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Fighting Intensifies in Aleppo; Obama To Speak In Denver; New Panoramic Image Of Mars; Egypt Airstrikes Kill 20 Militants; Sikh Gunman Apparently Shot Himself; Homegrown Terror Versus Al Qaeda; Cameroon Athletes Disappear; Record Crowd for Women's Soccer Final; Gotye Parody Video Hits Obama; Rescue Mission To Antarctica

Aired August 08, 2012 - 14:00   ET

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

ALINA CO, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Alina Cho, in for Brooke Baldwin. Thanks for joining us.

Right now all eyes on the urgent situation in Syria. It has been a very bad day in Aleppo. And it's been bad for a very long time. But people on the ground there say the battle intensified today by a lot. Government war planes upped the amount of bombs dropped and state TV says that government troops have taken control of one of Aleppo's strategic neighborhoods. But rebel leaders say not so fast. They deny their followers are retreating from their stronghold and say neither side has gained ground.

Getting an accurate picture of what's going on inside Aleppo can be tricky. So I want to bring in our Ben Wedeman. He has just gotten out of Aleppo after spending two days on the front line of the battle there.

Ben, we have some of the pictures that you brought with us. Tell us, what did you see while you were there?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): What we saw was a city very much at war. At least about half of it under the control of the Free Syrian Army. We saw that the government is not hesitating to use its fire power, it artillery, its tanks, its air war planes to fire, not only upon the combatants in neighbors like Salahuddin (ph), that you must mentioned, but other neighbors as well where they still have significant civilian populations and just a handful of fighters. These areas are coming under regular bombardment. Last night we had a very hard time getting any sleep at all with all the bombardment that was going on.

Humanitarian situation very difficult. Food supplies are tenuous at best. Doctors telling us that they're running low on medicine, medical supplies and medical staff, as well as many of those who could help the wounded are unable to get to the parts of town that are controlled by the rebels.

Now, of course, we're hearing this evening from the official Syrian media that regular troops have entered and retaken the Salahuddin neighborhood. A very strategic neighborhood as it lies right next to the entrance of Aleppo, of the main Damascas/Aleppo highway. Rebel commanders, however, say it's not true. That they inflicted heavy casualties on the government forces destroying, they say, anywhere between one and four of the government tanks and that they have not ceded any ground at this point.

Alina.

CHO: Ben, you mentioned the humanitarian crisis, and I know you've been following this very closely over the past few days. I think it -- I think we should be reminding our viewers that 17,000 people have died in the fighting so far in Syria. However, civilians are trying to go about their lives, as you say.

But I'd like to hear more just about the difficulties. Just yesterday we were speaking with our Hala Gorani and she said getting bread has been a problem. And that just goes to show just how difficult it is to live inside Syria as the fighting continues. Talk a little bit more about that, Ben.

WEDEMAN: Yes, of course. Bread is difficult. People have to line up for hours to get just one loaf of bread per person in the family per day. But at the same time, they're suffering from irregular electricity supplies. They don't have any cooking gas. So one woman I spoke to said that she cooks when she can on firewood she collects in the street and in public parks. Other families, for instance, are no longer living in their houses, in their apartments, but rather sleeping in the stairwells because of the danger of bombardment, which is really a 24 hour thing.

But as I said, people try to live. Now, for instance, I met a man who was walking down the street in one of the rebel held neighborhoods with his 10-day old baby. The baby was born during the fighting. And, of course, whenever this baby hears these massive explosions of the artillery, it just cries and cries and cries. So (INAUDIBLE) and, for instance, other people, you know, I spoke to some children and they're clearly very disoriented by the fact that Aleppo and (INAUDIBLE) just a few weeks ago had been spared much of the violence, much of the fighting that was going on in Syria. But suddenly, just a few weeks ago, the uprising spread there. So the children themselves seem to be somewhat disoriented by the fact that their once peaceful neighborhood, peaceful just a few weeks ago, has now become a battleground. So it's sort of difficult for people of every age, trying to not only survive, but to feed their families, to keep them safe under these horrendous conditions.

CHO: Ben Wedeman on the ground in Syria. Ben, thank you so much for that. Great reporting. We thank you.

Politics now. And Mitt Romney awoke today to a stark reminder of the work he has before him. Just 19 days before his party's big convention, Romney's favorability among voters is apparently sinking. Now the number you need to look at is 49 percent. That his Mitt Romney's unfavorable rating in "The Washington Post"/ABC News poll that was released today. By the way, it's four points worse than May and the worst showing for a presidential hopeful this close to the election since 1984. Romney, today, is on the campaign trail, of course. He hammered President Obama in a speech earlier in Des Moines, Iowa. Romney accused the president of breaking promises on health care costs, the deficit and, most importantly, on jobs.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's tough to be middle class in America today. A lot of folks that are in the middle class have now found themselves falling into poverty, having to go on food stamps. This is very different than the kind of record that occurred under Ronald Reagan. And the president's policies have simply failed the American people in terms of getting people back to work.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHO: A separate poll today bodes not so well for the president. Have a look here. The Quinnipiac University/"New York Times"/CBS News poll as the president trailing Romney in a pivotal state that he carried back in 2008, Colorado. The president has just landed in Denver and so has our Brianna Keilar. She is traveling with the president today.

Brianna, great to see you.

Now, if you speak to the president's surrogates, they will tell you that the president is strong among women voters and today that he will remind those women how Governor Romney tried to take control of their health care. What else can we expect from the president today?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Yes, that's right. We know that he'll talk, Alina, about extending those (INAUDIBLE) tax cuts for the middle class. But make no mistake about it, this is an event that's all about women voters. And he'll be touting his action on women's issues. You have to really go no further than the person who will be introducing him, Sandra Fluke. That may remind you, a memory from a few months ago. She was the one who spoke on Capitol Hill in favor of the Obama administration policy, a part of health care reform that requires insurance companies to provide contraception. And she really became sort of a lot of supporters of President Obama's rallying around her and even women rallying around her after Rush Limbaugh described her in some rather disparaging terms. So she certainly has been elevated and she'll be introducing President Obama today. Expect that he'll be talking about women's issues. Women and health care reform, and specifically the fact that he will put it, that he is trying to preserve the choice for women of having contraception.

CHO: And along those lines, Brianna, I do want to play part of an ad that the president is airing in Colorado. Let's walk this and we'll talk on the other side.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE, POLITICAL AD: I've never felt this way before, but it's a scary time to be a woman. Mitt Romney is just so out of touch.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE, POLITICAL AD (voice-over): Mitt Romney opposes requiring insurance coverage for contraception and Romney supports overturning Roe versus Wade. Romney backed a bill that outlaws all abortion.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHO: Obviously, Brianna, the president clearly targeting women along the same lines. Is this a theme that we're going to see continuing throughout the election, especially when so many voters also want to hear about jobs?

KEILAR: I think it is when you're talking about women because these issues are so motivating for this voting demographic. And women mean a lot for President Obama. They normally trend Democratic. But even more so than they normally do, they came through big time for him in 2008. He won women over John McCain by 13 percent. They outnumber men and voters by a margin. And, also, President Obama struggled with white male voters. So this is helping him make up some of that ground.

If you're talking specifically about Colorado -- and this explains why he's here talking about it -- in 2008 he lost men by just about 1 percent according to exit polls. He won women by 15 percent, quite a margin, according to our CNN exit polls. The latest Quinnipiac University poll, CBS News poll, shows that Mitt Romney is actually leading men by 17 points. That's a huge lead. And that Barack Obama, while leading with women, only by eight points. So he certainly has some work to do here if he's going to make up or come close to what we saw him do in 2008, Alina.

CHO: That's absolutely right. In fact, one poll that I saw had Mitt Romney's edge 10 to one among white male voters in Colorado, Virginia and Wisconsin. So you're absolutely right.

Brianna Keilar, we thank you for joining us by phone from Denver, Colorado. We will be bringing you the president live in the next hour as well. So stay tuned for that.

We've got a lot more news unfolding right now, including a surprise from police in Wisconsin about the gunman in the Sikh temple shooting. Plus, police call the incident domestic terrorism. Our next guest says these so-called home grown terrorists are striking more than al Qaeda.

And the Mars rover Curiosity is working even better than expected. Picture you just have to see and a live demonstration is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHO: Well, the mission to Mars continues to thrill. Have you been paying attention to this? If you aren't, you're in the minority. NASA's Curiosity rover is now in its third day on the red planet, some 352 million miles away. Now the image we're about to show you is one of the new ones that NASA just released within the past hour or so. The team at the Jet Propulsion Lab pieced it together and it shows a panoramic view of the Mars horizon. Just yesterday engineers released Curiosity's first color photo from Mars. All of it more evidence of what a stellar success this mission has been, even in this early stage, after launching the rover eight months ago. The odds were against it. More than half of NASA's landings to Mars have failed. So no wonder the team is cautious about everything the rover does. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE MALIN, PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR, MARS DESCENT IMAGER: There's a question about, can we move the rover? Is it safe to move the rover? There's nothing around it. So we can -- it's safe to move the rover. There's nothing under it because we do have an image closer in as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHO: Want to go now to CNN's John Zarrella at NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena, California.

You've practically moved in there, John. Nice to see you again.

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Alina.

And, you know, you're talking about all that. They have to be ultra cautious. And one way they are ultra cautious, you can see, they've actually sent me to the surface of Mars to do this. Well, it's as close as I'm going to ever get to the surface of Mars. This is really kind of a sand box. And what you can see here is an absolute engineering model. It is a duplicate of the rover on Mars. An exact replica. So, you know, everything that the Curiosity rover does, this rover will do also.

And Ann Devereaux is joining us.

And, Ann, you're the -- you were the deputy lead on the entry dissent and landing team. What do you do with this now? You use this to actually shadow what Curiosity does?

ANN DEVEREAUX, FLIGHT SYSTEMS ENGINEER, JET PROPULSION LABORATORY: That's right. That's right. Like you said, this is almost an exact duplicate of the real rover. So you see the size of it compared to us, right? So one of the things we just did today is we raised the mast. Or yesterday we did. So you can see that there. They're just about to move the high gain antenna. Basically what we want to do with this vehicle is everything that we would do on the real spacecraft, we do with this guy first and second to make sure that there's no problem, nothing that we didn't see coming.

ZARRELLA: So now you did -- you said you raised that and they're about to move the high gain antenna.

DEVEREAUX: That's right.

ZARRELLA: And if there's ever any issues, you use this rover to figure out what you can do to get out of the problem on Mars, right?

DEVEREAUX: That's right. If -- were we to run into a problem on Mars or something that we didn't expect, what we would do is we would run through the same sequences on this model, trying to see, you know, what our choices are, what our parameters are, and then we could adjust the stuff that we're doing on the spacecraft to take care of whatever the problem was. ZARRELLA: Now, Alina was just talking about the fact that they showed a picture literally of the ground, you know, on Mars. And that was taken from down here from that imaging -- the Descent camera. And we were talking about -- I said, you know, if you and I take a picture of the ground, we get rid of it. We like delete it, right? But here, that's kind of a cool picture because it shows -- and this is what you guys think that maybe martian dirt look like.

DEVEREAUX: Yes, this is not supposed to be a really good replica. I mean basically it's just something for the rover to give it some traction. We do have a Mars yard up the hill that this guy actually goes outdoors into a simulated martain environment outside. And then we can run her over like big rocks and ramps and that sort of stuff. So today she's inside. She's shadowing the spacecraft. But in a few days she'll go back upstairs -- up the hill and be out in the Mars yard.

ZARRELLA: When you actually start to do things like move the rover, you'll want to be outside in the actual Mars yard where you can move it around.

DEVEREAUX: That's right. That's right.

ZARRELLA: So, real quick, though, all of this, it's a lot more complicated when you -- complex when you look at it this way.

DEVEREAUX: That's right. I mean a lot of the stuff that's in here actually came off the same production lines that the real flight equipment came. So, I mean, when you see like the way the cabling goes on here, this is the way the real vehicle looks with the tiny little tire apps (ph) and all the intricate -- you know you have the targets for people to do calibration. This is what the real thing actually look like.

ZARRELLA: Ann, thanks so much for taking time to be with her and be with us here -- out here on Mars looking at exactly -- and we're still waiting for that high gain antenna to move. But that should start. So, you see, things take time here. We have to work through all of this.

But, Alina, this gives everybody out there, all the viewers, a really good idea of exactly how complex this is. And everything that NASA has to do, they mimic. Everything that Curiosity is doing is mimicked by this vehicle right here.

Alina.

CHO: I learned one thing today, that Curiosity's a she. So, didn't know that it was female.

ZARRELLA: It's a she. Curiosity is a she. That's exactly right.

CHO: OK. We've got it.

ZARRELLA: Well, there you go.

CHO: All right, John Zarrella, we'll check back with you later. ZARRELLA: Yes.

CHO: Thanks so much.

A monster EF-4 tornado ripped through an Indiana school just five months ago. You may remember that. Now, $55 million later, the school that was leveled is back open for students.

Plus, country music star Randy Travis arrested in Texas. There's the mug shot there. Just wait till you hear what happened.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHO: The first day of school has extra special meaning for some small town Indiana students. A massive tornado ripped Henryville's school to shreds about five months ago. The winds were so fierce, that a school bus even landed inside a nearly diner. Nearly 1,300 middle school and high school students returned to the $54 million gleaming new school. And the principal is thrilled.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GLENN RIGGS, PRINCIPAL, HENRYVILLE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL: There's lots of silver lining in this. There's lots of things that have brought the community closer together, brought the staff closer together. You know, congealed the students. There's just lots of pluses that came about because of the catastrophic weather event.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHO: The tornado last March killed dozens of people in the Midwest.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO, NEW YORK: We're talking about poison. This is poison that is being distributed and sold. All this Mr. Happy, California Dreams, Blueberry Blast, it is poison.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHO: That's New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and he's talking about cracking down on bath salts which can be dangerous when inhaled. Cuomo announced tough new penalties yesterday for anyone who buys, sell or possess bath salts or synthetic marijuana. Bath salts are already banned in New York state, but drugmakers can sometimes skirt those bans by modifying the ingredients a bit. Store owners say that just a couple months ago, you could get bath salts at some East Village shops.

Penn State is tweaking its football uniforms in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky scandal. A blue ribbon on every uniform will now signify support for victims of child abuse. And for the very first time, football players last names will be featured on their jerseys too. Former Assistant Coach Jerry Sandusky was convicted in June of more than 40 counts of child sex abuse. A severe typhoon slams the east coast of China, south of Shanghai. Take a look at the buildings and homes Typhoon Haikui destroyed when it hit land just this morning. More than 600,000 people have been evacuated from the storm's path. Haikui is the third tropical cyclone to hit China's east coast in less than a week. Winds are expected to weaken as the storm moves over land, but it will continue to dump large amounts of rain, raising the risk of landslides and flooding.

Madonna's concert in Russia tomorrow night will have a lot more security than originally planned. That's because of what she said last night on stage there. She supported the women of the punk rock band "Pussy Riot." They are on trial right now for protesting against Russian President Vladimir Putin. Madonna wore a mask and had the band's name written on her body last night. Have a look. Madonna says she has always been against censorship and says what's happening to the band is unfair.

Country music star Randy Travis arrested last night on charges of driving while intoxicated and retaliation. The story takes a strange turn. Listen to this. According to police, they found Travis lying naked on a remote road in northern Texas smelling of alcohol. And that's not all. His car apparently was wrecked nearby and the singer allegedly threatened to shoot highway patrol troopers who responded to the call. Travis is now free on bond today. This is his second DWI arrest just this year.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says there's a potential of terrorists taking up an operational base in Sinai. Egypt is launching air strikes after a troop massacre that sparked gun battles with militants. And we are going to take you there live, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHO: Egypt, a nation taking its first steps as a true democracy, is facing its biggest diplomatic challenge yet. And it's all happening in this area that borders Israel, the Sinai Peninsula. And it's now the scene of a deadly back and forth between Egypt and armed militants. Watch.

(VIDEO CLIP)

CHO: Security forces were in shoot outs with those militants overnight. It's not clear exactly who those militants represent, but analysts suspect that they want to end Israel's peace with Egypt. And government forces are going after the gunmen from the ground and from the air. Apache helicopters fired rockets early today killing at least 20 of the militants. Forces are also smuggling tunnels into Gaza and this is all in response to what happened on Sunday. Masked shooters with grenades killed 16 Egyptian soldiers after stealing two armored vehicles to get into Israel.

But is this video shows, Israeli defense forces took one of the vehicles out and the other one blew up. Joining me now is Ian Lee who is live in the Port City where Egypt's air strikes happened. Ian, what are you seeing? IAN LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): What we have seen around us is a heavy military build up. It's a heavy presence. I've been to Sinai many times before and I've never seen this kind of security presence.

Coming across the northern part of Sinai, we saw armored personnel carriers. We saw small attack vehicles -- dozens of them. Hundreds of soldiers ready to impose the security that's been lacking in the Sinai since last year's revolution.

So we're seeing a heavy military build up to continue the ongoing operation against the militants who have been emboldened by the recent attacks, which actually the militants struck just 24 hours ago. The military is building up to push them back.

CHO: How much of a test has this been for Egypt's new president, Mohammed Morsi who just took office in July?

LEE: This is a big test because this is his first crisis to come up during his residency and it's a test to see how he will handle it and how he can work with the army to bring Sinai back under control and also to repel militants.

There has been some tension between the two, the military and the Muslim Brotherhood and President Morsi before. Now is the time to see if they can work together to help secure the Sinai.

This is a big test also for Egypt's military to see if they can re- assert control over Sinai. But this isn't going to be just an operation of tanks and guns. They're also going to need a political solution with the (inaudible) of Sinai.

They're going to have to work with them to help secure the peninsula because before for decades it has been marginalized by the central government not giving the full rights of an average Egyptian citizen. So there's going to be a political maneuver that's going to have to happen for them to ultimately secure the peninsula.

CHO: And Ian Lee we know you will be watching it all very closely from there. We thank you for joining us.

Police dropping a surprise about the investigation into the Sikh temple shooting in Wisconsin. Officers didn't kill Wade Michael Page. He apparently killed himself. This is my next guest says the domestic terrorism is more of a threat to Americans than al Qaeda and that is often ignored. We're going to hear why next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHO: All right, we have new information about how the shooting suspect in the Sikh temple massacre died. Just a few hours ago, the FBI announced that Wade Michael Page, the lone suspect in the shooting killed himself. Let's listen to the FBI's announcement.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TERESA CARLSON, FBI SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE: The evidence indicates that the second responding officer who shot page in the stomach, there by neutralizing the threat.

And by the way I've seen the video. It is an amazing shot and thank goodness. Subsequent to that wound it appears that Page died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHO: Police say they still have no motive for the attack that left seven people dead including the suspect. No motive and the FBI will say very little about what they know about Page, at least just yet.

What we do know links him to white supremacy groups. An old Army buddy says Page talked of a racial holy war and we do know that he played in a white supremacist rock band called "End Apathy." And he was known to authorities.

I want to bring in Peter Bergen. He is our national security analyst and in a recent opinion piece for cnn.com, Peter, you compare the twin terrorist danger as al Qaeda versus the home grown variety.

You know, when most of us think of a domestic terrorism, we think of Oklahoma City. You know, it's been 17 years since that happened, 168 people died. Do you believe we should be fearing home grown extremists more than al Qaeda?

PETER BERGEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: I mean, let's put it a little bit of perspective. The piece that I wrote for cnn.com pointed out that since 9/11, a right wing extremist have actually conducted more lethal terrorist attacks than people inspired by al Qaeda's ideology.

Now, in both cases, neither of these groups have been very successful at killing a lot of people. You mentioned, Alina, Oklahoma city, 168 people were killed in that event. And as a result of which, there was great pressure on the right wing extremist groups.

That continues to this day. That said, you know, a number of these individuals motivated by supremacist ideas or anti-government ideas or anti-Semitic ideas since 9/11 have successfully carried out lethal terrorist attacks.

The total number of victims if we include Mr. Page and his attack in Wisconsin is 15. That's not huge number of people. But it contrasts with the 17 numbers -- the 17 people who have been killed by people motivated by al Qaeda's ideology.

CHO: Thirteen in one attack you point out.

BERGEN: Thirteen, yes, thirteen, at Fort Hood, Texas. So the point is that the extremism comes in a lot of different ideological garbs. And there is -- whether it's right wing terrorist or an al Qaeda inspired terrorist. There's a great law enforcement efforts in this country since 9/11 in particular to go after the groups. So it's not that law enforcement isn't paying attention quite the contrary FBI is quite concerned about right wing militants attacking law enforcement officers and the like, Alina.

CHO: Let's talk a little bit more about the perpetrators. Based on your reporting, who are some of the most violent offenders? Can you categorize them?

BERGEN: Well, I mean, they come in various kind of shades. I mean, on the right wing extremists side of things you have anti-abortion militants. You have people who are against the government.

You may recall, Alina, the man who flew his plane into an IRS building in Austin, Texas in 2010. You have violent anti-Semites. You may recall somebody with a long history of anti-Semitism attacked at the Holocaust Museum in 2009 in Washington, D.C.

So, you know, a variety of people with different motivations for coming out of the right with. So, you know, the point of writing this piece is just to remind readers and viewers that terrorism is not the monopoly of people inspired by al Qaeda's ideas.

Of course, you have, you know, eco-terrorists. You have animal rights liberation folks who engaged in acts of property destruction and so this comes in a lot of different shades.

CHO: I think it's important to point out too that when we look at the Sikh temple shooting in Wisconsin that the investigators are looking at it as possible domestic terrorism that yet hasn't been determined and yet it has all the makings of it, doesn't it?

BERGEN: It does. I mean, obviously CNN is being very careful about the way it characterizes the attack. But this guy was posing with Nazi flags on his Facebook, was in white power music bands.

You know, clearly had a long history of association with white extremist organizations. And if it quacks like a duck, you know it probably is a duck.

So my opinion is that this guy -- there's no other explanation for his actions other than, you know, extreme racial prejudice.

CHO: I think your piece on cnn.com and I think everyone should read it is a great reminder that we shouldn't forget that al Qaeda remains a threat so are home grown terrorists right here in America and it's something that we should definitely pay attention. Peter Bergen, I thank you for joining us today.

BERGEN: Thank you.

CHO: A mystery unfolding at the Olympics. Have you heard about this? Seven athletes disappeared, vanished. They are missing from the Olympic Village and we have the very latest on this, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHO: Welcome back. A mystery in London to tell you about. Seven athletes from Cameroon have gone missing from the Olympic Village. According to the country's team chief, five boxers and one swimmer disappeared on Monday.

A female soccer player hasn't been seen in nearly two weeks. Olympic athletes do have the right to stay in Great Britain without a visa until early November. That said it remains unclear if those athletes who are missing are trying to seek asylum.

The U.S. women's soccer team will be playing for the gold medal in front of what's expected to be the largest crowd in Olympic history. The largest, at least 83,000 people will be filling Wembley's Stadium tomorrow to watch the U.S. face off against Japan.

That number smashes the old record for an Olympic women's soccer game, which was set during the '96 games. Team USA will be looking for revenge after losing to Japan in the women's World Cup final last summer.

Two guys aren't too happy with President Obama so they made a parody video using that famous song "Somebody That I used To Know." How about this for a title, "Obama That I Used To Know."

It's gone viral. Have you seen it? But the creators are raising some pretty serious questions. I'm going to ask them to answer those questions live. They're going to join me next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHO: Welcome back. I've been waiting all day for this. Creators of a controversial parody slamming President Obama are with us live today.

Their video has been viewed more than 200,000 times on YouTube. A spoof of the hit song "Somebody That I Used To Know" by Gotye. Here is the original song. Watch.

Who didn't love that song? Now watch the parody.

All right, you can understand now why the video got our attention. We wanted to talk to the creators so we tracked them down. Justin Monticello on the left there, Ryan Newbrough on the right, you guys co-wrote the lyrics.

Thank you so much for joining us. I have to say, you know, it's one thing to have buyer's remorse so to speak over President Obama and be upset. Maybe decide you want to go the other way. It's another thing to put together this elaborate video. What inspired you to do this?

RYAN NEWBROUGH, CO-FOUNDER, JUSTNEW PRODUCTIONS: You know, I was watching one of the numerous parody videos out there on that song. Obviously, great admirer of Gotye in that specific song, "Somebody That I Used To Know." It just struck me that would be a perfect parody would be "Obama That I Used Know." So I texted Justin, my partner in our production company and I was like we got to do this. He called me a minute later and was like let's do it.

CHO: Justin, that's you, obviously that we see in there video. I watched it several times. The one thing that struck me was your angelic voice. But I've come to find out that's not you singing.

JUSTIN MONTICELLO, CO-FOUNDER, JUSTNEW PRODUCTION: No, it's not. It is actually Matthew Boarer who is a fantastic singer. He is a friend of ours from college.

CHO: I want to play another clip. I can't get enough of this. I want to play a clip where you pounced on the president about Guantanamo. Let's watch.

All right, it gets a laugh. But in all seriousness, can you even articulate what you two would have done with Guantanamo. Clearly, the president made a promise. One of his first promises to close it down, and he didn't. What would you have done?

MONTICELLO: I think, you know, with Guantanamo, obviously, that's a tricky issue. You know, a lot of this stuff you can't just blame on Barack Obama. There are other considerations and other politicians out there, obviously.

We just, our general sentiment with this was just that when he won, we thought that was going to be kind of a watershed moment and that he was promising to return us to the American values without having to sacrifice them for security.

CHO: Ryan, what has been most disappointing to you about the Obama presidency?

NEWBROUGH: You know, rather than any specific issue, I would say the general hope and inspiration. I think that goes back to the message of our video. We were so inspired in 2008 in the campaign.

We had so much hope for Obama and what he could do for America and the world. Maybe those were unrealistic expectations. Our message is kind of maybe the disappointment that's expressed in the video is just that he hasn't exactly delivered we thought he could. Again, it might not be fair critique.

CHO: I understand. I understand that both you supported Obama in 2008. Neither of you voted in that election. Some people might say the better way to let your voice be heard, with all due respect, is to cast your ballot.

MONTICELLO: Yes. We both agree with that sentiment, obviously. I think, you know, the reason that we didn't vote wasn't because we weren't politically engaged. We were in college and we're both from out of state.

And we thought we had registered in Massachusetts, but when it came time to vote we had not. We weren't able to. I can speak for Ryan when I say we were swept up in this moment of American history like so many of our friends and that was, we were very engaged in that.

CHO: Are you planning to vote this time? Are you going to support Mitt Romney?

NEWBROUGH: We'll definitely vote this time. I think both of us are undecided.

CHO: Undecided?

NEWBROUGH: We're waiting for the debates for more conversation. That's kind of what excites us about this video, the reaction it's getting that's spurring so much conversation.

CHO: Finally but quickly, what has the reaction been? I mean, 200,000 people have seen it on YouTube, but I imagine people have contacted you as well, right?

MONTICELLO: Yes. As you might imagine, it's everything from extreme hate mail to people telling what you say a great job we did. What's been really gratifying for us is seeing the reaction on the left and right sides of the aisle.

You know, everybody can find something in this video that they find truthful. That was really our goal was to be kind of post partisan in the spirit of the Obama that we used to know and not take either side.

CHO: You get an A for creativity. I have to tell you. Justin Monticello and Ryan Newbrough --

MONTICELLO: Thank you.

CHO: Not bad for your directorial debut. Thanks so much for joining us live today. We appreciate it.

NEWBROUGH: Thank you. Appreciate it.

CHO: All right, up next, a live demonstration of the Mars rover and how it works. You just got to see this. Those are some of the pictures that were released today by NASA.

Plus happening right now, a medical rescue in Antarctica where it's the middle of winter and there's no sunlight for six months. We're going to tell you about it.

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CHO: A medical emergency in one of the most extreme places on earth. It all happened at the McMurdo Station in the dead of night. An Australian medical team and government jet are preparing to fly in and to rescue an expeditioner believed to be an American.

CNN Amy La Porte joins us now. This is such a remote area. We don't even know whether the expeditioner is a man or woman. What can you tell us about this? AMY LA PORTE, CNN WRITER/PRODUCER: What we do know is that a distress call went out in the dead of night on Wednesday. We don't know whether it's a man or a woman.

We believe it's a U.S. citizen. What we do know is that there is a medical center at this facility. The fact that they have prompted this rescue effort means it's got to be a significant medical emergency.

We don't know whether it's an illness or injury. Basically a team of Australian researchers are in New Zealand.

CHO: I think it's very important and very quickly, just tell us. I mean, they really have a small sliver of opportunity to get in there and get this person out.

LA PORTE: They really do. They are actually there literally on the runway waiting for the standby call to get there. There's a sliver of light. Basically, here in America and around the world, pilots can land at any time during the night.

In Antarctica, you're talking about a field of ice where there are no runway lights, no beacon. They are literally landing this plane blind. There is -- at high noon, there's a sliver of light. They go in there. They get this patient on board and then they get them out of there.

CHO: Amy, let's hope for the best. We know you will be watching this very closely.

LA PORTE: I thank you.