Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Romney To Talk Economy In Speech; More Calls For Romney's Tax Returns; House Sets Vote On Health Care Law; Tax Cut Fight Looms; Train Crash Forces Evacuations; Suspect Ends Chase By Going Airborne; Judge To Rule On Mississippi Abortion Clinic; Five Hospitalized After Flight To Miami; Heat Wave Continues In Southwest U.S.; Doctors Name Cause Of Mystery Illness; Giving Its Blessing To Same Sex Couples
Aired July 11, 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: Happening right now in the NEWSROOM, Houston pitch, Mitt Romney Texas-bound addressing the NAACP in just about 30 minutes after Attorney General Eric Holder called the Texas Voter ID Law a poll tax what will Romney say to the nation's oldest civil rights organization?
Big blessing. The Episcopal Church becoming the largest church to approve a blessing for same-sex unions. This hour, we have reverends from both sides of the issue.
Derailed -- a fiery blast happening overnight. A freight train in central Ohio goes off the track. The Columbus neighborhood evacuated and waking up rattled this morning.
And from sea to shining sea, over amber waves of grain, we have the bald eagle as our national emblem. And now America is in search of -- wait for it -- a national mammal.
Will it be the bear, the bison, the Billy goat, which is the living legend and true American mammal? The election that really matters straight ahead.
Good morning. I'm Carol Costello. First up this hour, Mitt Romney gets a shot at something President Obama won't be doing this campaign. He'll be addressing the NAACP Convention.
But as Romney tries to connect with the African-American audience, he has huge numbers stacked against him. A recent Gallup poll found the president leading Romney by 87 percent to 5 percent among black registered voters.
Jim Acosta is covering Romney's speech. So, wow, he's a brave man to even appear.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right. But, you know, Carol, there's a good reason for Mitt Romney to come to this audience. Not only because of the economic message that he wants to get out there and whether he's talking to an African-American audience, to Hispanic audience, Evangelical audience.
Whatever audience he's talking to, he wants to talk about the economy. For political reasons it makes sense from that standpoint, but also you mentioned that poll just a few moments ago that shows that African-Americans, according to this latest Gallup survey, 87 percent would support the president, 5 percent for Mitt Romney.
But you know, back in 2004, Carol, George W. Bush carried 11 percent of the African-American vote and that election was kind of a squeaker as you might recall not as close as 2000, but a squeaker nonetheless.
So if Mitt Romney can inch up his support among African- American voters, it could be crucial in states like Ohio and Florida and other battleground states. So this makes good political sense for Mitt Romney.
And it's interesting we should point out, Carol, that the Romney campaign did release some excerpts from his speech that he's going to be delivering in just a few moments. He's going to be mentioning the high African-American unemployment rate in this country, which is now at 14.4 percent. He's going to talk about this in an excerpt that I can show you on screen right now.
This is what he'll be saying in about 30 minutes. He says -- or he will say, quote, "If equal opportunity in America where an accomplished fact then a chronically bad economy would be equally bad for everyone. Instead, it's worse for African-Americans in almost every way."
So that's Mitt Romney talking about how this economy has not been spreading the pain around equally among all Americans, that African-Americans have been suffering greatly during this weak and tepid recovery.
And one other thing, Carol, that we should point out --
COSTELLO: Romney is going to be -- sorry, Jim. I just want to run this by you because you're talking about Mitt Romney and what he's going to be saying about the economy and how it's affecting African- Americans.
I talked with somebody from the NAACP in the last hour of NEWSROOM. He told me, yes, we know that it's bad, but unless Mitt Romney presents a plan specifically for us then complaining about economy and the job that Mr. Obama has done isn't going to fly.
ACOSTA: Well, no doubt about it. I mean, he is walking into an audience that is very supportive of President Obama and obviously, this are plenty of folks around the country in the African-American community that would like to see President Obama not be just a one- term president, they would like to see him be a two-term president.
And so, you know, Mitt Romney does have his work cut out for him, but I will tell you, Carol, that Mitt Romney is determined, no matter where he speaks, to spread this economic message.
While he may not have a plan that is tailored to African- American voters, he has been talking a great deal about how, for instance, President Obama's plan to extend the Bush tax cuts for only people making less than $250,000 a year.
He is saying that that's going to hurt the middle class. He's been saying it will be a kick in the gut to the middle class. So I imagine he's going to go back over that message today.
And he's going to hope that it will translate with this audience as he hopes it translates with every audience as he goes around the country.
COSTELLO: All right, I know you're going to listen to the speech and hopefully, you will be back with us. Thanks so much. Jim Acosta reporting live this morning.
Should Mitt Romney open the book on his finances? Is there a bear there? Mitt Romney is under pressure to spill what Democrats call his financial secrets.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I think what's important, if you are running for president, is that the American people know who you are, what you have done, and that you're an open book. And, you know, that's been true of every presidential candidate dating back to Mr. Romney's father.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Governor Romney has only released his 2010 tax return and an estimate for 2011 so Democrats are asking why? Our business guru, Christine Romans, is here. Good morning, Christine.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
COSTELLO: OK, let's start here. Democrats say Romney is not releasing all of his tax returns because they will contain information about Swiss bank accounts and ways to avoid taxes.
If Romney did release all of those tax returns, let's say from the past 12 years, what would they show us?
ROMANS: They would show us a very complicated family financial situation of a very, very rich family, one of the richest men ever to run for president.
And, quite frankly, it would show a very complicated web of investments and hedge fund investments and, look, we know that he owns plain vanilla stocks, plain vanilla bonds, investments in hedge funds.
We know that he's had a Swiss bank account in the past, but an adviser thought a couple of years ago maybe the optics of that weren't good and they closed that down.
We know that he has what his campaign calls funds running through the Caribbean. We also know that this Romney and his spokes people, people close to him have said over and over again, and the people who manages money quite frankly.
Everything is legal. He pays all of the taxes that he owes and that everything is on the up and up. But they will not release more than just a year.
COSTELLO: He pays all of the taxes so that he owes --
ROMANS: Yes. Yes.
COSTELLO: OK. So let me ask you about this. Romney says that his assets are held in a blind trust and he doesn't know what's in them because it's a blind trust.
The blind trust is actually run by a good friend of Romney's. So is that standard operating procedure? I mean, shouldn't a blind trust be run by a stranger who's a professional in the financial world?
ROMANS: Well, it's run by his personal attorney and he has an accountant -- this, for example, is the family trust, the filing for the 2010 -- the family trust. An attorney did that.
Look, he has been a trustee for his firm for an awful long time. I don't know how deep their relationship is, how close their friendship is. I know that there are federal rules against friends being your -- that manage your blind trust.
But from everything that everyone has said to me, this is a, you know, a long-term professional relationship where this is the guy who is in charge of his money. Now in terms of it being blind, can I tell you something, he's not really blind if he reads the newspaper?
Because we've been going through the federal disclosures and finding out every single thing that he's ever had and been talking about and writing about it. So he just listens, he can hear what his investments are.
These little blue things, Carol, this is all the time something that Katie has mentioned in the family trust filing in 2010. This is a Bermuda-based company that a lot of people are asking questions about now.
You know, that's why some people would like to see more of his returns to know just exactly what are some of these offshore companies that he has investments in and what are is the purpose of them.
COSTELLO: We'll see if he releases anymore documents, who knows? Christine Romans, thanks so much.
ROMANS: You're welcome.
COSTELLO: The U.S. Supreme Court may have ruled that it is the law of the land but that is not stopping the United States House of Representatives, Republicans.
They are moving forward today with efforts to repeal President Obama's health care overhaul. Our senior congressional correspondent Dana Bash is on Capitol Hill watching it all unfold. Good morning, Dana.
DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. Well, you know, if this is a movie, it's not so much a mystery, it's a rerun. This is going to be the 33rd time that the House of Representatives vote in some way, shape or form to get rid of the president's health care law.
So they are doing it, everybody admits, for symbolic reasons, for political reasons. But you know what, Carol? When it comes to the voters in November, what they are trying to say is, if voters elect Republicans again in the House to a majority in the Senate and to the White House, they would have the ability to repeal this.
But it's a big if and so they are just trying to go through the motions in order to allow them to speak about this issue.
COSTELLO: Other issues besides health care are coming up on the House floor. I understand that Mitch McConnell, he's been slamming President Obama's suggested end to the Bush tax cuts for people making under $250,000?
BASH: That's right. Over in the Senate this morning, the top Republican, Mitch McConnell, he went on the Senate floor to, just as you say, make the point that we've heard from Republicans as their retort to the president's big message this week about tax cuts.
And what he actually did was try to call for a couple of votes. He said, you know what, let's stop talking about these tax cuts. Let's not put it off. Let's hold a couple of votes.
What he suggested was a vote on what the Republicans wanted to do, which is a one-year extension of all of the Bush tax cuts for those making above $250,000 and below, which many Democrats don't support.
And also what the president is calling for, which is just the vote on those making $250,000 or less. The Democratic Leader, Harry Reid, rejected that saying we are going to have these votes, but not right now.
I talked to a Democratic source just before coming on the air and one of the reasons why they don't want to do it now is because Democrats say that they think this is a good issue politically for them.
They don't want to just take the vote now. They want to drag it out and have it at the end of the month before they go home for recess.
COSTELLO: OK, so there's political theatre going on in both houses of Congress?
BASH: Shocking.
COSTELLO: I know. Dana Bash, thanks so much. In Columbus, Ohio, a fiery train crash overnight forces people to evacuate from the one square mile that surrounds the site because 11 cars that left the tracks are carrying chemicals, like denatured alcohol and a chemical used to make plastic. Our affiliate, WBNS, is reporting at least two people were hurt.
A pit maneuver could not stop an L.A. area police pursuit involving a teacher accused of lewd acts on a former student. Instead the teacher himself ended the chase, you see him there. His car went airborne. He crashed through a guardrail and slammed into a tree. The teacher is expected to survive.
Today, the fate of Mississippi's only abortion clinic is in the hands of a judge. Earlier this month, that same judge issued a temporary restraining order protecting the clinic from Mississippi's new laws for abortion clinic.
Remember, these are some of the strictest abortion laws in the nation and would likely cause Mississippi's only abortion clinic to close. Republican Governor Phil Bryant has said he wants to make a state abortion-free.
The new law requires all doctors in the clinic to be ob/gyns and have admitting privileges at a local hospital. David Mattingly is outside of the federal courthouse in Jackson, Mississippi. So what could the judge decide to do today?
DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, you laid it out very well just now. The judge is going to be listening to two sides of this argument.
First of all, is this state law actually an attempt to impinge on abortion rights here in Mississippi? Are they trying to shut the clinic down?
Or is this exactly what the supporters say it is, something to protect the health of women seeking abortions in Mississippi? You can imagine both sides are very far apart on this issue. The judge will be listening to both and here now is what both sides are saying.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SAM MIMS (R), MISSISSIPPI STATE HOUSE: They've had over 75 days to become compliant with this legislation. So they still have an opportunity to have a physician receive admitting privileges at a local hospital.
So we are not banning abortion in Mississippi. We simply don't have that ability. Again, this is intended for health care for women and we believe this is what is best for Mississippi.
LEOLA REIS, VP OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS, PLANNED PARENTHOOD SOUTHEAST: If the policy makers and lawmakers in Mississippi really cared about health care, they wouldn't have spent so much time regulating abortion services.
There is health care crisis and health care disparities in Mississippi that policy makers have not begun addressed. They've spent an (inaudible) amount of time regulating what is a very safe procedure.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MATTINGLY: We went to the State Health Department asking questions about the safety of this clinic and they tell us that this clinic actually does a very good job here.
They see about 2,000, maybe more than 2,000 patients a year. Of that number in the last two years, 4,000 to 5,000 patients, only one has reported to have any kind of complications and the state tells us that those complications were minor.
They inspect that place about five times a year. They found two violations. One was involving paperwork. Another was involving a generator, two things that didn't affect patient care.
So the big question here is, if there is a need to protect the health of women seeking abortion in Mississippi at this clinic, people who are against this law say the law was completely unnecessary -- Carol.
COSTELLO: David Mattingly reporting live from Jackson, Mississippi, this morning.
A CNN exclusive, a mystery illness blamed for the deaths of more than 60 children in Cambodia. Now Dr. Sanjay Gupta will tell us what professionals there think the cause is. We'll take you live to Phenom Phen.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: It's 16 minutes past the hour. This video was just in to CNN. This is taking place in Madrid, Spain. Police are using rubber bullets and batons on protesters there.
Because demonstrations are under way as I said in Madrid. People are outraged by measures being opposed to solve the debt crisis in Spain.
The sales tax is going up, along with other spending cuts. Forty three people have been hurt, including a dozen police officers. We'll keep you posted.
Other top stories this hour, Mitt Romney facing a big challenge this morning. He's speaking to attendees of the NAACP Conference, the nation's oldest civil rights organization. They are meeting in Houston this week. Gallup poll shows 87 percent of African-American support Romney's rival, President Obama.
Pretty much routine for American Airlines Flight 1780 from Aruba to Miami and then the flight turned terrifying. Up 30 minutes before landing, the plane hit unexpected and severe turbulence. The plane managed to land safely, but several people on board were hurt. Five ended up in the hospital.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LEANDRO SILVA, PASSENGER: I never felt something like that in the past. Basically with the noise and the bumps --
FABIO DIAZ, PASSENGER: I thought we were going to die. It was scary.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: In all, 12 people were hurt. Most had bumps and bruises.
In money news, not satisfied with your new Chevrolet? Well, then return it. The carmaker is offering a refund within 60 days. GM is trying to make Chevy stand out from the pack and hoping to lure more shoppers in the door this summer.
The heat wave continues across the south western United States. Las Vegas set a new record yesterday, 115 degrees. No relief in sight today, 125 in Death Valley, 112 in Las Vegas and 109 expected in Phoenix. In the northwest, temperatures are up to 15 degrees higher than normal.
Now a CNN exclusive, a story we've been following all week. The deaths of more than 60 children from a mysterious illness in Cambodia. Now we're the first to report what doctors believe is to be the cause of those deaths.
Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta has been covering the story from Cambodia. Sanjay, what is causing this?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, WHO, World Health Organization, has been looking into this for some time. What they have found is a study of blood samples of some of these children was three different organisms, pathogens.
One, we've been talking about for a couple of days Enterovirus 71, but in other children they found streptococcus (inaudible), you don't need to remember the name, but it's another organism and then also dengue, the organism causing dengue fever. That is something that's endemic to this area.
But the question, Carol, that they were wrestling with for some time is, these organisms exist in many parts of the world. Why were they behaving so aggressively? Why were these children dying within 24 hours of arriving in the hospital?
And part of the reason, a big part of reason these officials tell us is probably because of the use of steroids. Now steroids are a medication people are familiar with.
They can be good anti-inflammatory. But the problem, Carol, is this. If you give steroids to someone who has an infection, you are also suppressing their immune system and you can take a dangerous infection and turn it into a deadly one.
They think actually all of the children who died received steroids initially. That led to the worsening of their infection. By the time they got to the hospital, they were in really, really tough shape.
As you know, as you've mentioned, 64 out of 66 of them have died. So the infection is still out there, but it was probably the steroids that really turned this into something much more dangerous.
COSTELLO: So doctors, have they stopped using steroids to treat this, are the children more likely to survive?
GUPTA: It seems so. And that's exactly what the World Health Organization is going to put out an advisory saying, probably later on today, that the doctors and the health care professionals, especially outside of hospitals, should not be using steroids in children who have signs of this infection.
They are going to tell doctors not to do that because they think that, in fact, despite their best intentions it was the steroids probably in combination with these infections that was so deadly.
COSTELLO: Dr. Sanjay Gupta reporting live from us from Phnom Penh, in Cambodia this morning.
We asked you to talk back on one of the big stories of the day, should Mitt Romney open his book on his finances? Is there a bear there? Mitt Romney under pressure to spill what Democrats call his financial secrets.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Now is your chance to talk back on one of the big stories of the day. The question for you this morning, should Mitt Romney open the book on his finances? Is there a bear there? Mitt Romney under pressure to spill what Democrats call his financial secrets.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRESIDENT OBAMA: I think what's important, if you are running for president, is that the American people know who you are, what you've done, and that you're an open book. And, you know, that's been true of every presidential candidate dating back to Mr. Romney's father.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Governor Romney has only released his 2010 tax return and an estimate for 2011. Democrats hint all of those other returns could contain information about Swiss bank accounts and nifty clever ways to avoid paying taxes.
Republicans are crying foul, at least they are now. During the Republican primary, they sounded a lot like Mr. Obama.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NEWT GINGRICH (R), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, why not release it?
RICK SANTORUM (R), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don't know why he hasn't released his tax returns.
GOVERNOR RICK PERRY, FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Every candidate out there, they should put their taxes out, including Mitt.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Governor Romney says his assets are in a blind trust and even he doesn't know where they are.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: That trustee follows all U.S. laws, all of the taxes are paid as appropriate. All of it has been reported to the government. There's nothing hidden there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Are you satisfied? "Talk Back" question today, should Romney's finances be an open book? Facebook.com/carolcnn. I'll read your comments later this hour.
The Episcopal Church takes a big step on the issue of same sex relationship, but not all church members are supporting the move. You will hear from both sides of the issue that's coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Just about 30 minutes past the hour. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you for joining us. Checking our top stories this morning, the fight over Obama care continues.
Today, House Republicans vote to repeal the law. It will be the first vote since the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the sweeping health care reform two weeks ago.
But even if passed by the GOP majority in the House, the repeal is doomed in the Senate which is, of course, controlled by Democrats.
In California, another city is in financial peril. City leaders in San Bernardino voting to declare bankruptcy, this is the third time in just the past two weeks that a California city needed to declare bankruptcy protection.
San Bernardino has a budget shortfall of nearly $46 million. Bills cannot be paid and city workers could soon have trouble getting their paychecks.
And we're keeping an eye on what is happening in Houston where any minute now Mitt Romney, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, will address the annual convention of the NAACP's convention.
That's, of course, the nation's oldest civil rights organization. When Mr. Romney begins speaking, we'll, of course, take you live to Houston.
But we want to switch gears right now and talk about a policy that's been three years in the making and now the Episcopal Church has become the nation's largest Christian denomination to offer religious blessings to same-sex couples.
But despite a vote overwhelmingly in favor of the measure, there are some church members on opposite sides of the issue. Joining me now the Reverend Nathan Baxter, he is a bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Central Pennsylvania.
He supports the church's stance. I want to welcome the Reverend Edward S. Little II. He is against same-sex blessings and is bishop for the Episcopal Church's Northern Indiana Diocese. Welcome to both of you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good morning, Carol.
COSTELLO: It's great to have you both. So Reverend Baxter, I want to start with you. You say this is all about inclusion and follows the Episcopal Church's approval of gay and lesbian priests and the election of its first gay bishop, Eugene Robinson. That was nine years ago. So was this just the next natural step for the church?
BISHOP NATHAN D. BAXTER, EPISCOPAL DIOCESE OF CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA: I think this has been much more -- our denomination's response to what we've recognized as a real pastoral need among many in our church. And so this effort to recognize and bless same-sex couples committed to lifelong love and faithfulness and in their lives a witness to Christ, this is an effort to mark that with a blessing.
COSTELLO: And Reverend Little, you say this measure means Episcopalians will be viewed as people who, in your words, change the nature of the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony.
But a church spokesman said the following, she says, "We have authorized a blessing, and a blessing is different from a marriage. A blessing is a theological response to a monogamous, committed relationship."
So can you tell us what exactly what has changed?
Well, if you look at the liturgy that we've approved, it contains all of the essential elements of a marriage (inaudible) exchange of rings, a pronouncement and a blessing. And so it's virtually indistinguishable from a marriage rite found in the Book of (inaudible) Prayer. So in many ways we have (inaudible) and therefore made an enormous change in basic Christian teaching.
And Reverend Baxter, can you address that? I mean, I know our connection is not so great, but I'm sure we'll fix it. So don't worry about it.
But he's saying that this blessing is, in essence, a marriage, so why not just call it what it is?
BAXTER: Well, first of all, I want to say good morning also to Bishop Little, a dear friend. We understand that anything that has any sacramental character to it is related clearly to intention. So we bless many things in the life of our church, from furniture to animals to other situations.
The intention in this service is to be a rite for witnessing and blessing same gender or same-sex commitment. I recognize that for some within the life of the church, very faithful Episcopalians, this is uncomfortable and immediately feels to them or appears to be marriage.
We've made it very clear, in all of the work we have done, in our theological papers and in our work together, this is not a marriage but it is the blessing of a relationship. It has no civil, no legal authority, and as the marriage ceremony goes, it is not the same thing.
But we recognize that, for some, this is uncomfortable, and we are making provisions also that no priest or no congregation is compelled or obligated to offer this service, but every local bishop will have the responsibility of using her or his pastoral discretion as to whether it will be used or not. So it is the blessing of a same-sex relationship, but not a marriage.
So I just -- I'm interested, Reverend Little, suppose the Episcopal Church were to say, yes, we are going to marry same-sex couples. I knew I'd get it out eventually. Let's say that the church was going to do that. How would that affect the church, do you think?
LITTLE: First of all, greetings to Bishop Baxter as well. And he is a dear friend.
Well, first of all, it would continue to further divide the church over the painful issue of human sexuality. The fact is that the church is not of one mind, and Christians of good will and good conscience come down on different sides of this issue.
But by taking an official stand like this, by providing a liturgical rite, we've essentially moved forward in a direction that is not affirmed by a significant number -- probably a minority, but nonetheless a significant number in our own church -- and is also looked upon with some horror by Christians around the world.
We are, as Episcopalians, only a tiny minority in the body of Christ. And for one small portion of the church to make such a monumental step really separates us from brothers to sisters around the world. So the implications are enormous, not only for our own church, but for well beyond.
And Reverend Baxter, some might assume that you're going to allow blessings of same-sex couples and this is just the first step and eventually, and not very long from now, you'll be performing marriages with -- of same-sex couples. BAXTER: Well, certainly one could take any action and project it to a direction that either for some would be favorable or for others would be very disheartening. That's not our intention.
Our intention at this point is to offer the opportunity to pastorally reach out to people who are a part of the Episcopal Church, who have demonstrated wonderful Christian commitment and love and, as a church, we welcome all.
We welcome not only those who would differ with decisions we make, but we are reaching out also to say that we recognize in the lives of persons of same-sex that there can be holy marks of love and fidelity and caring and the witness of seeing Christ in one another.
So this is our commitment. It is provisional. We are taking this step and we recognize that in many places this may make us a minority. But because we feel this pastoral calling, we know that we will learn much from this provisional experience of providing a blessing, a recognition of the love between two persons.
Reverend Baxter, Reverend Little, thank you so much for joining us. And I must say, I know you passionately disagree, but this has been the most civil discussion of a passionate issue I think I've ever experienced on cable television and I appreciate it.
BAXTER: Well, thank you, Carol. We're both delighted to have the opportunity to share.
COSTELLO: Thank you.
LITTLE: (Inaudible). Yes, thank you so much.
COSTELLO: Thanks. Thanks to you both. Thank you.
All right. We want to dip in to a live picture out of Houston, Texas. You see the stage there. Any minute now Mitt Romney will be taking the stage. He'll be talking to a roomful of people associated with the NAACP.
It's going to be a monumental task, because, as you know, the vast majority of African-Americans support President Obama. When mitt Romney takes the podium, we'll take you to Houston live.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Remember the Salahis? You know, the White House party crashers turned reality TV stars? Well, they've split up. Now Tareq Salahi's trying to take the rocker who he says ran off with his wife to court. "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT's" A.J. Hammer has the lowdown. I don't mean to laugh but --
AJ HAMMER, CNN HOST: No, I'm laughing right there with you, Carol. And look, this is the second time that Tarek has had this case thrown out of court. He was asking for -- are you ready for this -- $50 million from the Journey guitarist Neal Schon for the financial and emotional damage inflicted when Michaele Salahi ended her marriage To Tareq and started this public relationship with the rocker.
Now, Schon's attorney called this a victory for common sense. And that sounds just about right to me. Salahi is reportedly planning on taking this to the Supreme Court and I would think his chances of success there are about the same of his chances of becoming governor of Virginia.
He told us back in April he was campaigning for that office and let's just say, while we can't find any indication he's publicly dropped out of this race, Carol, his campaign, if you want to call it that, is not getting a whole lot of attention.
COSTELLO: I bet not.
Let's talk about rapper Missy Elliott. She's taking a Lamborghini dealership to court?
HAMMER: Yes. Let's talk about a high-class problem here, Carol. Missy Elliott is suing this Illinois car dealership, claiming that she hasn't gotten her 2012 matte white Lamborghini Aventador. She ordered it last July.
She put a down payment on the car at the time she ordered it. And the documents and the lawsuits say she traded in her Bentley, put down some more cash toward the $400,000 car. Missy says the dealership wants her to pay more money than the originally agreed-upon price because in the time since she ordered the new ride, the car's value has gone up significantly.
Now, I'm no lawyer, Carol, but it seems to me, you pay a down payment, you agree upon a price, the deal is done. The dealership has not publicly responded to the story. So we're waiting to hear what they have to say.
Now you mentioned you have a RAV4, an older RAV4. I think that does -- if you push it, Carol, just over 100 miles an hour -- I don't think I would do that. This Lamborghini will do 212 miles per hour.
COSTELLO: Oh, man, mine starts shaking after 85 miles an hour, not that I ever drive that fast. But...
HAMMER: No, no, no.
COSTELLO: (Inaudible) on me.
HAMMER: Of course not.
A.J. Hammer, fun as always.
Just minutes from now, Mitt Romney will address the NAACP convention. As you see, the opening ceremonies have now begun. It is a full house. Jim Acosta is there.
Jim, set the mood for us. What's the crowd like? Are they excited to hear from Mitt Romney? JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, I should tell you right now, I'm going to have to keep my voice down just a little bit. You were asking about the mood just a few moments ago. Well, they are in the middle of an opening prayer to today's event with Mitt Romney. So I'm going to keep my voice down just a little bit.
But he is expected to come in here. And as we were talking about at the top of the hour, bring his message on the economy to yet another voting block out there that is key to the election this fall.
Obviously, this is a group of voters that will be highly supportive of President Obama and his re-election campaign, 87 percent of that latest Gallup survey is supportive of the president over Mitt Romney, who just has 5 percent in that survey.
But if mitt Romney can peel off a certain percentage, a small sliver of that voting block, it could help him in swing states, in Ohio, in Florida. We're going to hear him talk about the economy.
Obviously in his message, he's released some excerpts through his campaign. He's going to talk about the high African-American unemployment rate, which is somewhere around 14.4 percent. That is 6 percentage points over the national average.
And so we'll hear Mitt Romney talk about that. But it's going to be one of those events, Carol, where I think he's going to come in and deliver that message and then go. He has a couple of fundraisers coming up later on in this week in Montana and out in Wyoming. But it will be interesting to hear what he has to say.
COSTELLO: Yes, it will.
Mr. Obama, he chose not to speak before the convention; supposedly had he a scheduling conflict. I know Joe Biden is talking tomorrow. But are people attending this convention disappointed that President Obama won't be speaking in Houston?
ACOSTA: You know, I think that there are people who are disappointed that President Obama -- I raised my voice now because the opening prayer is over with.
Yes, I think there are people who are disappointed that President Obama is not going to be here this week. As you said, Joe Biden will be here tomorrow, and the president said he's got a scheduling conflict.
After all, you know, President Obama was here four years ago and indicated, according to a "New York Times" report, just out this morning, they talked to Ben Jealous of the NAACP, and he said that he had indications that the president was coming.
And so the president not coming is probably not going to rub some people very well here, but this, as I mentioned just a few moments ago, Carol, is a very supportive group of the president. I would imagine if you took a poll here, there aren't going to be many votes for Mitt Romney. But having said all of that, he -- the former governor of Massachusetts hasn't made his pitch. We'll have to --
(CROSSTALK)
COSTELLO: OK, yes. And I believe the speaker is talking about Mitt Romney. So let's dip in and listen for just a bit.
(APPLAUSE)
(MUSIC PLAYING)
COSTELLO: Hey. My God, that's amazing, Mitt Romney is taking the stage -- that was just dumb luck. Let's listen to Mitt Romney.
FORMER GOV. MITT ROMNEY, R-MASS., PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Thank you. Thank you.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
ROMNEY: I do love that music. I have to tell you, I do love listening to that organ music and the piano. And during the prayer, hearing sweet hour of prayer being played that was a wonderful thing. Good morning to all of you members of the NAACP.
AUDIENCE: Good morning.
ROMNEY: And thank you to Bishop Grays for his generous introduction and thank you also to President Ben Jealous, Chairman Roseland Brock for the opportunity to be here this morning. And for your hospitality. This is an honor to address you and one that I had not expected and one I value very highly. I appreciate the chance to speak first, even before vice president. Well, Vice President Biden will get his turn tomorrow. I just hope the Obama campaign doesn't think you're playing favorites. Now --
Oh, no. I was making that face because it's back. Let's head back to houston.
ROMNEY: When you're in a state with 11 percent of Republican registration, you don't get there by just talking to Republicans. You have to make your case to every single voter. We don't count anybody out. And we sure don't make a habit of presuming anyone's support. Support is asked for and earned and that's why I'm here today. Now, with 90 percent of African-Americans who typically vote for Democrats, be you may wonder or some may wonder why a Republican would bother to vote in the African-American community and address the NAACP. One reason, of course, is that I hope to represent all Americans of every race, creed, and sexual orientation. From the poorest to the richest and everyone in between, but there's another reason. I believe that if you understood who I truly am in my heart and if it were possible to fully communicate what I believe is in the real enduring best interest of African-American families, you would vote for me for president.
Now, of course, you know the opposition charges that I and people in my party are running for office to help the rich. None sense. The rich will do just fine whether I'm elected or not. The President wants to make this campaign about blaming the rich and I want to make this a campaign about helping the middle class in America. [ applause ] . I'm running for president because I know that my policies and vision will help millions of middle class Americans of all races will lift people from poverty and will help people from becoming poor in the first place. My campaign is about helping the people who need help. Of course, the president has said, won't do that. My course will. Now, when President Obama called to congratulate me on becoming the presumptive Republican nominee - a gracious call - he said that he looked forward to a healthy and debate about America's future. To date, I'm afraid his campaign has taken a different course than that. But in campaigns at their best, voters can expect a clear choice and candidates can expect a fair hearing. Only more so from a venerable organization like this one.
[ applause ]
So it's that healthy debate about the course of the nation that I want to discuss with you today. Someone had told us in the 1950s or 1960s that a black citizen would serve as the 44th president of the United States, we would have been proud and many would have been surprised. Picturing that day we might have assumed that the American presidency would have been the last door of opportunity to be opened. Before that came to pass, every other barrier on the path to equal opportunity would surely have had to come down. Of course, it hasn't happened quite that way. Many barriers remain. Old inequities persist. In some ways, the challenges are even more complicated than before and across America and even within your own ranks there are serious, honest debates about the way forward. If equal opportunity in America were an accomplished fact, then a chronically bad economy would be equally bad for everyone. Instead, it's worst for African- Americans in almost every way, the unemployment rate, the duration of unemployment, average income, median family wealth are all worse in the black community. In June, while the overall unemployment rate remains stuck at 8.2 percent, the unemployment rate for African-Americans actually went up from 13.6 percent to 14.4 percent.
Americans of every background are asking when this economy will finally recover and you in particular are entitled to an answer. If equal opportunity -
(APPLAUSE)
-- if equal opportunity were an accomplished fact, sons and daughters could be sent to school that truly offer the hope of a better life. Instead, for generations the African-American community has been waiting and waiting for that promise to be kept. Today, black children are 17 percent of students nationwide but they are 42 percent of the students in our worst performing schools. Our society sends them into mediocre schools and then expects them to perform with excellence. And that's simply not fair. Frederick Douglas observed, and I quote, it's easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.
(APPLAUSE) And yet instead of preparing these children for life, too many schools set them up for failure. Everyone in this room knows that we owe them better than that. The path of inequality often leads to lost opportunity, college, graduate school and first jobs should be the milestones. Marking the passage from childhood to adulthood. But for too many disadvantaged young people, these goals seem unattainable and their lives take a tragic turn. Many live in neighborhoods filled with violence and fears and empty of opportunity. There impatience for change is understandable. They are entitled to feel that life in America should be better than this. They are told even now to wait for improvements in our economy and in our schools but it seems to me that Americans have waited long enough.
(APPLAUSE)
The point is that when decades of the same promises keep producing the same failures, that it's reasonable to rethink our approach and consider a new plan. I'm hopeful that together we can set a new direction in federal policy. Starting where many of our problems do start, with a family. A study by the Brookings Institute has shown that those that graduate from high school, who get a full-time job and wait until 21 before they marry and then have their first child, the probability of becoming poor is 2 percent. And if those factors are absent, the probability of being poor is at 76 percent. Here at the NAACP, you understand the deep and lasting difference that family makes. Your former executive director, Dr. Benjamin Hooks had it exactly right. The family he said quote remains the bull work and the main stay of the black community. That great truth must not be over looked, end of quote. Any policy that lifts up and honors the family is going to be good for the country and that must be our goal. As president, I will promote strong families and I will defend traditional marriage.
(APPLAUSE)
Now, as you also may have heard from my opponent, I'm also a believer in the free enterprise system. I believe it can bring change where so many well-meaning government programs have failed. I've never heard look around an impoverished neighborhood and say, you know there is too much free enterprise around here, too many shops, too many jobs, too many people putting money in the bank. What you hear, of course, is how do we bring in jobs? How do we make good, honest employers want to move in, stay in, and with the state the economy is in today, we're asking that question more and more. Free enterprise is still the greatest force for upward mobility, economic security, and expansion of the middle class. We've seen in recent years what it's like to have less free enterprise. As president, I'll show the good things that can happen when we have more free enterprise, more business activity, more jobs, more opportunity, more paychecks, more savings accounts. On day one I'll begin turning this economy around with a plan for the middle class and I don't just mean for those that are middle class now. I also mean for those who have waited so long for their chance to join the middle class.
(APPLAUSE) And by the way, I know what it takes to put people to work, to bring more jobs and better wages. My plan is based on 25 years in success of business. It's a job recovery plan. Now, there's five key steps. First, I'm going to take full advantage of our energy resources and I'll approve the keystone pipeline from Canada. Low cost, plentiful coal, natural gas, oil, and renewables will bring over a million manufacturing jobs back to the United States.
(APPLAUSE)
Second, I want to open up new markets for American goods. We're the most productive major economy in the world. So trade means good jobs for Americans. But trade has to be fair and free. So I'll clamp down on cheaters like China and make sure they finally play by the rules and don't steal our jobs.
(APPLAUSE)
And, third, I'm going to reduce government spending. I hope everyone understands that high levels of debt slow down the rate of growth of the GDP, of the economy. And that means fewer jobs are created. If our goal is jobs, we have to stop spending over a trillion dollars than we take in every year. And so to do that I'm going to eliminate every nonessential expensive program that I can find. That includes Obama care and I'm going to work to reform and save -
(BOOING)
You know, there was a survey of the chamber of commerce. They carried out a survey of their members, about 1,500 surveyed. And they asked him what effect Obama care would have on their plans and three- quarters of them said it would make them less likely to hire people. So I say again, if our priority is jobs, that's my priority, that's what I would change and I'd replace with something that provides the people something they need in health care which is lower cost, good quality, a capacity to deal with people who have pre-existing conditions and I'll put that in place and I'll work to reform and save Medicare and social security. People keep talking about the fact that those programs are on the path way to insolvency. Yet nothing gets done to fix them. I will fix them and make sure they're permanent and secure for our seniors today and for seniors tomorrow. And I'll do that in part by means-testing the benefits. Meaning higher benefits for lower income people and lower benefits for higher income folks.
(APPLAUSE)
Fourth, I'm going to focus on nurturing and developing the skills of the workers that our economy so desperately needs today and the future demands. This is the human capital with which tomorrow's bright future can be built. And by the way, too many homes and too many schools are failing to provide our children with education that are essential for anything other than a minimum wage job.
(APPLAUSE)
And, finally, and perhaps most importantly, I'll are restore economic freedom. This nation's economy runs on freedom, on opportunity, on entrepreneurs, on people dreamers who innovate and build businesses. These entrepreneurs are being crushed by high taxation, unnecessary burdens and regulations, hostile regulators, excessive health care costs, and destructive labor policies. I will go to work to make America the best place in the world for innovators, for entrepreneurs and for businesses large and small. Do these five things, open up energy, expand trade, cut the growth of government, focus on better educating tomorrow's workers today and restore economic freedom and jobs will come back to America. Wages will rise again. We have got to do it. And I know the president will say he will do those things but he has not, he will not, he cannot, and his last four years in the White House prove it definitively. If I am president, job one for me will be for creating jobs. Let me say that again. My agenda is not to put in place a series of policies that get me a lot of attention and applause. My policy will be number one create jobs for the American people. I do not have a hidden agenda.
