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Rick's List
Sarah Palin Campaigns For John McCain
Aired March 26, 2010 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SARAH PALIN (R), FORMER ALASKA GOVERNOR: So, Arizona, if you believe in the principles that made this country great, if you want conservative solutions and commonsense leadership, if you want real leadership, and not just rhetoric, not just talk, blah, blah, blah, if you want somebody to fight for what it is that this state and this country needs, then I'm asking you to vote for John McCain.
Let's send the maverick back to the Senate.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
PALIN: And, ladies and gentlemen, it's my honor to introduce to you your senator, an American hero, John McCain.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: Thank you.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
MCCAIN: Thank you, Sarah.
Thank you, all.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
MCCAIN: Thank you.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
MCCAIN: Thank you.
Can I just say, isn't this two wonderful people, Todd and Sarah Palin...
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
MCCAIN: ... wonderful and great Americans...
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
MCCAIN: ... and an inspiration to all of us.
I want to tell you again, when Sarah and Todd agreed to join me and Cindy on the ticket, she energized America, and she still does today.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
MCCAIN: And I am proud of Sarah Palin -- and I know you are, too -- to have her continue speaking out for the things we believe in.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
MCCAIN: By the way, I mentioned to Sarah again, after I -- we lost the election, I slept like a baby...
(LAUGHTER)
MCCAIN: ... sleep two hours, wake up and cry, sleep two hours, wake up and cry.
(LAUGHTER)
MCCAIN: Could I also say a word?
Thanks, again, Cindy, for all you went through, and thanks for all you continue to do. And thanks to Cindy McCain and our...
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
MCCAIN: Senator Frank Antenori is here. Mayor Bob Walkup, mayor of Tucson, is here.
Mayor, I know that you are here. Thank you for your great work.
Supervisor Ray Carroll.
And we have two and our great talk show hosts who are here, the voices of conservative thought and action in Pima County and -- and Tucson, John C. Scott, Jon Justice, and Jim Parisi. Thank you all for...
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
MCCAIN: .. for keeping us informed and keeping us alert.
And there's one other special person I would like to introduce.
She's 100 years old, Helen Stewart (ph) over there.
Helen, thank you.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
MCCAIN: Thank you, Helen, for being here.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
MCCAIN: There she is.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
MCCAIN: Helen, you inspire me.
(LAUGHTER)
MCCAIN: So, my friends, I also again want to thank our veterans.
And I would also saw -- I saw some Blue Star Mothers here. Would the Blue Star Mothers and spouses please also -- thank you -- would we thank all of the family members of those who have served as well?
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
MCCAIN: My friends, let's get right to it. Let's get right to it.
It's been now heralded, the passage of Obamacare as -- quote -- "historic." They're right. They're right. It's historic. It's the first time in history where a major piece of legislation has been passed over the overwhelming objection of the majority of the American people.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
MCCAIN: It's historic.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
MCCAIN: It's historic that it is also the first time that, on a pure partisan basis, a major piece of legislation has been passed.
And it's going to be historic, because it's going to be repealed and replaced.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
MCCAIN: And it's going to be done soon.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
MCCAIN: My friends, it's another trillions of dollars that is committing generational theft on future generations of Americans. It will not stand, that 2,733 pages that we will be finding out for months and years that could cause the employment of 16,500 IRS agents...
(AUDIENCE BOOING)
MCCAIN: ... that is mortgaging our children's future. It's going to go between you and your doctor, and it's between Madoff -- it's Madoff accounting, my friends. That's what it's all about.
And they're not telling you the truth. They're not telling you the truth when they say that there's going to be a 21 percent cut in doctors' payments for treatment of Medicare patients. They're not telling you the truth when the 333,000 senior citizens on Medicare that have Medicare Advantage program that are not going to be deprived -- 330,000 of our fellow citizens are going to lose their Medicare Advantage program.
That's disgraceful. That's outrageous. T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Well, you're listening to Senator John McCain there in Arizona. And it's clear that the debate and the fight over the health care legislation that is now law of the land, the fight is still not over.
You heard Senator McCain say -- and I will quote him there -- about the legislation, he says -- quote -- "It's going to be repealed, and it's going to be repealed soon."
The president of the United States, President Obama, you just heard him a day or so ago actually saying that, if they want to go out and campaign on repealing the health care reform legislation, he said, go right ahead and let them try it.
So, it's amazing that, after a yearlong debate and the legislation is passed, it's clear that the debate over that legislation that is now law of the land continues.
But -- but a familiar scene there to many of you who watched the campaign over -- back in 2008 -- you see John McCain on stage there with Sarah Palin. She's out there. Clearly, she can still fire up a crowd. She has certainly become a -- a darling, a very popular figure out there on the political trail and in many, many circles.
And he has called her to come out to Tucson, Arizona, and help him in his reelection bid, in a tough fight right now, the senator, for his -- for his fifth term. He has a tough bid to go up against somebody actually in the primary.
So, we're going to check in with our Jessica Yellin, who is in the room. She is there. We're going to take a quick break, talk to her on the other side. Plenty to talk about after what we just saw out there in Tucson, Arizona. We will continue to monitor it as well.
Quick break. We're right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: And we want to head back out to Tucson, Arizona, where you just saw -- and where John McCain is still on stage having a campaign rally out there.
But before he stepped up to the podium, stepped up to the mike there, we saw Sarah Palin, his -- of course, his running mate back in 2008, of course, their failed bid. But that propelled her into national superstardom, a lot of people would say, really put her on the map.
Our -- our Jessica Yellin has been out there and listening in.
Jessica, my first question to you, who was -- who was everybody there to see?
JESSICA YELLIN, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, most of the members of this crowd say they're most excited to see Sarah Palin. A lot of them haven't seen her before. And she is, as you know, a big draw. She used her trademark charm and sense of humor to really wow the crowd and got huge numbers of applause when she said she used to be a beauty pageant contestant, and she knows...
(LAUGHTER)
YELLIN: ... John McCain is no miss congeniality, but he will do the job.
I do want to note, though, T.J., John McCain, while we were in break, made some of the strongest, most pointed attacks to date. And he called the health care deal sleazy Chicago-style politics. He said the sleazy deals remain, and that he also condemned violence, he said, but we won't give up the fight.
This crowd has been chanting, "Hell no, hell no" -- very lively crowd -- T.J.
HOLMES: Yes, very lively. And they have got a couple people up there getting them fired up.
Jessica Yellin, thank you so much.
We are going to turn to another story that's been getting a lot of political play here lately. It's a story we touched on just a bit ago. But police in Richmond, Virginia, are saying that a bullet pierced a window at the office used by Republican Congressman Eric Cantor. Yes, a bullet did go through the window.
But they're also saying now that bullet was fired at random, and it was fired at 1:00 a.m. on Tuesday. You will remember that Cantor went before reporters shortly after noon yesterday, and he told those reporters: "I have been directly threatened. A bullet was shot through the window of my campaign office in Richmond."
CNN's Dana Bash trying to press Cantor on details of that incident, but Cantor simply read his statement. He did not take questions. And you see there, he turned, he walked out.
Want to bring in our Dana Bash now.
Dana, this -- this has been really a -- a scary story, quite frankly, with all these congress men and women being threatened, bricks being thrown through walls, packages being sent with white powder in them.
So, put this particular story now -- we got an update on it, but put this one in context, when Eric Cantor came out and said that he had been targeted.
DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we have some clarification for the first time from his office.
And I can tell you what his aides say is that going into that press conference we just showed a picture of, all Eric Cantor knew was that there was a preliminary investigation going on about that bullet, nothing more, nothing less. But, since we know now, as you just said, that police in Richmond have determined that the gunfire was random, his office did release a statement.
And, T.J., I want to read that to you. And this is according to his spokesman, John Murray. He said -- quote -- "Given a recent spike in threats against Congressman Cantor, he, his -- his family and his security were concerned the bullet found in his campaign office was related to a number of violent e-mails and phone messages, many of them anti-Semitic and some of them threatening gun violence."
And he went on to say, "Cantor was very happy to find out that police attributed this particular incident to random gunfire, and, as his statement made clear yesterday, that we need to move on" -- need to move on, because this is something that Eric Cantor has not talked about.
You mentioned, I tried to ask him a question. Others did. He wouldn't answer then. No interviews since, because he -- his point, aside from the political point, which we will talk about later, but, in terms of this, is that you shouldn't talk about it.
And, you know, Cantor's aides, they are making no apologies, T.J., for talking about the bullet through his window before having all the facts. They insist it's irrelevant in the context of other threats that he gets. They say that stand -- they're standing by the pledge not to release those threats, e-mails and such.
My colleague, our colleague Brianna Keilar, went over to his office, saw some of those e-mails. Some of his aides read them to me over the phone. They're pretty intense, directed at his -- him, as his statement said, at his family, and much of it in the context -- much of the e-mails and the threats are in the context of Cantor being Jewish.
HOLMES: Well, you talk about not talking about it. And some stuff, they haven't released, even though they let you all see some of them and hear some of them.
So, why -- did you get the best answer you could get? And politics plays into everything, unfortunately...
BASH: Yes.
HOLMES: ... even sometimes into something like this, threats. But why then did they come out and decide to make that statement? And how did him making that statement about being threatened and a bullet through a window kind of change the whole story? Because it was just Democrats...
BASH: Exactly.
HOLMES: ... that were being targeted before that.
BASH: Exactly. And that was one of the main points that Eric Cantor wanted to make, that it's not just about your party. It's about lots of different things, and lots of different members of Congress have been getting threats. We also heard voice-mails released by Republican Congresswoman Jean Schmidt yesterday, very, very intense voice-mails, by somebody who is for the health care bill.
And, again, those were pretty ugly. So, that was what came out yesterday, that some of these threats seem to be bipartisan. With regard to politics, look, there is what -- what Eric Cantor said in the next breath after talking about these incidents for him personally was, he went after the Democratic leaders, specifically the political leaders, the head of the DNC and the arm that tries to elect Democrats to Congress, and said that he believes that they're being overly political in talking about these threats, because, historically, he said, people don't really talk about these things, because it's just not the right thing to do.
And he believed that they were doing it just to -- just to sort of gin up the politics of health care. But I can tell you, that is absolutely going on, on both sides of the aisle, because the Democrats, yesterday, they did -- Republicans are playing politics. Democrats sent out a fund-raising letter.
The president's campaign arm, Organizing For America, they sent out fund-raising letter specifically citing one of the incidents with a Democrat from Virginia, asking for -- for donations.
HOLMES: You know, it makes you shake your head that this is going on, and the threats are coming in, but to think that they're now being politicized, they're trying to raise money off this in some ways as well, that will make you shake your head as well.
Dana Bash, we appreciate you. Thank you very much for being here with us.
BASH: Thanks, -- T.J.
HOLMES: We do want -- want to check out who is making some of our lists. We make the lists. They check them here. Health care has been, of course, a major topic on Twitter this week. The tweets are coming in.
We will give you some of the latest from Rick's list of Democrats and Republicans. We're going to start with one here from Senator Chris Dodd.
He says, "Instead of doing their jobs, Republican senators are holding the American people hostage for their own political gain."
Also from Senator Dodd: "Enough is enough. The American people cannot afford any more Republican obstruction. Get to work or get out of the way."
Let's go to a Republican now, Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah. He says, "The fight to upend the theft of taxpayer money in this new health care law has just begun."
We heard some similar sentiments from John McCain just a moment ago.
Another from Senator Claire McCaskill, says: "I will not support any of these amendments that are just masquerade aiding as serious substance. They're only procedural land mines to health care reform."
Also an appeal here from Republican Congressman Lee Terry from Nebraska, saying: "I strongly condemn any threats or violence against a congressman. Such actions need to be prosecuted."
I think a lot of people would agree with him there. But it has gotten unbelievably ugly. And it doesn't sound like it will end any time soon.
Well, we have got some breaking news just coming in to us. We told we were standing by to see what the sentence would be for NBA star Gilbert Arenas. Well, we have got the sentence in. We will tell you how long, if any, time he will spend in jail.
And who is on the list you don't want to be on making news today?
That's next. Stay here.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well, on today's list of celebrities in trouble, three-time NBA All-Star and Washington Wizards point guard Gilbert Arenas, he was just sentenced on felony gun charges. The sentence? Well, no jail time. He avoids jail.
He gets, instead, two years supervised probation. Then he get 30 days in a halfway house, 400 hours of community service. You may remember, he did plead guilty in January to bringing four guns into the Washington Wizards locker room.
Now, this was all because of a dispute he had with one of his teammates over a gambling debt from playing cards on the way back from a game. Now, the prosecutors had actually asked for three months in jail. They did not think Arenas had proven -- or -- or shown that he had been contrite and was truly sorry for his actions, asked for at least three months.
The judge said no, did not give him any jail time. Arenas is, however, suspended from playing in the NBA, at least this season. So, this maybe paves the way for him to make a comeback next season.
Now you're about to see who's on the list you don't want to be on today. It turns out he is somebody who has maybe been on a list like this a time or two. And this one might surprise you a bit.
All right. Let's take you back here. You remember the height of the George W. Bush years, the president, the vice president -- the vice president, and Karl Rove. Well, a lot of people thought this was a really tight-knit group, peas in a pod. Maybe that wasn't always the case, not exactly the dream team that one of them envisioned. So, who did Karl Rove want, actually, as V.P.? He told our John King last night that he wanted anybody but Dick Cheney. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "JOHN KING USA")
KARL ROVE, FORMER SENIOR ADVISER TO PRESIDENT BUSH: He was set on Cheney for vice president. And I thought it was a bad idea. And, at this point, there are only six people who know that he's tilted -- that he's -- that he's ready to do this.
And, so, he calls me up and says, come make the case against Cheney.
We're sitting in the Austin library in the Texas governor's mansion. And for about 30 or 35 minutes, I lay out the reasons why he shouldn't pick Dick Cheney, with about eight reasons, starting with, we didn't need to worry about, you know, the -- Wyoming's three electoral votes, and Cheney's voting record, and Cheney's health, and the fact he had been 41's secretary of defense, and we were trying to develop a separate image for 43.
He was a Texas oilman, like Bush was a Texas oilman, that you can caricature them both that way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Well, he had his reasons. He had a lot of reasons. He did say, however, that he and Cheney went on to become pretty good friends later on. So, we're going to go along with Karl Rove on this one.
And we're going to put the vice president, Dick Cheney on Rick's list that you don't want to be on.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(SCREAMING)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Show us your hands!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: News cameras in the right place at the right time, they would say. And they caught mall violence that was happening in the act right in front of them. That's ahead. We will explain how they got all that video.
Also, who is going to be the most intriguing person in the news today?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: All right. Take a look at this picture here. Can you make this out? We are on the scene. Take a look here. And the Coast Guard's on the scene as well.
What you're seeing here, in there, just beneath the surface of the water there is a humpback whale that's gotten tied up and caught with something. This is about a mile off the shore of Miami Beach. Now, witnesses out there are saying they can make something out on its tail -- on its fin, I should say, that has maybe gotten stuck. But it can't get itself -- it can't break itself away. It can't free itself. So, the Coast Guard, alongside the whale here, they're in a fireboat, several other agencies responding here as well.
Scientists are out there, and, you know, the Marine biologists they bring out to help on the scene. They are monitoring this whale. They have been doing this for over a week and trying to help it out, but it's been unsuccessful so far.
However, the agencies say it is not exactly uncommon to see humpback whales this time of year. They do migrate through that particular area. So, maybe they will get the -- get the guy free some time soon.
Well, a big honor and a disheartening update, really, today for our most intriguing person in the news. And he's 73 years old, an actor, two times nominated for an Academy Award. But not until today is he getting a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
The sad part here, the disheartening part, like I just mentioned, is that he's got cancer, and his doctors say he's going through some intense therapy right now. And he's weighing in at about 100 pounds today. The person we're talking about played a tough guy in "Easy Rider," played a journalist in "Apocalypse Now," also in the movie "Blue Velvet."
Now, here he is just a couple of hours ago. This was at the ceremony dedicating his star. You see him there. He's frail. He's thin. He's Dennis Hopper. More than 150 films to his credit, and he's getting his overdue props today in Hollywood.
Dennis Hopper, one of today's most intriguing people in the news.
(APPLAUSE)
HOLMES: Now, this is the closing bell on Wall Street a short time ago. Now, we're showing you this. Usually, we like to show this to you live, but we're -- we're giving a little tape turn of it today, because we would like to showcase a few people who are up on that stage, CNNMoney.com's senior management team ringing the closing bell on the New York Stock Exchange to celebrate the launch of our new markets pages.
Now, the bell-ringers are executive editor, Chris Peacock, our managing editor, Lex Haris, and our Poppy Harlow, a little to the right, about three people to the right there. You see her oftentimes on CNN helping us out here as well, but all from CNNMoney.com.
Congratulations on the honor and the launch of the new site.
Got a picture of the day today to show you.
(LAUGHTER)
HOLMES: No matter how many times you see this, it's going to crack you up, new meaning to the definition of a police dog. Cameras are capturing a dog attacking a police cruiser. We will explain coming up.
And if you missed McCain and Palin together again, we have got some highlights for you. That's ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well, federal prosecutors have filed reduced charges against conservative activist James O'Keefe and three others accused of trying to tamper with the phones in Senator Mary Landrieu's New Orleans office.
A filing Friday in U.S. district court charges them with entering a federal building under false pretenses. That is a misdemeanor. They had been arrested January 25th on felony charges. O'keefe, you'll remember him possibly because he did gain some notoriety by masquerading as a pimp in a stunt that embarrassed the Acorn organization that since announced it's going to be shutting down. In the Landrieu incident, O'Keefe has said he was investigating complaints that constituents could not reach the Senator's office to comment on her support for health care reform.
Fire and ice come together in our Fotos del Dia. It's our list today. That's pretty good.
We got to start using that music on the weekends. How about this? Black smoke, volcanic ash, crimson lava, but look at the backdrop for all this. It's erupting, a volcano here in southern Iceland. Four hundreds of evacuations have make flooding concerns as lava meets snow and ice.
Let's take to you Chattanooga, Tennessee, a little way away from Iceland. Check the dog out, this is Winston. Dogs love their chew toys. I've never seen a dog with a chew toy this big. A police car, he took exception with the cruiser for whatever reason. And you would think the dog would be no match for the car. Appears the car's no match for the dog. He tore the bumper clean off. Went after the tires after that. Nobody hurt here. Now, Winston, like we said a little earlier, no strikes against him. This is his first strike. He was released to his owners on the condition though that they get him obedience training. He needs some.
Take you to Oregon now. Check this out. A guy's trying to rob a restaurant. Now the manager fights back a little bit. But he wasn't the only one he had to fight. The whole restaurant pretty much gets up and tries to go after the guy. Again, the cashier there made an effort to try to stop him but the customers weren't going to let it happen and chased the man out the front door. Just about all of them. However, he did make away with some cash.
Sarah Palin and John McCain on the campaign trail once again. This time she is helping him out. Helping him campaign for re-election in Arizona. We'll going to replay you some of the highlights that we saw here just a bit ago. That's ahead. Also, the health care bill. You heard them tout it out there that in fact in a short order, kids with pre-existing conditions could not be denied coverage. Some are saying, now that might not be the case. We'll give you some answers in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) HOLMES: Well, as journalists, we have done a ton of these. No matter where you work in Topeka, Kansas, as a journalist, or maybe sometime a place like CNN, you do these ride-alongs sometimes with police officers. You are riding along with them to see what they do. And maybe a big call comes in. It rarely does, actually. But we'll show you a crew that went on a police ride-along when a call does come in. Two teenagers in Oregon get into a fight at a local mall. That doesn't sound that serious, but then there's gunfire. Customers are running. And our affiliate kptv was there. They captured the moments as police got into action.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Oh, my god.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Watch the other dude.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Hold them like he's got a gun.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Don't move.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Behind the theater.
(sirens)
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Be careful. There's a guy with a gun here.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: 3664, confirm, we did see someone who had the gun on him, correct.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: There again, we have all, including myself, been on a ton of those things. Never won quite like that. And we do know few people really hurt in the scuffle. Nobody killed shortly but they do have two teenagers in custody after all that as well.
Now, the president said the health care reform bill, one of the things he was out there pushing, selling even after the bill passed is that it would ensure that kids with pre-existing conditions would not have trouble getting coverage. But is that really the case? There's some question about it now. We're going to get the truth from our legitimate caller. She's next on the list.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well, on the Washington to-do list, a small part of that massive health care reform law is causing concern for some parents out there of children with pre-existing conditions. Insurance coverage for those kids was really a centerpiece of President Obama's push for health care reform. He's still selling that part of the legislation now even after it's been signed. Well, over and over he promised it would take effect this year. Remember this from his speech just a week ago today at George Mason University?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This is a patient's bill of rights on steroids. Starting this year, thousands of uninsured Americans with pre-existing conditions will be able to purchase health insurance, some for the very first time. Starting this year, insurance companies will be banned forever from denying coverage to children with pre-existing conditions.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Right. You heard it there. And we have heard it repeatedly that starting this year, a child with pre-existing conditions cannot be denied coverage. But there seems to be, at least in the minds of some people, a glitch in the wording of the law and some are worried a bit about it.
Senior Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen has been looking at this today. Try to drill this down for us. First, just explain the hubbub. I mean, some -- is this starting to pick up some steam at least enough out there that some people start to get worried about it.
Elizabeth Cohen, Senior Medical Correspondent: OK. Let me step a way back and let's talk about the problem that caused all of this to begin with. Right now as we speak, if an insurance company gets an application from a family that has a kid with a pre-existing condition, a congenital heart defect, the kid has cancer, whatever, that insurance company can say no, we don't want to insure that kid because that kid will cost us a lot of money. So, part of health care reform is that insurance companies can't do that any more. And so that was signed by President Obama and everyone said, OK, now we're done. But then there was some concern over the past couple of days, maybe we're not so done. Maybe the word wasn't so tight. Maybe it allowed insurance companies to sort of fiddle of the words, and kind of get a loophole and not obey it. So, that's sort of the scene setter there.
HOLMES: So, at this point, I don't know if there's necessarily consensus out there just yet, but is there enough concern even from the White House that maybe this needs to be buttoned up a little better.
COHEN: We called the White House and said, what's going on? I mean, you heard the president just now, you know, you said no pre- existing condition for discrimination against kids. And now we're hearing maybe not. They said, look, we think the law is written the right way, and then when we go to write the regulations to support that law, we will doubly triply quadruple make sure that it's done the right way. So, they said, don't worry. So, we called some folks in the senate. And we said, are you worried? They said, no, we think that this will take care of itself when the regulations are written. And then, we called the child advocacy group who had been worried about this, and they said, look, we think this will get resolved. So, the bottom-line is, it appears that if there is any reason to be worried, that it will get resolved over the coming weeks.
HOLMES: We assume, we hope, and like you said, they're going to check and triple check and write the regulations. But can we imagine there might be some pushback from some insurance company out there that goes through fine thought come and tries to find something in there that possibly tries to save them a little bit of money. So, do you think we're done with this even with the regulations?
COHEN: If I had to look into a crystal ball.
HOLMES: Please do. And you have one.
COHEN: And I have one. And I have to sort of the same time look back, and look at experiences that people I know including myself have had with insurance companies, they often will look for opportunities to wiggle out of things. I mean, I know that has happened in the past. Will they try to do that again in the future? I suppose they could. But I have to say that there has been a lot of pressure on them to obey the new law and to obey the loss of health care reform. So, if they started to try to wiggle out of this, I mean, the media's going to be coming down on them. Families are going to be coming down on them. I mean, I think they would really do that at their own peril. That's not to say they won't try it.
HOLMES: We won't try it but I mean, nobody -- there are so many points of that legislation that people would have all kinds of problems with. But I don't think that anybody sitting at home would say that's a bad idea to cover all children who have a pre-existing condition or not. But all the insurance companies, did they make a case, you know, that lobbying out there in D.C., the insurance lobby is probably the biggest up there, make a case that they would be better off if they did have until 2014 with the children as well? I mean, all adults can't be denied starting in 2014, but is it really a cost saver? Would it save them that much money if the part of children would be pushed back in 2014?
COHEN: Well, what insurance companies have tried to say over the past year or so, is look, if you're going to require us to insure people with pre-existing conditions, that's extremely expensive. And they're right. That is expensive. So, the deal that they've worked out over the past year is, all right, we'll do that, but you have to promise us that every American will have to be insured. So in other words, if you're going to give us these sick folk, you've also got to give us the healthy 22-year-olds. And healthy 22-year-olds often don't get insured because they think they don't need it. You know, they're the young invincible. So, the deal they struck was, we'll take these people a preexisting conditions but you also have to give us those young healthy people. And so, they, you know, it appears they got what they wanted. So, if there was any lobbying, it's done, it's over, the deal has been struck.
HOLMES: That's part of the debate as well. A lot of people don't like the fact that insurance companies required now to get all these new customers. And they think that is just going to be putting more money in the pockets of insurance companies as well.
COHEN: That's true. But you can also say, you know what, even healthy 23-year-olds or 22-year-olds ought to have insurance, right?
(CROSSTALK)
COHEN: They get cancer. They get hit by cars. And you and I pay for it when they're uninsured. So, they ought to be insured anyway, so.
HOLMES: All right. Hopefully no 23-year-olds get hit by cars.
(CROSSTALK)
COHEN: God forbid. I'll say that. God forbid. Right. Exactly.
HOLMES: Thank you so much for looking into that today.
COHEN: OK. Right.
HOLMES: A lot of people concerned about that particular provision. Hopefully that will clear that up and it's going to happen like they say it will.
COHEN: I hope it will.
HOLMES: Thank you so much.
COHEN: Thanks.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: I'm pleased to announce that after a year of intense negotiations, the United States and Russia have agreed to the most comprehensive arms control agreement in nearly two decades.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: This is also making the list today. The u.s. and Russia reaching a new arms control deal. One that's called the most comprehensive in nearly two decades. We'll talk about why the president is excited. We'll going to be talking about that with The Wolf Pack. That's next on the list.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: All right. Take a look here. Some pictures we're showing you here. Kind of a sad story about some stranded dolphins. This is out in Princeton. I want to bring you this. And what you're seeing there is rescuers, they're trying their best to save these Atlantic white sided dolphins. They've been stranded up here really for the past two weeks. A group of 16 at least were stranded about two weeks ago. Nine of them say they were tagged and released. Now, two of the stranded dolphins as well were carried out of the mud by some of the rescuers. They're trying to do their best with these stranded dolphins that have been getting stuck in the mud. We know at least, two, including a baby dolphin have actually died. But a rescued ever, we showed you a whale a little earlier off the coast of Miami Beach. But this was farther north. We checked these pictures out. These rescuers, they're actually carrying a dolphin. There folks, they're trying their best to save these guys who have gotten stuck, but they plan to certainly help them out and release the rescued animals. But they're getting stuck up there. Poor little guys.
We want to turn now -- oh, there's one. You can see in this mud here. There's another picture. Is that a live picture, guys? I do believe it is. But there again, this is happening right now. They're trying to save these dolphins hopefully -- hopefully they could do so. Like we said, a couple have died at least.
We're going to turn back to Washington, d.c. now and we'll going to turn to out Wolf Blitzer. He's going to be in THE SITUATION ROOM, coming up in just a minute.
Wolf, there was something to get some big news out of d.c. today that did not have to do with health care reform. But this is a really big deal, or is it? We're talking about a new treaty with Russia. Good afternoon to you.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: I thought you were talking about Gilbert Arenas and he didn't get any jail time. But we can talk about the treaty with Russia as well, t.j. That's a huge deal. The first time in a long time the United States and Russia have managed to reduce their nuclear arsenal. And it's a big deal. We'll going to be talking about it with David Gergen. He's worked for several American presidents, as you know. He'll give us some very historic perspective. But anything that reduces that nuclear threshold. The danger of some sort of nuclear confrontation is obviously important.
HOLMES: Does the president need any bipartisan cooperation on this one?
BLITZER: He does. He'll need to get it ratified, the treaty, in the United States Senate. And I suspect he'll manage to do so. There's overwhelming support for this kind of nuclear reduction. Remember, goes back to the Reagan administration start-1 and most everyone recognizes it's a good thing to reduce that nuclear arsenal.
HOLMES: And like I just mentioned, all the news seems to be about health care reform or had been at least and it will continue to be so. But the president got that big thing behind him, that big health care passage, a big win for the president. So, is he ready to move on to other things? Is he feeling pretty good, got some wind in his sails?
BLITZER: I think he is. I think his aides are feeling pretty good. Because, as you know, T.J., a win is a win is a win. A lot better to win than it is to lose. And they've got some momentum now. They feel they've got some spark. If it would have been the other way, if they would have gone down on health care reform, it would have been a huge setback for the agenda, for everything that this president is trying to do. Now they can go on to some energy related issues, education, financial reform. They've got other big agenda items, that's on the domestic front and, of course, priority number one will be trying to improve the economy and creating some jobs. HOLMES: All right. We'll get to that other now. Big news out of d.c. You just said a win is a win is a win and as a wizards fan, you know a loss is a loss is another loss. It seems with them, at least because they have been without their stud, Gilbert Arenas is not going to be playing this year, but kind of surprised by this one. A lot of people might be. He's not going to jail.
BLITZER: He's not going to jail. He's going to do extensive community service, probation. He'll have his work cut out for him. But the prosecution had asked for three months jail time and the judge said, you know what? He's not going to serve jail time but he's going to do good work and he's going to try to show the people that the fact that he brought these guns into the locker room at the Verizon Center where the Washington Wizards play, that was bad. He may have done some other silly and stupid things, but the judge says, he showed some compassion. And now, let's see if Gilbert can come back and actually play, whether for the Wizards or another team. As you know, he's a great ball player.
HOLMES: Oh, yes.
BLITZER: He's an all-star. I've seen him for years. Obviously, I'm a ticket holder for the Washington Wizards. And you know what? No one can deny that Gilbert Arenas at his best was one of the best in the nba.
HOLMES: The man can score at will. You want him back on the team?
BLITZER: I'll take him. I know others don't want him back, by I'll take him. If you have seen how the Wizards have played lately, you'd want him back, too.
(LAUGHTER)
HOLMES: The Wizards might take me at this point, Wolf.
BLITZER: Yes, I think so.
HOLMES: All right. Wolf, good to see you, we will see you here in about six and a half minutes in the situation room. Thanks so much, Wolf.
BLITZER: All right, t.j.
HOLMES: Now, for those of you maybe just getting home and you may have missed something a little earlier. Something we haven't seen since the campaign. Sarah Palin and Senator John McCain on stage together. We play you some of those highlights. That's next on the west.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Now, the darling of the conservative movement and the so- called Maverick of the Senate back together again. Sarah Palin and John McCain. He, of course, is facing a primary fight from a republican challenger. So, he called in some help. His former running mate, the Former Alaska Governor. She introduced him at a rally in Tucson, Arizona, and as always, she got the crowd fired up. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SARAH PALIN (R), FORMER ALASKA GOVERNOR: Hearing the news reports lately, kind of this ginned up controversy about us, commonsense conservatives, inciting violence because we happen to oppose some of the things in the Obama administration.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: We do it with our vote!
PALIN: Amen, brother, that's what you do it with, with your vote. You got it right. We know violence isn't the answer. When we take up our arms we're talking about our vote. We're talking about being involved in a contested primary like this and picking the right candidate, too, John McCain. We thank you for that. But this bs coming from the lame stream media lately about us inciting violence, don't let the conversation be diverted. Don't let a distraction like that get you off track. Keep fighting hard for these candidates who are all about the commonsense conservative solutions that we need. And in paraphrasing Louisiana's governor, John, I'm going to tell them this one because it's hilarious. Louisiana's governor recently said, you know, we're being accused of being the party of no because we oppose some of the things that the administration's doing. And the Louisiana governor says, no, we're not the party of no, we're the party of hell no!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: She certainly got the crowd going, then she handed the mike over to Senator McCain, who said that the gop has been making some mistakes. Take a listen to him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: We republicans blew it. We blew it when we let the Abramoff corruption come in and we blew it with the out of control spending took place and we blew it when we didn't pay for the programs that we sponsored. We've learned our lesson, my friends. We will stop the earmarking, we will stop the corruption. We will stop the corruptive practices which have caused the American people to lose faith in their government. Never before has there been a greater dissatisfaction with Washington than there is today. And some of it is deserved. I pledge to you, I pledge to you, we will stop this earmarking. We will stop this out of control spending. We will give the government back to the people. We will defend this nation at home and abroad. And we will restore the prestige and the trust of the American people and their government and their elected officials.
(chanting "USA")
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: All right. Again there that was just a short time ago in Tucson, Arizona. Again, the senator is facing a pretty tough re- election bid. He is actually out there, he had a primary challenge really being been billed as one of the toughest he has ever had from a conservative. Someone who says he's to the right of John McCain, j.d. Hayworth with John McCain out there. And has been fairly competitive at some of polls, so the senator brought in the big guns, the big star, a lot of people would say, Sarah Palin to come help him out. Amazing, kind of ironic, he was the one that put her on the national stage just a year and a half ago.
Well, it's time, time for me to say good-bye. Thank you for being with me here sitting in today for Rick Sanchez. Now, time for me to hand it over to Wolf Blitzer in THE SITUATION ROOM.
