Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Herman Cain Discusses CainTV.com; Despite Bailout, Not All Rust Belt Voters Backing Obama
Aired July 05, 2012 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DON LEMON, ANCHOR, "CNN NEWSROOM": ... made the announcement official on Twitter with this message. "Happy birthday, America. More good news. Camilla and I are expecting our third child. God bless. Just keep living."
Them's some good of advice. How's that for English for a journalist?
I'm Don Lemon. Thanks for joining us. "CNN Newsroom" continues with my pal, Kyra Phillips. Take it away, Kyra.
KYRA PHILLIPS, ANCHOR, "CNN NEWSROOM": Don, thanks so much. Hello, everyone. I'm Kyra Phillips. It's 11:00 on the East Coast, 8:00 on the West.
What could have saved the 228 people on an Air France flight that plunged into the ocean? New answers today on that 2009 tragedy.
A deadly police beating one year ago in Fullerton, California, back in the headlines. What's next in the Kelly Thomas saga?
Also this hour, Herman Cain in the house to tell us all about his new project and share his one-of-a-kind insights on today's headlines.
First, though, the road to the White House has always run through Ohio, so President Obama, of course, hitting the road in Ohio. Live pictures right now. The tarmac in Toledo.
Soon, he'll be on a bus for a two-day tour dubbed "Betting on America." First stop? The Walcott House Museum in Maumee. You'll see that event live at 40 past the hour give or take.
In the meantime, let's bring in CNN's Dan Lothian who's already there. So, Dan, this is actually the president's first bus tour of the year, right?
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: It is. The president, as you might recall, has done two other bus tours, but those were, as the White House described them, official bus tours.
So this one is the first one of his campaign and the focus will be on the economy, specifically, getting Americans back to work. and today the president is expected to focus on two things. First of all, what he's done to stabilize the economy, to try and turn things around, but also what his administration has done to bail out the auto industry.
That is key to this region that has depended so heavily on the auto industry and also manufacturing big here. So the president will talk about investments in manufacturing and how he's pushing for tax incentives for those companies that have moved jobs overseas to bring them back here to the U.S., Kyra.
PHILLIPS: And he's leading by several points right now if you look at the Quinnipiac polls, yes, in Ohio and Pennsylvania?
LOTHIAN: That's right. He's -- you know, these are two key battleground states that the president won in 2008. It's pretty tight still, very competitive, but here in the state of Ohio, the president leading by about nine points in the most recent poll. In Pennsylvania, leading by about six points.
So both sides are pushing very hard for all voters, specifically independent voters, but here on this bus tour, the president going after those blue collar, those working-class voters that are critical to both campaigns.
PHILLIPS: All right. Dan Lothian, thanks so much.
And remember, the president is due to speak about 11:40 a.m. Eastern. You'll hear him live here in the "CNN Newsroom."
Well, the pre-buttals have started already. The Republican governor of Louisiana and former governor of Minnesota are tracing the president's route as Mitt Romney's surrogates. Bobby Jindal and Tim Pawlenty call their tour "The Middle Class Promise Gap Tour."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOVERNOR BOBBY JINDAL (R), LOUISIANA: This president has been bad for America. He's been bad for Ohio. Here in Ohio, over 40,000 fewer jobs than when he took office. Average income has gone down $3,000.
The list goes on and on and on, but the bottom line is this. We've had enough of the broken promises. If you want good-paying jobs in Ohio, if you want a growing economy in America, we need to elect Mitt Romney.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Well, the two are due in Parma next hour. Romney himself remains on a working vacation in New Hampshire.
With the Olympics just a few weeks away, police in London are taking no chances and, today they arrested five men and a woman in separate areas of London. The six are suspected of being part of a possible terror plot with potential targets in the U.K.
CNN's Nic Robertson on this out of London. So what more do we know, Nic? NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the police are saying it was an intelligence-lead operation, that counter- terrorism police were involved, that the arrests are related to the possibility of terrorism offenses.
Although, the police are saying that this wasn't directly related to any threat against the Olympics and there's an indication here that the police have been watching this group for some time. They didn't say how long, but they've been watching them for a while and decided that this was a good time, the right opportunity, to round them up.
But this comes against the backdrop of other arrests, counterterrorism arrests, in the last few weeks and other things that the police are doing to minimize the terror threat around the Olympics.
So it really gives the impression here that the police are not taking any chances whatsoever right now, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: So tell us more about these individuals that were arrested and what you know about their background, where they came from, a little more detail.
ROBERTSON: We don't have a huge amount of details. Six of them, one of them was a woman. The three were arrested in the west of London in the Ealing-area. Three were arrested in the Newham-area in the east of London close to where the Olympics will be.
They were aged between 18 and 30, but we don't have a lot more information. The police have taken them in for questioning. The police say that they're now searching eight residential premises and one business premise to see what they can discover there, which really gives the impression that this was -- whatever these people were involved in, there was a complexity to it and the police were already well across that complexity and we've seen the police and intelligence officials here tracking terror suspects before they've gone into business premises, before when they've been tracking these individuals and found equipment and things stored there.
So we don't know that that's the case this time, but it's beginning to build that kind of picture, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right. Nic Robertson reporting for us out of London. Nic, thanks.
Power is slowly being restored across the storm-ravaged Mid- Atlantic now. At one point, about 2 million people were actually in the dark.
This is what Washington's massive power outages looked like from space, extensive blackouts in Washington and Baltimore. You can see the images.
But as power is switched on for many people today, suffering still continues for half a million people without lights or air conditioning. Most of them in West Virginia where residents are now experiencing food short averages as well.
People and stores there have been eating anything in their freezers and tossing out tons of spoiled food.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: And just a quick note for those of you heading out the door. You can continue watching CNN from your mobile phone or, if you're leading to work, you can also watch CNN live from your desktop. Just go to CNN.com/TV.
Well, the choices pilots made and did not make as they struggled with confusing technical problems at 38,000 feet, that's the focus of today's final report of a crash of an Air France jetliner that killed all 228 people on board. Flight 447 was en route to Paris from Brazil when it plunged into the ocean three years ago.
Richard Quest has been following this story for us out of London. So, Richard, what do we know at this point with regard to what exactly went wrong?
RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Right. This is the report. It is some 206-pages long and it comes on the back of three other interim reports and now we have an absolutely crystal- clear view of what took place.
We know that the speed-sensor failed and that was bad, but by no means catastrophic. Instead, it was the actions of the pilot flying, the co-pilot in the right-hand seat, what the report says was the inappropriate pilot inputs that ultimately doomed the plane.
He raised the nose. The speed got off. And this is the crucial part, though. The two pilots flying, two co-pilots, it says here, the crew progressively became destructed. There was a failure to understand the situation and the apparent difficulties of flying the plane at high altitude in turbulence.
So they were faced -- and it's so easy in the cold light of day for you and I to be sitting here, but what this report is all about is not about the plane. It's not about the technical fault. It's about the training, the education, and the relationship between the crew members in this particular air crash.
PHILLIPS: So, Richard, how experienced were those pilots?
QUEST: The captain was very experienced. The first senior officer -- first officer was experienced. The pilot flying was not particularly experienced. He was 32. He had 800 hours on type. That should have been sufficient.
What this was was that it's not that they couldn't fly a plane. There's a huge difference between flying a plane at 200 or 300 miles an hour, 10,000 feet, flying it by hand with a joystick and flying it by hand at 35,000 feet at 500 or 600 miles an hour.
And what they were suddenly faced with was what was called a surprise element. They were suddenly faced with having to manually fly the plane in conditions that they were not trained for. They are now -- pilots across the world are now getting training in those environment because it's so much more challenging at high altitude and high speed.
This crash has been a seminal moment. The industry has had to had to look at training and what needs to happen next.
PHILLIPS: So you also mentioned -- and I wrote this down -- the speed sensors actually gave invalid readings. So how did that happen and are they still being used today?
PHILLIPS: Yes. I mean, they have changed. Basically, they flew through super-cooled air and super-ice crystals. But that's -- you know, that's called an unreliable -- a UAS.
Pilots train for it at low altitude. They're familiar that it can happen at high altitude, but losing your air speed, if you're going down the interstate and your speedometer suddenly goes to zero, you don't suddenly think the car's about to crash. You respond accordingly.
And what this report tells us clearly is that they didn't follow the procedures they should have done.
PHILLIPS: I can't even imagine what those final moments were like. I know they've been detailed.
QUEST: You don't want to. You don't want to.
PHILLIPS: What have we learned and, you know, what about safety recommendations? What have been -- what are they now? What's been implemented?
QUEST: Twenty-five safety recommendations. They're already being put in place, things like training for high altitude, training for stalls practice. The most important one is a look at the total training and education of pilots for these extreme conditions and for improving the relationship between when you have two first officers flying the aircraft.
PHILLIPS: Richard Quest out of London for us. Richard, thanks so much.
Japan's nuclear disaster was man-made and could have been avoided. That's the conclusion of a just released report by an independent parliamentary investigation. It slammed the government for its close ties to the nuclear industry and Japanese cultural traditions where people don't question authority.
But much of the report focused what it called the government's flawed response in the hours, days, and weeks that followed that disaster.
You'll recall that the Fukushima nuclear disaster was triggered by that deadly earthquake and tsunami. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Well, it started with a call to police one year ago today. The report? A man was looking into windows and pulling on handles of parked cars. Then six Fullerton, California, police officers went to the scene. Here's what happened.
We warn you. The video you're about to see is extremely disturbing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KELLY THOMAS, POLICE BEATING VICTIM: Dad! Dad!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's still going to fight.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's still fighting. dude.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Relax. Relax.
THOMAS: Daddy. Daddy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Relax.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.
THOMAS: Daddy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's this guy's name?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We don't even know. We're trying to get it.
THOMAS: Daddy. Oh.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Relax. Relax.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Well, five days later, that man, 37-year-old Kelly Thomas, homeless and schizophrenic, was dead and two of those officers will stand trial in his death. Both Officer Manuel Ramos and Corporal Jay Cicinelli are charged with involuntary manslaughter and Ramos also faces a second-degree murder charge.
As for the other four officers, they were put on paid administrative leave, but were not charged. Here's how Thomas's family attorney felt about that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GARO MARDIROSSIAN, THOMAS FAMILY ATTORNEY: They didn't take steps to prevent these rogue, lawless officers from beating Kelly to death, but at the very most, they took part in some of the beating.
But it's unclear as to whether they knew that Kelly was not resisting or that Kelly was someone that they should not be striking.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Now, the voice of an outraged community demanding accountability of leadership in the year since the beating has been so loud that it actually brought down top city leaders. Three councilmen were ousted in a major recall election, a huge political upset in the wake of this case.
And for Kelly's father, Ron, the loss of his son has brought a new mission in his life -- to change the way people treat and think about those who suffer from mental illness.
He spoke with me in May and responded to those who've accused him of not being there for his son.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RON THOMAS, KELLY THOMAS' FATHER: For those who say where were you, they have no idea what I've been through with Kelly and the trials, tribulations of dealing with somebody, working with somebody with a mental illness such as his.
It's a tremendous amount of work and effort, but you can tell, certainly by Kelly's last words, the relationship that we had. We were very, very close.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: And today, Ron Thomas plans to file a lawsuit. Details of that along with new evidence in the case coming in a news conference along with his attorney this afternoon.
We've been following this story very closely over the past year and will continue to do so, bringing you the latest as we hear it.
And in Florida at any moment now, a judge could decide already whether or not to let the killer of Trayvon Martin go free for a second time. George Zimmerman and his wife allegedly lied to the court about how much money they had when the judge first set Zimmerman's bail amount. He's been back in jail ever since.
He's admitted to shooting and killing 17-year-old Trayvon Martin during a scuffle in February. Zimmerman approached the teen as he was heading to his father's house in a gated community in Sanford, Florida, near Orlando.
Zimmerman was a volunteer watchman who says he shot Trayvon in self-defense.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: A Florida lifeguard has been fired after saving a man's life. You heard me right. Tomas Lopez says he was let go from his job at Hallandale Beach when he went beyond the area of the beach he was responsible for to rescue a man who was drowning Lopez says that several of the beach's lifeguards have quit in protest saying they would have done the same thing. Lopez will be on CNN tonight, 7:00 Eastern on Erin Burnett's "Out-Front."
London has a new landmark just in time for the Olympic season. The Shard will open to the public today as Europe's new tallest building. Rising more than 1,000 feet about the River Thames, it's 95 floors have enough for apartments, offices, a five-star hotel and, of course, several restaurants.
Design and construction for the new skyscraper took 12 years and cost 1.2 billion pounds. That's about $2.3 billion, by the way.
He's already defied some of the expectations and now Oscar Pistorius is headed to the Olympics. Known by some as "The Blade Runner," the double amputee will compete in the individual 400-meter and the 4-by-4 relay, representing his home country of South Africa.
And although he's a four-time Paralympic gold medalist, he will be the first double amputee to run track in the able-bodied Olympics. He lost his legs when he was 11-months old after suffering from a bone defect.
Now, for today's "Travel Insider." If you have young kids and you're looking for something educational to do this summer, you may want to check out NatureQuest at the Fernbank Museum of Natural History in Atlanta.
CNN associate producer AnneClaire Stapleton took her son there and has an insider's look at the exhibit.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANNECLAIRE STAPLETON, CNN ASSOCIATE PRODUCER: As the mother of a young child I'm always looking for something fun to do. Nature Quest, that's our spot.
NatureQuest opened in March of 2011 with more than 7,000-square feet of interactive educational things to do and see. The exhibit has the feel of a playground and the educational tools of a classroom.
Every nook and cranny offers children a new adventure. Unlike traditional museums, at NatureQuest, children are challenged from self-discovery and explore and be adventurous in a hands-on environment just like real scientists.
With over 100 interactive encounters to choose from, my son's favorites, clubhouses built in a tree and hidden tunnels with fossils and rushes that send fish swimming when little feet step on it.
CHRISTINA BEAN, VICE PRESIDENT OF EDUCATION, FERNBAK MUSEUM: NatureQuest is this amazingly fun world that's scientifically realistic. You can explore from the ocean to the top of the mountains and. everywhere you look, there's something to do. Everywhere you look, there's something to find. STAPLETON: What does a 2-year-old care about science? Not much, but my son has so much fun exploring he doesn't realize his brain is learning too.
AnneClaire Stapleton, CNN, Atlanta.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: More than 16,000 people killed in the revolt against Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad. Now 16,700 to be exact since the uprising started nearly 16 months ago. That's according to a Syrian dissident group.
But the word from Assad, well, that the revolt has failed. Ivan Watson is monitoring still all of the developments for us there out of Istanbul. Ivan, what do you make of Assad's remarks? Let's start there?
IVAN WATSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, he gave a long interview to this Turkish newspaper right here and the interview's been serialized over three days.
And basically throughout this discussion, he's calling the most serious challenge to his family's more than 40 years of rule over Syria, basically a foreign conspiracy, which is something that his government has said from the beginning.
He said that foreign powers that wanted to divide Syria tried to copy the models in Tunisia and in Egypt of popular uprising, that people were paying demonstrators, he claims, $10 to come out in the streets and demonstrate against his government and now that price has gone up to $50 a person to come out and protest against him.
He's accusing neighboring governments like Turkey and the U.S. of sending arms and money to what he calls terrorists, Islamic terrorists to attack his government, and when asked about the enormous array of human rights abuses, allegations against him and his government, he says there may be a few mistakes made, but you can't accuse the whole government of crimes against humanity as the United Nations repeatedly has.
He claims the United Nations is dominated by governments like the U.S., which are seeking his downfall in the first place.
So a classic gathering of denial and that is despite the fact -- and I have to warn viewers, this is a very graphic video we're going to show -- despite the fact that we see videos similar to this of atrocities, of torture, of a man being beaten by what appear to be Syrian soldiers. These kind of videos coming out on YouTube day after day after day where you have these soldiers beating a man and saying, "This is the freedom you want, you dog? Who is your god? You want to fight the Alawites," which is the same sect as Bashar al Assad? "You're a dog." We see evidence like this every day. It's been compiled by Human Rights Watch and the United Nations, who accuse this government of crimes against humanity. And he's just denying all of that. PHILLIPS: Ivan, how can Assad sit there and say a few mistakes after we have watched this video over and over again. You have told of stories where you've sat down with young kids saying that they've had their fingernails pulled out.
WATSON: I -- I don't know. I guess he's a politician.
PHILLIPS: Ha. Plain and simple.
Ivan Watson out of Istanbul. We appreciate you staying on this story, and we will continue to talk to you about it on a regular basis.
WikiLeaks doing it again. This time, publishing more than two million e-mails from Syrian politicians, government ministries, and companies dating back six years. WikiLeaks say the e-mails shed a light on the inner workings of the Syrian government, but also reveal how the West and Western companies say one thing and do another. The move comes as founder, Julian Assange, is fighting extradition from Britain to Sweden where he faces charges of alleged rape and sex crimes. He denies all of those allegations.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Well, his presidential bid is long past. He endorsed his former opponent, Mitt Romney, but Herman Cain still has a lot to say, and now he has a whole new place to say it. Welcome to CainTV. It's actually a web site, launched on Independence Day. And if you think you know what you'll find there, trust me, you don't. There's politics, sure, but also religion, technology, entertainment, inspiration, heck, even cooking. There's a wide array of contributors, but no mistaking who speaks for all.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HERMAN CAIN, (R), FORMER GODFATHER'S PIZZA CEO & FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The Tea Party, myself, and other pro- Constitution Americans believe in the Second Amendment. And as Benjamin Franklin once said, "Democracy is two wolves and a lamb, voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well armed lamb contesting the vote." Let's give a lamb a gun.
I'm Herman Cain. We are not stupid.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: And Herman Cain joins me live here in the studio.
(LAUGHTER)
I love how you watch yourself and you just laugh.
CAIN: Look, this is a unique way of talking about how I support the Second Amendment. And a lot of people -- you know, the whole idea is do it in a different, sometimes fun way. It's not overtly political, but it is covertly conservative. PHILLIPS: OK. Interesting way to put it. When I saw this, I saw segments about pursuing the American dream.
CAIN: Yes.
PHILLIPS: I saw your twisted sense of humor. I definitely saw the, at times, wacky side to Herman Cain. You're definitely passionate about certain things.
CAIN: Yes.
PHILLIPS: What do you want to accomplish with this?
CAIN: Here's what I want to accomplish. We need a voice that resonates with the American people. That was the biggest takeaway that I got from my presidential run. People told me that all the time. And then, after I dropped out of the race, people continued to say to me, please, don't be silent, don't let your voice go away, and certainly continue to be bold and unique in how you get the message over. Because one of the things that this country suffers from is too many people are apathetic or they have tuned out of what's going on. And people need to be better informed. That's really one of the objectives of creating that Internet platform, CainTV.com.
PHILLIPS: You've played off that, they think we're stupid, they think we're stupid. I took a little part of that for the intro because, of course, I see that it grabs my attention. I listen to you. I'm wondering, do you think we're stupid?
CAIN: I think too many are stupid, because many don't challenge some of the information our leaders giving or say to us. And I'm trying to wake people up. And that is basically to say don't take some of the leaders at face value for some of the things that they say because this is how a society can go down a very dangerous road. And so it might sound harsh, but it is waking some people up.
PHILLIPS: You say on the web site there is something for everybody.
CAIN: Yes.
PHILLIPS: There is definitely something for everybody. I want to roll a part from "Street Smarts," Louis Brown.
CAIN: Yes.
PHILLIPS: You have picked a very interesting individual. I'm going ask you about that in a second. You asked him, at this point, about Middle East peace. Let's roll it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LOUIS BROWN, STREET SMARTS: They're not fighting over no land in the Gaza strip. They're not fighting over, you know, autonomy. They're not fighting over none of that. They're fighting over who's god's favorites, because they're brothers. And until daddy takes a pout and smacks that as and makes them get along, you ain't never going to have no peace.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: So Louis, right now, has two episodes on your web site.
CAIN: Yes.
PHILLIPS: You call it "Street Smarts."
CAIN: Yes.
PHILLIPS: First of all, how did you find him?
CAIN: One of my producers and videographers, Chris Berguard (ph), lives in California. He just happened to be walking down the street one day, came across Louis, and asked Louis, did he want to say something and put it on film, and Louis said yes. And he had an opinion on some things that really sort of shocked Chris. And he said, well, why don't we see what's on his mind. Even though he is a homeless person, that doesn't mean that he is clueless. He probably knows more about world issues and what's going on than a lot of people who think that they know what's going on.
Now, I have one sad thing to say about Louis. Louis passed away just last week, unexpectedly. So we only have about three episodes with Louis, but we were going to continue. Unfortunately, Chris went back to shoot another episode and talked to some of his friends and found that he unfortunately had passed of a heart attack.
PHILLIPS: Interesting. I had no idea.
CAIN: Yes.
PHILLIPS: And this was one of the segments that drew my -- I was drawn to it.
CAIN: Yes.
PHILLIPS: First of all, because when I started listening, I thought, OK, what is Herman doing here, he's exploiting this guy. But then I listened to what he had to say.
CAIN: Yes.
PHILLIPS: And he was a really smart guy.
CAIN: He's very smart and insightful.
PHILLIPS: Is this the right approach? What were you hoping to do, through the eyes of Louis, and are you going to look for another Louis?
CAIN: We're going to look for other Louis'. But it's not going to be forced. It's going to be, if it's a natural kind of a thing. What I wanted to achieve and what we wanted to achieve through the eyes of Louis is to hear from regular folk. Whether they're homeless or whether they live in a large home, if they have an opinion about what's going on, let's express that opinion. We want CainTV.com to be an alternative for messages that may not make it to some of the mainstream media outlets, may not make it to cable news, an alternate method, an alternate channel for people's messages, some of them movies, short stories, other alternatives.
PHILLIPS: When I was looking at this, and I was talking to our entire staff, I said, I can't figure out if he's trying to do "SNL," being the next black Howard Stern or looking to 2013 and want to keep your name out there.
CAIN: Nope. My mission is to help get this nation back on the right track and I make no bones about what I'm trying to do and who I'm trying to support. You indicated I'm supporting Mitt Romney. I'm also supporting all my supporters who said keep your voice out there and the way you say things, which is in your face, bold, and sometimes make people feel a little uncomfortable. So the objective is to keep my message and others, who share a similar message, out there amongst the public.
PHILLIPS: Tell you what. We're going to take a quick break. We'll talk more about CainTV.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: In Florida, a judge has just reset bond for the killer of Trayvon Martin as $1 million. George Zimmerman and his wife allegedly lied to the court about how much money they had when the judge set Zimmerman's first bail amount. He's been back in jail ever since. As you know, he's admitting to shooting and killing Trayvon Martin back in February. He approached the teen as he was headed to his father's house in a gated community in Sanford near Orlando, Florida. Zimmerman was a volunteer watchman and says he shot Trayvon in self-defense.
Plus, you're looking at live pictures right now. President Barack Obama campaigning in Maumee, Ohio. He's kicking off his "Betting on America" bus tour. We're going to keep up on this event and when he steps up to the mike, we'll bring it to you live.
And if you're just joining us, we're catching up with Herman Cain, former candidate hopeful. He's talking about his CainTV.
I already told you I, at times, love your crazy. It's your inspirational stories on CainTV that I think are important to tell. And there's one that I picked specifically when you and your brother- in-law went shopping. Mom was looking through the racks and you wanted to get a drink of water. Let's roll it.
CAIN: And mom specifically said, now, you all make sure you all drink out of the colored fountain. Now, being typical young boys, we got over there and looked at those two water fountains and we kind of looked around and we kind of went, hmm, nobody's looking, and so my brother went first while I stayed on the lookout to sip the white water. Then he was on the lookout while I sipped the white water. And then we both sipped the colored water, and we looked at each other, and the water tastes the same.
PHILLIPS: Yes, you've always been rebellious.
(LAUGHTER)
But you guys never really grasped the discrimination thing, did you?
CAIN: No.
PHILLIPS: And you never embraced African-American, that term.
CAIN: No. And the reason I like that particular segment is because I believe that one of America's greatest strengths is its ability to change. I'm not holding onto the past. I don't want to forget the past. Whether you go all the way back to slavery even for a Fourth of July celebration. I was on a program and someone said -- someone -- I think it was Chris Rock, who made fun of the fact, well, it might be Independence Day, but the slaves weren't free then. But look at it this way. If America had not become independent, slaves might still be slaves. America's ability to overcome those things that it needs overcome is one of the greatest attributes of this country.
PHILLIPS: I have to ask you about the news of the day.
CAIN: Yes.
PHILLIPS: We're waiting for the president to step up to the mike. And we'll go to that when it happens.
Let me ask you about SCOTUS, the court's decision.
CAIN: Yes.
PHILLIPS: You're a cancer survivor. You're a rich guy. You don't have to worry about health care. For those cancer patients out there now, cancer survivors, what do you say to them about the court's decision, how it's going to impact them?
CAIN: I believe if we don't repeal the Obama-care, future cancer patients, regardless of income, are going to suffer. And the less money you have, the more likely you're going to die. I know this firsthand. And here's why. I believe we need to do some things to increase access and decrease costs, but I fundamentally do not believe that the Obama-care legislation and the law is the way to do it. If you look at everything that has been successful about great advancements in this country, it has come from competition. Another government system. Go back to Social Security, started in 1935, it is a mess. Medicare, 1965, it is a mess. And now we want the government to take over the health care system?
What I say to people who are cancer patients or who are being diagnosed with cancer today, that's one thing. But it's going to be worse for everybody in the future because another government- controlled program in my opinion is -- it's -- I do not believe it can be successful.
This is another reason I started CainTV.com, to give me another platform in addition to radio, in addition to guest appearances on shows like yours -- thank you -- to be able to try and get people to look below the rhetoric and let's figure out what is the right problem to work on and what's the right solution. That's what Herman Cain is about.
PHILLIPS: How about the right V.P.? Who should Mitt Romney pick? Does he need to pick a woman? A black? A Hispanic?
CAIN: I don't think the decision should be made on gender or ethnicity. It should be made upon the next person who could step into his shoes if something should happen to Mitt Romney. Secondly and secondarily, someone that can energize the base. I think that that's also important. But I don't think that should be the number-one thing. To pick someone based upon gender and ethnicity is pandering. That's not how you win elections. You win the presidency by offering, in my opinion, bold solutions, and have a strong team around you, not necessarily based upon --
(CROSSTALK)
PHILLIPS: Who's the best V.P. pick for Mitt Romney right now?
CAIN: I can't tell you that.
PHILLIPS: Why not?
CAIN: Because --
(CROSSTALK)
PHILLIPS: I know you have an opinion and I know there's someone on your mind.
CAIN: Because -- because mitt is going through a very structured process, which I agree with, and that's his -- that's how he arrives at big decisions.
PHILLIPS: There's somebody you like. Who do you like?
CAIN: I like me, but I've already taken my name off.
PHILLIPS: He's not going to pick you, Herman Cain.
CAIN: I know he's not going to pick me.
(LAUGHTER)
PHILLIPS: Oh, my goodness. Let's be real.
CAIN: You asked who I like. PHILLIPS: Yes, I know you like yourself.
CAIN: When I met with Mitt, the first thing I said was, I'm not looking for anything, I don't want anything. You know why?
PHILLIPS: He probably said thank god.
(LAUGHTER)
CAIN: So I put him at ease. I wanted to go off and do other go off and do some things like CainTV.
PHILLIPS: Who do you like?
CAIN: I like Representative Allen West of Florida, Congressman Allen West. Now, the last time I threw his name out there, I was being quoted as, "I think he should be the pick." No, he is one of the possibilities that I happen to think that would be a good choice. I think that Representative Allen West is a good choice. And I happen to think that Senator Ayotte, up in New Hampshire, might be a good choice.
(CROSSTALK)
CAIN: And not because she is a woman, but because of what I believe she would bring. I think they would be good. And there are Senators I admire, like Senator Coburn, of Oklahoma. I think he might be a good decision. But, ultimately, it has to be someone that Governor Romney believes in and believes they could make a great team.
PHILLIPS: Herman Cain, thank you for stopping by. It is always interesting.
CAIN: Thank you, Kyra.
(LAUGHTER)
My pleasure.
PHILLIPS: All right. As you know, the web site is CainTV.com. And starting in January, Herman Cain will be taking over for Neil Boortz's radio show right here in Atlanta.
Live pictures of Barack Obama campaigning in Maumee, Ohio. He is kicking off his "Betting on America" bus tour. And we will keep monitoring this event. We'll bring you the president, live, as soon as he steps up to the mike.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: All right. Live pictures once again, President Barack Obama campaigning in Maumee, Ohio. And we have been telling you -- oh, here we go. OK. We thought they were introducing the president, but it looks like there is one more person that is going to step up to the mikes to introduce the president. So we will take him live as he kicks off his "Betting on America" bus tour as soon as he steps up to that mike.
All right. In the meantime, let's talk about the section of America known as the Rust Belt, the auto industry is king, right. But despite President Obama's auto bailout, not all of the workers in towns like Sterling Heights, Michigan, are backing his re-election.
Poppy Harlow traveling across country to states that voted solidly for President Obama last time.
But, Poppy, I'm curious what you are seeing now.
POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM CORRESPONDENT: Well, It is interesting, because the auto bailout, and you would assume, that everyone in the auto industry around Detroit loves the president and credits him for saving their job. And that is what we found for some, but not everyone.
First, I want to play you a quick clip from this year of both Romney and Obama talking about the auto bailout. This means a lot to Detroit. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Some even said that we should let Detroit go bankrupt.
(BOOING)
You remember that.
MITT ROMNEY, (R), FORMER MASSACHUSETTS GOVERNOR & PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I believe that a market works better than a president stepping in to take care of his friends.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: All right. We know that Romney did not want a bailout. He wanted a traditional bankruptcy for G.M. and Chrysler. So we went to talk to a Chrysler worker, Stacy Stewart, right there in Detroit, who lost her job for a year and a half. And after the bailout, she got the job back. She said that allowed her to send her daughter to college and buy a home. And then we talked to Brian Hannabecker (ph). He works at Ford, that didn't get a bailout. And said he is completely against the bailout, and completely for Romney. Get a taste of what is for the road with these workers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: Who do you credit?
STACY STEWARD, 11-YEAR CHRYSLER ENGINEER: I credit President Obama, 100 percent.
HARLOW: Why?
STEWARD: Because when everybody else turned their backs on the auto industry, he said there was no way he would let us fail. I feel, without Obama's bailout, we would not be here today.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: I guess we didn't have the sound for Brian, for you. But what Brian, the worker at Ford, told me is, look, these companies should have gone through traditional bankruptcy and he opposes the bailout. And interestingly, Kyra, even though he is a big Romney supporter, he say has the problem Romney will have in Michigan is that he believes that Romney treated the bailout like a bean counter, like the financial guy that he is, rather than the heart that President Obama did. And I thought that was interesting coming from a Romney supporter.
PHILLIPS: And are the people in Michigan still focusing on Mitt Romney's "let Detroit go bankrupt" op-ed four years ago.
HARLOW: Yes, you remember "The New York Times'" op-ed that got so much attention in 2008, every person in Detroit brought that up. Whether they supported Romney or Obama, and that has resonated and left this feeling. And many don't like it obviously in Detroit. Others are for it.
And, Kyra, we are waiting for the president to speak in Maumee, Ohio. Today, Maumee is a hugely important section for the auto industry. And tomorrow, we will take you to Warrenstown, Ohio, which is fascinating, because so many people are pro Obama, for the president, and especially the workers. And I then found people 15 minutes from the G.M. complex who are not supporting the president. And they say that the bailout left them out as auto parts workers. And they say they are not included in the bailout. That was interesting in Ohio.
The president being in Ohio, so important today, Kyra, because he is going to tout the auto bailout. You have 7.3 percent unemployment in Ohio, which is lower than the national average, but when we crunched the numbers, we saw that Ohio, as a whole, has 30,000 fewer jobs today than it did in 2007, which is important to talk about as we talk about the bailout.
PHILLIPS: Well, the people that you have talked to and spent time with, what are they going to be paying attention to the president and what he says as soon as he steps up to the mike probably a less than a minute from now and what are you paying attention to and what do you want to hear?
HARLOW: They are divided and they do know what the auto bailout did or did not do for them. As we see the president coming up, we get the all-important jobs report tomorrow, and how did we do in June and how many jobs did we add in June, and it has to be a big numbers for the unemployment number to come down and the expectation of CNN is that we would have added 180,000 jobs which is not nearly enough, Kyra. They want to hear a plan from the president about how to continue to rebuild the economy and this is, indeed, a recovery and the recovery is not stalling. Because the past two months have shown us anemic job growth. What is the president's plan and what does he have in the pocket other than the Jobs Act that he cannot get through Congress? So let's listen in, right, Kyra, to the president right here in Maumee, Ohio.
(CHEERING)
OBAMA: Hello, Ohio.
(APPLAUSE)
OBAMA: Hello. It is good to be back in Ohio.
(CHEERING)
OBAMA: All right. Why, everybody who has a chair, feel free to sit down.
(CHEERING)
OBAMA: Just go ahead and relax. I know it is a little warm out here, but this is how summer is supposed to feel like.
(CHEERING)
OBAMA: The couple of the people that I want to acknowledge -- first of all, please give Ina (ph) a big round of applause for the great introduction.
(APPLAUSE)
OBAMA: We're proud of her.
(APPLAUSE)
OBAMA: I'm so pleased to see once again the outstanding mayor of Maumee, Tim Wagoner (ph).
(APPLAUSE)
OBAMA: There he is.
(APPLAUSE)
OBAMA: One of the best Senators in the country, your Senator, Sharon Brown.
(APPLAUSE)
