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Rick's List
Iranians Protest on the Streets; Scott Brown's Star Rising; NASA Put on Notice; President Obama Meets YouTube; Kashmir Riots
Aired February 01, 2010 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: I will tell you what started them.
And a professional football coach, not a player, gives fans the finger.
The lists you need to know about. Who's today's most intriguing person? Who's on the list you don't want 2 be on? You will find out, as our national conversation on Twitter, on the air continues.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: You should know that, even though it may not make the news every single day, peaceful protests, violent protests, and public anger at the Iranian government have not lessened a bit since last year's disputed presidential elections. Look at these pictures taken just today.
Roger, take that full, if you could. Look at this. It's similar scenes that we have seen in the past, people still filling the streets, I mean, especially on key anniversaries and on dates. People are still being hurt by Iranian police and militia, the guys call called the Basij, whose members we have seen beat protesters and target demonstrators with violence, as is illustrated in some of these pictures.
Now, according to a new Human Rights Watch report, the Basij tortures, even sexually abused protesters, people who say the election last June was a fraud.
You're about to see a report by Reza Sayah on how the strong opposition in Iran remains, despite the passage of time.
But, first, I want you to listen to this. Iran executed two so-called opponents of the government last week and sentenced nine others to death.
Here is our Fareed Zakaria, who brought that up with Iran's foreign minister while the two were talking face-to-face. Listen to this official tell Fareed Zakaria that his country is not divided.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FAREED ZAKARIA, CNN WORLD AFFAIRS ANALYST: There are no reports that the protesters were shooting, firing. There are reports that the Basij and the Revolutionary Guard were doing that. And no one, the United States and in no Western Democracy are people sentenced to death.
MANOUCHEHR MOTTAKI, IRANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: You do not agree there was violence there?
ZAKARIA: There was violence...
MOTTAKI: OK.
ZAKARIA: ... but from the Basij against the protesters.
(LAUGHTER)
ZAKARIA: Now, let me ask you this.
MOTTAKI: You mean the was firing...
ZAKARIA: Innocent people.
MOTTAKI: ... the banks, the mosques, the buildings and destroying everything in the street? You mean the ordinary people?
ZAKARIA: Let me ask you this. At the very least, you would agree, Foreign Minister, you are now in a very divided society. You are -- by your own admission, there are members of the elite, key members of the establishment
MOTTAKI: We are not divided.
ZAKARIA: You are divided.
MOTTAKI: No.
MOTTAKI: You have a green revolution within your country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: All right. So, the foreign minister of Iran says his country is not divided. You heard him shake his head -- saw him shake his head, I should say, and heard him say, no, that there's no green revolution.
This report from Reza Sayah just might hint otherwise. We want you to watch it. In fact, let's watch it together.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
REZA SAYAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): they have been beaten, arrested and sentenced to death. Dozens have been killed. Yet Iran's opposition movement remains defiant, posing the biggest challenge ever to the Islamic republic in its 31-year history.
But questions remain. How widespread is this movement? Who exactly are its leaders? And does it have the power to bring political change to Iran?
It's impossible to say if the opposition movement represents Iran's majority. Iran's hard-line leaders say the movement is insignificant.
But their protests show they have strength in numbers, able to draw hundreds of thousands to the streets in cities throughout Iran. The demographics of the movement have expanded as well, analysts say. Men, women, rich, poor. Even religious conservatives now taking part in the call for change, says Iran expert Karim Sadjadpour.
KARIM SADJADPOUR, IRAN EXPERT, CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL PEACE: What we've seen over the course of the last seven months is that with the passage of time, the legitimacy of the regime has only been further diluted and the ranks of those who sympathize with the opposition has only increased.
SAYAH: Analysts say the movement has carried on without a clear leader. Early on, defeated presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi seemed to lead the charge.
But no longer is this a protest against the vote he lost. The movement now? A shapeless blend of different factions, with demands ranging from regime change to a freer, more open society.
Columbia University Professor Hamid Dabashi calls it a civil rights movement.
PROF. HAMID DABASHI, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY: For the first time in modern history and not just in the history of Iran, we have a civil rights movement that people are its leaders. Of course, Mr. Mousavi, Karubi, et cetera, are also representative of this movement, but not its leaders.
SAYAH: Some experts say the absence of a clear leader is precisely why the regime can't crush the opposition movement. After all, who does the government go after when it's not even sure who's leading the charge?
So far, the movement hasn't been able to spark political change. But a recent television debate, where state-run media invited an opposition supporter to speak, is perhaps the regime's first acknowledgment -- this is a movement that cannot be ignored.
(on camera): One of the most effective ways to gauge the opposition movement's momentum has been their ability to target major holidays and calendar days in Iran and essentially hijack government-sanctioned events to make their voices heard. The next date they're targeting, February 11, the anniversary of the Islamic Revolution.
Reza Sayah, Islamabad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We simply cannot continue to spend as if deficits don't have consequences, as if waste doesn't matter, as if the hard-earned tax dollars of the American people can be treated like Monopoly money.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: The federal budget is certainly no game, no game of Monopoly or otherwise. There are about three trillion reasons that you should know what he plans to keep, what he plans to kill, and what it means to you.
And, later, the coach who took his frustration out on fans with his middle-finger salute, shall we say? Maybe he was just saying that, we are number one -- a coach, not a player, not a fan -- a coach. That picture is coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Welcome back. I'm Rick Sanchez.
Scott Brown of Massachusetts is a moderate Republican. He's also getting very famous. Everyone seems to want to have their picture taken with him. Everyone wants to -- seems to want to shake his hand.
By the way, you're not officially a politician on the national stage until you have been spoofed by "Saturday Night Live." And it certainly helps if you're the upset winner of your election, and you're charismatic, and you're photogenic, and you're somewhat unpredictable.
"SNL" captured all of that and more in a skit where Mr. Brown meets some smitten senators.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE")
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: Sorry, I was looking for the bathroom.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS: Down the hall off right.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: Thanks, Speaker Pelosi. And let me just say, I'm looking forward to working closely with you.
(LAUGHTER)
UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS: Closely?
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: OK. Let's talk economy. With this new spending freeze, job creation Is going to be harder than ever.
(LAUGHTER)
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: Nancy, you are the speaker of the house.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: All right. Let's stop it there before we get ourselves in trouble. There's a lot more to that skit, by the way, but some of the humor wasn't suitable, at least for not this program, maybe late at night on Saturday night, when the kids are asleep. Let's just say some of the senators really let their imaginations run wild. Of course, Senator Brown has become the butt of those jokes because of his -- well, his nude layout years ago in a "Cosmopolitan" magazine. Consider it a somewhat youthful indiscretion. It didn't hold him back politically, as a matter of fact, at all.
What message is the real Scott Brown really taking from Massachusetts to Capitol Hill? The senator-elect reaches out to voters one more time before becoming a potential game-changer for the Obama agenda.
Up next: someone who knows a little bit something about Capitol Hill, the White House, the state of our nation, and the political stories that are important to you.
She is also -- let's just say she's special day. Why is she special today? What does she have today that she maybe didn't have Friday when we talked to her? I'm going to tell you.
Stick around.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: All right, let's do "Most Intriguing."
All right, who are we talking about here? She's been to all 50 states, covered the campaign trails of 11 presidential candidates. Oh, and I know for a fact that she loves rocking out to live music. She even has her own Facebook fan page filled with people who think that she's the smartest woman on television. Have you figured out who I'm talking about?
One of today's most intriguing, Candy Crowley. Senior political correspondent, and, as of this weekend, the host of CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION." She's taking over for my colleague John King, who is moving to 7:00 p.m. Eastern. And she tweets as well. Have we told you she tweets?
Have I told you she tweets? Let's -- let's show the tweet.
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Oh, dear.
SANCHEZ: Back that thing up, if you possibly can.
(LAUGHTER)
SANCHEZ: I know. You're sitting there -- it will only be one time.
"So jazzed to fill," she writes, "the anchor slot on CNN's 'STATE OF THE UNION.' Not enough works to thanks friends, viewers, colleagues for support."
My wife was excited last night that you got this gig.
(LAUGHTER)
CROWLEY: A woman of rare taste. (LAUGHTER)
SANCHEZ: You want to tell us why you are going to be able to knock it out of the park in that new gig? Nah, don't answer that.
(LAUGHTER)
SANCHEZ: You know -- you know we all are extremely happy for you, speaking for really every single...
CROWLEY: I am...
(CROSSTALK)
CROWLEY: Thank you.
SANCHEZ: Really, every single person I have talked to in this newsroom here in Atlanta and I'm sure in L.A. and in Washington and New York as well.
Hey, let me ask you a question.
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: I know you are probably going to be talking about the budget as well this Sunday. It seems to be one of those stories that's going to have a lot of legs.
Is the president in a good place, suddenly, going out and announcing almost daily now, look, this isn't my fault; this is something that I inherited from my predecessor, and even spelling out the numbers and getting in people's faces, and saying, no, it was -- he actually got it wrong -- he said 1.3 -- but it's 1.2 -- nonetheless, but he did inherit a problem, right?
CROWLEY: He did inherit a problem. I can only tell you that there are some Democrats who believe that they have played the Bush card enough at this point, that a year into this administration, it's not as though people don't know that.
And, in fact, we have had recent polling that shows that most people do tend to still blame the Bush admiration for the current economic mess. But -- so, it's not as though the president has to remind them of that.
And there are Democrats that are feeling a little bit queasy thinking that the Bush card in fact has not worked to their advantage, because it still makes people unhappy and it still has made the president's poll numbers come down.
SANCHEZ: Well, let me ask you this, then, because, look, you follow this president as much as anyone. And I'm getting a lot of -- I'm getting a sense, at least from people out there who watch this newscast and send me tweets, that they have seen a difference in this president over the last five days, almost like he has a more assertive strategy? That's not the word they use. That's the word I'm using. Do you see that?
CROWLEY: I think what you have seen -- yes, beginning with the State of the Union -- remember, everyone thought, talking up to the State of the Union, there was a lot of commentary, at any rate, saying the president is going to be -- reach out, put out the olive branch, more conciliatory. He has suffered defeats. He's had a terrible January.
And while he did talk about bipartisanship and working together, it's the same agenda. He hasn't backed off things. Yes, he downplayed health care, but it was still there. He said he still wanted it. And he didn't offer some alternative route. Then you saw him with the Republicans in that open meeting.
He did not back off anything. I will tell you who this makes very, very happy. This makes the Democratic base very happy, because they feel and they say, as a number of people do, listen, you have Democrats dominating the Senate and the House and a Democrat in the White House. Get something done.
They want to see the president step up and go to the battle.
And, so, again, though, it's -- it's a little bit like the other problem he has, which is try to bring more jobs to the economy while cutting the deficit. They almost don't work together.
He's trying to be more bipartisan, while trying to get what he wants by using that Democratic majority and saying: We're the majority. Let's -- you know, let's rule here.
So, he's got some very fine lines there. You know, the -- the sweet spots are hard to find, but he is a very adept politician. I have watched him for several years, and I think you are absolutely correct that this is a man that has become more aggressive about his agenda over the past couple of days.
SANCHEZ: Let me ask you one final question about Scott Brown, because...
(LAUGHTER)
SANCHEZ: ... well, you know, he's an interesting guy.
CROWLEY: He is.
SANCHEZ: I mean, he comes out of Massachusetts, but he is a Republican, yet he's not the kind of Republican that you will find being supported by the social -- the -- the -- the social conservative crowd, because he tends to be more of a moderate, doesn't he?
What -- what -- what do Americans need to know that maybe they don't know about Scott Brown? Is he going to be a difference-maker for the United States, not for the Republicans or the Dems, for Americans?
CROWLEY: It's way too early to tell. He is the lowest on the totem pole of the senators. And, in the Senate it is run by the people with seniority.
I think that the American people know at this point what's important about soon-to-be Senator Brown. And that is that he has broken the Democrats' 60-vote claim on the U.S. Senate.
Now, what he does with that, I mean, what it actually does is, Scott Brown has made every other Republican vote that much more important, and, in fact, every other Democratic vote that much more important, because the Democrats are going to have to work some to bring someone over on their side. It might not always be Scott Brown. It might be Olympia Snowe. It might be Susan Collins. It might be John McCain. Who knows.
So, he's just made the mix a little bit different. So, he has, in some ways, empowered Republican, each Republican, more than he himself is empowered.
SANCHEZ: Good stuff.
Candy Crowley, once again, congratulations.
CROWLEY: Thank you, Rick.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SCOTT BROWN (R), MASSACHUSETTS SENATOR-ELECT: Thank you so, so much. It just means so, so much.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Speaking of Scott Brown, there he is, talking. Just like sports champions, he took a victory lap in Massachusetts, his chance to thank the voters, behind one of the biggest upsets in some time. Their message for him, though, what is it? That's coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Welcome back. I'm Rick Sanchez. We are checking the stories and checking the folks who are using social media to make news. And, when they do, we're going to share it with you.
That's why it's called RICK'S LIST. We have a list.
Here's Scott Brown now coming along, a rising Senate star from Massachusetts, seeming to pop out of nowhere for many. He's riding a wave of voters discontent and some say huge contributions from a financial sector eager to stick it to this president. He snatched the Senate seat from the Democratic Party that had held it for, well, going on 46 years.
Kate Bolduan now with his story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The new Republican star taking a victory lap, pushing one clear message. SCOTT BROWN, SENATOR-ELECT, MASSACHUSETTS: Thank you so, so much. It just means so, so much. I'm so deeply appreciative. From the bottom of my heart and my family's hearts...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We love you!
BOLDUAN: Two weeks after his big blue state upset, the Republican senator elect from Massachusetts is paying his dues, crisscrossing the state to thank the people who helped him secure the seat held by liberal lion Ted Kennedy for almost 50 years. Critical to that win, the support of independents. KATHLEEN MILLS, INDEPENDENT VOTER: Ted Kennedy was the legacy for Massachusetts. But guess what, that's history now. You know, I mean, it's part of our history and a part that we'll respect, but it is history. It's time to move on.
BROWN: I'm very, very humbled and honored to be here and have an opportunity to really make a difference and bring common sense back to the equation in Washington.
BOLDUAN: For these voters, Brown is the great Republican hope, the 41st Republican senator. Eliminating the Democrats' 60-vote super majority giving the GOP more power to influence or block Democratic initiatives.
(on camera): Health care is going to be waiting for you when you get to Washington, can you accept a more scaled down version of the health care proposal?
BROWN: I have to see what's there. I think they're going to go back to the drawing board and it was, I think on its last legs before I got there because of the backroom deals and the lack of transparency.
BOLDUAN (voice-over): Despite the warm send off in frigid Massachusetts, Brown is now sure to face a tougher crowd in Washington.
AMY WALTER, EDITOR IN CHIEF, "THE HOTLINE": When you're a brand-new senator and you're in the minority and you're playing second fiddle to a high- profile person like John Kerry, it's hard to break through.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: We told you just a moment ago, by the way, that we are going to in fact deliver any news that we see coming across on social media.
Time for a Twitter alert. Let's go to it, if we possibly can, Robert. And this is from Senator Reid, tweeted this just a moment ago, talking about specifics on the budget now. And when we see news, we want to share it with you.
You know that Yucca Mountain is a very controversial site, possibly to be used to the storage of nuclear waste. And a lot of folks have been against it. "Great news for Nevada today," writes Senator Reid. "President Obama's budget will eliminate all funding for Yucca Mountain and will withdraw the license application for the dump."
That's from Senator Reid -- just intercepted that, making news. We're sharing it with you. We thank you for that.
We will read that one later. Thanks for switching it, though, Eric.
Also this -- we could be looking at the outer limits of outsourcing. Should shuttle missions and other NASA projects get cut from the government's budget and turned over to private contractors? Think about that. No more astronauts?
And President Obama takes his new populist message straight to social media in a YouTube question session. What questions were put to him while he was on the hot seat? A YouTube chief takes us through the highlights. We are going to have them here, exclusively, in our next half-hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Welcome back. I'm Rick Sanchez. This is the LIST. Glad you're able to share it with us.
When I was in college in Minnesota, a friend of mine invited me to go ice fishing. He took me to a place called Minot, North Dakota, beautiful town, but cold. See, I thought all you could do on a lake was ice fish. I was wrong.
Let's do "Fotos."
These folks are using the frozen lake, not to ice fish. They're using it under whiteout conditions to race their vehicles. Talk about a bitter blast? This is ice they're on top of. Most people are told don't drive on ice, right? They drive on ice. The January thaw put the event in jeopardy, though, but then the weather took an icy turn saved the fun.
Hey, some of these racers are not even street-legal drivers, we hear.
Let's take you to a sunnier place. This is Barbados. Here's a tale about a prince name Harry and a thrown, not the kind of "throne" you're used. We're talking about thrown. You get it, as if "falling off a horse" thrown?
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Ouch.
SANCHEZ: He's at the polo match. The prince threw a royal tantrum, to boot, did you know, Brooke?
BALDWIN: No, I didn't. I didn't.
SANCHEZ: A mystery businessman offered to donate $100,000 to the prince's charity if he could manage to stay on the saddle.
Well, the prince is mad. The guy didn't have to pay the money, but he did anyway, because, after all, it was a charity.
BALDWIN: Oh. Well, that's nice.
SANCHEZ: To Singer Island, we go. This is Florida. Nothing quite like a quite stroll on the sand and the beach. And you look in the water and you -- what is that?
BALDWIN: What is it?
SANCHEZ: Those are sharks...
BALDWIN: Ooh.
SANCHEZ: ... very dangerous sharks, who don't like it when people swim in their area, especially when there's thousands of them all at once.
See, this is a migrant -- a migration of sharks. Usually, they're blacktips that come down this time of the year. We're not exactly sure which ones these are. Just being from that area, I can tell you.
BALDWIN: Right. Right. Right.
SANCHEZ: This is off of Singer Island, just north of Miami and Fort Lauderdale.
BALDWIN: Look at all of them.
SANCHEZ: Isn't that incredible? I could look at it all day.
BALDWIN: No, thank you.
SANCHEZ: Could you imagine, though, like, if you're, like, suddenly over the water, and you see that, and then you see someone swimming not far from it, and you don't know what to do, like...
BALDWIN: Duh-nuh.
SANCHEZ: Duh-nuh. Duh-nuh.
(LAUGHTER)
SANCHEZ: It kind of gives you a whole new meaning to the swim at your own risk.
BALDWIN: Nice.
SANCHEZ: This is incredible to watch. These are clashes right in the heart of Kashmir. We're going to tell you what triggered the fights, putting protesters with rocks against the militia with -- well, in some cases, with tanks.
Also, NASA has been put on notice. Money for projects like the shuttle could be scaled back or phased out in the new budget.
Why should you care about space spending when we're all trying to make ends meet? Well, that's maybe what a lot of folks in Washington are saying.
Brooke Baldwin is going to be taking us through that story.
Right? Is that what you're going to be doing? BALDWIN: Yes, in two minutes.
SANCHEZ: All the information that you need to know.
I was even hearing about a new project, an interesting car and the possibility of astronaut-less space.
BALDWIN: What is up with you stumping me today?
SANCHEZ: Ha!
We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Welcome back. It's RICK'S LIST. I'm Rick Sanchez.
If you're a baby boomer like me, you remember where you were when the Apollo astronauts took their first steps on the moon. I mean, who hasn't seen this video?
And it's just six years ago that President Bush told us that Americans, once again, would walk on the surface of the moon. But this White House has much different plans now.
Moon missions are not cheap, folks. And according to President Obama's team, they aren't a high priority anymore, either.
Brooke Baldwin is here now to take us through the developing story.
Wow. Talk about a change of course.
BALDWIN: I mean, it's kind of -- you remember in 1969, seeing the Apollo, seeing them land on the moon. There could be changes. Could. May or may not. Let me get into it.
First of all, the president's 2011 budget just released. Check out page 130. Here's the line that pertains to the space program. "The president's budget cancels constellation and replaces it with a bold new approach that invests in the building blocks of a more capable approach to space exploration."
SANCHEZ: What does that mean?
BALDWIN: So, what does that mean and why do you care?
Well, we're talking about the constellation program, and it called for a return to the moon by the year 2020. Also, we've had in the news lately this whole idea of maybe establishing a moon colony.
Well, according to President Obama's marching orders, those plans would vanish. And also, potentially not happening, this rocket.
This is the Ares I rocket. The final development of this rocket was under way. The successor to the space shuttle was supposed to then be retired this year. NASA has spent billions building this thing. So, instead, President Obama is calling on commercial companies -- this would be a huge change -- commercial companies to ferry astronauts into space. And here's where they would be getting a little bit more change...
SANCHEZ: Interesting.
BALDWIN: ... allocating an extra $6 billion over five years to develop these so-called space taxis. That would be a major change, because NASA is used to, of course, designing, building its over spacecraft and sending its own astronauts out there.
Now, these anticipated changes have a lot of members of Congress divided here not necessarily among party lines, but geographical lines. Politicians from Texas, of course the home of the Johnson Space Center, in Florida, the home of Kennedy Space Center, know that a lot of jobs are reliant upon the space program. And one person we talked to today, Senator Bill Nelson...
SANCHEZ: Who was an astronaut.
BALDWIN: ...who has been in space, a Democrat from Florida, is critical of these proposed cuts.
Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BILL NELSON (D), FLORIDA: If they don't push hard now for research and development of the new big rocket that will take us out of low Earth orbit and let us explore the heavens, then we are going to be falling behind China and Russia. And that's something that I don't think will sit well with the American people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Well, you know what I'm thinking, right? I'm hearing a lot of guys last week complain about stimulus, and that we need to make cuts, and there's too much pork out there we're spending. This sounds like the kind of thing where the president said, hey, let's privatize it, that way it doesn't cost you and me and those folks behind me there so much money.
BALDWIN: Right. Hey, we have more priorities. And since we have a stimulus desk, I'm going to hop up and ask those guys.
Excuse me.
SANCHEZ: You know who should you probably talk while you're going over there?
BALDWIN: I'm walking. Yes, walking, listening.
SANCHEZ: Well, as you're walking in that direction, I'm going to tell you which one. You see all those people over there? Go to Steve Brusk. BALDWIN: Right. Over here.
Steve Brusk?
SANCHEZ: Yes. Steve Brusk is good at this kind of stuff.
BALDWIN: I spot him.
SANCHEZ: I think he probably will have the answer for this.
BALDWIN: So we've had our CNN Stimulus Desk...
SANCHEZ: There he is.
BALDWIN: Here he is. Here's Steve Brusk.
And you all have basically been tasked to take a look at different projects. And specifically, we're talking NASA's space program, and I guess specifically about the constellation program. And in terms of jobs and money that's been spent, federal stimulus dollars, what have you dug up?
STEVE BRUSK, CNN STIMULUS DESK: This gives you a sense what a big part of NASA, the whole constellation project wall was. NASA got a billion dollars, just over a billion dollars in stimulus money. Of that, they've spent about $557 million. Half of that money, $225 million, went to the constellation project.
Now, is that money wasted? Is that money gone? A lot of different opinions about that.
NASA will say that this money went to defense contractors, it went to places like Lockheed Martin in Louisiana. They would have had to lay off over 100 employees without this money. They got money to work on support projects for this, they kept those jobs. People would argue that's part of what this is supposed to be.
Kennedy Space Center, 125 jobs were created to work on infrastructure there to support this. Other people would argue, this is like putting bad money after a clunker, that this is money that's not going to go anywhere.
NASA defends it. They say, look, the technology, everything we spent on this, we'll still be able to use in other ways.
BALDWIN: Right. We heard from NASA administrator Charlie Bolden saying today, look, this doesn't mean our astronauts will necessarily never go back in space. In fact, he's saying other kinds of jobs will be created.
Correct?
BRUSK: They're changing their approach. If this budget ultimately is approved, that this is the way NASA goes, they're going to look at more privatized commercial ways of getting people into space. And in a conference call with reporters today, he talked about the fact that they are going to set aside $50 million in stimulus money that will go to five different companies. They're going to make that formal announcement over the next day, and those companies, they're estimating -- no one knows for sure, but the industry estimates, using these commercial projects, that could create 5,000 jobs over the next coming years.
BALDWIN: Five thousand jobs. That's a lot of jobs.
You guys will be tracking the money and tracking the jobs.
BRUSK: We'll do our best.
BALDWIN: Keeping them honest, I guess, with NASA and the federal stimulus dollars.
Now, Rick, of course these are proposed budget cuts, so this has to go to the Senate, to the House. And if you talk to some industry insiders, they're saying, look, there's going to be a little bit of pushback, so we don't necessarily know if this will be final just yet.
SANCHEZ: That's great. A heck of a team we have back there.
I told you Brusk would come through for you. Didn't he?
BALDWIN: I know. He did a good job.
SANCHEZ: Well done, both of you.
Also this...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Would you consider allowing the private sector to buy and take over the most troubled government-run agencies such as the U.S. Postal Service?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: It's not exactly the YouTube debates, but it's YouTube. The president answering YouTube questions. This, on the same day that he sent his budget to Capitol Hill.
We're going to get an insider's view of the session from the YouTube executive who was asking some of the questions.
Also, before there was the greatest generation, there were guys like this man. That's why he's our "Most Intriguing Person."
Who is it? You probably know him. You're going to want to stick around.
THE LIST continues. I'm Rick Sanchez.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) SANCHEZ: We welcome you back.
I've got some folks visiting with us today. They're coming to see RICK'S LIST. There they are.
Raise your hand, folks, if you would like to be over 100 years of age, if you would like to live to be over 100. Would you like to do that?
OK. Everybody's going along with that.
You can't blame a person for wanting that. Well, let me talk about somebody who has.
He's an outspoken veteran of the U.S. Army and a centenarian to boot. So, his words come from 109 years of experience. Centurion -- you thought I was going to make the guy a gladiator, right?
Time for "Most Intriguing."
He's been calling on Congress to designate a national World War I memorial in Washington. Right now there's a spot with a few names on it, but only the names of veterans from the District of Columbia.
He's the last living American to serve in the Great War, as it was known. They called them doughboys.
Today he turns 109 years old -- 109.
Frank Buckles, our "Most Intriguing Person of the Day," who drove ambulances through Europe in World War I.
Mr. Buckles, sir, we, I salute you.
Isn't that fascinating?
Steve Grove talked today to President Obama. Steve Grove is fascinating in his own right for pulling this thing off. And now he's going to talk to me. Steve is the head of news and politics for YouTube.
Steve, thanks so much for being with us. I appreciate you doing this.
STEVE GROVE, HEAD OF NEWS AND POLITICS, YOUTUBE: Thanks for having me, Rick.
SANCHEZ: Were you surprised at all by the meeting with the president? What did you come away with?
GROVE: Well, I think we were excited, first of all, that he was willing to do this. You know, the federal government has been on YouTube for about a year, but has generally used it to make government more transparent, and changing it to a format where it's accessible with user questions I think is really unique.
SANCHEZ: Did you go to them or did they come to you about doing this? GROVE: We went to them saying, what could we do around the State of Union? And then just threw out a conversation about what would be sort of the most unique way to approach that speech.
We said let's do something like this. We'll have people watch the State of the Union on YouTube and submit question as they're watching it, sort of follow-up questions, if you will. And then vote the best ones to the top, and then, you know, four or five days later we'll bring some of those highly rated questions to the president right in the White House.
SANCHEZ: How do you defend this against people who say, you know what, come on, the person asking the questions should be a professional journalists, it should be somebody like Wolf Blitzer or Candy Crowley sitting down with the president? They have the information.
What's to be gained by having regular citizens ask the questions?
GROVE: Well, I think you get a sense of sort of what's on the minds of Americans. Because they're not just submitting the questions, but they're also voting on them, you get really a sense of the pulse of people and what they are concerned about.
You know, new questions come to the fore that might not have come in from traditional journalists. For example, one question was, "Should we privatize the U.S. Postal Service? Would that help us save money and leverage the private sector more effectively?"
So I think it's questions you wouldn't usually see from a journalist, I think this format provides for. And this idea that you have this whole online community that wants to have access to their leaders in a direct way, and by letting them use the Internet to do that, you can really create a dialogue straight between the White House and the American people.
SANCHEZ: What about this president surprised you?
GROVE: What about him surprised me? I found him to be very comfortable in the format. I thought he actually enjoyed listening to the user questions.
I mean, he's asked tough questions all the time. And we started the interview right off the bat with some tough questions on health care. A lot of people were frustrated with the process. They didn't feel like there was a lot of transparency.
And he was actually to say, look...
SANCHEZ: Go ahead. Finish your thought.
GROVE: He was willing to say basically that, you know, hey, we could have maybe been more transparent about this along the way, and here is what I see as the way forward. So I felt like he was willing to answer tough questions from people, even when people expressed a little anger or frustration. SANCHEZ: Thanks. Hey, a couple times it looked like we were interrupting each other. Obviously, that's because we've got a little bit of a satellite delay. I didn't want the folks to think that we were stepping on each other there.
Steve, good stuff. Congratulations. Kudos on getting "the get," as we say in the biz. And keep in touch. We'll continue to share information with you all at YouTube.
GROVE: Thank you.
SANCHEZ: By the way, we've got a tweet coming as well that I'm going to share with you in just a little bit.
But first, look at this video.
Look at this -- fighting rifles and tanks only with rocks. That's right. That's all these folks have.
What makes them so angry? I mean, why would you go after soldiers with rocks and bottles?
It takes a lot of rage, a lot of passion to go up against these troops. You're not going to believe what triggered these clashes. We're going to let you see the video in full state right there.
We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: I was struck by this video when I saw it. And I want you to take a look at this riveting, yet disturbing, video.
It captures the situation and the mood on the streets of Indian- controlled Kashmir. Let's look at some of this.
It takes a lot of rage to carry sticks and stones to a gunfight, right? But the people in this region are beyond words. This is their way of saying enough is enough.
You're looking at a full-scale riot in Srinagar, Kashmir. Protesters are clashing with government forces one day after a tear gas shell fired by a police officer struck and killed a child. Now, that is what set them off.
(GUNFIRE)
All right. As we watch these pictures, I want to provide you with a little background.
Kashmir is predominantly Muslim. Did you know that? But it's run by a Hindu majority, Indians. They want to be able to govern themselves.
Anti-Indian sentiment runs deep. More than 68,000 people have died since the uprising started in the late 1980s. There's the map we put together for you. It's a beautifully mountainous region, but very troubled. Today, 17 protesters and eight troops so far have been killed.
Wolf Blitzer is standing by now to bring us up to date on what's going on.
You know, that story highlights just one of the many problems that this president is facing overseas, but the big problem for this president now is getting a budget through that a lot of people are going to criticizing him for, Wolf. And you know what they're going to say. They're going to say he's too much of a big spender like too many other Democrats in the past.
Will that hold water?
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: You know, it's a double-edged sword. On the one hand, he's spending a lot of money. This is a huge budget that he's recommending to Congress. And let's not forget that Congress, when all is said and done, will have the last word.
They can increase it. They can decrease it. They can keep it the same. It's up to the House and Senate.
At the same time, while he's increasing spending in areas that he thinks will help create jobs, stimulate the economy, improve economic growth, this national -- the annual deficit is going up and up and up. And that's a huge problem, because we don't want our children and grandchildren to be burdened with this enormous debt.
SANCHEZ: Let me ask you a question, the same question that I actually asked a couple of your colleagues today, but you probably covered as many presidents as anybody around here. So I want to see your take on this.
Do you see over the last five or six days, starting with the State of Union last week, do you see a changed President Obama, one that's maybe more aggressive with his critics?
BLITZER: I definitely think the Massachusetts Senate race had an enormous impact not only on President Obama, but a lot of Democrats, and certainly a lot of Republicans as well. Only a few weeks, two or three weeks before that election, if someone would have said that Ted Kennedy's seat is about to go to a Republican, you know, people would have thought they were crazy, especially in Massachusetts, such a Democratic state when it comes to senatorial campaigns, senatorial elections.
And I do think that that race was a wake-up call, was a real alarm bell, if you will, for the president, and I think he's changed, to a certain degree, because he realizes the enormity. What happened in Virginia last November, what happened in New Jersey, where the Republicans won the gubernatorial contest, sort of a wake-up call, but it was nowhere nearly as dramatic as to what happened in Massachusetts.
SANCHEZ: But yet, Scott Brown isn't really a traditional hard-core Republican, right? I mean, Scott Brown is really more of a moderate, right?
BLITZER: If you watched his interview yesterday with Barbara Walters on "This Week," He made it clear he supports abortion rights for women. He made it clear he supports gay marriage, which is the law invite state of Massachusetts. He made it clear that he supports universal health insurance, which is the law in Massachusetts as well.
So this is not your -- you know, this very, very conservative right- wing Republican. He's a very, very moderate guy on some of the most important social issues out there. You're absolutely right, Rick.
SANCHEZ: One of the biggest problems that Americans see as they look at the horizon is that Republicans and Democrats are very partisan. Do you see any time in the near future -- and you talk to all of these guys all the time, Wolf -- when these elected officials are going to seemingly act more in accord with what the needs of the country is and less with the needs of their party?
BLITZER: On some of the issues, I do. I think on national security issues like the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, I can definitely see bipartisan cooperation. Maybe even on education there's a possibility there can be some cooperation in trying to improve No Child Left Behind, which was the law that then-President Bush worked out basically with then-Senator Ted Kennedy. On some of the issues I can see it, but when it comes to tax cuts, tax increases, when it comes to health insurance, I don't see it.
SANCHEZ: The fiscal stuff, yes. I think you're absolutely right. Good stuff.
Wolf Blitzer is coming up in just a little bit. He's going to be coming up in five minutes with "THE SITUATION ROOM." None better.
Thanks, Wolf.
BLITZER: Thanks, Rick.
SANCHEZ: Appreciate the conversation.
We'll be coming back in just a little bit and we'll be sharing with you what we've learned.
And also, the one thing I know many of you wait for until the bitter end, as we say -- who is at the very top of "The List U Don't Want 2 Be On"?
We will announce that when we come back.
As we go to break, let's get a shot of the folks over here. They came in to say hi. They're a part of the CNN tour, and they came in to see RICK'S LIST."
Hi, guys. All right!
(APPLAUSE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Time for what many of you have been waiting for, the very top of "The List U Don't Want 2 Be On."
Let me take you through the first two on the list.
The pilot of this plane, excellent emergency landing on the Jersey Turnpike, but it snarled traffic for hours and hours and hours. Get this -- the plane was providing traffic reports.
Next, Rip Torn from "30 Rock" and those "Men in Black" movies. These pictures just arrived at CNN.
It's the actor in a Connecticut courtroom today, appearing on charges that he drunkenly entered a bank this weekend with a loaded pistol. He spent the weekend in jail but bonded out today. We're told he did not enter a plea.
But today's top of "The List U Don't Want 2 Be On" is the man attached to this finger. This middle finger.
Know what that is? That's sign language. It means we're number one! Not.
Rex Ryan is head coach of the New York Jets, who will be watching the Super Bowl as a spectator this year, like most of the world. I wonder if that, in fact, added to his demeanor at the martial arts in Miami this weekend. A guy snapped this cell phone picture of Coach Ryan showing a Miami Dolphins fan what he thinks of some constructive criticism, shall we say.
Rex Ryan explains himself this way: "It was stupid and inappropriate. I wouldn't accept that type of behavior from my coaches or players, and it's unacceptable from me. I apologize to the Jets organization, the National Football League, and NFL fans everywhere."
Coach Rex Ryan keeping it classy and finding himself at the very top of "The List U Don't Want 2 Be On."
I've been reading your tweets. I thank you for all of them. We'll continue to stay in touch and we'll obviously continue to share with you everything that we think is relevant and newsworthy during the day.
RICK'S LIST returns tomorrow at this same hour.
In the meantime, let me take you over to Wolf Blitzer, my colleague who's in charge of "THE SITUATION ROOM"
