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Rick's List
Supreme Court Rules on Campaign Finance; White House Targets Big Banks
Aired January 22, 2010 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DOUGLAS HOLTZ-EAKIN, FORMER CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE DIRECTOR: And, so far, the agenda, one of higher taxes, health care reform, energy reform, environmental reform, unionization, large budget deficits as far as the eye can see, is so scary to the business community, that, while they have stopped firing, they are not hiring. To make it the top priority, they genuinely have to put some of those wonderful rhetorical flourishes aside, stop scaring the employment community, and let them put people on the payroll.
ALI VELSHI, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Doug, let's talk a little about where the president is. He is in Ohio. It's a state that is a manufacturing state. It has suffered big job losses.
It certainly does not have the unemployment of a place like Michigan, but it's got 10.9 percent unemployment. And there were a lot of people asking the president questions that sounded a little like protectionism. Why aren't you doing more to protect our jobs? Why are you not doing more to protect our jobs? Why are you not doing more to protect manufacturing in America?
How does he give an honest answer to people who have questions like this in industries that are disappearing?
HOLTZ-EAKIN: Well, I think the honest answer is, you have to look at and say, 95 percent of the world's consumers are outside of our borders. We have to sell to them so that we have the markets for our children to be prosperous.
Now, how are we going to do that? Are we going to have tax policies to drive the jobs offshore? That's we have right now. No, we're going to fix that, so that the headquarters stay in the U.S., the R&D stays in the U.S. and so the manufacturing is in the U.S. Right now, that is a problem.
VELSHI: Doug Holtz-Eakin, former director of the Congressional Budget Office, former adviser to the McCain campaign, he will be with me on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. and Sunday at 3:00 p.m. as we kick off a special investigation into stimulus next week, the stimulus bill, a special edition of "Your Money" with Douglas Holtz-Eakin and others 1:00 p.m. Saturday, 3:00 p.m. Sunday.
Doug, thanks for getting back to us about this conversation that the president was having in Elyria, Ohio.
It is time now for "RICK'S LIST." I will see you next week. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): This is making THE LIST right now.
Have these five men decided that we shall become the corporate states of America?
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: It says that a corporation may make independent expenditures in support or in opposition to a candidate.
SANCHEZ: Will elected officials become corporate proxies?
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If these folks want a fight, it's a fight I'm ready to have.
SANCHEZ: A fight over big Wall Street bonuses. The White House puts the screws to Wall Street bankers. Jessica Yellin drills down on it.
The lists you need to know about. Who is today's most intriguing person? Who is on The List You Don't Want To Be On? We will find out as our national conversation on Twitter, on the air starts right now.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: Hello, again, everybody. I'm Rick Sanchez.
And here is what is making THE LIST as part of our national conversation.
Human beings at the mercy of nature's fury, in Southern California, five days of water-logging rain, five counties under a state of emergency. Hills above Los Angeles are beginning to give way. Residents who refuse to evacuate have to sign a waiver of some type. They stay at their own peril.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is channeled out through the concrete and then out into the streets. So, I'm fine. It is my neighbors that I'm concerned about.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: By the way, the National Weather Service warns of possible downpours tonight maybe dumping up to an inch of rain in some places. Even when the rain stops -- you need to know this -- then they have to continue to worry about mudslides. And that is where it can get serious. As always, our iReporters are on the scene.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mission Boulevard right here, kayaking.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: This was shot Wednesday in San Diego. David Johnston attends the University of San Diego. He went to Blockbuster to rent a movie. Instead, he ended up making one about a kayaker in the middle of a street normally filled with cars.
So, there is news in California. There's also news out in Arizona. This is where a little boy was swept out of his father's arms by floodwaters. They are still looking for him.
But that pales, pales by comparison to what is going on right now in Haiti. Aftershocks now rumble almost daily. And because of it, hundreds of thousands of residents are being asked to move out of Port-au-Prince. Some don't want to.
This report that you are about to see is very graphic. Take this as a warning. It speaks to the uneasy tension between the need for law and order and the need to survive and that delicate balance in between both. This is the reality of Haiti, folks.
The correspondent is Karl Penhaul.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As we drove up to this busy crossroads just beyond the Port-au-Prince Airport, we spot two Haitian police officers detaining two young men.
Then, a single shot rang out.
(on camera): As we were stopping the truck, more shots rang out and we clearly saw the two detainees falling to the ground.
(voice-over): This is where we begin rolling our camera.
(on camera): As we got here to the spot, it became apparent that the incident was somehow connected to bags of rice.
(voice-over): Both men lie bleeding, both shot in the back by the police. We saw one officer firing shots while his captive was on the ground. Twenty-year-old Gentile Cherie is gasping for breath. He is dying.
The other young man is unable to stand. He's stunned, but speaking. He says they didn't steal the rice. They were not looting.
"The cops jumped on us. It was a gift. It was a gift," he says again and again. Five bags of rice are scattered nearby.
"A truck stopped, and we jumped on, and the driver gave us the rice as a gift, but the cops shot us," he says.
This patrolman was one of three involved. He won't answer. Minutes after, this police area commissioner arrives. I ask him if the police have a shoot-to-kill order for suspected looters. "Nobody can do this in any country. Even if somebody was stealing a bag of rice, nobody has a right to do this," he says. He promises to investigate and says he's calling an ambulance. We wait. No ambulance arrives.
Passing United Nations peacekeepers stop a truck and load the wounded man aboard. A small crowd carries another wounded man who says he was waiting for the bus when he took a stray bullet in the side. He tells us he's a Christian minister who was going home after applying for a job as a policeman.
We asked around in the small shops. Witnesses told us nobody was looting. This story owner says the rice bags fell from the truck and passersby simply picked them up.
Two-and-a-half-hours after the shooting, and Gentile Cherie's body was still on the sidewalk.
(WAILING)
PENHAUL: Nearby, his mother had come to grieve.
Karl Penhaul, CNN, Port-au-Prince.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: By the way, CNN has sent a crew to the Haitian government compound at the airport to ask about this incident and several other similar incidents reported by other media. If and when we get a response, we are going to share the response with you, but you know what it is like down there. I mean, reports from our reporters and correspondent like Karl Penhaul and Sanjay Gupta and Anderson Cooper have prompted many of you to give.
Don't forget the "Hope for Haiti Now" telethon. It is tonight at 8:00 p.m.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: We are having a fight right now, because I want to charge Wall Street a modest fee to repay taxpayers in full for saving their skins in a time of need.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
OBAMA: We want our money back.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: That is the president. He is putting the screws again today to Wall Street for the sake of the rest of us on Main Street. Some are asking, what took him so long? We are going to drill down on it with plenty of passion.
And this may seem like a sweet romantic billboard, but it is not. The real message is a whopper. It should be a warning for any man considering an affair. We will break that one down for you as well. Stay right there. THE LIST scrolls on for you today.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
CALLER: Hey, Rick. Harry from Pennsylvania.
I just want to send out props to Sanjay Gupta. It is very refreshing to see a doctor who got into the profession to help people, not asking for co-pays or, can you afford my medical service or where is your medical card? He's just out there doing it for people that are need. He is a saint. This is a wonderful thing to see a doctor doing what he is supposed to do. Way to go, Sanjay.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: All right. Time to check what you are saying on Twitter and check and see what people who are relevant to the stories that we are covering are saying on Twitter, first to the people on our Twitter list.
This is why my ability to get these people on suddenly becomes your ability to get these people on. All right? My access is your access. Let's do it.
Twitter board, we go. This is Iamwill. As you know, he is a famous musician. He says: "We have helped raise a lot of money to the people in need. We also have to help rebuild Haiti with stability. Please help Haiti." So, he goes on. And he is telling us about his plight, his country. He is with the Black Eyed Peas, correct? Black Eyed Peas? Did I get that one right? Good job, Rick.
Robert, let's turn this around now, because this is the constant theme that we are getting from people out there. Most of you, the thing that you are angriest about that I have noticed over the last 24 hours, my executive producer Angie and I were talking about this earlier today.
Listen to -- see that one right there at the top? You see it, Robert, right there at the top? Good.
"Hey, Rick, the court decision" -- talking about SCOTUS, the Supreme Court decision -- "scares the hell out of me, because of the large number of U.S. corporations owned by China."
Remember, the decision made yesterday by the Supreme Court that in fact more influence money can be used by corporations doesn't mean they have to be U.S. corporations. Does that mean that people overseas and people in other countries will have as much power as U.S. citizens to influence issues or influence elected officials?
That is a very, very important question that we are going to be drilling down on that may be a part of the decision made by the Supreme Court yesterday.
Also, this -- still ahead, a march of the elephants, OK, not as majestic as march of the penguins, but it is still a mammoth project..
And public anger with big banks is climbing faster than those insane bank fees. The message is finally being heard loud and clear at the White House, but is their plan enough? The point is Americans are disgusted with the Wall Street mess. And you know what? They probably should be.
We are going to be breaking some news when I come back. We are going to be talking to one of our correspondents who told us she has got something she wants to share with us. Jessica Yellin standing by next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
CALLER: Hey, Rick. This is Jean (ph).
You know what? Banks paid us back with interest. Why doesn't he just lay off the banks? What does this guy, this clown, have to gain? What does Obama have to gain by going after them? Shut the hell up. He paid us back -- they paid us back.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: There's an interesting perspective.
Welcome back. I'm Rick Sanchez. This is THE LIST from the world headquarters of CNN.
Two huge stories today that impact Americans right in the gut, the Supreme Court decision and the Wall Street decision. If you opened a paper this morning or if you clicked on a talk show station, you may have heard a refrain something very similar to what you heard me talking about here yesterday.
In fact, here, let me show you. Here is "The New York Times." We got a shot of that there? There it is. I mean, this is what we were talking about yesterday. "With populist stance, Obama takes on the banks." See it right there? That is what we were talking about yesterday. It continues today. We told you this story would have legs.
Is it me, or is the president suddenly sounding like a populist?
Here he goes as a matter of fact just a while ago when he was talking in Ohio. Pick this out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: I guarantee you, when we start on financial regulatory reform, trying to change the rules to prevent what has caused so much heartache all across the country, there are people who are going to say, why is he meddling in government -- why is he meddling in the financial industry? It is another example of Obama being big -- big government. No, I just want to have some rules in place so that, when these guys make dumb decisions, you don't end up having to foot the bill.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
OBAMA: That is pretty straightforward. I don't mind having that fight.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: This is our breakthrough segment. A lot of the fellow Democrats would say about damn time, but guess what? Jessica Yellin has learned that a lot of this is just a bunch of talk, at least so far.
Jessica, I hear you have got some news for us on this. Go ahead. Make some news.
JESSICA YELLIN, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Rick.
Well, the news is that after President Obama unveiled this plan yesterday to do something that would set limits on the size of banks and separate deposits from risky gambling bets, he didn't send any paperwork up to the hill. He didn't send a white paper. He didn't send details. He didn't tell Congress, hey, this is what I mean by this. This is how I would like you to act on it.
What he did is made a big press announcement and said, we are going to get to the part where we work with Congress on this. Now, this has some on the Hill very upset, especially the House side of the ledger, because they have already passed their financial reform legislation. They feel like, why are you coming to us with this now, when we could have used your help a few months ago? Why make the big splash now? Now, to put it in context, Rick, because a lot of people are going to e-mail me and say, wait, wait, wait, that is not the whole story, it's true.
Very often, the White House will just work Congress on these things. They don't put always out details, but, in this case, the Treasury Department sent hundreds and hundreds of pages of legislative language to the Hill before their financial reform bill came up last year. This was not in it. So, this is a change -- Rick.
SANCHEZ: In the end, doesn't this all come down to the fact that Americans feel like their money was used to save the behinds of those people on Wall Street, and it angers Americans to see -- I'm putting this as plainly as I can -- it angers Americans to see that the guys on Wall Street are already starting to get their money back in the form of bonuses, most of us down here on Main...
YELLIN: Times 10.
SANCHEZ: And then some -- and those of us down here on Main Street still aren't? And the president is saying, you know what? I have got to punish you guys more.
Democrats are saying that some people told him he should have done this a long time ago, right?
YELLIN: Well, that's what a lot of Democrats here are saying, Rick, is remember how outraged everyone was over those AIG bonuses? And then other banks came out with the announcements of what their bonuses would look like.
SANCHEZ: Right.
YELLIN: A lot of the Dems thought that would have been the perfect political moment to capitalize on that rage, reform Wall Street then, and it would have given Democrats at this point an issue to run on already.
But they feel the White House was so enmeshed in health care reform and it was moving so slowly, they were not focused on this regulatory reform issue. And now they are caught a little flat-footed on it, and the president is trying to catch up with where the public is.
SANCHEZ: It's almost like president is over thinking this, because he probably thought at some point, well, if I go after the banks, then people are going to call me a socialist. After all, that is the epitome of capitalism, right?
(CROSSTALK)
YELLIN: Well, they are calling him a socialist, first of all, so let's be fair.
SANCHEZ: No matter what he does.
YELLIN: No meantime, -- and the White House will say, the reason they came out with this yesterday is because the president got even more upset when he saw how the banks were taking these profits and not lending, and so he really did think he needed to change direction and crack down.
The bigger frame is, it too late to make this PR push on the banks now, because the other side has gotten a lot of time to lobby members of Congress and Wall Street has done a really good job of convincing plenty of members that this legislation will hurt business, hurt job growth? And now some of this legislation is stuck in the Senate. And who knows where it is going to go.
SANCHEZ: All right. I have to ask you about health care.
YELLIN: Yes.
SANCHEZ: Health care has suddenly become real important again.
YELLIN: Yes.
SANCHEZ: No one knows what is going to happen next, but let me share something from Lord Krugman. He weighed in today on the op-ed page of his -- of his "New York Times," as if he was the publisher of the paper. Some people think he is.
Here's what he says. He says: "The Senate bill is much, much better than nothing. And all that has to happen is -- to make it law is for the House to pass the same bill and send it to President Obama's desk."
Now, this is something that we have been talking about for the last couple of days with the Massachusetts miracle and all. He is saying, why don't they just go ahead to do this? Just get it done. Forget about delays, forget about waiting.
Any thought that that might come to fruition?
YELLIN: It is not looking good. Look, the bottom line for that issue, the bottom line is, it might look good to Paul Krugman, but if he were a Blue Dog Democrat sitting in a red district who is up for reelection at the end of this year, they know that he would be casting this vote for health care reform at his own expense, that they could lose that seat.
And, so, a lot of people are weighing political survival against what the party wants. And politics survival often wins out. That is why Pelosi thinks she didn't have the votes.
SANCHEZ: Jessica is yelling because the people are screaming.
(LAUGHTER)
SANCHEZ: We appreciate it, Jessica. Take care.
YELLIN: Thanks, Rick.
SANCHEZ: Have a great weekend.
YELLIN: You, too.
SANCHEZ: Folks, when the meteorologist says a blizzard is coming, believe it. Otherwise, you could end up like these thousands of drivers did.
And you know that saying hell hath no fury like a woman scorned? You've heard it right. Guess what? A woman who fits that precise description is amongst those who we are choosing today as the intriguing people of the day. What a story.
Also, don't stop thinking about what the Supreme Court did yesterday, because we are not. It is a decision that could change the direction of this country. Stay right there.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned, nor hell a fury like a woman scorned. You have heard it before, not quite put like that, but that was written by a playwright and a master of English comedy. His name was William Congreve in his only tragedy, "The Mourning Bride." That was back in 1697, folks. He could have written it today about this woman that we are about to tell you about.
She is number three on our List of The Most Intriguing Persons of the Day.
She was the socialite wife of a high-profile lawyer in San Diego. After 16 years of marriage and four kids, he traded her in for a hot young legal assistant. Spray-painting the inside of his house black was not enough revenge for her. Ramming her car through his front door didn't seem to do it. Neither did shouting and swearing into his answering machine.
Her next move turned into two sensational murder trials, a book and a pair of made-for-television movies starring Meredith Baxter. She snuck into her ex's house on a fall night in 1989, slipped into his bedroom, and pumped five bullets into him and his new wife. You got this one yet? That is Betty Broderick, folks. You know who she is.
She was up for parole yesterday, but was turned down, because the panel decided she is still too angry to go free. The parole board had said that she hasn't evolved and told her, you have still got to just move on. Wow.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here is one of our agents trying to respond to get to that area.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is he going to make it?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He has got a ways to go.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: That film you are looking at right there, that's called "The Fence," which is going up along 700 miles of the U.S./Mexican border. The point is, it doesn't seem to be working as well as most people would want. The director of that movie, by the way, is the daughter of the slain Bobby Kennedy. I am going the ask her about the movie and I'm also going to get her take on a Republican winning what was once Ted Kennedy's seat, her uncle's seat.
Also, up next, this billboard many of you are talking about, what a woman did to get back at her boyfriend. And this is a famous guy, her boyfriend, who is married. That is next.
By the way, you can join the national conversation whenever you visit Atlanta. Just call 1-877-4CNN-TOUR. And you can join us here in studio and be a part of THE LIST.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: There's miffed, there's mad as hell, then there's the nuclear option. Guess which one you are about to see? Let's do "Fotos."
First to New York City near Times Square and take a look at the billboard. This would be going nuclear. You see, that woman on the billboard that you are about to see, she says that she was that man's girlfriend. The problem is that man is married and the president of Oracle and a member of president Obama's economic team -- ouch!
The woman says that he strung her along for eight years and then dumped her and went back to his wife. This billboard is apparently her revenge. And she didn't just put up one billboard. There are others in Atlanta and in San Francisco.
Charles Phillips has publicly admitted to the relationship, says that he wishes her well. However, he also tells us when we tried to reach out to him that he has no further comment.
What's that old phrase again? "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned." You heard that one, huh?
Bangkok, Thailand, where the billboards are put to better use. Trained elephants are being used to round up donations for victims of the earthquake in Haiti. I guess that is one way to get mammoth donations, and so far the Red Cross campaign has been popular. After all, who could say no to these gentle giants?
Any money raised will be added to the Thai government's $120,000 contribution.
And now the China, where blizzards and white-out conditions turned into ultimate road hazards. Why are you driving in this? Those who somehow ignore dire weather forecast paid a steep price, thousands of drivers left stranded on major highways, surrendering their cars to the brutal snow and cold, police staged hundreds of rescues racing against the threat of frostbite and hypothermia. At times the temperatures dipped to 30 below zero.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It says that a corporation may make independent expenditures in support or in opposition to a candidate.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: That is your Supreme Court at work. And conservatives and liberals alike are calling it a supreme mess. And most of you are, too.
I probably have gotten 1,000 tweets from people telling me that they are really upset about this, really worried about the direction that the nation will take when the Supreme Court makes a decision like this, turning so much of our decision-making process potentially over to corporations.
Jeffrey Toobin will walk us through this decision that could dramatically change the way that campaigns are run and won in the future. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Of all of the terrorist acts in all of north America and Europe since 1993, the number of people who have crossed the U.S./Mexican border to commit them is zero.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Sounds like a Kennedy. Coming up a movie directed by a Kennedy. She portrays the immigration debate in a way that you probably never thought about. This is a shocker. By the way, I'm also going to be asking her about another shocker, how her uncle Ted's seat has been won by a Republican.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: It is a Wednesday afternoon at gospel Water Branch Baptist church in Augusta, Georgia, but some parishioners are not here just for the gospel, but to lose weight.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I didn't drink any sodas.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I ate more salad and even I ate raw vegetables.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I really made a big effort to walk.
GUPTA: It is called the "Fit Body and Soul Program." Initially part of a study by the college of Georgia and now an indispensable program for churchgoers and community members as well.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And we do not want our health and our weight to hinder us from doing what you have willed for us to do in this world.
YVONNE DENT, FIT BODY AND SOUL INSTRUCTOR: We are trying to educate folks on the point of, you know, the high incidence of diabetes, hypertension, cardiac diseases, cancer, and other diseases among African-Americans.
GUPTA: The tenets are simple -- diet, exercise, food journaling, and community support, all of it is resting on the backbone of faith.
DENT: Everything we do, we always pray. We are here to support each other with prayer.
GUPTA: And the results? They have been promising.
RODNEY EDMOND, ASSOCIATE PASTOR, WATER BRANCH BAPTIST CHURCH: I lost 30 pounds. My wife lost about 25 pounds, doing the whole thing. Blood pressure went down and cholesterol went down. So we were very pleased.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My goal was seven to eight pounds, but I have reached 10 pounds, and I have kept it off for a year and a half.
GUPTA: But Pastor Robert Ramsey says there is no secret to the success.
REV. ROBERT RAMSEY, WATER BRANCH BAPTIST CHURCH: Food can be a temptation and you need that inner strength to overcome that temptation. So I think every congregation can do it and they should endeavor to do this.
GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Hey, welcome back to RICK'S LIST. I'm Rick Sanchez here at the world headquarters at CNN. A lot of crews out in Los Angeles have been embedded today with these rescue officials because of the threats of mudslides and the problems with flooding.
And curiously enough, one of the stories they have been following for the last hour or so is the rescue of a dog, which is important, if you love dogs, like I do and like most of us do. It is interesting video to watch. That is the dog.
The curious part about this -- Brooke Baldwin is joining me, by the way, because she is about to do a segment with us -- when I was watching this earlier, it looked like the dog was in shallow water, and so I'm not sure why they are rescuing him to begin with. Half of the time these animals can rescue themselves if you give them a little time and distance.
But I digress. They ended up bringing in a helicopter to save the dog, but what is interesting is this dog is biting the hell out of this guy. No, I'm serious. Look, I was watching a moment ago.
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the dog is frightened and...
SANCHEZ: Just a little bit.
BALDWIN: Just a little bit. We were watching it earlier and it looked like the dog was in the middle of this rushing water and had nowhere to go. Initially they threw this rope at the dog like the dog can grab the rope, but the good thing is that the guy gets down, and the dog is trying to do doggie paddle in the air.
SANCHEZ: Well, you know, it is a fun story to watch. It is unbelievable video. The dog is probably, like you said, totally freaked out. The firefighter will have to go home to explain to his wife why his arm is all marred up.
BALDWIN: Kudos to the L.A. fire and rescue.
SANCHEZ: And now these are some of the pictures of the ambulance -- don't tell me that they are taking the dog to the hospital in an ambulance. Are they really? They are taking the dog to a hospital in an ambulance. BALDWIN: Live pictures.
SANCHEZ: Wow, live pictures of a dog being taken to the hospital in an ambulance. Well, you know --
BALDWIN: Well, good for Fido. We're happy.
SANCHEZ: Well, god bless them. They are trying to help a fellow creature, and a lot of people appreciate that.
Let's talk about something a little more important. Let's talk about the Sundance film festival. It opened up last night in Park City, Utah.
BALDWIN: Park City, Utah.
SANCHEZ: And right away the buzz is about a documentary film that's directed, interestingly enough, by Rory Kennedy, the youngest daughter or of the late Robert F. Kennedy, the guy people of my generation, not yours, call Bobby.
And you are here to tell us about it. Let's start with the documentary first. It is called "The Fence." The parts I saw of it were interesting because it gave me a perspective of that border between the U.S. and Mexico. Have you been there?
BALDWIN: No, I have not been to the border.
SANCHEZ: I've been there. Let me tell you, this thing is -- when you go there you think it will be grandiose. You know what it is? It's a fence.
BALDWIN: And I think that is part of what she is pointing out in this the documentary. It is 36 minutes and basically she's looking at the 700-mile-long fence. Keep in mind that the border with Mexico is 2,000 miles.
So it's 700 miles. It cost U.S. taxpayers about $3.1 billion. The U.S. decided to build it in 2006, and what Rory Kennedy is doing is she is taking a look at the fence. We have a couple of different clips, because when you read some of the reviews about this documentary, a lot of it is humorous. But she is poking fun at a very real issue.
First clip, this is a perspective from some of the Mexicans. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: So they are saying, we are human beings, and we could figure out how to scale this thing.
SANCHEZ: Very good, by the way.
BALDWIN: Gracias. Well, we also have from the U.S. border patrol, she's talking to them and getting their perspective, because you go to the website and they say yes, we are the guardian of the nation's borders, and so part of their mission is to prevent terrorists from crossing into the U.S. She has a little fun with that as well.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICK BARLOW, U.S. BORDER PATROL: The fence, along with the other components, help us protect this country from all threats. Those threats could include terrorists or persons smuggling instruments of terrorism, and those are just some of the threats that we face daily on the southwest border.
DARYL REED, U.S. BORDER PATROL: What we don't want to see again is another 9/11, and if we have a weakness in the protection, we are just allowing that to happen.
RORY KENNEDY, DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKER: Over the last quarter century, a total of 29 people have committed terrorist acts on U.S. soil, 24 arrived by plane. The other five were born here.
Of the terrorists born elsewhere, here is where they entered the U.S. -- New York, New York, New York, Ft. Lauderdale, Miami, New York, Newark, Ft. Lauderdale, Miami, Orlando, Washington, Cincinnati, New York, New York, New York, Miami, Cincinnati. You might sense a trend here.
In fact, of all of the terrorist acts in all of North America and Europe since 1993, the number of people who have crossed the U.S./Mexico border to commit them is zero.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Wow.
BALDWIN: Yes.
SANCHEZ: Point be made.
BALDWIN: Point be made. One final clip if we can get to it is surveillance video of some of the immigrants trying to hop the fence. Final clip. Here we go.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The primary border fence, and Mexico on this side, of course, as you can see the people crossing and heading toward secondary fence.
You see it there? He is holding one of the makeshift ladders. It is a rebar homemade thing crossing the first fence. Then the guy is supposed to go up with the ladder, he throws it up, hooks it on and holds it steady, and then the guy just starts heading over. Here is one of our agents trying to respond to get to that area.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is he going to make it?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He has a ways to go.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: So, obviously, Rory Kennedy in this 36 minutes is making a point that the $3.1 billion that the U.S. taxpayer is not worth much. But I think some of the criticism is this film is she is pointing all this out, but she does not really offer a solution.
SANCHEZ: Well, shouldn't the solution be a policy? Isn't that what most intelligent people who follow this from the beginning would argue, is that we need a cogent policy that make sense?
BALDWIN: Not a physical barrier, but something intangible.
SANCHEZ: Exactly. Look, you have the leave the country, we don't want you here anymore. You, you're allowed to stay because you meet the guidelines that we've established. Right now, it is Katy bar the door. We have no idea who is in and who is out, who can be in and who can be out. It's just a bunch of people screaming at each other on both sides.
BALDWIN: And I would be interested as a female just what her experiences are like, all these hours working and living around the border to get the story. And you're talking to her next hour.
SANCHEZ: She seems to have a point of view, and that's interesting, but the whole thing comes into play.
And there is also a lot of talk show hosts out there who want people to be misinformed on this issue and make money by hearing people get angry, and the more they scream, the angrier those people get. That's a fact. So let's not kid ourselves.
By the way, there is something else that we are going to be talking to her about. Because her uncle just lost that seat in Massachusetts, I think it would make a lot of sense for us to ask her, and she going to be coming on in a little bit by the way, makes a lot of sense to ask her and get her reaction to what it is like to see a Republican for the first time is something like 40-some years.
BALDWIN: Since the president was 11, someone said -- that long.
SANCHEZ: Isn't that crazy that her uncle has lost that seat and it's now in the hands of -- well-deserved, well-run campaign -- of Scott Brown. We'll have that for you. Stay right there.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Welcome back. I'm Rick Sanchez.
We like to use Twitter to make news. And we have noticed that there is a trend going on lately. Ever since the president came on yesterday and started hammering those guys, the Wall Street bankers, I've been noticing that a lot of Democrats who usually have been very far to the left on this issue are suddenly starting to sound like they are moving over to the right on this issue, or at least maybe more populist would be a better way to explain it.
And now this -- look what's going on over here. This is a Barbara Boxer tweet that we just intercepted a little while ago -- I say intercepted because we put her on the list and we're reading what she's putting out.
She put this out. You see a possible relationship between what she's saying and what the president said yesterday? Does this mean Ben Bernanke's days are numbered? Senator Boxer announces opposition -- a key word here -- opposition to Ben Bernanke's reconfirmation as Federal Reserve chair.
If Barbara Boxer, who's not exactly a conservative Democrat, and obviously not a Republican, is saying something like that about Ben Bernanke, is that a sign of something that's about to happened? Is that one of those of those trend stories as we used to call them in J school that we will need to start following? We will.
Also, as far as what you're talking about, let's go to the regular tweet board if we can, Robert, and I want to share that with you as well. And back we go.
This is a lot of people reacting to what we just showed you about that fence and this conversation I'm about to have with the daughter of Bobby Kennedy.
"This whole border fence isn't about terrorism. Get real here. It's about immigration." And then the next one says "It's not so much the Mexican border to work about as it is our own airports. Security is lackluster in either place." We thank you for your comments.
We'll also be bringing you this -- The Supreme Court has made a decision that will likely have a huge impact on our democracy, no doubt about it one way or the other. It's hard to look at it and not be fired up about it one way or the other.
And how is it that the First Amendment helped these five judges decide this issue, the First Amendment? I'm confused, so I've asked Jeffrey Toobin to come here and try to explain this to us, to take us through this.
And also this. We're following something going on right now at the national mall in Washington. It's the 37th anniversary of the Supreme Court's decision in Roe v. Wade case, giving women a constitutional right to terminate a pregnancy.
So as you might imagine, there are both sides being represented today. But it does appear to me, as I look at these signs that -- which side is represented the most, Angie? Do we know?
We're going to keep an eye on these for you, because we want to make sure we report it fairly and squarely. We'll show you the video from time to time. These are live pictures, by the way. We'll dip in, and we'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: It -- just to be clear, by the way, let's put that picture up, by the way. Rob, do you still have picture of the live situation going on in Washington, D.C.? These are folks who are protesting on this day of anniversary of Roe v. Wade.
And as far as we can tell, following this protest on this day, the bulk of the protesters that we have seen here -- that doesn't mean there aren't others, we haven't gone out and counted them individually -- seem to be antiabortion activists. We've seen more pro-life signs than we have the others. I just thought we would share that with you.
Obviously we're going to monitor this, and if there's some news being made, we will bring it to you.
By the way, we also have a tweet from Sarah Palin. She tweets at this moment, and I will share it to with you, "affirming dignity and worth of every innocent human life and defending the defenseless are fundamental American values. So march peacefully and hopefully." That's from Sarah Palin's camp.
It's not often a snowstorm leaves thousands of people stranded. We're going to tell you where that has happened and how rescuers had to try to beat the clock and the falling temperatures.
Also next, the first two candidates are on The List That You Don't Want To Be On.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Welcome back. I'm Rick Sanchez.
You know that expression about keeping your quiet voice quiet? You know, you want to say something, but you keep it to yourself. I go through this all the time, a lot of times when I'm on the air, and a lot of times I catch hell from some of you guys.
That applies to actions, as well. Sometimes you want to do something but you don't, because it's wrong or against the law, or will land you on The List You Don't Want To Be On.
Here we go, "The List Of Dubious Distinction," as we often call it. Spot three goes to this guy, Roger Stevens. This is his mug shot. He's been locked up in Georgia in August, charged with smacking a child inside a Wal-Mart store near Atlanta. That's bad, and he didn't even know the child -- that makes it worse.
A crying 2-year-old's mother says Stevens approached them and said, if she didn't quiet her kid, he would do it himself. That's when the arrest report says Stevens slapped the little girl four or five times right across the face. Here's Stevens in court three days ago. A judge found him guilty and did some slapping as well, figuratively speaking. Stephens got six months in jail, most of that already served.
Spot two -- this goes to Steven Doocy. He's a weatherman/morning show personality on another network. This is one of those did he really say that moment?
Remember the bible on the rifle scope story that we did this week? The civilian company that makes them says they'll stop etching verses on the optics they make for the U.S. military. Why? Because General Petraeus says it's not a good idea, and because the army says that the last thing we want is for our military's weapons to do this, to create the impression that we're fighting a holy war, and because it might get a lot of soldiers killed.
But Doocy appears to disagree with both. Listen to what he said yesterday morning.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEVE DOOCY, FOX NEWS: My wife made a good observation yesterday when we were talking about the story, and that is, wait a minute, the Taliban and extremists, what is it they say before they blow themselves up or kill somebody? The say "Allah Akbar." So if anybody is making this a religious thing, they started it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right. All right, 12 minutes after the hour.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
