CNN NEWSROOM back in 2 minutes.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Just about 15 minutes past the hour. Checking our top stories.
One World Trade Center will become New York City's tallest skyscraper today. Workers will push the unfinished Freedom Tower passed the height the Empire State Building. Still a year left on construction before Freedom Tower reaches its full height, 1,776 feet tall.
A blind Chinese dissident might have escaped the U.S. embassy in Beijing. The Chinese government imprisoned Chen Guangchang for exposing civil rights abuses. He spent four years in prison and last year and a half under house arrest neither country talking about the case.
U.S. troops are now helping in the hunt for African warlord, Joseph Kony. He's the alleged villain in that viral Kony 2012 video. President Obama sent about 100 Special Forces to Central Africa last year to track down the leaders of Kony's group, the Lord's Resistance Army. Kony is wanted by the international criminal court for crimes against humanity.
We've been talking about that controversial speech by the founder of the "It Gets Better" campaign that left students crying and walking out of a convention. A teacher who brought his students to hear a talk about anti-bullying says that it felt like an attack on Christians.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAN SAVAGE: We can learn to ignore the -- in the bible about gay people. It's funny who someone is on the receiving end of beatings that are justified by the bible, how -- people react when you push back.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: That's Dan Savage, he's a prominent anti-bullying campaigner, came up with a great video that's featured on the White House's web site.
Rick Tuttle is the man you're seeing now. He joins me. He's a teacher and journalism advisor at Sutter Union High School. His students were at that speech and they walked out. So set the scene for us first, Mr. Tuttle.
RICK TUTTLE, JOURNALISM ADVISER, SUTTER UNION HIGH SCHOOL: Well, we're at the bi-annual convention, the Journalism Education Association. This is one of the general sessions where everybody comes together.
There are thousands of students there ready to hear this keynote speaker. What we expected to be an anti-bullying message, talking about student publications can actually prevent bullying on campus instead more profanity came out and vulgarity.
And ultimately this attack on the bible, it became clear this was not the anti-bullying message we expected.
COSTELLO: How old were the kids in the audience?
TUTTLE: High school, mostly high school-age students from schools all over the United States, mostly the Western United States.
COSTELLO: Dan Savage, the man who gave this speech the anti- bullying speech, he sort of has an M.O. of giving speeches like this. Some people said, you should have expected that.
TUTTLE: I had no reservations. I admit it, but you know, as a teacher my main goal is to protect my kids. So when I heard there's a speech about anti-bullying and there might be some benefits from that I said I'm willing to take a chance.
I'm a former journalist. I'm big on the free marketplace of ideas of hearing other people's points of view. So I was very open to hearing what he had to say.
But it took a real dark hostile turn as I saw and certainly some other students felt. He became very hostile towards Christianity to the point where you saw many students did walk out including some of my students. COSTELLO: And I'm sure you've talked to your students about this. What did they take away from this speech?
TUTTLE: Well, I think that they realized that this -- they came in like me with expectations it may be something they might not agree with and you know, may have a different message, but they literally came away feeling they were attacked.
As you saw in the clip, they felt it was a pointed direct attack at one particular group of students. So to me it's amazing we go to an anti-bullying speech and one particular group that's picked on specifically with harsh, pretty profane language.
COSTELLO: I mean, did you understand Mr. Savage's point at all?
TUTTLE: Absolutely. Again, I have an obligation to protect gay students on my campus, students who have different religions, disability reasons. They are, you know, bullied so I certainly agree. He talked a lot about gay suicide of students who are gay and commit suicide because of bullying.
So I certainly understand that and I certainly agree with his right to say that, his project. But in this particular environment this speech was completely inappropriate in terms of the language, the vulgarity.
He talked at length how good his boyfriend looked in a Speedo, you know, encouraged all the kids to use birth control. Just stuff that was way over the heads of the age group he was talking to.
COSTELLO: And when -- at what point during the speech did the students walk out and I guess I should ask you how many decided to leave?
TUTTLE: Well, half of my students did. I think the other half would have, but again, in the hall of thousands of students. It's a pretty dawning idea to get up -- when you're among your peers many were cheering on Mr. Savage and his attack on the bible. It was very daunting the idea of getting up and walking out.
I know three of my students asked to leave and I said absolutely. I know about another 100 left as well. I think in the video you can see students walking out.
COSTELLO: So, all in all, what will you be teaching your students today in class about this speech?
TUTTLE: Well, you know, we've had quite a few discussions. Certainly, the students that went with me on to the convention, it was a learning experience.
I mean, again, I'm all for exchanging ideas, but I didn't want to subject my students to this kind of verbal abuse either. We took it in stride, I guess. Nevertheless, it was disappointing.
COSTELLO: Yes, Mr. Tuttle, thank you for being with us this morning. We appreciate it.
TUTTLE: You bet.
COSTELLO: Coming up on NEWSROOM, the House speaker tells us why Mitt Romney's wealth should not be an issue in the campaign because you don't want to vote for a loser.
Plus a billionaire intends to build a replica of the "Titanic" completed in every detail, but he wants to do something different this time that will prevent another disaster. CNN NEWSROOM will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Nearly 44 years after the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy a witness comes forward with her version of what happened. That witness is Nina Rhodes-Hughes. She was just a few feet away from Kennedy when he was shot.
She said there was a second shooter to her right in addition to Sirhan Sirhan who was convicted of the crime. Rhodes- Hughes spoke on CNN's "STARTING POINT." She accuses the FBI of changing her original account.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NINA RHODES-HUGHES, WITNESS TO RFK ASSASSINATION IN 1968 (via telephone): There were more than eight shots. And interesting that you read whatever the FBI issued, everybody said eight shots. Not! I wish there were some recordings of me that night.
I know I did give an interview to someone with a microphone, where I said, there were at least 12, maybe 14, and I know there was, because I heard the rhythm in my head. You know, and I know with the first two or three shots.
I wasn't aware, as I said, I thought they were flash bulbs. What has to come out is that there was another shooter to my right and Robert Kennedy was also to my right, where Sirhan Sirhan was almost straight ahead and a tad to my left, standing on some steel plat -- you know, raised platform and that there were two shooters.
That must come out, and who they were. It must come out who the other shooter is, because there definitely was another shooter.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: A federal court is set to rule on a request by Sirhan Sirhan that he be released, re-tried or granted a new hearing on new evidence including the evidence Rhodes-Hughes just told you about.
Now is your chance to talk back on one of the big stories of the day. The question for you this morning, should Bin Laden's death be a campaign issue?
Tomorrow marks one year since Osama Bin Laden was shot dead by U.S. Navy SEALs in his hideout in Pakistan. When it happened, all of us Democrats and Republicans joined together in relief and celebration, but that unity was short-lived.
It's re-election time and President Obama is playing the Osama Bin Laden card. Here's his new campaign ad.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINTON: He took the harder and the more honorable path. And the one that produced, in my opinion, the best result.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: The ad suggests Mitt Romney would not have given order to kill Bin Laden. It quotes Romney's criticism of candidate Obama's promise to strike inside Pakistan to get Bin Laden. Republicans were quick to pounce. Senator John McCain called it pathetic as did the Romney campaign.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SENATOR JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: Took something that was a unifying event for all Americans. An event that Governor Romney congratulated him and the military and intelligence analyst and our government for completing the mission in terms of killing Osama Bin Laden and he's managed to turn it into a divisive, partisan, political attack.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: If this all sounds familiar you're right. In 2010 be candidate Obama complained when Hillary Clinton used a picture of Bin Laden to question Obama's credentials.
This time Obama says it's different. When it comes to national security it's fair game to compare how two men would act as commander in chief, but is it?
So the talk back question for you this morning should Osama Bin Laden's death be a campaign issue? Facebook.com/carolcnn. I'll read your comments later this hour.
It looks like President Obama does have a new campaign motto. It's short, simple and going straight through the "Political Buzz" panel after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Thirty minutes past the hour.
Checking our "Top Stories". One World Trade Center will become New York City's tallest skyscraper today. Workers will push the unfinished Freedom Tower past the height of the Empire State Building. Still a year left of construction before Freedom Tower reaches its full height of 1,776 feet.
Escaped Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng is reportedly being sheltered at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing. If true it sets up a delicate diplomatic dance with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton holding talks with Chinese officials in Beijing this week.
It is the start of week two in the John Edwards trial in North Carolina. Back on the stand this morning the wife of the former presidential candidate's aide, Sherry Young is expected to talk about her role in the cover-up of Edwards' affair.
"Political Buzz" is your rapid fire look at the best political topics of the day. Three questions 30 seconds on the clock. Playing with us today CNN contributors: Maria Cardona, she's on the left, Will Cain is on the right and Dana Loesch is on the right. Is that right? Yes that is right.
First question, the Obama --
(CROSSTALK)
WILL CAIN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: That is right.
COSTELLO: -- I love it. Ok first question the Obama campaign has released an ad highlighting Osama bin Laden's death and suggesting Mitt Romney as President would not have approved of the daring raid. Romney's senior campaign advisor is not happy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ED GILLESPIE, ROMNEY CAMPAIGN ADVISER: It took something that was a unifying event for all Americans, an event that Governor Romney congratulated him and the military and the intelligence analysts and our government for completing the mission in terms of killing Osama bin Laden and he's managed to turn it into a divisive, partisan, political attack.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: So, has the President politicized bin Laden's death? Dana?
DANA LOESCH, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: I would have to say yes he just recently released an ad where they included an out of context quote from Mitt Romney that tried to show him as being weak on jihad when in fact the full quote shows the exact opposite and they made it political ad.
So that is absolutely politicizing it. Not only that but then we learned later that it was really all kind of in the craven's hands. So it was set up to where you know if he had to take the blame he necessarily wouldn't have to but he could take the victory for it. But that -- and he opened himself up to that with it this ad.
COSTELLO: Maria? MARIA CARDONA, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: I'm going to use a word that comes from the GOP's own Newt Gingrich which is, spare me the pious baloney. Who out there really believes that if this operation had gone sour if we had lost lives and we had not gotten Osama bin Laden that it wouldn't be the number one reason that Republicans would use to get President Obama out of office?
And by the way, if Mitt Romney and all the other Republicans who have been trying to call this President weak on foreign policy. So both of those things put together absolutely this is something that should be talked about in the campaign. It was an important event in foreign policy, it was a huge accomplishment by the Obama campaign.
LOESCH: Obama criticized Hillary for it back in 2008. Obama criticized Hillary Clinton for the exact same thing he's doing now.
COSTELLO: That actually is true -- Will.
CARDONA: It's very different. It is absolutely different.
COSTELLO: Will?
CAIN: I actually think both of them are right. Here's the deal. President Obama deserves a ton of credit for making the call to kill Osama bin Laden. And I think he should be able to run on your record. So he should be able to brag about it that this happened under his watch. He made the call.
But here is where he went too far, he went a step too far in that ad. By saying that Mitt Romney wouldn't, he took that quote from one debate where Mitt Romney said I won't move heaven and earth and then a week later said that he would, it made it seemed like I made the call but Mitt Romney wouldn't and that's just untruthful. And that's where he went too far.
COSTELLO: Ok question number two CNN's Candy Crowley asked the House Republican Speaker John Boehner if Mitt Romney's wealth could be a liability in the race. Listen to what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R-OH), HOUSE SPEAKER: American people don't want to vote for a loser. They don't want to vote for somebody that hasn't been successful. And I think Mitt Romney has an opportunity to show the American people that they too can be succeed.
COSTELLO: So does this mean you have to be a multimillionaire to be a winner? Maria you are outnumbered today? And I'm going to go first with you Maria.
CARDONA: Thank you it certainly sounds like it to me, Carol. Wow, when Speaker Boehner said that I think that he really stepped up the level of what you need -- the requirements of what you need and not made it about -- not make it about leadership or your record or what you say or what you do but make it about what's in your bank account. It was a little bit ridiculous. And it shows that Mitt Romney is not the only one out of touch, but frankly most Republicans are out of touch and they not only prove it in what they say but they prove it in their policies where all they want to do is protect exactly those millionaires that Boehner is talking about.
COSTELLO: Will?
CAIN: Right. Right. Exactly. That's exactly what he was saying Maria. He was saying you're only a winner if you're a multimillionaire. You nailed it. I mean that was clear as day.
CARDONA: It sounds like it. Absolutely, thank you.
CAIN: Look, I mean, what he did is provide an appropriate response for all this nonsense about how Mitt Romney's wealth should play the wealth. Or how you accumulate it without it being a big factor in your wealth is a sign of success. And I think everything about Mitt Romney's accumulation of wealth, everything about his history suggests he was highly successful. And it should be explained that way.
But I don't think it means exclusively. I don't think it means you're only a winner if you're a multimillionaire and I don't think I had to think very hard to get that part.
COSTELLO: Dana?
LOESCH: I would have to agree with Will a little on that and also say that I don't hear where -- I think maybe Maria and I are hearing two different things. Because I didn't hear John Boehner speak about millionaires. I didn't hear anyone in fact put wealth or class warfare into the discussion except for the left.
I mean being a millionaire isn't the only indicator of -- of being successful. You can be successful in many areas. And that's exactly what Boehner is talking about. You want someone that has -- that success -- that has that aesthetic (ph) that is motivated, that has the initiative to go out and be successful. And that could mean many different things.
COSTELLO: Ok, time for your "Buzzer Beater" 20 seconds each. Third question it looks like President Obama has a new campaign motto. It's really short and even easier to remember than "Yes We Can". So it looks like the motto for 2012 is "Forward". How minimalist. What would your one word campaign motto be for President Obama? Will?
CAIN: Minimalist. That's called copyright infringement. I mean, he stole it from MSNBC. Right he just left to lean at I know I'm not the first person to say that. It's so blatant and obvious. He's just -- he's just going to lean, he's just going to go forward. If I had -- if I had to pick a one word I'll stick with the directional theme and I'll just say "left".
COSTELLO: Ok Maria?
CARDONA: I actually like forward. I think that it exactly explains where we're where we're going. I thought about strength. I thought about cool. I thought about bad ass. But I also think "reality" is the way that really describes what he's been leading, how he has been leading? The policies that he has put in place where you have Mitt Romney talking about how he would have done it faster.
Come on live in reality Mitt Romney. Same thing with foreign policy. So I think "reality" describes it well as well.
COSTELLO: Dana.
LOESCH: You know, when I -- when I vote for a president the first word that pops into my mind I don't know about you all is cool. I want someone who is cool. Let's forget about where they stand on economy and foreign policy. I want someone who is cool.
Now this really was difficult for me because I would only get one word. My first thought was "nope". My second one was "backwards". And my third maybe you know if you want to pay attention to some of the stuff happening on Twitter is "sink" or "slash". So those are my options.
COSTELLO: Got you. Dana, Will, Maria well done.
Thanks for playing.
CARDONA: Thank you Carol.
Coming up next it could have been a scene from his TV drama. Hear how Patrick Dempsey made a real life-saving rescue.
Baseball size hail, showers in the Midwest we're assessing the damage from all the wacky weather we've had over the weekend. CNN NEWSROOM back in a couple of minutes.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: He plays fast-thinking Dr. McDreamy on TV and apparently Patrick Dempsey borrowed some of those skills in a real life medical emergency. "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT" host, A.J. Hammer, is here with the drama. What happened?
A.J. HAMMER, HLN HOST: I love this story, Carol. Patrick Dempsey played a real life hero last week after a car accident. He reportedly used crowbar and a fire extinguisher to help save a 17- year-old boy who had flipped his car right near Dempsey's home in Malibu.
Dempsey pulled the teenager out of the car, he called paramedics and he stayed with the boy until the boy was airlifted to the hospital, who reportedly only suffered a concussion and an eye injury.
But Dempsey wasn't done yet -- oh, no. You'll love this Carol. He reportedly called the boy's mother to reassure her everything was ok. Of course, she thought that he was just a paramedic or something until he identified himself. And she said, the first thing she thought of was McDreamy. Not that identified himself that way on the phone and I don't believe he said, "Ma'am I'm not a doctor but I play one on TV."
But what a cool story.
COOPER: It's a really nice story. I love that.
On to not such a nice story or not such a nice guy -- Mel Gibson. He's is actually talking about his temper. What is he saying?
HAMMER: Yes. I don't know how this is going to go for him. But Mel is trying to repair his image yet again. And for the first time now he's speaking out publicly about the recently released audiotape where he just loses his cool in such an uncool way at screen writer Joe Eszterhas. He was on the "Tonight" show with Jay Leno last Friday and he joked "Maybe you don't know this about me I have a little bit of a temper." Ok. So he's trying to be self-effacing there, I don't think there's anybody that doesn't know that by now.
But If you ask me, carol, Mel is trying revive a career that doesn't seem to be surviving that temper that he has and I think he may have well surpassed the "three strikes and you're out rule" by now. I'm just saying.
COOPER: I know. I watched his previous movies and all I can think about is him yelling at people. It's just in my head.
HAMMER: Yes.
That's an actor's worse nightmare right there and I have exactly the same feeling and so many people do as well.
COSTELLO: A.J. Hammer, thank you.
Just ahead, baseball fans celebrating their team's win end up in the wrong place at the wrong time -- under a tent when a killer storm hits.
Plus Titanic II is coming. Not a sequel to the movie but a sequel to the actual ship.
CNN NEWSROOM will be right back.
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COSTELLO: 46 minutes past the hour. Checking our top stories in just a few hours One World Trade Center will become New York City's tallest skyscraper. Workers will push the unfinished Freedom Tower past the height of the Empire State Building; still a year left of construction before Freedom Tower reaches its full height of 1,776 feet.
Investigators are looking this morning into what caused a sports bar tent in St. Louis to collapse, killing a man. Baseball fans were celebrating at a tent behind the bar near Bush Stadium when a thunderstorm hit. Five others were seriously injured. 100 others treated at the scene for cuts and bruises. Up to 150 fans were underneath that tent. There's ,ore video of that nasty round of storms. Hail the size of -- look at that hail. Hail a pounded O'Fallon, Illinois; that's just outside of St. Louis. Kansas got heavy wind and rain on Sunday. Another round of severe weather could hit the region tonight.
After a historic 100-year anniversary memorial cruise the Titanic is making more headlines this morning. Now an Australian billionaire intends to build an exact replica of the ship, complete in every detail but with a few bells and whistles that aims to keep it afloat. Zain Verjee is in London with more. Who would want to go on a cruise on this thing. And wouldn't that be freaky?
ZAIN VERJEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's the question. Are you superstitious or not. Because the bottom line is He wants to create the exact replica of Titanic and even down to the very details -- 840 rooms, the nine decks. Exactly what you saw in the movie. So, a lot of people are saying, Carol if I gave you two tickets to take the Titanic would you take it.
COSTELLO: I'm not sure I would.
VERJEE: I'm not sure I would either just in case what he's saying is that there's no way, you know, it's going to sink because --
COSTELLO: That's what they said the last time.
VERJEE: Right. Exactly. That's part of the problem if you're superstitious you walk right into that, right? The difference is, for state-of-the-art 21st century technology. That's what he's saying. He was asked in this press conference. Yes, but is it really unsinkable.
He said this. "Of course, it will sink if you put a hole in it but it's going to be designed so it won't sink. But if you're superstitious you never know what could happen.
Thank you very much for that. This thing is going to be made in China. It's not going to happen until 2016 when it will make the maiden voyage from London, from England to New York. A lot of skeptics are saying, though, you are just tempting fate with this whole thing. But it's really up to a lot of people.
People are interested. This was number one on Twitter for the last few hours. So people are still into this.
COSTELLO: So the replica of the Titanic is going to be made in China. Doesn't make me feel any better.
VERJEE: Made in China. We'll feel much better about that now. We don't know how much it's going to cost though, because he's not revealing the cost of the whole thing. He has a little extra cash so why not build Titanic II. That's what it's called.
COSTELLO: All right then. Zain Verjee thank you.
Just ahead move over moms, stay-at-home dads are becoming more of the norm. We'll tell you what's behind this new trend. CNN NEWSROOM back in a couple of minutes.
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COSTELLO: Students in New York's Stuyvesant High School went on YouTube to ask New York Knicks Jeremy Lin if he would speak at their graduation. Lin couldn't make it but he did send the students a video which included some advice for seniors.
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JEREMY LIN, NEW YORK KNICKS: As you go on from high school I just want to encourage you guys to make sure you really have a lot of fun, you enjoy what you're doing and you pursue your passions. I think the most important thing for me looking back isn't that I got to the NBA it's that I enjoyed the path to the NBA; that I had fun playing basketball and that was something I really loved and still love doing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: I like the music, didn't you? He even put music in it.
Taking a page out of his own story the young Knicks star went on to say "never let anyone tell you what you can't do." Lin as you probably know failed to make it with two NBA teams before having huge success with the Knicks.
A big shift in the labor force. The old idea of mom staying at home to raise the kids, I don't think it's really fading away but it's a little bit fading away. Dad now increasingly wants to fill that role.
Felicia Taylor is at the New York Stock Exchange. Really?
FELICIA TAYLOR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You sound so disbelieving.
COSTELLO: I'm skeptical.
TAYLOR: Terribly skeptical but the numbers do prove that there are a growing number of dads who are staying at home to raise the kids. It's because, you know, things have shifted in the economy. Among those households where both parents are working 32 percent of dads say that they do take care of kids at least one day a week.
I know that makes you feel better. It's up from 26 percent. Ok, one day. It's better than nothing.
COSTELLO: True.
TAYLOR: That's up from 26 percent in 2002.
Carol you're making me laugh.
This comes from a census bureau study that looks at families with kids under 15 years of age. One father said (inaudible) he started a New York City Dads group and it has 500 members. So there are men out there that are doing it.
COSTELLO: They made a movie about it. I saw the previews when I was seeing "The Hunger Games". I'm thinking, oh, is this really real life? Apparently it is. Well, that's a good thing. Dads are becoming involved in their children's lives because dad's are important -- very important.
TAYLOR: They are important.
COSTELLO: But as far as being stay at home dads, the numbers of fathers choosing to do that not high still, right?
TAYLOR: Right. I'm not suggesting that there are a lot of men out there that choosing to stay at home and be, you know, stay at home dads. And a lot of it frankly is like I said -- it's because of the economy.
We've obviously gone through a very difficult economic times because of the recession. Men suffered bigger cuts in male- dominated fields like construction and manufacturing. So it's not necessarily a choice for them to stay at home and wages are somewhat of at a standstill. Median household income from 2000 to 2010 fell 7 percent. Child care costs during that same period rose 37 percent.
COSTELLO: Wow.
TAYLOR: Yes, I mean it's a huge disparity. That's because food and gas prices along with medical costs have all risen in the past decade. So in some cases it just doesn't really make financial sense to actually go back to work and have to pay for somebody to stay at home when the father can do it and especially because moms out there are actually making a good living these days.
COSTELLO: All true. Felicia Taylor, thank you.
We asked you to talk back on one of the big issues of the day. The question for you this morning "should Obama bin laden's death be a campaign issue." I'll read your responses. You're watching NEWSROOM.
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COSTELLO: Ok. You're looking at live pictures from Portsmouth, New Hampshire. These people are waiting on a pair, waiting for the presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney to begin speaking. He's in that battleground state New Hampshire. He'll soon to be joined by Kelly Ayotte, she's a freshman senator who is getting quite a bit of buzz as a possible running mate.
As you know, Over the past couple of months Mitt Romney has been appearing with possible running mates. You know kind of like Marco Rubio. Today it's Kelly Ayotte's turn. When Romney begins speaking we'll go to that event live.
We asked you to talk back on one of the big questions of the day. The talk back question for you. "Should Osama bin Laden's death be a campaign issue.
This is from Ranjit. "Terrorism was a campaign issue for the Republicans for 11 years now. So Osama bin Laden's death is a valid campaign issue."
This from Christian, "No, Osama's death is in the past and is far from an issue. Issues in the campaign should be problems that we as Americans have and are struggling with today."
This from Gordon, "If he was still alive I'm pretty sure it would be a huge issue with the Republicans."
And this from Aaron, "It may distract from the real issues of the well being of the country but it's a grand accomplishment. I say mention it but don't go overboard with it.
Please continue the conversation. Facebook.com/carolCNN. And thanks as always for your comments.
That does it for me. I'm Carol Costello. Kyra Phillips has the day off. But "NEWSROOM" does continue with Ashleigh Banfield.
