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American Morning
Pres. Clinton Leaves Hospital
Aired February 12, 2010 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. And welcome to AMERICAN MORNING on this Friday, February 12th. I'm Kiran Chetry.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning to you all. I'm T.J. Holmes.
It seems as quickly as we were talking about the former president was in the hospital, we're already talking about him being out of the hospital. President Clinton is home this morning. New video we can show you this morning of him arriving back in Chappaqua, New York. This was just minutes ago.
He was released from the hospital this morning. Doctors placed two stents in one of his coronary arteries yesterday. We will have a live update from the hospital. Also, we'll be bringing in our Dr. Sanjay Gupta from Haiti to talk about President Clinton's health.
CHETRY: Also, it's a day of mourning, a National Day of Mourning in Haiti. It's been exactly one month since the deadly earthquake hit. There were already tens of thousands of orphans in the country before the disaster, and now, there are tens of thousands more without parents. In a nation dealing with so much devastation and misery, what is best for these children?
Coming up, we're talking live with an executive directive of UNICEF.
HOLMES: And a rare southern snowstorm crippling travel this morning. This system brought nearly a foot of snow to the Dallas/Ft. Worth area, making its way east now, canceling flights, making roads treacherous, shutting down schools. But also, people in the south, a lot of them are not used to getting this much snow. So, they're having a good time with it.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am from Shreveport, Louisiana, and we never have snow there -- ever. I mean, maybe a couple years ago and it snowed like two inches or flakes would come down and then we would get to cancel school. So, this is amazing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm 22 years old. I'm acting like a kid, you know? So, it's a blast. I love it.
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HOLMES: And they weren't exactly saying that in D.C. and Baltimore last week.
We're going to be checking in with our Rob Marciano for the latest in just a moment.
But we do want to begin this morning with an update on the former president, President Clinton. He arrived home in Chappaqua. We showed you those pictures just a moment ago. Here they are.
Again, he was released from the hospital this morning. The doctors saying his prognosis is excellent after President Clinton had two stents placed in one of his arteries yesterday. There's no evidence of a heart attack. That's important to note.
And here's what the chief cardiologist had to say after the procedure yesterday.
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DR. ALLAN SCHWARTZ, CHIEF OF CARDIOLOGY, NEW YORK PRESBYTERIAN HOSP.: The procedure went very smoothly. President Clinton has since been up and walking around and visiting with his family. He's in good spirits.
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HOLMES: And we have a team of correspondents covering the story for us this morning, including our Dr. Sanjay Gupta, who is standing by in Haiti to explain the procedure and the former president's history with heart disease.
But first, we want to head over to Jason Carroll. He has the latest live from the New York Presbyterian Hospital, where the president, of course, just took off a short time ago.
Good morning to you there, Jason.
JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And good morning to you.
You know, the former president thanked the nurses and the other members of the staff before he left the hospital here this morning. Just about 15, 20 minutes ago, we saw the motorcade arrive at the president's house in Chappaqua. This is exactly how doctors said things were going to basically turn out.
We're just to, sort of, backtrack and give you a bit history in terms of what happened here. The president was experiencing some chest pains. Giving his history, obviously, there were some concerns there. Doctors performed a one-hour procedure on him yesterday where they inserted two stents to increase flood flow around the heart area.
But, T.J., you heard the doctors who came out last night and talked about what had happened. The procedure went extremely well. He was up and talking actually just about two hours after the procedure, speaking to his family, speaking well, walking around.
But given his history, you know, the president, back in 2004, had a quadruple heart bypass surgery. And so, given his history, obviously, there were some concerns in terms of him having chest pains this time around. But his prognosis, doctors say, T.J., excellent. In fact, they say he could be back to work as early as Monday.
And we heard a statement from some of the folks here at the hospital, who basically said the former president is anxious, actually, to get back to work. As you know, he is the U.N. special envoy to Haiti. He's been organizing international aid in the quake- ravaged area and he's very anxious so get back to work. And we're hearing he could be back to work, T.J., as soon as Monday.
HOLMES: That's amazing to think after what we saw yesterday and so much a concern about the former president that he will be right back at it. Jason Carroll for us this morning -- we appreciate you.
CHETRY: Well, the former president has had a lot of company in this country. More than 1 million people undergo similar angioplasty procedures each and every year. But Bill Clinton is a man who keeps a notoriously frantic schedule, with very little time budgeted for sleep.
Chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, is live in Port- au-Prince, Haiti, this morning.
And you had a chance to actually spend some time with former President Clinton during his recent visit there. What did he seem like health-wise to you?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, he seemed fine, you know? It's interesting because Haiti is a tough place, I think, for anybody to be getting around. And he came down, was making some long walks. I don't know if you can see that video there.
He also toured one of the public hospitals here in Haiti, it's called General Hospital, a big public hospital. Hot day. He was quite active and sat down, did some interviews as well. He did not seem to have any problems.
Now, admittedly, Kiran, I wasn't looking for any medical problems. But, you know, he didn't have anything obvious, I guess, short of breath. He wasn't complaining about anything. He seemed to be in pretty good condition, pretty good spirits at that time.
CHETRY: You know, the other interesting thing, many of his friends and close advisers have said that after his bypass surgery, and since then, he's really taken his health seriously, listened to his doctor's advice about exercising, eating well. He also talked to you about doing all of that, keeping right. But, one of the things that a lot of his close friends tell you that he still keeps a very, very hectic schedule that doesn't allow a lot of time for sleep.
Now, maybe, I'm asking the wrong person. But how vital a sleep to your cardiovascular health?
GUPTA: Well, you know, I think that sleep and, obviously, taking care of yourself is very important, and stress can play a big role on cardiovascular health as well.
But I can tell you, I don't think that was the situation here. In fact, throughout the day yesterday, Kiran, a little bit of the back-story, we were all reporting that and I think the president was watching, the former president was watching probably along with his aides. They e-mailed me and said, look, you know, just to be clear, the doctors say what happened today was a natural progression of his disease. Back in 2004, he got a wake-up call, no question about it.
But what happened now, six years later, really, was that sometimes, the grafts, the bypass grafts that he had performed back in 2004, they just closed off. One of them closed off. And that was the real problem here.
So, he is -- he does live a very stressful life, a very hectic life. He doesn't get enough sleep. Those things are very important, but I don't think they really played a role here, Kiran.
CHETRY: It sounds like he did the right thing, though. He had the chest pains and he didn't take any chances, went right to the hospital to get it checked out.
GUPTA: You know, no question about that. And even for somebody who doesn't have a history of heart disease and bypass surgery, like he did, if you're having chest pains, obviously, that's something that should get checked out, men and women alike. Now, if you have heart disease and you have some sort of history, it's obviously more important.
What we know is that he had chest discomfort over the past few days, called his doctor, and, you know, it sounds like they moved with a relative sense of urgency performing the stenting procedure. You probably look at this animation already, Kiran. But again, you know, we're talking about simple plumbing here, opening up the blood vessels so more blood can get through, Kiran.
CHETRY: That's right and we're going to see it here just a small little wire. I don't even know exactly what is called. And you see that stent opening up and blood flow coming back in and then you see the small wire going back out. It doesn't even need a stitch, that's what our cardiologist said.
But, yes, of course, anything having to do with the heart...
GUPTA: That's right.
CHETRY: ... you have to take it seriously. But it sounds like he's doing well. And as we just reported, he's home from the hospital already, home in Chappaqua.
Sanjay from Port-au-Prince this morning -- great to talk to you as always. Thanks.
HOLMES: We got a problem in the southeast this morning, getting its own winter blast. Already, Delta has canceled about 800 flights into and out of Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson Airport this morning. And further west, Dallas/Ft. Worth got about 11 inches of snow yesterday, forcing airlines to cancel more than 700 flights in that area alone.
CHETRY: And our Rob Marciano is here, keeping track of it all for us.
You know, we have a special passenger today. Mr. T.J. Holmes is trying to get back for s weekend show to Atlanta. And that's right where the hot spot is.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It is. And Delta has already canceled flights. So, AirTran is your best bet and maybe they'll -- and if you get stuck, come over to Mama Marciano. We're having -- we're having macaroni tonight.
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MARCIANO: (INAUDIBLE) so well.
Yes, problems across the southeast. It seems like, you know, people just want to get into the winter action, and pretty much, every state with the exception of Hawaii is doing just that.
Here's the radar. The snow that rolled through Dallas yesterday with record-breaking amounts is now moving into Louisiana. Central Mississippi is starting to pile up there, in places like Jackson, along the I-20 and in through central and southern parts of Alabama. Two to four inches of wet snow expected across the deep, Deep South. There are your winter warnings.
And expected delays today, obviously, the Atlanta area, Dallas as well. It's still cleaning up in places like Boston and New York, and San Francisco may see a few -- see a few low clouds.
We'll be back in about a half hour to dig into the details of this new storm. They just keep on coming.
CHETRY: That's right. All right. Rob, thanks so much.
MARCIANO: Thanks, guys.
HOLMES: Stay with us here. Ten past the hour. We have a surprise announcement from the son of the late Ted Kennedy about his political future. Our Candy Crowley is coming up.
Again, it's 10 minutes past the hour. Stay with us.
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HOLMES: And welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.
Rhode Island Congressman Patrick Kennedy is calling it a career. The son of the late Senator Ted Kennedy says he won't seek re-election this fall after eight terms in office.
CHETRY: And when he does retire, it will mark the first time in more than 50 years that there won't be a Kennedy in power.
With more on that development and other hot topics of the day, we're joined by Candy Crowley, host of CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION," live from Washington this morning.
Good to see you, Candy. So, how big a deal is Patrick Kennedy's departure?
CANDY CROWLEY, HOST, "STATE OF THE UNION": Well, it's an era. It -- by the way, no one has ruled out, at least anyone around Patrick, that he might run for another office at some point, say, senator from Rhode Island, whatever.
But at the moment, what this marks is sort of beginning with Camelot, which actually started earlier than when JFK became president in 1960. In 1958, JFK went to the Senate. So, it dates back to then really, the Kennedy era or the Camelot idea.
So, it's been the family business. Politics has been the Kennedy family business. And family business has closed. It doesn't mean it can't reopen because there are tons of Kennedy children out there who are involved in public service in one form or another.
We, obviously, have -- the first lady of California is a Kennedy. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend ran for governor unsuccessfully in Maryland. So, there are lots of Kennedys out there that could pick a mantle somewhere along the line.
But right now, nobody in the chutes. So, it's the end of some family history.
HOLMES: All right. Let's pivot now to the story that's been a heated, you know, debate between politicians, but we're used to seeing that. But it's been a pretty heated debate among folks here in New York about where to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, that September 11th trial, if you will. The president is going to get a little more involved here.
So, what does that signal about the direction the administration is about to go?
CROWLEY: It signals that the administration has figured out it needs to come up with something that won't cause such a stir. They did not seem to have been ready for the kind of blowback that they got when they announced that there would be a civilian trial in New York. You even have Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer and others in New York saying, "Really, we can't have this trial in Manhattan."
It looked as though it would be -- number one, just a huge economic burden in Manhattan. That leaves three -- two other places for civilian trials, if it's not going to be in New York and Governor Paterson is against it or signaled that. It could be in Pennsylvania or it could be in Washington, D.C., or in the area.
But it now seems with the president getting involved, that they have heard all of this blowback, it really become kind of politically toxic. And so, they have to figure out particularly with 9/11 suspects, that's where all the heat has been, what you do with these 9/11 suspects and they have opened up the door to military tribunals again, perhaps.
CHETRY: Very interesting stuff. Meanwhile, the news this morning, we had video just a few minutes ago of the president heading back to his home in Chappaqua, the former President Bill Clinton, after that procedure he had, an angioplasty.
CROWLEY: Yes.
CHETRY: And he's saying he could hit the ground running and be back at work Monday.
CROWLEY: He could and I bet he is. He's like the energizer bunny. It's just -- it's who he is. The doctors apparently have said to him, you know, or said at least to us, this has nothing to do with his schedule. I expect he'll be back on it Monday.
CHETRY: All right. Well, Candy, always great to talk to you this morning. Thanks for being with us.
CROWLEY: Thanks, guys.
HOLMES: Thanks, Candy.
And be sure to catch Candy Crowley hosting "STATE OF THE UNION" this Sunday morning, beginning 9:00 Eastern, right here on CNN.
CHETRY: Still ahead: Toyota will open, it says, to win back the trust of its customers. What to expect in the recall process. Our Gerri Willis is going to join us, "Minding Your Business."
Fifteen minutes after the hour.
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CHETRY: Eighteen minutes past the hour. Good old Miley Cyrus.
HOLMES: I love that song.
CHETRY: Who doesn't? Time for "Minding Your Business" right now and good news for regarding your money, better than expected news actually on the job front. It helped push the Dow up nearly 106 points yesterday. The optimism though not really spilling over to the markets overseas. They were mixed this morning. Right now Dow futures are down.
HOLMES: And today for the first time millions of Americans will get the chance to own a piece of Warren Buffett. The billionaire investor's company Berkshire Hathaway joining the Standard & Poor's 500. Stock in the company was excuse me several thousand dollars a share.
CHETRY: Gets you (ph) choked up.
HOLMES: I'm trying to get in (INAUDIBLE) It's now within reach for many investors thanks to the entry into the index.
CHETRY: There you go. Toyota also says that it plans to be much more open in the future in an effort to win back the trust of the public and its customers. Of course you know more than eight million vehicles were recalled and now owners are confused, many of them, about what they're supposed to do. A lot of customer relations damage of course as we know has already been done.
HOLMES: Gerri Willis watching your money, watching your Toyota I guess this morning as well. People wonder what in the world are they supposed to do.
GERRI WILLIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well we've got the one on one on that. OK, first of all, how you respond to the recall really depends on whether you have experienced problems with your car in the past. If you have not, simply call in. Dealers are backed up into you March. So if you don't have that sticky brake, you just don't need to go directly to the dealership. It's a waste of time. Remember, this is an issue that crops up due to wear and tear.
So, here's what do you when you do make that phone call. Go to the base of your windshield and get the VIN number. That's the vehicle identification number. Call your Toyota dealer's customer service number, give them that number. Explain that you're uncomfortable driving the car and ask whether you are part of the recall. Don't wait for the letter from the company to take action. And hey, if the problem is the floor mat, simply remove them from the vehicle. Now if you have already experienced some kind of problem, we talked to John (INAUDIBLE) autos editor for "Consumer Reports." He suggests this.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you experienced a problem, whether it's a sticky throttle pedal. The floor mat is caught on the throttle pedal on the Toyota Prius and Lexus hybrid braking problems, stop driving the car. Call customer service, call your dealer and say I've experienced this problem. I had acceleration or something like that and they'll tell what to do immediately. They'll probably bring you in much quicker than if you just said I'm in the recall, what should I do?
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WILLIS: All right so you can jump the line. When you do go to the dealership, make sure you have the VIN number as I said in hand and your recall letter if you've got one already. Remember, the dealers are fixing these cars at the rate of 50,000 a day. They've already fixed some 225,000. But at this rate they're still going to be making fixes into late summer.
CHETRY: So how long does the actual work take once you get into the dealer?
WILLIS: Not long at all. The good news is that once you get your car in, the fix should be quick. The Toyota Prius fix is 40 minutes software issue. The pedal fix is no more than an hour. So it happens pretty rapidly.
HOLMES: If you're driving the car, maybe yours hasn't been recalled or maybe it has, should you be worried that my goodness, what's going to be the next thing wrong with my car and also those potential Toyota buyers. That's a big issue. Should I even buy a Toyota as more recalls might be coming?
WILLIS: Well, it's interesting. "Consumer Reports" yesterday on their blog had some interesting information. They have reevaluated the government complaints out there. They say more Toyota models could be recalled. They are looking at Camrys, especially older Camrys and a bunch of other names you probably -- well I'm sure you've heard of them that may be recalled.
The 4-runner, FJ (ph) Cruiser, Land Cruiser, all of these have lots of complaints. Hasn't got an lot of publicity yet. "Consumer Reports" conducting their own research into this say it could come. So you're really going to have to watch your mail to see if you're getting a letter from the company. Listen to the news to see if there are more recalls from Toyota.
CHETRY: But as you said, if you think you are experiencing those problems currently, get the VIN number, call. Don't wait.
WILLIS: That's right.
CHETRY: All right, good stuff, Gerri. Thanks for tips on that.
HOLMES: Coming up here next, who else could collect the worst wing nuts besides our John Applebaum (ph), always good to talk to him. He's coming up here shortly.
CHETRY: And still ahead, also in the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti, there are now fears of child trafficking. What is the situation for children there. Tens of thousands of children orphaned, newly orphaned because of the earthquake. We're going to be talking with the executive director of UNICEF. Ann Veneman joins us in just a couple minutes, 22 minutes past the hour.
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CHETRY: Welcome back to "The Most News in the Morning," 24 minutes past the hour now. It's been exactly a month since the devastating earthquake hit Haiti and the government's declared today a national day of mourning.
HOLMES: The quake will have tens of thousands of children without parents in a country that already had tens of thousands of orphans. What needs to be done at this point for these kids? We're happy to be joined now by Ann Veneman, the executive director of UNICEF. She visited Haiti just last week.
Thank you so much for being here. Help us get our heads around the problem, first of all. Just how many children were in this situation in the first place before the quake? How many orphaned children were there before and now since the quake? What are the estimates?
ANN VENEMAN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, UNICEF: It's really hard to come by accurate estimates because there were about 300 to 350 residential care facilities in and around Port-au-Prince. We estimate about 600 in the country. Now, many of these children aren't actually orphans. They are children whose parents have put them in these residential care facilities simply because they are too poor to take care of them.
We don't really know the exact number of how many children are in these residential care facilities. We don't know how many actually were orphaned by the earthquake. There are so many children in Haiti without parental supervision who need to be cared for, who need to be fed, clothed and so forth and protected.
CHETRY: Absolutely. There are fears about child trafficking. There's of course fears of contagious disease right now in the country as well, that were there before but only exacerbated because of the quake. What is the primary goal then? Is it to reunite children with their families? Is it to help bolster the orphanages? What are you guys trying to do in what seems to be an insurmountable task right now?
VENEMAN: Given the number of children involved, all of the above. UNICEF and its partners are going around to the different orphanages making sure they have food and water and the essentials for the children, some basic clothing and so forth. We'll get supplies to them to begin schooling. In addition there are residential care facilities being set up to take unaccompanied minors, identify them and hopefully then find family members to reunite them with.
So, because of the large number of children involved, you have to use every strategy within the country to protect these children and make sure they're cared for.
HOLMES: So many of these are case by case situations but just curious to get your thoughts. It seems like there's an idea in the United States and in other places that it's a poor country. That's a poor child. All we have to do is somebody from the U.S. go grab that child, bring them here and automatically their life is better. In some ways there are advantages here, but what's is you all's stance on this idea that people just think just take them out of there, bring them here and everything is fine?
VENEMAN: Well again one of the issues is that many of these children have parents and so you don't want to take a child away from their parent. You know, they may have more money but you don't take a child away from its parent and that's the thing that we want to protect against. The risk in times of disaster and the risk when there is poverty is child trafficking. We don't want to see these children exploited, utilized for sexual exploitation or other things that really no child should be subjected to.
And so the first and foremost is to reunite children with their parents to make sure they're in a safe place, to make sure they're protected and make sure they have the essentials in life.
CHETRY: What do you do with the challenging situation of parents who are saying, listen, I simply can't care for them. Things were bad before the earthquake and now we have no home, have no ability to provide for my own child. I think they would be better off in an orphanage.
VENEMAN: One of the things is the country needs economic development. People need jobs so they can take care of their children. There needs to be a real look at are there social safety net programs? We have so many in this country for parents who have difficulties. You know, should the international community be helping families who cannot take care of their own children, make sure they have the essentials so they can take care of their children.
The other essential is that 50 percent of the children were not in school even before the earthquake. How do we ensure that all children will get access to an education as this country is built back much better?
HOLMES: All right. Ann Veneman, this is an enormous challenge and again so many estimates. You say it's hard to -- you all are keeping your eyes on it but we still don't really know how many children need the help you're talking about. Some estimates out there hundreds of thousands have been orphaned since this quake. But we absolutely appreciate you being here and the work you guys are doing. Thank you so much.
CHETRY: Good luck.
VENEMAN: Thanks so much.
CHETRY: Thanks so much.
HOLMES: We're going to turn now to some top stories here we're keeping an eye on. Years of corruption in Haiti, things have been plagued, but we're going to have a "AC360" is keeping an eye on this. You can tune in. He's been doing a series there, 10:00 Eastern time.
But keep your eyes out for that, essentially showing how things were so corrupt and how literally hundreds of millions of dollars went missing from Haiti even before the earthquake. So kind of in a lot of ways it was a mess before the earthquake and now certainly a mess going there now. It's going to take a long time to clean it up.
CHETRY: "AC 360," "Stealing Haiti." That's at 10:00 tonight. So be sure to check in for that.
Meanwhile, it's half past the hour. That means it's time for our top stories.
Former President Bill Clinton is home right now. We have exclusive video of him arriving back in Chappaqua, New York, after being released from the hospital this morning. Doctors placed two stents in one of his coronary arteries yesterday, chief cardiologist saying that his prognosis is excellent and there was no sign he had a heart attack.
HOLMES: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton leaving New York Presbyterian hospital last night. She flew to New York after meeting with President Obama and to be with her husband and daughter, Chelsea. Her trip to the Persian Gulf pushed back a day, still going to be heading out tomorrow.
CHETRY: Also astronauts from the space shuttle Endeavor wrapping up a six and a half hour spacewalk this morning. It was the first of three walks. They are completing to finish construction on the international space station. The hatch to the new $50 billion wing is scheduled to open tonight, and among other things it will give astronauts a panoramic view of the universe.
It happens almost every day of every year, people on the far right or far left saying things that are off the wall. We have profiled many of them here on "AMERICAN MORNING" with a segment we call "Wingnuts of the Week."
HOLMES: And we have the wingnut identifier here, John Avlon. He has a new book out about this particular subject, and it's called "Wingnuts, how the lunatic fringe is hijacking America." Good to see you, young fellow. How did you get into wingnuts.
JOHN AVLON, THEDAILYBEAST.COM: I tell you what, I realized that there are many Americans that feel frustrated with the way extremes dominate our dialogue. I'm talking about people on the far right and far left of the political spectrum. These are people, the professional partisans, the unhinge activists, the paranoid conspiracy theorists, people who are always trying to divide rather than unite us.
And they really have developed a disproportionate influence over our politics that ends up drowning out most folks in the middle. So I realized what we needed to do was start punching back, left and right, to stop this cycle, because they end up encouraging each other.
And by calling out extremes, maybe we can bring balance and common sense back to American politics. We haven't seen enough.
CHETRY: It seems lately things have been worse. Is it because we're in it that it seems that way? Is it always like this in Washington in terms of partisan back and forth and those on the fringe that really seem to be -- I don't know, raring to go lately.
AVLON: Stirring the crazy pot. In researching this book, what you realize is people have been selling snake oil forever. There are people trying to sell anger at the other as a way of profiting politically or personally.
But what's different now is they never had this kind of platform before because of three things, I think. One, you have the parties more polarized than ever before. The center is trying to be drummed out in some cases, RINO hunting and DINO hunting.
Then you have the increasingly partisan media feeding into the spin cycle. People on high profile shows are trying to stir up this anger and rally the troops. And add to the internet which has created an echo chamber, a real way to radicalize folks and gin up that anger all day long.
This has created a hyper-polarization and hyper-partisanship in our politics that I believe is really at risk of getting politics out of control.
HOLMES: We can describe them all day long, but it would help us if you gave us examples of what you're talking about.
AVLON: But, of course. Two examples from Congress and two examples from media, and these are symbols of the larger symptom of what's going on here.
In Congress, on the left Alan Grayson and on the right Michele Bachmann. And the reason I picked these two folks is they really have distinguished themselves by being people who play aggressively to their base. Alan Grayson called himself the congressman with guts, and he defines that by calling Republicans the enemy of America.
And then Michelle Bachmann first came to prominence in '08 questioning whether then candidate Obama was anti-American and really playing the base in a way that gins up anger and makes her a hero to the base. That's what this dynamic is doing.
And then in media, you have two high profile talented broadcasters who make their reputation off stirring this pot, Glenn Beck and Keith Olbermann. These folks are talented, funny, smart, but play to the base so aggressively, calling opponents racist, calling opponents any kind of attack you can do in an attempt to gin up ratings.
What's different now is by trying to appeal to a narrow but intense audience share and get good ratings, politics ends up following their model rather than the old model of trying to bring people together. That ends up being the symptoms of how wingnuts are hijacking our politics trying to divide us instead of unite us.
CHETRY: In your opinion, what's the prescription for sort of taking back the center as you call it?
AVLON: I believe we can take America back from the lunatic fringe. The first thing we need to do is declare our independence. More and more Americans are doing this. Independents are the fastest growing segment of the electorate. More and more people are looking at extremes saying I want to determine the person and not the party.
CHETRY: Aren't independents increasingly determining elections more so than before?
AVLON: They absolutely are, as we saw in Massachusetts with Scott Brown, but not just in states like Massachusetts. Again, if independents could realize then there are more independents than Democrats or Republicans, I think we could help bring politics back to the center.
The second thing is redistricting reform. This is the one policy prescription that sounds kind of wonky, but by having 96 percent of seats with no competitive general election, it forced power to margins from the center. It's enabled activists to control who's in Congress and empowered these folks to play only for the base instead of reaching out to the center.
And then finally, just standing up to extremes on both sides, everyday folks calling on extremes on both sides. Instead of pulling into defense of a party it should be my country right or wrong, and not my party right or wrong. If both sides do that, I think we can start taking power back from the extremes and bring it back to the center.
HOLMES: And you wouldn't say they are nuttier on one side or the other.
AVLON: I think the far right and the far left can be equally insane.
HOLMES: John Avalon, you heard it here. Good to see you though, as always.
CHETRY: Congratulations on the book.
AVLON: Thank you.
HOLMES: Coming up next, our Barbara Starr. Fun story to check in with her on -- we don't usually say that because she's usually talking about the Pentagon. This time she's making a pit stop at NASCAR. Yes, that Barbara Starr. It's 35 minutes past the hour.
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CHETRY: It's 39 minutes past the hour. Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.
A week after the Super bowl, NASCAR holding its version of it. It's the Daytona 500, the start of the racing season. By now you are probably used to seeing Barbara Starr at the Pentagon or in a war zone, but when a blizzard grounded her in Florida, she found herself in pit row getting up to speed on the NASCAR experience.
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BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You notice right away, NASCAR is loud. This is my first time. What's going on? What's that all about?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The cars are heading out for practice.
STARR: But where's the softness in the NASCAR world in terms of the recession? Where is it hitting you?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We see it at some of our tracks geographically where the country is hit the worst. That also translates into fewer ticket sales in those places. It's not over. All of us as Americans and as a sport have a long way to go, but it's getting better.
STARR: OK, I am standing here in the garage area next to Jimmy Johnson, the master of NASCAR. I'm about to do my first interview ever with a NASCAR driver.
I want to ask you, what's your big concern about the race right now and how is the car looking to you?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We just scratched this one. We need to get a new car.
STARR: OK. I did it. I asked a NASCAR driver how it's going and he told me it ain't going so well today but he'll still make the race.
Even at Daytona, a familiar logo, the U.S. army. Driver Ryan Newman won the race two years ago, and he has an engineering degree from Purdue University.
And how did the car feel to you?
RYAN NEWMAN, DRIVER #39, U.S. ARMY CAR: It was good. The car felt really good. U.S. army Chevrolet was good in straight away speed and in the corner.
STARR: What is it about representing the U.S. army? What's different here?
NEWMAN: I'm representing people. It's an honor to represent people that are not just people, they're people that are fighting for our freedom or have fought for our freedom or will fight for our freedom.
STARR: Unlike the corporate sponsors here, the U.S. army we found has a different goal in mind. They hope to recruit some new soldiers from some of NASCAR's 75 million fans. T.J., Kiran?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: That was great.
CHETRY: She made the most of getting stranded.
HOLMES: You have to. Daytona is a big deal. Good to see that from our Barbara Starr. Not to see what we see on radar, snow coming once again. But it's not where it's been the past week or so. This time the south is getting hit and it's going to cause problems for some of you travelers out there. It's 41 minutes past the hour.
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HOLMES: Well, there's Dallas under there somewhere. It's buried under a few inches of snow today. The snow is going to be hitting several places, the south this time around. The northeast couldn't take another storm. It already had two. This time it is our turn in the south.
CHETRY: There it is the song is called "Paralyzer" it did paralyze some air traffic for a while there.
HOLMES: Yes.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: If you live in place like Dallas or Atlanta, you only need a couple of inches of snow to paralyze a plane.
CHETRY: Right, so -- so they are looking at getting what? Somewhere between five to eight inches, what --
MARCIANO: Well, some of the -- some spots and outside -- well outside of Atlanta -- Atlanta may get a couple of inches. But either way that's all you need. And it's -- and it's -- I'm sorry and it's over.
HOLMES: Yes, we know.
MARCIANO: Never get tired of the show but we're still not done talking about Virginia because those folks just got hammered with the snow. Check out this iReport. He calls himself Notorious BIG.
CHETRY: I love it.
MARCIANO: Yes. Blizzard conditions there and they just got buried in it as you know. But the winds were the other issue. And that's -- that's more than just a winter Wonderland for sure. It looked downright nasty. All right, we don't expect that today. But the damage is done.
And check out some of these snowfall totals: 72 inches in Dulles, that's an all time record for the year; Philadelphia, 70.3; Baltimore, 70.1; and Dallas at 14.2. Actually -- now they're up another inch than that. So they may break a record as well. They are not quite there just yet, 48 of the 50 states have some snow cover on there right now. And Florida, maybe some spots of Florida, may have a little bit as well.
All right, here you go, well, this storm the one that T.J. was talking about across the south moving off towards the east. And there is some cold air wrapping around it in spots. And we'll see a couple of inches of snow develop from Louisiana across southern and central Mississippi, Alabama across Georgia and in through the Carolinas.
The radar is showing a lot of moisture with this so far along the beaches including the Florida panhandle. It is all rain and heavy rain but it may very well be changing over at that range the snow line begins to drift down to the south. Mobile about to get pounded with some heavy rain and thunder; two to four inches in the swath, there'll be some isolated areas that will see more than that. But generally speaking that's all you need down across the south.
If you are doing some travel today, we do expect to see delays at the New York and Boston Airports because they are still cleaning up. They still got to get rid of that snow as well as in D.C. But Atlanta I think is going to be your big problem spots; snow, fog and low clouds there.
Also some low clouds and freezing fog in Dallas because they got a foot of snow on the ground. And folks driving around in their pickup trucks and their 10-gallon hats saying, "Hey what do we do with this?"
CHETRY: Yes, not tumbleweeds, right?
MARCIANO: No, not -- not, enjoy winter. There is -- you know according to the Groundhog he may be right this time and even bad --
CHETRY: Which one? Punxsutawney says 6 more weeks --
MARCIANO: Punxsutawney says -- well and --
CHETRY: Staten Island Chuck said early spring.
MARCIANO: Well, neither of them are good but even a bad forecaster gets one right once in a while. It looks like Punxsutawney is right, right now.
HOLMES: Oh well, I've never paid so much attention for your weather advice -- I have enjoyed this morning.
CHETRY: And you're hanging on his every word.
HOLMES: Every word he says.
CHETRY: As you have to get back to Atlanta for your --
MARCIANO: I have a lot of good information on a daily basis T.J. You should listen more often.
HOLMES: All right, I'm sorry about that. All right, thanks bro.
MARCIANO: Good luck.
CHETRY: Well, tonight the world comes to Vancouver, the 2010 Olympic Winter Games kickoff with the traditional opening ceremony. More than 70 countries will participate. It's being held indoors actually for the first time. Vice president Joe Biden will be on hand to represent the United States and the new "We Are the World" video by the way which was recorded for earthquake relief in Haiti debuts during tonight's opening ceremony.
How about that?
HOLMES: It's always fun to see. It takes forever to get through but it's still cool to watch.
CHETRY: Yes, it is. And boy, they did a heck of one at the Beijing games.
HOLMES: Yes.
CHETRY: Wow.
HOLMES: They put on a show. Coming up here next.
CHETRY: Yes.
HOLMES: Are you're a healthy eater?
CHETRY: I know.
HOLMES: No, all right.
CHETRY: But I do try to work out.
HOLMES: Well, you try to work out and maybe to offset the bad eating habits there. Well, we're just talking about getting heart smart. We're going to tell you which foods are specifically good for the heart. You want to tune in for that.
It's 48 minutes past the hour.
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CHETRY: Welcome back to The Most News in the Morning. You know the CDC says more than 26 million Americans suffer from heart disease. Former President Bill Clinton is one of them and of course one of the lucky ones so far.
HOLMES: And we saw he's already back home this morning. But what about the millions who don't make the headlines?
In today's "Fit Nation" report, Dr. Sanjay Gupta shows us why Valentine's Day is a pretty good time to start thinking about that heart.
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DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: It is heart health month; time to cut through all the clutter about what's good for your heart. The biggest key says registered dietician Page Love is reducing the levels of inflammatory compounds in your body. PAGE LOVE, REGISTERED DIETICIAN: Inflammation is the body's response when disease is cultivating and often there are foods that can actually help do the opposite of that in the body.
GUPTA: So what are these super foods?
LOVE: Eating red really helps to decrease inflammation. For example, cherries -- particularly tart cherries, red grapes, tomatoes.
GUPTA: Blueberries and strawberries also top the list as do leafy greens like spinach. Even oatmeal.
LOVE: There's quite a bit of evidence showing that the fiber in oatmeal helps to lower cholesterol so it's kind of one of those key disease fighting breakfast food.
GUPTA: If you're looking for a good snack food, try a can the nuts.
LOVE: Nuts are a good protein source, a good healthy vegetable fat source.
GUPTA: Avocados are also full of healthy unsaturated fat that can help boost good cholesterol. Oily fish like salmon are rich in cholesterol lowering Omega 3s which can help lower blood pressure and reduce the risk of clotting. Then, of course, there's everybody's favorite -- chocolate.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The cocoa is full of compounds called flavanols and produce a lot of benefits: relaxing blood vessels, reducing blood clotting, improving blood flow.
GUPTA: Ok. But despite the benefits of chowing down on chocolates --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Keep sweets or sort of extra foods to about 10 percent of your calories per day.
GUPTA: So here's to your heart health.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting.
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CHETRY: There you go. Break down some of those.
HOLMES: The heart is on the mind right now. It's Valentine's Day. Get some of those heart healthy foods.
CHETRY: How about this one? Who is the not so nice person of New York who actually mugged a dog?
HOLMES: Maybe it was another dog actually. We didn't consider that, did we?
CHETRY: Jeanne Moos is going to look at all of the possibilities coming up.
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HOLMES: Welcome back to The Most News in the Morning. Just about five minutes to the top of the hour. Time now for the "Moost News in the Morning". and I don't know what's going on in this city. While I'm trying to get out of here people are robbing dogs.
CHETRY: I know. It's bad enough when someone mugs a person but then you mug a poor defenseless little dog. You're not going to believe what this guy took. Jeanne Moos has the story.
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JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's the sort of dastardly crime that makes a dog in a down jacket nervously look over his shoulder. News that leaves a Westie (ph) and a shirling (ph); the pair decked now the baby blue and pink shivering with trepidation.
DONNA MCPHERSON, MUGGED DOG'S OWNER: Who would take a coat off a dog? It's ludicrous.
MOOS: Investment banker Donna McPherson, momentarily left her dog, Lexy (ph), outside this Brooklyn supermarket where she went inside to buy milk; left him in his green wool coat. When she came out --
MCPHERSON: I looked at him and I said, "Where's your coat?" As if he was going to tell me. And he was like, well, I was just mugged while you were buying milk."
MOOS: The good news is that the mugger only got Lexy's cheap $25 coat and not his pricier Burberry. And the really good news is --
MCPHERSON: I'm just thankful that they didn't take my dog. I'll never leave him again, ever.
MOOS: Anyway, Lexy still seems to have a better coat on than his owner. One animal loses an accessory and another animal gains one.
Check out the Houston cow with a tire necklace. That's SPCA investigator Tricia Price trying to help the cow out of its jam.
Do we have any idea how she got the tire on her?
It's a busy street. Someone blew out a tire, landed in there and there was something growing in the center of it and so she reached her head in there.
MOOS: They managed to herd the year-old cow into a corral but she wasn't helping them help her. They finally managed to get her into a squeeze chute. Changing this tire was a two person operation.
The Animal Rescue folks are always trying to get critters out of self-imposed fixes. From the squirrel with a cup on its head to the deer decked out with Christmas lights on its antlers to a skunk stuck in a jar of peanut butter. This is one snack he probably wished he'd skipped. Oh, what a relief.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Say thank you.
MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN --
MCPHERSON: If I can find a husband like my dog, I'd be a happy woman.
MOOS: New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: relate. I can relate. We were all laughing this morning. People are saying who the heck puts clothing on their dog in the first place?
MARCIANO: Well, you try to be stylish.
CHETRY: And I happened to dig up an old photo.
MARCIANO: Come on. I did also -- this is pre-children I must say. We were getting ready to go out and our dog, Herman, also had a tuxedo.
HOLMES: He went with you?
CHETRY: No. But we dressed him up for the picture.
MARCIANO: Herman. Poor guy.
CHETRY: How cute does he look in that picture?
MARCIANO: He is. He doesn't look overly miserable, at least, in that one instance where you snapped the picture.
CHETRY: That's right. He wasn't really miserable.
HOLMES: I wish someone would have mugged him and taken that outfit.
CHETRY: But you know what. The dog in the buff that was Rob's -- that was Rob's department. He was out there this week in Central Park and you got sort of accosted by a golden retriever --
MARCIANO: Well, I insist on naked dogs. Yes. This dog -- I was interviewing his dad and he wanted at my microphone so to speak. There it was, damage done. I don't know how to explain this or write this up to the equipment manager but that microphone did not work well after that.
CHETRY: He really wasn't going to give up. Right? He wanted that thing.
MARCIANO: No, I think -- I thought he wanted to play fetch. He just wanted to eat the microphone. He wouldn't say anything. I told him he had no future in broadcasting if he just eats the microphone. He felt tiny (ph). Yes, he made our day out there in Central Park.
CHETRY: Not so tiny.
MARCIANO: Not so tiny at all.
CHETRY: All right Rob. Good to see you. And T.J. great to have you with us for the week.
HOLMES: Good to be here this week.
CHETRY: Fingers crossed that you make it back for Atlanta.
HOLMES: Yes. Still on time. We'll see what happens.
CHETRY: That's right, for your show, even though they're expecting a little dusting.
HOLMES: A little dusting -- we call it a snowstorm in Atlanta if you get 2 inches.
CHETRY: Major storm.
All right. Well continue the conversation on today's stories by heading to our blog, cnn.com/amFix. And thanks so much for being here with us. We'll see you back here on Monday.
HOLMES: And "CNN NEWSROOM" continues now. Betty, maybe I'll see you, maybe I won't.
