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Poll: 67 Percent of Georgia Voters Oppose National Abortion Ban; GOP WI Sen. Johnson Attacks Dem Opponent Barnes On Crime Positions; Sen. Sanders: It's A Mistake For Dems To Focus Only On Abortion; North Carolina Group Fighting To Protect Confederate Symbols Amid Backlash; Actress Angela Lansbury Has Died At Age 96. Aired 3:30- 4p ET
Aired October 11, 2022 - 15:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[15:30:00]
VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: Two thirds of voters oppose Congress passing a federal law making abortion illegal. So, Kirsten, this might be more relevant than any questions of alleged hypocrisy.
KIRSTEN POWERS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, I think there is a disconnect though often. And we see it particularly on abortion, between what the leaders say and what the voters want. So, you know, this is something that has puzzled me frankly about the Republican Party, because we see it so consistently.
We see state legislatures doing things that the people in the state don't support, passing very, you know, egregious laws against abortion rights. And we see national leaders, like Herschel Walker, talking about no exceptions, and national bans. When hardly anybody supports that. Even in Republican politics. So, you know, I can't really explain that disconnect between the Republican voters and the leaders. Maybe Alyssa can.
BLACKWELL: Alyssa.
ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, and just to Kirsten's point, I agree with you in the sense that the base voters are going to be with someone like a Herschel Walker no matter what. But I actually think now that we're in a general election cycle, you know, we're a few weeks out from the midterms, I think that it's actually very possibly you could see a scenario where Republican Governor Kemp is re-elected and Herschel Walker loses.
I actually think when you're in a general election the voters are sophisticated, we get more nuance and I do think that the hypocrisy does stand out to people. Post Dobbs, the abortion issue is usually animated both on the right and the left. And I could see it really pulling him down, some of the polling is showing that is hurting Herschel Walker. So, I'm not sure that it's too soon to say that I think is going to pull it off.
BLACKWELL: Yes, there was significant fallout in the primary that obviously the campaign Herschel Walker won, that Herschel Walker received fewer votes than governor Kemp. Alyssa, let me stay with you on this, and the GOP hitting Democratic
candidates on crime. This is Senator Ron Johnson hitting his challenger, Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. RON JOHNSON (R-WI): My opponent does not support law enforcement. It seems like he has far greater sympathy for the criminal or criminals versus law enforcement -- Or the victims.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: Do you think that's effective, that line of, you know, he has more sympathy for the criminals will work in this race?
GRIFFIN: It wouldn't be the messaging I would use. Listen, it's very effective when the Republicans focus on the economy and the rise in violent crime. It's happening across the board. Those are 70 percent issues for voters.
I don't like the language here. I don't think that you need to go to that length. People can turn on the local news to know that crime is up and that we need to do more to address it. We don't need to say that the other side, you know, is on the side of criminals.
But, again, as I talk to Republicans and advise Republicans, do focus on the economy and crime, but talk about solving the problems, not just pinning it on Democrats are bad, you know.
BLACKWELL: Kirsten, I want your take on what we're seeing from Senator Bernie Sanders in an opinion piece where he says the abortion issue must remain on the front burner, but it would be political malpractice for Democrats to ignore the state of the economy and allow Republican lies and distortions to go unanswered.
He is of course talking about wealth inequality, income inequality, and that's on brand for Bernie Sanders. But what do you think about his larger point here?
POWERS: Well, I mean, I think across the board that the Democrats could do a better job at responding to the attacks that are coming against them, whether it's on the economy or whether it's on crime actually.
I think that the story about crime that the Republicans are telling isn't really accurate. What the Democrats have is more of a rhetoric problem than an actual problem in terms of supporting law enforcement or in terms of, you know, the murder rate or anything like that.
And I highly recommend to people to look up Third Wave's report on the GOP murder problem -- GOP state murder problem, because it's very high in GOP states.
So, but what we do see is Democrats not being willing to talk about it, and not being willing to speak up about what their actual position is, right, versus the sort of caricature the Republicans do. And I'm not talking about what substantively right or wrong, I'm just saying what actually has happened.
And what actually has happened is the Democratic Party has not supported abolishing the police or not funding the police. That is a left sort of talking point for organizations that support that. And yet, many people are left with the perception that's what they support. And it does turn off voters.
BLACKWELL: Four weeks to go. Kirsten Powers, Alyssa Farah Griffin, thank you.
POWERS: Thank you.
[15:35:00]
BLACKWELL: A monument of a Greek goddess holding a dying confederate soldier was moved from the center of a North Carolina town. Why that action has ignited intense emotions in an evolving community.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A cleansing of our history, our nasty history of slavery and shitty white people who did shitty things to black people, OK. There's a cleansing of that. And then history is being retold.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:40:00]
BLACKWELL: Like a lot of small cities in the south, Salisbury, North Carolina is seeing a demographic change. More diversity, more white Democrats. But after a confederate monument was removed from the middle of town, some people there say that they're losing their history and heritage. CNN's Elly Reeve has their story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANTHONY SMITH, PASTOR: When they moved the statue of Fame from his perch, it was surreal for a lot of people of color, it represents a very dark time in our history.
ANGIE SPILLMAN, RAN FOR ROWAN COUNTY COMMISSIONER: They're tearing down our history, the true history. They say that it hurts maybe the black community's feelings. It hurts my feelings for them that they were slaves and now their history's getting tore down.
ELLE REEVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The statue of a Greek goddess carrying a dying Confederate soldier used to stand in the center of Salisbury. Locals call it "Fame".
The 2020 BLM protest built pressure to move the statue. So, Greg Lambeth created the Fame Preservation Group to stop it. He lost but his group is still going.
Americans are fighting over how the country's history is told, whether in public monuments or school textbooks.
We wanted to know why some still feel so connected to Confederate history. So, we asked Greg if we could come to a meeting.
SPILLMAN: It's a tough subject to have an event and put a confederate flag up because people -- they don't understand why we're doing it are quick to call us names. And we're not doing anything wrong. We love everybody. I don't want to tear history down. I want to add to it.
REEVE (voice over): Fame had become a public safety problem because people would show up at its feet when there was a racial incident in the news. Like after the death of George Floyd, Anthony Smith was there.
ANTHONY SMITH, PASTOR: We were out there, the kids were chanting. Then pro-Confederates start to emerge on the other side of the street.
GREG LAMBETH, FOUNDER, FAME PRESERVATION GROUP: They didn't want to see the monument vandalized or otherwise attacked.
SMITH: A gentleman who's apparently a white nationalist drove down here to join in with that group. He pulls out a gun, fires it. It's kind of like, OK, this keeps escalating.
LAMBETH: It was originally for police brutality and then all of a sudden, it just got focused on taking that down, a directly nonrelated issue.
REEVE: Why do they think it's not related?
LAMBETH: Because monuments and memorials have nothing to do with individual actions of law enforcement.
REEVE: Do you understand the argument that the Black Lives Matter protesters would be making of why police brutality in a Confederate monument would be linked?
LAMBETH: Not really, given it's an inanimate object.
REEVE: Okay. Well, I can explain it for you. The idea is that the state has used violence to suppress Black people, prevent them from voting, using violence and intimidation to keep the population oppressed.
LAMBETH: Right.
REEVE: And so, that's the connection.
REEVE (voice over): Fame was removed from downtown in July 2020 and placed in a confederate cemetery a year later. After the BLM protests, Smith decided to run for city council.
SMITH: I see this fight for pronounced display of Confederate symbolism as them trying to create a sense of I'm a part of a story and y'all are trying to take my story away from me. And the problem is that story is problematic because a lot of that story has to do with the dehumanization of people that look like me, and that's the part that gets difficult to have a conversation about.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Amen.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Amen.
LAMBETH: I personally would like to hear everybody's opinion, no matter their background, whether it be African American or Asian, Hispanic.
REEVE: But Greg --
LAMBETH: Yes.
REEVE: There's no way I'm the first person who told you that some people see the Confederate monument as pro-slavery.
LAMBETH: Of course.
REEVE: Or pro-white supremacy.
LAMBETH: There's people out there that believe that.
REEVE: So, look, you're just saying if someone wants to come to me and tell me they're offended, I'll listen. Oh, wait, they've been saying it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They haven't came here. Have they ever came to see you and anything to you?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Or you can't read a paper?
LAMBETH: Oh yeah, I can read a paper but I'm saying if someone individually wants to speak to me one-on-one.
REEVE: Why do you need to be spoken to individually? I mean, you saw -- you were there when Black Lives Matter protesters were protesting it.
LAMBETH: Yes.
REEVE: You could have listened then.
LAMBETH: To be fair, I didn't have a choice but to listen because they were chanting it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I've had a handful of people come up and whisper, are you a Democrat?
REEVE: Really?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Like it's shameful?
REEVE (voice over): Salisbury's demographics are changing. More people of color, more from urban areas.
Alyssa Redman (ph) bought a bookstore after 15 years in the foreign service.
ALYSSA REDMAN, BOOKSTORE OWNER: Salisbury is a fairly liberal town but we are surrounded by a very conservative county and I wanted to be in a place where my vote would matter, but also my voice.
[15:45:00]
SMITH: I can see maybe how it looks scary to them, like man, the world is not like it was, and some people are not taking it well.
REEVE (voice over): The local newspaper still gets letters from people who are upset that Fame was moved.
LAMBETH: I see it as a cleansing movement. The movement that was created to take down one monument was to taken down every monument, essentially to replace the existing culture with something entirely different.
REEVE: Well, you said there was a cleansing and I'm wondering who is cleansing who.
SPILLMAN: You're talking about the statue being cleansed, aren't you?
LAMBETH: Not only statues but just historical fact in general.
REEVE: I want to know who exactly is doing the replacing.
SPILLMAN: Democrats.
REEVE: What do you mean?
LAMBETH: Angie.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Angie.
REEVE: You think Democrats are replacing --
SPILLMAN: I'm not speaking for them, I'm speaking for me right now because I see what you're doing and you're turning this on a nice fella that's trying to do something good.
Let me tell you what a cleansing is.
REEVE: OK.
SPILLMAN: A cleansing of our history, our nasty history of slavery and shitty white people who did shitty things to black people, OK. There's a cleansing of that. And then history is being retold.
REEVE: Now, is that what you meant, Greg?
LAMBETH: No.
SPILLMAN: Well, that's what I thought you meant.
REEVE: Well, I want to know what Greg thinks. And the reason I ask, just to be transparent here is you used the term "cleansing" and "replacement" and those are both terms that I've seen a lot in the white power movement. So, are you consciously referring to those things?
LAMBETH: No. I'm not saying that there's any racial cleansing being done.
REEVE: OK.
LAMBETH: Because I don't believe that Confederate monuments represent something that's specifically driven by race. If any one member of our organization perked any notion of racial supremacy or domestic terrorism, I would nip that in the bud real quick.
REEVE: Elly Reeve, CNN, Salisbury North Carolina.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLACKWELL: Thanks to Elly Reeve for that report.
Breaking news into CNN. Legendary actress Angela Lansbury has died. Her family confirmed the death to NBC. Lansbury was the star of "Murder, She Wrote" and according to a statement from her family, she died just five days shy of her 97th birthday. We'll remember her life and her legacy, next.
[15:50:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLACKWELL: Breaking news, actress Angela Lansbury has died at the age of 96. According to a statement, her family released to NBC, she died just five days shy of her 97th birthday. She was born in London and starred for 12 years on the popular CBS show "Murder, She Wrote." I'll remember her as Mrs. Potts from "Beauty and the Beast." She 15 Tony awards over her career. CNN's Stephanie Elam takes a look at her amazing body of work.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANGELA LANSBURY, ACTRESS: Absolutely no doubt in my mind that Beverly was murdered.
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Angela Lansbury became a household name in 1984, with the TV series "Murder, She Wrote." She played mystery writer Jessica Fletcher, who was also good at solving crimes.
LANSBURY: The robbery was a cover for another murder.
ELAM (voice over): The British actress made the role seem effortless and earned 12 Emmy nominations during the show successful run.
LANSBURY: Well, I am impressed.
ELAM: Born in October 1925, in London, Lansbury got her big break as Nancy in the 1944 film "Gaslight". She earned her first best supporting Oscar nomination for her work opposite Ingrid Bergman. The Picture of Dorian Gray garnered Lansbury her second supporting Oscar nomination in 1945. She worked steadily throughout the '50s and then the "Manchurian Candidate" came along in 1962.
LANSBURY: Then when I take power.
ELAM (voice over): Lansbury gave a tour de force performance as the villainous Mrs. Iselan. She scored her third best supporting actress Academy award nomination. The 1971 musical "Bed Knobs and Broomsticks," the versatile performer showcased her singing chops.
She also shined in several musicals on Broadway including "Sweeney Todd" and "Gypsy." The gifted performer earned five Tony awards throughout her career. In 1991, a new generation of fans discovered Lansbury when she voiced the character of Mrs. Potts in the animated film "Beauty and the Beast."
The distinguished actress received a lifetime achievement award from the Screen Actors Guild in 1996 and was also given the National Medal of the Arts the following year.
LANSBURY: Medal of Honor of the Arts given at the White House, that was a tremendous honor to me.
ELAM (voice over): The mother of three returned to the big screen in 2005 in "Nanny McPhee" and again in 2011 opposite Jim Carrey in "Mr. Popper's Penguins".
LANSBURY: You're tenacious, Popper.
ELAM (voice over): It turns out Angela Lansbury was the tenacious one, gaining accolades for her work on stage and screen over seven decades. A performance even Jessica Fletcher would be surprised by.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLACKWELL: Angela Lansbury was 96 years old. We'll be back.
[15:55:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLACKWELL: It's election day, not for lawmakers, that's still a few weeks out, but for the champion of Fat Bear Week. Yes, we have been following this story very closely. Veteran champ 747 is facing off against the underdog 901. Two bears here vying for the title. This is a competition that started with 12 bears at the Katmai National Park in Alaska.
It's all intended to highlight and celebrate how these bears get ready to hibernate. Now, the final is on the backdrop of a major cheating scandal in the semifinals. Yes, we have an election integrity problem.
[16:00:00] The ballot boxes were stuffed and the polls were spammed. Now the national park said it could easily spot the fraud and discard the fake votes allowed 747 to advance. If you want to vote for your favorite chunky bear, go to fatbearweek.org. My man Otis got voted out. With this elections integrity problem all he needed was 11,780 votes. I don't know what happened to those.
"THE LEAD" starts right now.
