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American Morning
Arson Wildfire; The Fight For Iraq; Rumsfeld On Iraq; America Votes 2006; Foley Fallout
Aired October 27, 2006 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Personal buying habits and voter records. They think the information is going to help them identify likely supporters.
For more on these stories, log on to our website at cnn.com. The next hour of AMERICAN MORNING begins right now.
And welcome back, everybody. It is Friday, October 27th. I'm Soledad O'Brien.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Miles O'Brien. Thanks for being with us.
Lots happening this morning. Right to the news wall we go.
An arson fire claims the lives of four firefighters in southern California. Another firefighter alive and burned over 95 percent of his body. Officials say it is all the work of an arsonist.
S. O'BRIEN: Also happening this morning, a combative defense secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, tells critics of the Iraq War to "back off."
M. O'BRIEN: In Baghdad, a lull in the violence as the bloody month of Ramadan comes to a conclusion. The number of attacks in Baghdad now decreasing.
S. O'BRIEN: And while pigs may be to blame for that E. Coli outbreak in the spinach, the one that killed three people, sickened 200 other people, matching samples show it's likely that the pigs trampled the fences around a spinach field, tainting it.
It's time to check the weather for you. Chad Myers is watching the wildfires out west.
Chad, good morning.
(WEATHER REPORT)
M. O'BRIEN: About 1,100 firefighters are battling that blaze right now. It's a stubborn wildfire that was deliberately set. This morning, four firefighters are dead, one clinging to life. The Esperanza (ph) fire, 20 miles northwest of Palm Springs, 90 miles east of Los Angeles. It started yesterday morning and, in one day, it grew to 37 square miles. The search is on for an arsonist who could face murder charges. AMERICAN MORNING's Chris Lawrence is at the fire command center in Beaumont, California, with more.
Chris, what's the latest?
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Miles, they're offering a $100,000 reward for anyone who can provide some information on who started this fire. And one local politician is urging people here to "turn that scum in." Those are the kind of words that are associated with a murder investigation, not a simple wildfire.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LAWRENCE, (voice over): Teams are attacking this wildfire on two fronts. One thousand firefighters tried to push the flames back from the front line.
GREG KEEFER, FIREFIGHTER: And if we can't hold this row, we're in for a world of hurt.
LAWRENCE: A smaller team of investigators searching for who started it.
CHIEF JOHN HAWKINS, CDF RIVERSIDE FIRE DEPARTMENT: This is an arson fire. This is a deliberately set arson fire. A deliberately set arson fire that leads to the death of anyone constitutes murder.
LAWRENCE: By Thursday night, this fire had killed four. A team of five firefighters moved to a town west of Palm Springs trying to evacuate residents and protect their homes. At some point, the Santa Ana winds whipped up and suddenly changed direction.
KEEFER: The fire moved into a grove of eucalyptus. And the next thing they knew -- and eucalyptus, the oils can explode and cause a splatter. And what happened is, the fire spread quickly around and got behind them, from what I understand, and that's a fireman's worst nightmare.
LAWRENCE: They were engulfed by the fire. Three died right there. Another at the burn center. The fifth is in critical condition.
KEEFER: God bless those firefighters, you know?
LAWRENCE: Officials suspected arson after investigators read the burn patterns and traced the fire back to its area of origin.
HAWKINS: It was set in alignment with the wind, the slope and it was basically set to go.
LAWRENCE: Coming near the end of wildfire season, after no rain for months, there was nothing but dry brush to fuel it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LAWRENCE: More evacuations were ordered overnight and several hundred people remain sheltered in place at a local RV park nearby. They were not able to be evacuated in time but they are being protected by a full strike team of firefighters.
Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Chris Lawrence in Beaumont, California. Thank you.
From fire to ice. In Colorado, they are digging out from a big early season snowstorm. Up to two feet blanketed parts of the state yesterday, blown by high winds, as you can see. Roads closed, schools closed. It's a snow day kids. Flights canceled. But all that white stuff has ski resorts seeing green. Usually they have to rely on man- made snow for opening day.
Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: In Baghdad, it appears that that horrible wave of violence is now tapering off. Let's get right to Michael Ware. He's in the capital.
Michael, good morning to you.
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Soledad.
Yes, what we're seeing is that in the capital of Baghdad, and that's just Baghdad alone, the military is saying in the past few days there has been a lull in the violence. However, even in announcing that, the military is still sober in its assessment of what this means. Even as the U.S. military spokesman here, General William Caldwell, put it when he was discussing this current drop in violence.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAJ. GEN. WILLIAM CALDWELL, SPOKESMAN, MULTINATIONAL FORCE IRAQ: The violence is focused on Sunni/Shia ethnic fault lines predominantly outside the cleared, focus areas. With the end of Ramadan, we have seen a decrease in the levels of violence. But this has only been in the past few days. We'll have to wait to see if this decrease proves to be a trend.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WARE: So while this is a sliver of good news, it must be put in the context that General Caldwell alludes to. This marks the end of two things. One, the holy month of Ramadan and the festival that follows it. So people literally have been celebrating here in Baghdad this week.
PR wise, that's not been a good time for the insurgents to attack. But, more importantly, it marks the end of their holy month of Ramadan offensive. They've launched an all out campaign for the past month. This is most likely the insurgents now drawing in breath and regrouping before they move on. So while it is a hint of good news, you need to understand that 45 minutes from the city, 29 police officers were slaughtered yesterday.
Soledad. S. O'BRIEN: Michael, what kind of a role do you think this search -- this house-to-house search for that missing soldier is playing in the decline in violence?
WARE: Soledad, in terms of the search itself, how that impacts on the violence, I would say it's marginal if none at all. I mean, this is a very focused thing. I mean they're hunting for this lost American soldier.
Now, they are doing searches, but it's in specific areas when they get specific intelligence or some clues that he may be in that area or his captors may be in that area. So it's very, very focused. And that is, indeed, if he has been abducted. I mean we've seen before one U.S. soldier just walk off his base and next appear in Beirut. So though there is a lot of evidence to suggest this individual was abducted, there still remains a lot of questions about how a U.S. soldier just walks off his base.
Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: Michael Ware for us this morning in Baghdad.
Thanks, Michael.
The secretary of defense combative in his meeting with reporters who pressed him to shed more light on those benchmarks and those deadlines that the Iraqi government has agreed to. Donald Rumsfeld told reporters to "back off." CNN's Barbara Starr has our report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld made it clear. This news conference was all about the midterm elections less than two weeks away.
DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: Well, it's a political season and everyone's trying to make a little mischief out of this and turn it into a political football and see if we can't get it on the front page of every newspaper.
STARR: The secretary was, as they say, reframing the debate, saying benchmarks for progress in Iraq don't mean deadlines and punishment for not meeting them.
RUMSFELD: You're looking for some sort of a guillotine to come flowing down if some date isn't met. That is not what this is about. So you ought to just back off, take a look at it, relax, understand that it's complicated. It's difficult.
STARR: Mr. Rumsfeld also seemed to reframe the administration's explanation of what the Iraqi government has agreed to, just two days after the U.S. ambassador to Iraq had laid it out.
ZALMAY KHALILZAD, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO IRAQ: Iraqi leaders must step up to achieve key political and security milestones on which they have agreed. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And have they agreed to establish this process by the end of the year as I think Ambassador Khalilzad said?
RUMSFELD: No.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They haven't agreed?
RUMSFELD: Well, they're still in discussions.
One would have thought they might have announced that if they'd decided all of that.
STARR: But Rumsfeld, who was so confident throughout his press conference, seemed to struggle at one point.
Is it the job of the U.S. soldier to step in between Sunni and Shia violence, to step into civil unrest in that country?
RUMSFELD: I'm not going to try to characterize and begin at one end of the spectrum and go to the other end of the spectrum and say when is it or is it not appropriate for U.S. military personnel to be involved in the conflict.
STARR: The secretary said the mission for U.S. troops remains unchanged, to help Iraqi forces take hold and stop the violence. A mission that is yet to be accomplished.
Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
S. O'BRIEN: And a Marine is pleading guilty in the case of the Iraqi civilian who was allegedly murdered by U.S. troops. Private John Jodka pleaded guilty to conspiracy yesterday. Murder charges were dropped when the 20-year-old agreed to testify. Jodka said that he and several other Marines shot the man in the town of Hamdania in April. The troops then invented a story to made it look like the man had been trying to plant a roadside bomb. Jodka faces 15 years in prison.
M. O'BRIEN: Happening in America.
In Iowa, investigators trying to determine what caused a big warehouse fire yesterday. It sent 30 foot flames and choking black smoke into the sky around Council Bluffs. The warehouse was used to store motor oil.
In Utah, the parents of a 21-year-old woman in court on charges of kidnapping their daughter on the eve of her wedding this past August. They face charges of second degree kidnapping. Their daughter got married three days later than originally planned.
In California, investigators are saying that spinach fields may have been contaminated by wild pigs. State health officials say deadly E. Coli bacteria may have been spread to the spinach when the pigs knocked down fences. Three people died in the outbreak. More than 200 got sick in 26 states.
And as long as we're at the salad bar. In Texas, claims of a stomach turning find in a McDonald's salad. Dallas Cowboys Assistant Coach Todd Haley, seen on the left here, says his wife and babysitter became violently ill after finding a 6-inch long rat in the salad they were eating. They've filed a $1.7 million lawsuit.
S. O'BRIEN: No word from McDonald's on that yet.
M. O'BRIEN: Those aren't croutons. Not at all. No.
S. O'BRIEN: Some of the other stories we're following for you this morning. Just 11 days till the midterm elections. Who's going to control Congress? We'll take a look at some predictions this morning.
And Michael J. Fox firing back at Rush Limbaugh and other critics of that new campaign ad. Those stories and much more ahead. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
M. O'BRIEN: Some of the stories we're following for you this morning.
A massive wildfire still burning as we speak in southern California. It's already killed four firefighters. Officials say arson is to blame.
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has a message for people asking about timetables in Iraq. He says "back off."
Heading out the door? Chad Myers has just what you need to know.
Hello, Chad.
(WEATHER REPORT)
S. O'BRIEN: Only 11 days to go before the midterm elections and now the predictions are coming fast and furious. Who is going to win control of Congress? That all depends on who you ask. More now from CNN's Brian Todd.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): The magic number for Democrats to win the House? A gain of 15 seats. But with less than two weeks left, predictions are all over the map. From political analyst Stuart Rothenberg who says the Republicans could lose as few as 20 seats and as many as 30, possibly more, because the environment for Republicans now is worse than it was for Democrats in 1994.
The Cook Political Report says Republicans could lose at least 20 seats. But the financial magazine "Barron's" predicts the Republicans will lose only eight to 14 seats and hold on to the majority because their candidates have the money advantage. And listen to Karl Rove, the man who helped President Bush win two close elections, when a reporter with NPR implied Rove was to optimistic.
ROBERT SIEGEL: I'm looking at all the same polls that you're looking at every day.
KARL ROVE: No you're not. No you're not. Not you're not. You're not.
SIEGEL: No, I'm not . . .
ROVE: I'm looking at 68 polls a week. You may be looking at four or five public polls a week that talk about attitudes nationally, but that do not impact the outcome of individual races.
SIEGEL: I'm looking at main races.
TODD: The Senate could be tighter. Eight close races, seven of those seats held by Republicans. The Democrats need six to win the majority and the knockdown, drag out boils down to three.
AMY WALTER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Missouri, Tennessee, Virginia, this is the firewall for Republican right now in their ability to keep hold of their majority in the Senate. For Democrats to win the majority, they need two out of those three seats.
TODD: That, analysts say, is why so much national attention and money is being spent by both parties on those three states as we head into November.
Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
S. O'BRIEN: In Florida, the disgraced congressman, Mark Foley, is casting a giant shadow over the race to replace him. Here's CNN's John Zarrella.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): A month ago, this independent film crew from California didn't know where Florida's 16th congressional district was. Now they're here filming part of a documentary on the midterm elections.
KAREN PRICE, DOCUMENTARY PRODUCER: You couldn't ask for a bigger sort of bombshell.
ZARRELLA: That bombshell, also known as the Congressman Mark Foley scandal, has made this one of the most closely watched races in the country and it has given Democrat Tim Mahoney . . .
TIM MAHONEY, (D) FLORIDA CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: We have to recognize that there has to be room for everybody in our community. ZARRELLA: The lead in a race pollsters said he had little shot at winning before Foley's fall from grace. Mahoney is up by seven points in a Florida newspaper poll over Republican replacement opponent Joe Negron.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi.
JOE NEGRON, (R) FLORIDA CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: Joe Negron. How are you?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A pleasure to meet you.
NEGRON: Republican candidate for Congress. Nice to meet you.
ZARRELLA: Both candidates insist they and the voters want to move past Foley talk and on to issues.
NEGRON: The sky-rocketing homeowners' insurance rates and what we can do to bring those down.
I have a plan that deals with health care so that we can get affordable health care under control.
ZARRELLA: Mahoney spent one morning at an Italian restaurant talking about taxes and insurance and pasta with the owner.
CONSTANTINE DEROSA, RESTAURANT OWNER: What we did is we upgraded the equipment a little bit so that it would be better for us and get the food out faster.
ZARRELLA: Constantine Derosa is one of the 11 percent undecided voters who pollsters say will likely make the difference.
DEROSA: Absolutely. Yes, I'm a Republican, but I'm leaning a little towards the Democrats right now.
ZARRELLA: Although Foley's name and not Negron's will be on the ballot, Republicans believe they are closing fast and can win.
NEGRON: I think you're going to see Republicans, conservative Democrats and independents send a message to the national media and to the country to say Mark Foley betrayed us, but the solution to that is not sending a John Kerry liberal Democrat to Congress.
MAHONEY: This race and the way they're trying to conduct this race is more of the same thing. They start out by, you know, with the name-calling. Calling me this kind of Democrat or that kind of Democrat. They don't get it. That's not what people want.
ZARRELLA: What the people got is one bizarre race.
Mahoney, a businessman, has never run for public office before. And Negron, a Republican state representative, who, until just a few weeks ago, had no clue he'd be running for Congress.
John Zarrella, CNN, West Palm Beach, Florida. (END VIDEOTAPE)
M. O'BRIEN: Michael J. Fox responding to Rush Limbaugh and insisting he was neither acting nor off his medication in that political ad supporting stem cell research. Fox, who suffers from Parkinson's disease, visibly displaying the tremors symptom of the disease in that ad. On his radio show, Limbaugh made the claim it was an act. Fox spoke with CBS's Katie Couric.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KATIE COURIC, CBS ANCHOR: I called Rush Limbaugh and he told me, "I believe Democrats have a long history of using victims of various things as political spokespeople because they believe they are untouchable, infallible. They are immune from criticism."
MICHAEL J. FOX, STEM CELL RESEARCH ADVOCATE: Well, first thing, you know, he used the word victim. In another occasion, I had heard him use the word pitiable. And understand, nobody in this position wants pity. We don't want pity. I could give a damn about Rush Limbaugh's pity and everyone else's pity. And I'm not a victim. I'm someone who's in this situation. I think I'm in this situation with millions of other Americans. And we have a right, if there's answers out there, to pursue those answers with the full support of our politicians. And so I don't need anyone's permission to do that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
M. O'BRIEN: Now Limbaugh has said he would admit he was wrong and would apologize to Fox if he is proven wrong in calling the ad an act.
Some of the stories we're following for you right now on the program.
The U.S. military says there's been a dip in violence in Baghdad since the end of Ramadan.
And in our "Broken Government" series, we're going to look at where the right went wrong. Why a lot of conservatives aren't so happy with Republicans in office. That's ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
S. O'BRIEN: Here's a look at some of the top stories we're following for you.
A new twist in that deadly outbreak of E. Coli bacteria that was found in spinach. It might have come from wild pigs. We'll tell you what's happening there.
And if you live in Colorado, grab your snow shovel. Blizzard dumped up to two feet of snow there yesterday.
Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Grab your snow shovel or a hot totty and just enjoy the day inside.
Ford had its sights set on China. Andy Serwer is here with that and more "Minding Your Business."
Hello, Andy.
ANDY SERWER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Miles.
Ford Chairman Bill Ford was in China this week. And just days after he announced the largest quarterly loss for this company in 14 years, mainly because of problems in North America, he was in China looking at the company's future. Announcing some huge plans and projects in China. Intending to buy $2.6 billion of auto parts in China this year, he says. And then, most significantly, building a new factory there as well with Mazda and a Chinese auto manufacturer. Ford saying that they have barely scratched the surface in that country.
M. O'BRIEN: Imagine a billion Chinese buying that red Mustang. That would be good for Ford, wouldn't it?
SERWER: That would be very good. That would make for an interesting traffic jam as well.
M. O'BRIEN: It sure would.
SERWER: Want to talk about GM, the auto giant here in the United States. The other one, I should say. GM is racing to get green to match up against Toyota. And it seems that there's some big plans there. Of course, Toyota has taken the lead with the Prius and other cars, like hybrids such as that. And now apparently GM, according to Bloomberg, has a whole project underway to make a hybrid electric vehicle with a battery that recharges, improve gas engine hybrid versions of the Silverado pickup trucks, and hydrogen powered full cell models that emit only water vapor.
This plan, apparently, will be revealed by GM's CEO Rick Wagoner at a speech before the end of the year. Toyota sold 235,000 hybrids last year and intends to do one million a year by 2010. And the plug- in hybrid car that I was just talking about that GM plans to make is called -- the project name is the i-car for an icon car. And I guess GM fans hope that it fares better than the EV1, which was their electric car from a decade ago.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes, which they pulled the rug out from under everybody on that.
SERWER: They did. I don't think they're going to do that now. These plans that they have on the drawing board are big time and Bloomberg, interesting, really got a jump on this story. So it will be really cool to see what they roll out over the next couple of weeks.
M. O'BRIEN: Now does the i-car plug into a cradle beside your computer and sync up with your tunes too? Is that how that . . .
S. O'BRIEN: That would be so helpful.
M. O'BRIEN: That would be kind of cool. Be all in one there.
All right, what's next? What you got?
SERWER: We could be engineers.
We're going to talk about Wal-Mart and its drug plan, the discount drug plan, rolling out to 12 more states. So that continues to spread.
S. O'BRIEN: Hugely popular. No surprise.
M. O'BRIEN: Everybody wants it.
SERWER: Why not.
M. O'BRIEN: Bring it on.
All right.
S. O'BRIEN: Thanks, Andy.
SERWER: Yes.
S. O'BRIEN: Some of the stories we're following for you this morning.
Authorities say it was arson. We're going to update you on that deadly wildfire in southern California. A live interview straight ahead.
And in our series "Broken Government," where did the right go wrong? We'll take a look at why some conservatives are turning against the Republican Party.
That's straight ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. We're back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(NEWSBREAK)
(WEATHER REPORT)
S. O'BRIEN: Back to that wildfire now, deliberately set, burning out of control in Southern California. Four firefighters are dead, one critically injured. And the search is on for an arsonist who could now be facing murder charges. Bill Peters is with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection and he is at fire command center in Beaumont.
Thanks for talking with us. We sure appreciate it.
Please update me on the latest on this fire. BILL PETERS, CALIF. DEPT. FORESTRY & FIRE: Basically we're at just about 24,000 acres, probably will be a little more than that when the sun comes up, and we have over 1,000 firefighters who are either on the line or getting prepared to go out on the line as the sun comes up. And we've been fighting the fire all night where we could, and we'll make a good, strong effort to get this thing contained today.
S. O'BRIEN: And how did it go last night?
PETERS: Well, last night we were hoping to do some backfires and firing out, but the wind got really squirrely, as we call it. A lot of change of direction and picked up in its intensity. So we just kind of had to hold back and fight fire where we could. We did have to evacuate some homes in a sparsely populated area south of Banning. Did that about 2:15 this morning our time, and get those people out of there, because we just didn't know where the fire is going to go.
S. O'BRIEN: We heard from the fire chief, who noted that the fire had been set in alignment with the wind and the slope, pointing out he thinks it was a deliberately set arson fire. What other evidence do you have? What makes you so certain?
PETERS: The investigators aren't sharing that with us, but they are very certain, because this is very early on in a major fire to call the cause. So things must have been obvious to them, and I think part of the reason we're not going to hear a lot about maybe what the cause or what type of device might have been used is because of the way this is coming out with the four fatalities. That is murder in California because you set an arson fire that resulted in death. They're not going to want anything to interfere with this case if they find a suspect and take him to trial.
So I don't expect we'll hear a lot from the investigators about what they're finding.
S. O'BRIEN: Four firefighters are dead. A fifth, we're told, is in very, very tough shape right now. Do we know the latest on his condition?
PETERS: Actually there has been no change that we have been advised of. So apparently he got through the night, but other than that, I don't have any information to share, and I'm sorry.
S. O'BRIEN: How tough is it for the folks out there, the thousand firefighters working through the night in obviously horrible and tough conditions to deal with a massive loss like that?
PETERS: It's really tough, but just like our troops in Iraq, you know, you have to go through with the battle. And our folks are professional. They're going to do their job. They swore to protect the residents of California, and that's what they're doing. We'll grieve after the fire when the time is appropriate, but right now our firefighters are doing the job they swore to do.
S. O'BRIEN: Bill Peters is with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. Thanks, Mr. Peters, appreciate it. PETERS: Thank you.
M. O'BRIEN: Eleven days now till the midterm election. More evidence voters are in a sour mood. Check out the news. CNN Opinion Research numbers for you. When asked if the size of the federal government has grown in the past four years, 72 percent of you said it had, and 86 percent of you thought government spending had gone up during the same period of time, a period in which Republicans have controlled the House, Senate and the White House of course.
As for the government role in promoting traditional values, a light majority, 51 percent, thought it was appropriate, while 43 percent said the government should not favor any particular set of values.
Our special series "Broken Government" continues tonight. Tonight CNN will look at how President Bush alienated some of his strongest supporters by passing some big spending programs.
Our senior analyst Jeff Greenfield joins us for the preview of what's going on tonight.
Hello, Jeff.
JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN SR. ANALYST: Hi.
Well, it's both the president and the Congress, Miles, who have put some conservatives in a sour mood. There's an irony here. For decades, conservatives worked very hard to become the dominant political force in America, with an argument that government should be limited. And as you'll see in the special tonight, a lot of conservatives, more than you might expect, are disillusioned with what's been done with the power. And one of the big reasons is because spending has not gone down under conservative government, actually has gone up.
Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRES. OF THE UNITED STATES: The bill I signed today authorizes 400...
This legislation will authorize $200 million per year.
There's no doubt we increased our budgets.
GREENFIELD (voice-over): The biggest increase of discretionary spending of any administration since LBJ.
BUSH: Our government is finally bringing prescription drug coverage to the seniors of America.
GREENFIELD: The biggest new entitlement, the prescription drug program since Medicare.
BUSH: In order to fight and win the war, it requires an expenditure of money.
GREENFIELD: A war in Iraq premised on a foreign policy that aimed to bring democracy to every corner of the globe.
SCOTT MCCLELLAN, FMR. WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECY.: There's an investigation going on by the Justice Department.
GREENFIELD: And embraced by congressional Republicans of the very behavior.
BUSH: I don't know him.
GREENFIELD: Trading legislative favors for campaign cash and personal enrichment, that outraged conservatives when Democrats were in control.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I believe that as a movement that we have veered off course into the dangerous and unchartered waters of big government Republicans.
GREENFIELD: Mike Pence is far from alone. In recent months, conservatives have penned a stack of books accusing Bush and congressional Republicans of and a growing number of conservatives of abandoning the conservative cause.
And a growing number of conservatives have been asking out loud, whatever happened to the core conservative notion proclaimed by Ronald Reagan in first inaugural?
RONALD REAGAN, FMR, PRES. OF THE UNITED STATES: Government is not the solution to our problem. Government is the problem.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GREENFIELD: So the point here is that both the president and congressional Republicans have done what conservatives thought these folks have been elected not to do. It is to reign in big government, and there are a whole bunch of reasons why this is happening.
M. O'BRIEN: When you put the question to the administration. And for that matter, to members of Congress, who are, after all, in charge of the purse strings, what's their explanation?
GREENFIELD: There are two. One of Bush's principle policy aides, former speechwriter Michael Gershwin (ph), points out quite accurately, look, he ran as a, quote, "compassionate conservative." He said he was going to do a lot more in education. He said he wanted a prescription drug program. Some conservatives actually said, well, we thought that was just campaign rhetoric.
When you look at congressional Republicans, here I think the story is different. I think what happened, and what people like Mike Pence, a conservative Indiana Republican, what former House Majority Leader Dick Armey says, is that when they got in the power and they point the finger a lot at former Majority Leader Tom DeLay, they realized that they could use the power of the purse to keep themselves in power, by passing programs to brag about when you went back home, so-called pork barrel spending, earmarking. And some of them really thought, you know what, the Democrats did this for a long time. And now that we're in power, I think we'll use those levers of power, too.
M. O'BRIEN: It's interesting, power is a bipartisan motivator, isn't it?
GREENFIELD: One of the conservatives' favorite quotes is Lloyd Atkins (ph), "All power tends to corrupt." And it turns out that for some Republicans in power, if you can bring home the bacon, or as I say, the pork. If you run free elections saying, look at what I delivered, somehow the general notion that we should cut spending looks different when it's your district. So the combination of trying to appeal to voters with things like a prescription drug program from the White House and the congressional Republicans saying we can use this power to keep our political power with spending, I think, has made some movement conservatives. And there are people in Congress -- Mike Pence is one of them, Jeff Flake, Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, John McCain, are at war with their own party's leaders on issues like pork and spending.
M. O'BRIEN: It's interesting, a bridge to nowhere works if it's in your district kind of thing.
GREENFIELD: Yes, it's what it boils down to.
Yes, and then there's a whole other area you reach for about the whole cultural issues and farm policy. But if people like to know about that, they can watch at 8:00 tonight.
M. O'BRIEN: Well, it's been a great series. We invite you to watch in once again tonight, 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time is when it airs. It's called "Broken Government." We've had our fantastic political team address a series of issues. It's the best political team on television, after all. "How (sic) the Right Went Wrong" is tonight's program, 8:00 Eastern right here on CNN. Please join us.
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S. O'BRIEN: There are the soccer moms. There are the NASCAR dads. They're all flexing their political muscle, but this year there's an effort to reach another potentially powerful voting block. These are females, who single, and more than likely not interested.
Here's CNN's Dana Bash.
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DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Maryanne Randazzo is 27 years old. She has never voted before, and won't this year either.
MARYANNE RANDAZZO, WAITRESS: I don't feel like it's going to change -- change my life.
BASH: She's just too busy working at her father's pizza parlor in suburban Philadelphia.
RANDAZZO: Just because I'm stuck in this place. I work six days a week, 60 hours-plus. So, honestly, it's because I really don't have time.
BASH: And politics turns her off, especially the negative campaign ads.
RANDAZZO: It bores me. I flip the channels, to be -- to be honest with you.
BASH: Maryanne is one of a jaw-dropping 20 million unmarried women who did not vote in 2004. That's 41 percent of single women, compared to 29 percent of married women who didn't go to the polls.
Now a nonpartisan group is hoping these ads will get their attention.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, AD)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You want me to tell you about the first time I did it?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think the best time is in the fall.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I like to do it in the morning.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's cool.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Pretty.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sexy.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's a beautiful thing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PAGE GARDNER, FOUNDER AND PRESIDENT, WOMEN'S VOICES, WOMEN VOTE: Even though 20 million did not vote, 27 million did. So, they are a potent political force. And they are the fastest growing demographic we have in this country.
BASH: In 2004, they were dubbed "Sex and the city" voters.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "SEX AND THE CITY")
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: So, which district do you vote in?
SARAH JESSICA PARKER, ACTRESS: Whichever one is near Barney's.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: But most single women are nothing like Carrie Bradshaw.
GARDNER: Half of them make $30,000 or less. Thirty-six percent move every two years. So, it -- they have very difficult lives.
BASH: Nonpartisan grassroots group are working to get out the single-female vote, going door to door with information.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So, November 2 is when it's going to be?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: November 7.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, November 7. I'm probably not a good candidate for this, because I'm not really into politics.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, you're the perfect candidate.
ANNA GREENBERG, POLLSTER: If you look at polls this election cycle, they're most likely to say the country is going on the -- in the wrong direction. They hate the war in Iraq. They feel like the economy has not helped them over the last five or six years. So, I think you could expect unmarried women, if they vote, to vote pretty Democratic.
BASH: Back at the pizza parlor, Maryanne says she would vote Democrat, because of the war and:
RANDAZZO: Health insurance, it's going -- I know I have -- I'm on my own health insurance. It's -- it's so expensive for just a single female.
BASH: But she's not even registered to vote, and the deadline has passed -- maybe next time.
Dana Bash, CNN, Bucks County, Pennsylvania.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
S. O'BRIEN: The commissioner of the IRS has ordered the agency to delay collected back taxes from victims of Hurricane Katrina until after the midterm elections, and after the holidays. According to "The New York Times," commissioner Mark Everson in an interview that said he wanted to avoid negative publicity, and that he often discussed whether announcements from the IRS would annoy a powerful member of Congress.
A past commissioner says any delay based on any election would be unthinkable, and critics are questioning whether Everson is trying to give Republicans candidates a lift before the midterm elections -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Coming up, we'll wrap up our series Prescription: Iraq. Our guest from the past week are back today. We'll ask them about those elusive timetables and how they would define victory in Iraq.
Plus, some theaters showing refusing to show that faux documentary that depicts the assassination George Bush. Does the movie go too far?
We'll talk to the director ahead.
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