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Travis Baumgartner Arrested; More People Now Questioning Existence of God; Reporter Heckles President Obama's Speech

Aired June 16, 2012 - 22:00   ET

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

DON LEMON, CNN HOST: I'm Don Lemon.

The stories you're talking about in just a moment. But first, let's get you up to speed on some of the day's headlines.

First stop, this is just in to CNN. Travis Baumgartner is under arrest. He is the man police believe killed three of his co-workers while robbing an armored car yesterday at the University of Alberta in Canada.

Officials grabbed him tonight while he was trying to cross the border into Washington State. Three security guards were killed and another one is in critical condition. Baumgartner worked for the same company as the victims. He had been on the run since yesterday, wanted on three counts of murder.

One person is dead. Several others are hurt in Toronto tonight. The overhead part of a concert stage, look at that, broke apart and fell about 50 feet. The man killed was working on the stage getting ready for a radio head concert. The show was cancelled, of course. Weather was good, no high winds. They're trying to figure out exactly what happened there.

CNN has learned that a state psychologist will examine former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky tomorrow. A Friday court order allows the defense in the child abuse trial to introduce testimony that Sandusky suffers from something called histrionic personality disorder. Sandusky's attorneys will argue that condition helped explain letters Sandusky wrote to his alleged victims.

Wait until you see what else we're working on for you tonight.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON (voice-over): There is no God. Or is there?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our father who aren't in heaven --

LEMON: More people than ever question God's existence.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A reading from the holy gospel.

LEMON: At this rate, we ask, will anyone believe God exists in 50 years? JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Latino vote --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: black vote --

LEMON: -- and on and on. But, what about the white people, the real deciders in the presidential election? Why isn't anybody talking about them? Guess what? We are.

And not so real reality TV.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am so very sorry.

LEMON: He lied. So did the makers of this show. Does Hollywood really think we're that dumb? More importantly, are we that gullible.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: All right.

So there's no cushioning this one. Here you go.

Will anyone still believe in God in 50 years? An odd question. Maybe it is. But, here's why we're asking it.

Today, more people than ever are questioning God's existence. Five areas ago, 83 percent of people, 83 percent, under the age of 30, said they never doubted the existence of God. Now, that number is down to 68 percent.

So, joining me to talk about this is Linda Lascola who helps preachers openly question their faith and David Silverman who is the president of American Atheist Incorporated.

Thank you, guys, for joining us.

You cannot deny the numbers. More people are having doubts now. Could we be looking at a gradual phasing out of God over the next several decades?

I'm going to start with eye Miss Lascola.

LINDA LASCOLA, PRESIDENT, LASCOLA QUALITATIVE RESEARCH: The question again, please?

LEMON: Why are we seeing a doubt in the existence of God recently with so many, especially, young people now?

LASCOLA: Well, I can only speculate. The work I had done is conducting research with clergy who have lost their faith, clergy who no longer believe in the super natural.

And what they tell me, and these are generally older people, at least over 30. What they're telling me is that they'll really want to believe and they really did believed for many, many years. They dedicated their lives to believing. But at some point, the evidence outweighs their beliefs. And information are somewhat to more available not through the Internet and I know that's what young people are telling you. I just have - they are wrong to show earlier - today on CNN. And there is just a lot of information out there that wasn't available before. So, really, I think it's that simple.

LEMON: Is this a graduate phasing out, you believe, Mr. Silverman over the next several decades?

DAVID SILVERMAN, PRESIDENT, AMERICAN ATHEIST INCORPORATED: Yes. I do believe we're going to see not so gradual phasing out of religion over the next several decades. I don't think religion will go away completely, but I do think that in 50 years those few religious left will pitied and churches will be paying their fair share of taxes.

And I want to ender score what Linda said. It's all about communication and it is all about the Internet. That's what's causing it. Atheist used to be - used to feel like they were the only ones and that was repeated. It was my own experienced.

But nowadays, any atheist doctor, anybody who doubts can go on to facebook or my space or live journal or read it and find millions of atheists like them and they can trade information and they can learn quite a bit and that's why we're going to see such a dramatic decline in the future.

LEMON: The young people we hadn't earlier were echoing the same thoughts you are.

What about the political implications for all this? I want you to look at that and then answer if you think there are going to be close to 80 percent of the U.S. population considers themselves some form of Christian, 16 percent now say they are unaffiliated.

So, do you think we'll see more voters not really caring about the religious beliefs of their candidates as we've seen so much? We hear, you know, so much Ms. Lascola, of about the evangelical vote and this vote and Mr. Romney being a Mormon and whether or not the president is a Muslim and all that. Do you think that will matter to people eventually?

LASCOLA: Well, once again, speaking from the research I've conducted with clergy, what I've noticed among them politically is that wherever they start out, as they lose their super natural believes they become more liberal. If they're conservative they become more liberal. If they are already liberal, they stay liberal, not go the other way. Losing supernatural beliefs results in what I've seen in working with the clergy, in becoming more liberal.

LEMON: I want to play something for you from Stephen Prothero at the University -- Boston University. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHEN PROTERO, PROFESSOR OF RELIGION, BOSTON UNIVERSITY: Wow, two-thirds are saying they never even in their entire lives never debated the - have ever doubted the existence of God. I think most of the church people I know have some mixture of faith and doubt. So I don't really see evidence here of the fact that religion is going away. It seems religion is, perhaps, changing a little bit. But, you know, only about three percent of millenniums, people under 30 say that they are - said that they are atheist. So, I don't see a lot of evidence here for kind of secularization problem in America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: So he says there are still plenty of people who have never questioned God's existence and the number of atheists is low. So just because you question God's existence doesn't mean you don't believe, Mr. Silverman?

SILVERMAN: No, it doesn't. But it doesn't also necessarily mean that you do believe to say you are a Christian. A lot of people out there are cultural Christians, cultural Jews. And they check the Christian box just because their parents raised them as Christian, even though they don't believe in the man in the sky.

And I want to go back to your other question that you made to Linda about the politicians.

I think as we get along - as we grow as a nation, the atheists are looking at the political candidates and they're going to be looking at their religious beliefs with a very concerned eye. Because of you believe in a man in the sky without any evidence. If you believe your underwear is magic, what else will you believe? And are you qualified to run this country if you are?

This is something that we really have to ask. Because when it comes right down to it we need our politicians to be grounded and intelligent and educated and not victims of brainwashing if we can get that.

LEMON: We've been talking awe lot about the people who may not necessarily be believers. May not necessarily believe, Ms. Lascola, but what about the other people around them? Now if you don't believe people look at you for the most part because this is a country that believes in something, supernaturally as you, you guys have put it.

So, for the people around who are believers, how might they be perceived? Might they be perceived one day coming soon as atheists, are perceived now?

LASCOLA: I will leave that one to David. I really have no can't comment on that. I can't predict the future that way, I'm sorry.

LEMON: Involve?

SILVERMAN: Oh, I can.

LEMON: OK.

(LAUGHTER) LEMON: Listen. It's all -- it's not science. It's not rocket science. We're just talking about data as it progresses in the future if it continues along this vain. Sort of take a guess about where we're going or where we're moving.

SILVERMAN: Well, your question was will atheist be looked down on like believe - like believers will like down on like atheist or look down on now, no. Atheists hate because of the bigotry that comes from religion.

When if switches chose ran, the religious believers are the minority, atheists are not going to hate them. They are not going to be around them. They are going to feel sorry for them because when it comes down to it; religious believers are usually religious because they've been as heavily indoctrinated as children. Such that even intelligent well-meaning people the shut their mind off and believe in something ridiculous.

I think that's the general feelings as far as I'm concerned toward most atheists and I think that's what we'll see in the future.

However, I'll tell you that absolutely under no circumstances, there is any atheist organization that I run ever going to champion the elimination of religious beliefs. You're always going to have religious beliefs - religious freedom. You just are going to have to pay your fair share of taxes.

LEMON: David Silverman. Good answer to that question.

Linda, thank you as well.

I'm playing devil's advocate. Next, if God exists, prove it.

And also, this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Latino vote -

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- black vote --

LEMON: -- and on and on. But, what about the white people, the real deciders in the presidential election? Why isn't anybody talking about them? Guess what? We are.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: OK. Tonight, we're talking about the existence of God, the existence of God.

People say all the time that God has spoke on them. But it's not always so obvious.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Moses, this is the Lord thy God, commanding you to obey thy God. Do you hear me?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. I hear you. I hear you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nothing, forget it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Mel Brooks in "History of the World Part 1". Clearly, God doesn't speak to everyone like that. In fact, one can argue, no one has ever really had a documented recorded conversation with God.

In a word, proof here. Where's the proof that God exists at all? Time to play devil's advocate and joining me here now is Jay Bakker. He is a pastor of Revolution New Your City -- Revolution New York City. He is the son of Jim Bakker and Tammy Faye Messner.

Jay, what is your book again?

JAY BAKKER, PASTOR, REVOLUTION NYC: My book is called "Fall to Grace."

LEMON: "Fall to Grace." It is a great book. And you're actually writing another book about doubt, so I'm going to talk to you about that.

BAKKER: Yes, "Faith and Doubt."

LEMON: Yes. You saw the numbers. More people are now saying they question the existence of God. So, I'm going to lay it out there for you. What's the proof? Give me the proof, the physical proof that God exists.

BAKKER: Well I think the idea that God sees God as this being in the sky when, really, I think if you look at God as being like the grounded being. You know, God is the ground below us. Ground is in everything. And so, for me, I can't prove to you. And that's why it's called faith. You know, if it was a belief, if will be called belief. But for me, it's faith.

LEMON: Listen, a lot of people would say, of course I can prove to you that there is God. Look at the sun. Look at the moon. Look at the trees. How do you think the wind? And so, I was talking to people on social media. I said, give me physical proof that God exists and those were similar answers. And I said, is there a recorded conversation. Do you have any physical proof?

And so, really playing devil's advocate here, but there's no real physical proof, is there?

BAKKER: No. I mean, there is not. I mean, the sun is a pretty interesting idea just because it's amazing thing to study. But no, there's no physical proof. And the thing though, is that we have to realize that doubt is not opposite of faith. Doubt is actually an element of faith. So, you know, that was said by Paul Tillick. And I really have to agree with that. I think that you can't have one without the other. When you don't doubt, you don't grow. And you don't question thing. And I think it's important to question things.

I think faith is becoming something else. But I also do think that the church is going to shrink. I do think we are going to see less religious people because I think of all the partisan politics and how people have treated each other - I mean, who the church has treated the gay community. So, I think we will see - we definitely going to see a decline.

LEMON: And for those among us who consider themselves Christian, if you actually read the bible and you read the red parts, the guy who was Jesus said "doubt, doubt, doubt you should doubt everything."

BAKKER: Well, he doubted, you know, in the garden of Gethsemane and also on the cross. He said, God, why have you forsaken me? So we have a God that was forsaken by God. So in a way Christ was even an atheist at one point.

LEMON: Interesting. Pretty subversive things here.

Listen. I want to show you a quote from the renowned physicist Stephen Hawking. And he says, he recently told "the guardian" "I regard the brain as a computer which will stop working when its components fail. There's no heaven or after life or broken down computers. That is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark." And Hawking said he has come to this final conclusion. That's his final conclusion. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My view that the simplest explanation is that there is no God. No one created the universe. And no one directs our fate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Arguably, one of the greatest minds of our time. Do you think people are starting to see heaven as a fairy story?

BAKKER: Yes. I think so. I think it started when people started questioning hell. And now, you know, people question heaven. And I think what's important is that we don't live for life after death. You know what I mean? We have live before death and that we love each other and we focus on helping one another and necessarily, you don't have to have religion for that.

But for some of us it's a comfort. For some of us it's shown us a whole new world. Like I'm obsessed with the idea of grace, you know, because of the bible and the church.

LEMON: Hey, listen. I have to run. But I want to ask you, were not you writing -- why aren't you writing a book on doubt? BAKKER: Because it's something that I've dealt with over the past years. You know, I doubt just as much as anybody else does. And I think it's important to realize that doubt is part of faith. It is an element of faith and it's OK, to have.

So, I just want people out there -- I think so many people are feared over the years of doubting. But now that we have computers and internet and facebook and stuff, everybody is talking, everybody is able to share their doubts, which is a powerful thing and we should have ever the ability to tell someone they can't doubt or they shouldn't doubt. You can't do that anyway. You're going to doubt everything.

LEMON: I said to Jay during the break, I said Jay, I want some physical proof. You have to show me and he said, what should I do, make fire fly out of my hand? But he didn't do that.

BAKKER: No, it's all done.

LEMON: Jay Bakker, thank you. Appreciate it.

BAKKER: Thank you Don.

LEMON: All right.

Reality TV, is it really real? Is reality real from accusations that TV beauty competitions may not be on the up and up to shows where a contestant's biggest talent may be the ability to BS.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I really don't know right now what is reality, and what's not reality.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Are you being bamboozled by Hollywood?

Don't forget, stay connected. You can watch CNN live on your computer. You can do it from work. Just go to CNN.com/TV.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Is reality TV duping us? First we learn a singing soldier on "America's Got Talent" lied about his service record. Then a Miss U.S.A. contestant said the show was fixed despite assurances from Donald Trump, this contest is fair.

And I guess on HTD's "house Hunter" says, the show had her pretend to be interested in houses that were not even on the market.

OK. So, let's start to talk about this right now. Let's say we were duped in all of these instances. Does Hollywood really think we're that stupid?

Comedian Dean Obeidallah and commentator Ana Navarro. Here, Ana is now a contributor to CNN, congratulations, fancy lady. You're big- timing now.

ANA NAVARRO, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Thank you, Don.

LEMON: Thank you.

Are you guys, afraid? Before we get to that, I'm going to get struck by lightning for doubting the existence of God on national television.

DEAN OBEIDALLAH, POLITICAL COMEDIAN: My last thing has the word God in it. I'm the embodiment of the existence of God. My last name is in the servant of God. In English, it really means, so you're in big trouble.

NAVARRO: Don, I'm clinging to my guns and my religion.

(LAUGHTER)

LEMON: I'm glad.

NAVARRO: I'm not messing with God on national TV. You can be sure of that.

LEMON: OK. So listen, Ana, this is television. And should we be surprised by this? I remember the Kardashian wedding and most people felt that it was staged.

NAVARRO: Well, Don, I think most weddings are staged. There are rehearsals. There are all sorts of things. But listen, if you're getting paid millions of dollars for a wedding that a - and a marriage that's going to last a few months, go ahead stage anything you want. I think it's the most lucrative staging I've ever seen.

LEMON: Dean, how do you feel about this? I'll ask you a very similar question. Because it is television and even though it says "reality TV" most people lead pretty boring lives are you surprised that people, they would get duped?

OBEIDALLAH: You're exactly right, Don. Most people, not Don Lemon's of the world, but most people live boring lives. I mean, they should have a reality show about you called "the flavor of dawn" or "living the lemon live" or something fun like that because I think your life is different.

But to be honest, you have -- I was going to say complimenting you in a way I'll never do again.

You have to exhort make it hyper reality. I pitched around the reality show. I have friends who worked on reality shows. The signers see. They aren't scripted word for word. But the settings re scripted. They are going to say which episode exactly where they are going. You know, you put Snooki in a bar and give her jell-o shots, and you tell someone is smoking with her boyfriend, you know what is going to happen. That is how would script it.

So, it is not like it is organic reality show who just throws cameras up, let's see what happens. If there's they put it all together.

LEMON: Listen. Maybe I'm weird. I am not a fan of reality television. I don't watch it. I know who they are because I sit here and I have to report on it. But I'm not a big fan of reality television. I would much rather watch a scripted show that is well- written, that has character development. And so, does it really matter if these shows aren't real? I mean, you know, does it matter? Do we care, Ana?

NAVARRO: No. It doesn't matter because people aren't watching reality TV because it's reality. People are watching it because it's entertaining.

LEMON: Yes. But --

(CROSSTALK)

NAVARRO: Well, you know, what's real right now, like I'm sure, Don, for example, that Donald Trump's Miss America pageant, there may be questions about its credibility and reality. But I'm sure every contestant has a real birth certificate that's participating in that contest.

(LAUGHTER)

NAVARRO: You know, I just -- I would tell you that it's entertainment. Reality shows are 2012's new soap operas. The way we used to watch "Dallas" and "Dynasty" and watch all those soap operas before, these is the new soap operas of 2012. They are an escape. They are fun. You read them the way somebody would read, you know, "the Enquirer" or they're just pure entertainment.

And frankly, I think they're therapeutic because most of the people on those reality shows have such dysfunctional lives that all of a sudden you're watching and you're feeling tremendously adequate and normal.

LEMON: Yes. And the thing about the Miss USA pageant all that, remember, beauty pageants were the original talent shows on television. You would watch the Miss America pageant, Dean, and you would watch these young women, most of them would sing or dance or play the piano or something and now it's evolved into this.

But I'm wondering about when you hear from, you know, the soldier who was apparently hurt and all that. Do you think that this will hurt reality shows when people start to learn more about this? Will people really be so heartbroken that they won't watch anymore?

OBEIDALLAH: I think people watch it for the entertainment value. That's why they watch professional wrestling. It is not for the sport, just the entertainment value. This isn't like in the '50s where there was actual corruption going, people were being teed (ph) off. You know, they were giving answers to keep the ratings up because they liked the winner.

It's not like that. It's for fun. We watch it to escape and have a good time. So, it is scripted I think. Here's on MTV turn out a lot of that was scripted. It happens. As long as it is fun, we are enjoying it. That is all that matters.

You know, we need an escape from real reality by watching others, fake reality.

LEMON: I would say you are right. Listen, I have to say I was watching TMZ, the other day, which is the entertainment show I like to watch because they actually make fun of all of that instead of going this new movie coming out -- they don't take it seriously.

And they were saying, enough of the housewives already. I'm done. It's like the housewife of -- there is a housewife of every city, every major city in the country over it.

OBEIDALLAH: It's a big thing, though. You know, that's one of the shows people love. That's it.

People want to see this glamorous life, Don. That's why a reality show is about you. I'm going to pitch it tomorrow. I'm going to call my friends in Hollywood, let's see if we can make it happen.

LEMON: Whatever, Dean.

NAVARRO: Well, you know, Don.

OBEIDALLAH: Come on. I'm trying to help you, Don.

NAVARRO: Dean suggested it and in an op-ed this week that maybe we should have candidates cussing during debates, something , you know, using swear words like a debate on HBO or maybe we should have candidates doing reality shows and the American public would be far more interested in these elections.

LEMON: We'd probably get more people turning out to vote if we did it that way.

NAVARRO: It would be river vetting to see a show of Michelle telling Obama to eat his green beans and of Mitt Romney putting down some Yoo Hoos.

LEMON: Thank you very much.

Speaking of Mitt Romney, how Mitt Romney and President Obama are overlooking white people next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: All right. Here we go.

So, what about the white people? It sounds funny to say that but when was the last time you heard Mitt Romney or President Obama make a direct appeal to white folks. We know all about the political appeals to Hispanics. Come on, did you see Friday's immigration announcement? And Republican's can't stop talking about Senator Marco Rubio, a Cuban American and potential Romney running mate. And as for the black vote, well, let's be honest, the president has it covered but white still dominate at the polls. They made up almost 75 percent of our voters four years ago. Obama got 43 percent of them. John McCain got more. John McCain got 55 percent of the white vote.

Let's bring in now, CNN contributor Ana Navarro and Steven Moore of the "Wall Street Journal."

So, Steven, I have to ask you a question that someone asked you during the break. How do you feel being the token white guy on the show?

(LAUGHTER)

STEPHEN MOORE, WALL STREET JOURNAL EDITORIAL PAGE: Yes. I'm the minority on the show. Great to be on your show, Don. Thanks for having me.

LEMON: So, Ana, why no love for white voters in this campaign?

NAVARRO: I think there's plenty of love for white voters. You have Mitt Romney doing a bus tour right now through New Hampshire, through Ohio, through Pennsylvania. I got to tell you, Don, I've within to New Hampshire. I've been to Ohio. And there are a lot of white people there.

MOORE: So, I think they're getting plenty of love. They are - and it's a good voting group for Republicans. We actually have a white male gap that Obama has got to overcome.

LEMON: Yes. And that's why we're talking about this and trust me, I was at the Iowa state fair and so your point is well taken there, Ana Navarro.

Stephen, a new Gallup survey finds that President pulling in just 38 percent support among white voters. Is that a white voter problem? You wrote about that this week, didn't you?

MOORE: Yes, I did. It is a big problem for President Obama. And, you know, I wrote this story, Don, because as you said at the outset of the show, everybody talks about the Latino vote and the black vote and the senior vote and the soccer mom vote. But nobody ravel really looks very closely at the biggest voter bloc of all which is the still white. It is about 70 to 75 percent of the electorate.

And when I started to kind a looked at those numbers in the polling, 'lo and behold it shows, that Barack Obama does have a white voter problem that's worse than it was in 2008.

And let me say this. I actually believe that there's no question that in 2008 that Barack Obama's race was actually an asset. Americans loved the idea of electing the first black president. I think that really helped him in the election. It was cool to be for Barack Obama. It's a little bit of a problem now -- let me put it this way. It's not as big of an asset now as then because Barack Obama has a record to run on. And so you do have more skepticism of white voters. By the way, the polling also shows that Barack Obama is doing unbelievably well with black voters. I have seen polls as high as 94 to 95 percent of the black vote for Barack Obama.

LEMON: Yes. But the interesting thing time is will the black electorate be as passionate about going to the polls as they were the last time. And if that doesn't happen then, I think it's going to pose a big challenge for President Obama.

But it's interesting, Ana, and Stephen, because last time you would think that if Barack Obama is president of the United States, you would think that he garnered most of the white vote, and I showed, he didn't. John McCain did.

So Stephen, I want to also talk about something that you mentioned a little bit earlier. You talked about you know, about people last time were proud to go to the polls and vote with the idea of a black president.

MOORE: Sure.

LEMON: Do you think some liberals have white guilt, and I'm just being honest because we talked about this. And when they go into the polls this time, they may be reluctant to deny the first black president a second term?

MOORE: I think there's a little bit of that. I think no question about - look, the American people like Barack Obama. Not just because of his race and being the first black president. But he's just a likable person.

LEMON: But does the economy outweigh that though?

MOORE: Yes. Definitely it does. And I think that's the reason that Barack Obama has a white voter problem. Because, you know, where the problem is most severe and I looked at the kind of cross- tabulations in this polling data. There is a kind of white middle class anxiety out there and a lot of white middle class voters did vote for Barack Obama in 2008. But they're feeling the stress in their pocket books. They are feeling financial strain. They know a family member that doesn't have a job and yes, I think you put your finger on it. That the economic issues is now are tromping these issues of well, it's cool to be for Barack Obama.

LEMON: Yes. OK. So, Ana?

NAVARRO: I think - you know, Don, I think it's a lot less about race, I think than it is about history.

Four years ago Obama was a phenomenon. Obama was a historical moment, a historical opportunity. The thing is, you can only make history once and he's made it. So now he's no longer the historical figure. He's the gray-haired president who's got a four-year record that he has to defend and contend with.

And so, we are talking about two completely different Barack Obama's. He's not less black or more black today than he was four years ago. And it's not about that issue. It's the historical components that I think are the determining factor.

LEMON: Great conversation.

MOORE: The one last point.

LEMON: Go ahead.

MOORE: Barack Obama does have to get 40 percent of the white voters. How it for him to go over the finish line if he doesn't get at least 4 out of 10, and as you said right now, he's is about 38 percent. So he has some work to do.

LEMON: And there's a period on this particular segment and a great point.

Thank you, Stephen. Thank you, Ana.

MOORE: Thank you.

NAVARRO: Thank you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I said, enough already.

LEMON: From lawmakers --

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The reforms I'm proposing would not apply to those here illegally.

LEMON: To reporters --

OBAMA: Excuse me, sir. It's not time for questions, sorry.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you going to take questions?

OBAMA: Not while I'm speaking.

LEMON: What is it about this president that makes some people so darn angry?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: I didn't ask for an argument. I'm answering your question. It is the right thing to do for the American people and here's why. Here's the reason, because these young people are going to make extraordinary contributions and are already making contributions to our society.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Really? Interrupting the presidential announcement in the White House Rose Garden?

I know reporters be pushy, but come on. No one can remember this ever happening before.

I want to bring in Dean Obeidallah and Anan Navarro.

Anna, remember that congressman we called Obama live during the joint session of congress? Now, there is this. And so, I'm wondering, what is there about this President Obama that just angry to people so much?

NAVARRO: I don't think it's anything about Obama specifically, Don. We've become a very polarized society, politically. You all remember that people really detested George W. Bush as well. I remember my Democrats friend.

So, I just think that it has become -- politics has become emotional-laden and it has becoming increasingly polarized. And -- but I do think that this is a rare case and it's a case that's completely inappropriate.

And you know, to tell you the truth, maybe Obama needs to get heckled more often because he showed such conviction and emotion and anger and he tend to be somewhat emotionally aloof sometimes. I thought it made him look actually quite good.

LEMON: I want to -- I get your point. I want to laugh about it but when it happened as we were watching it in the newsroom and people in the control room, even our reporters in the Rose Garden said they were stunned by the incivility and the lack of respect.

NAVARRO: Well, it was completely impolite. And, you know, you have to respect the president of the United States. Regardless of who it is and the reason you're respecting him is because of his position and what he represents. He is representing our entire country. Whether you like him or are not the issue. It's the fact that he represents all of us. And the position itself carries respect and should be respected.

LEMON: OK. So, Dean, I know that you wrote about this. And I know that you were -- you're very upset by it so I'll ask you.

OBEIDALLAH: Yes.

LEMON: Because everyone has been dancing around it. I saw many people on a number of different net works dance around it and I saw some people just hone in on it right after.

Was it on this network and they said -- did this guy feel he could do this because the president is black? And I will ask you that question. OBEIDALLAH: You know, I think there's a campaign against President Obama that I've never seen. It's not about what happened to President Bush. This is a campaign to delegitimize the presidency. And to me, I think race is a component. I'm not saying that Neil Monroe, the reporter who yelled at a question, is racist.

I'm not saying people are against the policies of President Obama are racists, saying people who are saying that President Obama is in "other." He's not American like the rest of us. He wasn't born here. I don't believe his college education. He's a Muslim. To me there's a racial component that we've never seen before. And it angers me to know because he's the president of the United States, not a democratic president and not a Republican president like George Bush, the president of the United States of America and he gets deserves the same respect as any other president and having a congressman yell "you're lying" during a joint session of congress, no one has ever done that, having a conservative reporter yell out and heck at president twice. I'm a comedian. You heckle me once, it's a mistake. Heckle me twice and it's an agenda. This man, Neil Monroe, had an agenda. He should have been deported.

LEMON: Here's the thing I think is interesting. Having being in the workforce and working with -- I grew up in a family of all women so I know the plight of women and how they are sometimes deemed as "other." And women in the workplace don't get respect. And men will question women in a way that they won't question men.

And I think that there is an undercurrent, the same thing that's happening with the president. Where people may not be out and out racist, they don't treat him with the same respect that they would treat a white man in that position and that is simply because of the way we look at black or brown people in this country. It is no different than the way we deem some women, look at some women in this country.

OBEIDALLAH: Well, there's been a history of discrimination against blacks. I don't have to go through. But yet, we have to have the civil rights act, the voting rights act, a voting rights' act. We have the National Guard accompany black students to go with white students in the south.

And today, just today, a Republican host in Arizona, called President Obama the first monkey president. That's the term he used, the first monkey president. So, interestingly, race is involved and you are lying to yourself.

And again, I'm not saying people against the policy of President Obama. There are plenty of you could be against. These people are -- this campaign of de-legitimatization is clearly about, to me, there is a racial component. Not only race, but it is there and the only way we are going to heal, the only way we get through this, is to talk about it honestly.

LEMON: You are saying, just talk about it, to admit that you have a problem and then deal with it.

OBEIDALLAH: Work on its together. We'll have to stand together.

LEMON: We got to go. We got to run. That is got to have this. That's the last of it, only because we're out of time.

OK. I'm Sorry, guys. Now this --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: I have not been on roller skates since high school. So why am I risking my life to do it? Because anything is possible is possible in "Xanadu."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: OK. That is me on roller skate. We are going to take you behind the scenes of the box office flop that's now a Broadway smash that lost my mind.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: More of the stories you are talking about just a moment. But first, the news you need to know right now.

CNN has just learned that Travis Baumgartner is in police custody no longer on the run for murder. He is the man believed to have killed and robbed three of his co-workers yesterday in Canada. All of them security guards hauling cash in an armored car. And we're told the police captured Baumgartner tonight trying to cross from Canada into Washington State.

All right. It is time to let our hair down.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYING)

LEMON: All right. That was me hanging with the cast from the musical "Rock of Ages." By the way, the movie in theater this is weekend. Now, -- that's right now, now that we're here in Xanadu. In case you missed it, we are going to talk about that coming up.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LEO MCCARTHY, COMMUNITY CRUSADER: October 27th, 2007, was a beautiful autumn day. Mariah with was her two friends. I didn't know the last time I kissed her it would have been my last time. Later that night, they were walking down this path when an underage drunk driver swerved off the road and hit them and Mariah landed here. She died that night. They were only a block away from my house.

Mariah was only 14 and I'm thinking, how did this happen? It is so preventable!

My name is Leo McCarthy. I give kids tools to stay away from drinking. Our state has been notoriously top five in drinking and driving fatalities in the country. The drinking culture is a sickle cal disease that we allow to continue.

Mariah's challenges, be the first generation of you, kids, to not drink.

In the eulogy I said, if you stick with me, for four years, don't use alcohol, don't use illicit drugs, I'll be there with a bunch of other people to give you money and we'll go to a post secondary school.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I promise not to drink until I'm 21.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I promise not to get into a car with someone who has been drinking.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I promise to give back to my community.

MCCARTHY: I think Mariah's challenge is something that makes people think a little bit more to say, we can be better.

Mariah is forever 14. I can't get her back. But I can help other parents keep their kids safe. If we save one child, we save a generation.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Last time a covered a Broadway show, it kind a lost my mind. Here it is.

(VIDE CLIP PLAYING)

LEMON: What a difference a year makes. That was me in all my 1980s hair glory covering the musical "Rock of Ages."

This year, I covered another '80s musical, a Broadway smash that has become a cold classic, not bad for a musical based on a movie that bombed.

Now, pull up those neon two socks, lace up your roller skates and a just your head bands, we're going back in time to the '80s with the cast of "Xanadu."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: How do you feel like being on roller skates and in a theater, everyone is so close?

JORDAN CRAIG, CAST MEMBER, XANADU: It's like being in a living room. Yes, it is. But it is got to be exciting for the audience members to be that close to the action.

LINDSEY ARCHER, CAST MEMBER, XANADU: We want them to be part of the party so having them this close they'll really do get to interact with us.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I mean I would like to open a roller disco.

LEMON: You fall down in the middle of the play? CRAIG: No. I have never actually fallen down a performance so it is --

LEMON: Down, down, down in front.

LEMON: Do they sing along with you?

CRAIG: Absolutely.

LEMON: On any of the songs?

ARCHER: Every once in a while you'll see people sing along or when a song starts you'll hear "yes." I love being a part of "Xanadu." It's just - just when everyone is together and we're all on skates --

LEMON: Nice, I love that song. That's great

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Oh, my, God, I can look up, now?

All right. Moving on --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: And the video of the week that won't send you running.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: This next clip had us all holding our breath and you have to stop to watch this, whatever you're doing. This video from inside a police cruiser shows the violent end of a police chase and look closely as SUV flips over a toddler strung from the vehicle, yes, drowned, even the police were stunned. The child had only minor injuries though. This has to be the luckiest moment of the week.

So, besides the fact that his girl actually survived this horrific crash, why is a toddler involved in a police chase anyway? The girl was riding in a car with a group of teens accused of being part of an armed robbery. Two of the teens are the girl's parents. Goodness. I always say, just because you have kids, doesn't mean you should. From the CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Don Lemon. Thanks for watching.