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Rick's List

Oil Rig Sinks; President Obama Pushes Wall Street Reform

Aired April 22, 2010 - 15:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN ANCHOR: And we're going to begin with the oil rig off the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. It has now sunk.

Here's what else we have got.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GRIFFIN (voice-over): The president takes the lead on financial reform right in Wall Street's backyard.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I have insisted that the financial industry, not taxpayers, shoulder the costs in the event that a large financial company should falter.

GRIFFIN: Dangerously close to the oil rig that exploded.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is what a burning rig looks like. Mostly everybody got off. Still got people missing.

GRIFFIN: I will speak to the captain behind the camera.

Is the Tea Party movement pushing Americans back to God?

SEN. JIM DEMINT (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: A lot of the motivation behind these Tea Party crowds is a spiritual component.

GRIFFIN: Senator Jim DeMint thinks so.

GRIFFIN: Two teachers in trouble for a suggestive pep rally dance.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was thinking, oh, my God.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is -- that's not good.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It looks like sex on the dance floor.

GRIFFIN: We will show you the dance and ask, do you think they should keep their jobs?

Cows wreaking havoc on America's largest college campus.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Bulldoze it.

GRIFFIN: Is that really the best way to round up loose cattle? Oh, doggie. Plus, the lists you need to know about. Who is most intriguing? Who is on the list you don't want to be on? Who's making news on Twitter? It's why Rick keeps a list. Your national conversation starts now.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GRIFFIN: And good afternoon, everybody. I'm Drew Griffin, in for Rick Sanchez.

Let's get right to the breaking news, which is not good at the Gulf of Mexico, the oil rig that exploded, this incredible video. That oil rig has now sunk, 8,000 barrels of oil leaking per day, the Coast Guard still searching for 11 missing people. Ali Velshi's going to join me just in a second. We're going to talk about financials. We're going to be talking about oil capping, getting rid of that.

But, first, let's talk about the real disaster here, which is the 11 crew members who are missing from that oil rig.

And joining me on the phone, Mike O'Berry of the U.S. Coast Guard out of New Orleans, who has been keeping us up to date on all of this.

Thank you for joining us, Mike. I have got to ask the somewhat obvious and depressing question. The oil rig has now sunk. You have calm seas, blue skies. If you don't have the 11 crew members by now, where are they?

MIKE O'BERRY, U.S. COAST GUARD: Good question. Thank you for having me on.

O'BERRY: And, again, the searches -- you know, we're out there, again, 11 missing crew members, and every hour that passes without locating them obviously decreases survivability.

And we're still searching, and we want families of those who remain missing to know we are continuing our efforts. You know, and ,of course, our deepest prayers and sympathies goes out to them, you know, as we deal with this uncertainty.

But every rescue's a little different, and even with the calm seas and even though the rig has settled below the surface, we're still searching and there's still a probability that those crew members are alive, and we're going and we're going to work towards that.

GRIFFIN: Mike, one of the victims' wives in this case has already filed a lawsuit, which -- I read some of it. It appears she's kind of given up hope.

I'm just wondering, what are the possibilities? And I know we don't want to minimize any hope of finding them, but that they're trapped in an air bubble underneath, that, somehow or another, they're 100 miles away from this?

O'BERRY: All those options are out there, and I -- what we look at, if there was any -- if we have any inkling of a possibility, we're going to keep searching.

People -- you know, there's always -- folks like to have time limits on stuff, and the Coast Guard looks at that, and we want to make sure that we exhaust every possibility that we can. We -- so we're -- there's been survival stories, there's been some miraculously -- stories out there before and if we can create one here today, we would like to do so.

GRIFFIN: Mike, we all would. Thank you. And thank you for all the Coast Guard has done and is doing both on this disaster at sea and every other thing that they cover out there trying to keep people safe on the seas.

Thanks, Mike.

Ali, the oil is still spewing out there.

ALI VELSHI, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes.

GRIFFIN: You have had experts on in your show and they're covering it. Can they not -- they can't just cut it off?

(CROSSTALK)

VELSHI: They sent a submersible down yesterday before this thing sunk to try and close it off, to try and stop that fire.

There's probably some advantage, now that the fire has ended, for them to do that again. Mike O'Berry told me earlier that that's what they're going to. They're going to try and get something else down there.

But I also spoke to an expert, a journalist, who covers this, and he said it might actually be days or weeks before they can cap it. About 336,000 gallons of oil a day might be spewing out of that. That's about 8,000 barrels of oil. So, there's a lot of oil, a lot of concern about that.

You can see skimming on the water there. There's oil there. Two things were going are. You got oil from inside and natural gas. And then you had a lot of diesel on the rig, the stuff that powered the rig that was also burning. So, that's -- at least with the fire out, maybe they can try and cap this well.

GRIFFIN: And this almost seems petty to discuss with 11 people missing, but any idea if this one oil rig affects oil prices?

(CROSSTALK)

VELSHI: No, it didn't have effect today. Again, it's a very small amount of oil. The bigger concerns here, as you did fairly mention, are the lives of the workers and the safety to the environment.

Those are going to be where -- so, you're probably going to hear more about -- remember, President Obama came out just a few weeks ago and said he wants to authorize more offshore drilling in places that we don't now do it.

(CROSSTALK)

VELSHI: I have already had on Facebook lot of people commenting to say, this is what we have to worry about. In fairness to the industry, we have come a long way. This is very rare. Drew, when did you last see pictures like this? You don't see oil rigs on fire.

(CROSSTALK)

GRIFFIN: The environmentalists will use anything they can to try to stop anything offshore oil drilling-involved, and this is an opportunity for them.

VELSHI: I guess the flip side of it is, it takes back to our coverage of the disaster in West Virginia. The bottom line is, there are tens of thousands of these people out here, and we do forget that our thirst for energy does have a danger to it, there's no question, and it does have a cost to the environment.

So, it's probably always useful, when things like this happen, to listen to all sides of the debate, but it will come out and it's already started.

GRIFFIN: All right, we're going to talk about Wall Street with you.

VELSHI: Yes.

GRIFFIN: We're going to talk with the guy, the captain who shot that amazing video, in the next hour.

But let's take this break and right away we're going to come back with Ali and talk about what the president said near Wall Street today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DEMINT: A lot of the motivation behind these Tea Party crowds is a spiritual component.

(SINGING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRIFFIN: What is that? Are we, as a country, headed for a spiritual revival? And is the Tea Party the reason? Senator, or was it reverend, Jim DeMint thinks so. That's ahead.

And what does the vice president think of Sarah Palin? He spilled it today with the ladies of "The View." We will have that for you, too.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: OK. I want you to listen to what the president said today. It would be his final push for Wall Street reform. He went to the nation's financial heart today, New York City, close to Wall Street, laid out four basic points, and here they are from the president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: First, the bill being considered in the Senate would create what we did not have before, and that is a way to protect the financial system and the broader economy and American taxpayers in the event that a large financial firm begins to fail.

If there's a Lehman's or an AIG, how can we respond in a way that doesn't force taxpayers to pick up the tab, or alternatively, could bring down the whole system?

In an ordinary local bank, when it approaches insolvency, we've got a process -- an orderly process through the FDIC, that ensures that depositors are protected, maintains confidence in the banking system; and it works.

Customers and taxpayers are protected and owners and management lose their equity.

But we don't have that kind of process designed to contain the failure of a Lehman Brothers or any of the largest and most interconnected financial firms in our country. That's why when this crisis began, crucial decisions about what would happen to some of the world's biggest companies -- companies employing tens of thousands of people and holding hundreds of billions of dollars in assets -- had to take placed in hurried discussions in the middle of the night. And that's why, to save the entire economy from an even worse catastrophe, we had to deploy taxpayer dollars.

Now, much of that money has now been paid back, and my administration has proposed a fee to be paid by large financial firms to recovery all the money, every dime, because the American people should never have been put in that position in the first place.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: Number two, reform would bring new transparency to many financial markets. As you know, part of what led to this crisis was firms like AIG and others who were making huge and risky bets using derivatives and other complicated financial instruments in ways that defied accountability or even common sense.

In fact, many practices were so opaque, so confusing, so complex that the people inside the firms didn't understand them, much less those who were charged with overseeing them. They weren't fully aware of the massive bets that were being placed. That's what led Warren Buffett to describe derivatives that were bought and sold with little oversight as financial weapons of mass destruction.

(LAUGHTER)

OBAMA: That's what he called them.

And that's why reform will rein in excess and help ensure that these kinds of transactions take place in the light of day.

Third, this plan would enact the strongest consumer financial protections ever. And that's absolutely necessary because...

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: ... because this financial crisis wasn't just the result of decisions made in the executive streets -- suites on Wall Street. It was also the result of decisions made across kitchen tables across America, by folks who took on mortgages and credit cards and auto loans.

And while it's true that many Americans took on financial obligations that they knew -- or should have known -- they could not have afforded, millions of others were, frankly, duped.

And unless your business model depends on bilking people...

(LAUGHTER)

OBAMA: ... there's little to fear from these new rules.

Number four -- last key component of reform -- these Wall Street reforms will give shareholders new power in the financial system. They will get what we call a say on pay, a voice with respect to the salaries and bonuses awarded to top executives.

Americans don't begrudge anybody for success when that success is earned. But when we read, in the past and sometimes in the present, about enormous executive bonuses at firms even as they're relying on assistance from taxpayers or they're taking huge risks that threaten the system as a whole or their company is doing badly, it offends our fundamental values.

Not only that, some of the salaries and bonuses that we've seen create perverse incentives to take reckless risks that contributed to the crisis.

Ultimately there is no dividing line between Main Street and Wall Street. We will rise or we will fall together, as one nation.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: And that is why I urge all of you to join me -- I urge all of you to join me, to join those who are seeking to pass these common-sense reforms.

And for those of you in the financial industry, I urge you to join me not only because it is in the interest of your industry, but also because it's in the interest of your country.

Thank you so much. God bless you. And God bless the United States of America. (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRIFFIN: OK. He doesn't really bash Wall Street altogether. Everybody takes the blame in Washington, at the kitchen table, in the companies.

But, again, the devil's in the details, Ali. We got a 1,400-page bill again.

VELSHI: Yes.

(CROSSTALK)

VELSHI: And then we got Senate versions, so we're not quite sure what the final is. He made a couple of points. You know what? Three out of the four points, there's not much contention over.

GRIFFIN: Right.

VELSHI: The pay for, you know, whatever, letting shareholders have a bigger say in what executives get paid, no big deal. It almost doesn't belong here.

Consumer financial protection, who could say no to that? That doesn't make -- that doesn't worry anybody. The contention is over how you regulate derivatives. Some derivatives are corn futures, oil futures. I mean, derivatives can be very simple things and many of them are regulated and they work very well. Some of them are very complicated.

GRIFFIN: Derivatives, it's basically bets. It's gambling.

VELSHI: That's correct. Well, except that if you're an airline and you're hedging on fuel prices, it's good, because they're gambling on fuel prices saves me money on my ticket.

GRIFFIN: It did on Southwest.

VELSHI: It did on Southwest.

GRIFFIN: Not on the other guys betting wrong.

VELSHI: Right. So -- but you're right. It is a bet. But some of those -- this has gone on for all of history. Some of those bets are useful.

(CROSSTALK)

GRIFFIN: Right.

VELSHI: What happens now is, you have some of these bets like AIG. So, with AIG, it allowed anyone in the world to place a bet that people would default on their mortgages in big bunches. You didn't have to have an interest in it. You didn't have to be protecting your interest and taking this insurance out. You basically could just bet on it. And guess what? People defaulted on their mortgages. AIG gets -- has to pay all these people out, and then we had to rescue AIG.

If this were regulated properly, like an insurance product should have been, somebody, some regulator would have said to AIG, you have written far more insurance policies than you could ever pay. You need to raise capital. You need to be able to do that. But, otherwise, what would insurance be worth, right? That's why we have to have rules.

GRIFFIN: Much like, Jessica Yellin, a casino saying, wait. Before you can put down a million on red, we want to see the bank. We want to see the bank account, right?

(CROSSTALK)

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Right, but you need to have a little bit of -- well, Ali knows this better than anyone. You need to have a little cash in your pocket before you walk into the high-stakes room in the casino to start gambling. And that's one of the things in this measure, that they're saying that these banks have to have more transparency. All these new fancy companies have to have more transparency, so regulators can see inside of them.

GRIFFIN: Let me ask both of you a question. I will begin with you, Jessica. And we will go to Todd Tiahrt, right? He's the Kansas Republican, conservative.

He writes this Twitter: "President Obama pushes perpetual bailouts for Wall Street. Crony capitalism isn't the answer for economic recovery. Let the free market work."

Jessica, we're seeing this a lot from the Republicans. They're saying that this is a perpetual bailout.

YELLIN: Right.

This is one of those tricks-with-words kinds of things, I think, Drew. The way this legislation is written, essentially, it says that the government can use some money to tide over companies that are healthy if there is a national economic emergency. But, basically, it's going to let sick companies die and avoid bailouts.

It's designed to do the opposite of a bailout. It's designed to let the government take apart major, major companies in an orderly way, so that your mortgage and my life insurance aren't lost down the drain if a company fails. So, bailouts? Not really. Government oversight, more monitoring is the big focus.

(CROSSTALK) VELSHI: I hope his -- his constituents see that. That's nonsense, that congressman, Todd Tiahrt. What is he saying, let the free markets work?

GRIFFIN: Yes.

VELSHI: Well, where have you been the last three years? How did they work? I don't understand how elected officials do stuff like that.

GRIFFIN: Hey, Todd, you want to call us up, give us call. We will get you on the show.

VELSHI: That's just not sensible at all. Has he been living under a rock for three years?

(CROSSTALK)

VELSHI: I'm as pro-business a guy as you know. You know I'm the chief business correspondent. I like business. I think business employs people. It allows people to get wealthy.

Even I know free market hasn't just worked. That's just -- it's irritating.

GRIFFIN: All right.

Ali?

VELSHI: Sorry, I didn't mean to take up your time.

GRIFFIN: Take it up. Thanks a lot.

Jessica, thank you as well.

YELLIN: Good to see you.

GRIFFIN: Thanks for joining us.

Obviously, this is going to be talked about for a long time, including -- you know, they're going to have -- the devil's in the details is who is going to decide at the government which business is likely to fail or not.

VELSHI: Which ones you regulate, yes. Yes.

GRIFFIN: OK.

Let's move on, shall we?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was humorous at first, but the, when they continued, it was disturbing.

(END VIDEO CLIP) GRIFFIN: Oh, it was disturbing. A teacher gives another teacher a lap dance. This is at a high school.

(LAUGHTER)

GRIFFIN: You tell us what you think. That's ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: On our newsmakers list, Vice President Joe Biden making a little news this morning on his appearance on "The View."

Biden was asked tough questions first, how the Obama administration plans to stop Iran's nuclear program. He says everyone agrees the next step should be sanctions against Iran, which he predicts will happen by early May. That's, like, 10 days.

The "everyone" he refers to includes Israel, whose politicians have been debating whether to attack Iran without U.S. approval, and it includes China, which has resisted sanctions against its number- three oil supplier in the past.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSEPH BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: China will agree to sanctions.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They will?

BIDEN: There will, in fact be -- this is the first time the entire world is unified that Iran is out-of-bounds. You have a -- they are more isolated than they ever been. They are more isolated with their own people. They're more isolated externally. They're more isolated in the region.

BARBARA WALTERS, CO-HOST, "THE VIEW": So, is the next step sanctions?

BIDEN: The next step is sanctions.

WALTERS: And if not sanctions -- and if they don't work?

BIDEN: I'm not going to speculate beyond that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRIFFIN: So, China will agree to sanctions, according to the vice president. And this might surprise some Biden watchers. Check out what we're calling a Sally Field moment for Sarah Palin.

Joe Biden -- Joe Biden likes her. He really likes her.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOY BEHAR, CO-HOST, "THE VIEW": What is the appeal for Sarah Palin, exactly, do you think? (LAUGHTER)

BIDEN: Look, if you meet her, she is a charming person. It's hard not to like her. What's the appeal?

(CROSSTALK)

BEHAR: ... a lot of people.

BIDEN: Well, not -- no, a lot of people are not...

(LAUGHTER)

WALTERS: But countrywide...

BIDEN: Well, I don't know. I really don't know. But I know I say this and people look at me like I'm kidding. I like her. I have never -- I have not had a -- I -- I don't have a problem.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRIFFIN: You see Joy Behar there? Just incredulous.

So, what really happened after Biden dropped the F-bomb at the signing of the health care bill? Well, you're going to hear that next hour. Stick around.

Officers drawing their guns on campus. Why? Would you believe breakout by cows from a vet clinic? How does this one end? That's ahead.

And he was under the influence of LSD when he thought of what's now one of the most captured images in print. Our most intriguing person in the news is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: Time to check the list for the most intriguing person in the news today.

He may be the only person to make this list for dropping acid and looking at the sky, 71 years old now, but, back in 1966, it occurred to this man that nobody had ever seen a good photograph of the entire Earth from space.

How could we earthlings start caring about a planet we couldn't visualize? Well, his awareness campaign and his buttons and posters inspired NASA to begin releasing color photos of the Earth, one of which became the symbol of the emerging ecology movement.

Those of you in my generation, ask your mom. She will tell you all about it. Show his face. That's him. He's Stewart Brand, publisher of the original "Whole Earth Catalog" and lifelong friend of the big blue marble. Why are we talking about him today? Because today is Earth Day, for the 40th straight year.

Stewart Brand, for his pioneering vision, is most intriguing.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He started yelling at me. And I couldn't -- I couldn't reason with him. He looked like he was asleep, and I didn't understand what was going on. And, all of a sudden, he beat the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) out of me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRIFFIN: Oh, Bubba. A man punches his wife three times in the face. She calls 911. Is it assault or a sleep disorder? Come on. That's ahead.

And what is that? Some of the coolest new technology available has captured images of the sun like we have never seen it. I'm going to show them to you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN ANCHOR: OK. Your standard-issue cows, docile, calm, kind of dopey, right? Not when they're running amok on the campus. The best video of the day. Rick calls it "Fotos."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, it's rolling.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, yes, if I was a cow, I'd be rolling.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRIFFIN: Who let these cows out? This is a little barnyard drama on the campus. This is at Ohio State University yesterday. A couple of bovines about a half a ton each bolted from a trailer at the school's veterinarian department.

Yes, they got a little taste of freedom for about an hour and a half before a guy from the zoo shows up with a tranquilizer and shut that party down. There you go.

Next photo -- OK, your mother said never look at the sun, and listen to your mother. But even if you did, you would never see images like that. Look at that, bumpy. NASA has released these high- resolution images from the surface of the sun. They are from an orbiting telescope that launched in February, wow, with one mission -- study the sun.

NASA hopes to learn more about our nearest star and how it's affecting us here on earth.

Look at it again. Yes, sir. The base runner summersaults over the catcher's head and scores, yes, yes, yes. Fordham university baseball, Brian Kownacki goes airborne, and the opposing coach said we tagged him. But he was called safe. Sportscasters are calling it the "Fordham flip" today. You probably won't see it in the majors, but you better believe it makes "fotos."

You can see all the "Fotos del Dia" on CNN.com/rick.

Yes, this looks like a movie set, but it's not. We're going to talk to the captain who took this video dangerously close to that oil rig that exploded. That's ahead.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was thinking, oh, my god. It looks like, dare I say it, sex on the dance floor.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRIFFIN: Yep, that's what it looked like to me, too, sex on the dance floor. Talking about two of her teachers at a pep rally. Should they keep their jobs? And Brooke Baldwin's going to show you the dance after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: Welcome back. A lot happening. Time for "Brooke's Block." What's on your list today?

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Sorry I wasn't out here earlier.

GRIFFIN: You are working on it. You are working on it.

BALDWIN: I want to give you the latest stories, Drew Griffin, so let me give it to you. We're talking about a court-martial underway in Baghdad involving three Navy SEALs, and they are accused of assaulting an Iraqi prisoner while he was being detained at a military base outside of Baghdad. You'll remember the story, in just a moment here.

But, first here's what I've got, the first of the SEALs, first class petty officer Julio Huertas, was found not guilty on all charges. He had testified, he originally did now want to rat out his fellow SEALs but has since testified he did see a fellow SEAL punch this prisoner, drawing blood.

Who's the prisoner? You may not remember the name. This is Ahmed Hisham Abed. He took the stand and he was in a yellow jumpsuit and handcuffs and spoke through an interpreter. He also described being beaten, tasting blood. He had something over his eyes. He thought two people were there, but he only heard one voice.

You remember this story, it's 2004, and some of the images you're about to see, it's tough to look at, but we have to remind you and tell the story. The killing and the mutilations of the four U.S. contractors in Fallujah back in 2004 which the U.S. authorities believe this prisoner, Abed, orchestrated. He was arrested for killing the four Blackwater security contractors with hand grenades and rifles. You see the fire and the smoke. He said their bodies on fire. Dragged them through the streets Fallujah before hanging two of them off of a bridge over the Euphrates.

Still we don't know the fate of other two Navy SEALs, but at least now we know Officer Huertas was cleared.

GRIFFIN: The context that you show, it was war.

BALDWIN: It was war, it showed in that instance they were after us, the U.S.?

GRIFFIN: I don't know what was going on. But Huertas was basically charged with not ratting them out, right?

BALDWIN: Right.

GRIFFIN: He didn't take part in the beating.

BALDWIN: He didn't. But he witnessed it.

GRIFFIN: But you're saying now that he's been cleared, he may be testifying against his colleagues.

BALDWIN: Absolutely, absolutely. Which, I mean, they're SEALs, it's tough.

GRIFFIN: It's tough all around. I don't know why we put the guys in the situation.

BALDWIN: Story number two, I don't have a segue for you. It's a little lighter. Before you went to the University of Illinois, you went, too? Drew Griffin?

GRIFFIN: High school.

BALDWIN: You go to the high school and you have the pep rally and the teachers, sometimes they can get carried away as they did as in this high school in Winnipeg in Canada. Two teachers, there they are. I'll stop talking and you watch it.

You saw it. After they showcased the sexually explicit moves in front of the student body, fully clothed, simulating oral sex. So I got on the phone today, and I wasn't able to talk to the two teachers there, basically unreachable, but I talked to the school division, kind of like the district in Canada.

The female gym teacher resigned. She'd been at the school three and a half years. The male teacher's short-term contract ran out. Guess what. He's not being renewed. When I talked to the school division chair, she essentially told me, look, we're really glad this whole thing is finished and over. They expect everybody to act responsibly. Obviously, you know, Drew, you have your teachers and your students and you wouldn't exactly expect it to happen at a pep rally, and I asked what in the heck were they doing? And she told me the assignment I guess was for the teachers and students was to come up with a dance and give your interpretation of a dance.

GRIFFIN: Were they bombed?

BALDWIN: That was their interpretation. Were they drunk?

SANCHEZ: Yes. I don't get it.

BALDWIN: I don't either. I don't either.

GRIFFIN: Stupid, and now fired.

BALDWIN: That's the scoop. They're fired, done, out.

GRIFFIN: Brooke, thanks.

BALDWIN: Thanks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: Ladies and gentlemen, the president of the United States of America, Barack Obama. This is a big (expletive) deal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRIFFIN: All right. Not quite a lap dance, Brooke, but he did drop the f-bomb. You do you remember that slip?

BALDWIN: Yes.

GRIFFIN: The vice president will explain how the president reacted to that wonderful moment. That's ahead.

And is god getting smaller because of big government? And can the tea party change that? Senator Jim DeMint may think so. David Brody talked to him, and we're going to play some of that and talk to David coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER BREAK)

GRIFFIN: On "The List," coming up next, the great awakening that South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint says he is witnessing. DeMint talked to CNN contributor David Brody for an interview on Christian Broadcasting Network and told him that the tea party, according to DeMint, is a spiritual revival waiting to happen.

I'm going to talk to David Brody about that interview in a moment, but, first, let's hear a portion of it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DAVID BRODY, CBN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Are you concerned at all that some of the social conservative issues, abortion, same-sex marriage, some of these other issues, because they're taking somewhat of a back seat right now at least to the fiscal issues, that there are some inherent problems for social conservatives in something like that?

SEN. JIM DEMINT, (R) SOUTH CAROLINA: No. Actually, just the opposite, because I really think the -- a lot of the motivation behind these tea party crowds is a spiritual component.

I think it's very akin to the Great Awakening before the American Revolution. A lot of our founders believed the American Revolution was before we ever got into a fight with the British, it was a spiritual renewal.

And I've waded into a lot of these tea party crowds. I don't hear a lot about fiscal issues. I hear people saying we're praying for you. Thanks for fighting. But "I'm praying for you" comes up more than anything else in these crowds. So, I know there's a spiritual component out there.

It's not a group that wants us to use government to push their views, their religious views, but ones that believes that a lot of the underpinnings of our country come back to those Judeo-Christian values. And that's very related to people taking personal responsibility, not spending more than they are bringing in.

Those principles, which are in effect religious principles, are fiscal principles as well. So I think they're very connected, and as the thing continues to roll, you'll see a parallel spiritual revival that goes along with it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRIFFIN: David Brody, I assume you're in Washington, David, right?

BRODY: I am.

GRIFFIN: Thanks for joining me. I have to ask you, what tea party is this guy going to? Because I've waded into them and I've not seen a whole lot of this.

BRODY: I've waded into them, too, Drew and maybe we're going to different tea parties. I can tell you, clearly, there are tons of evangelicals at these tea parties. I'm speaking to a lot of them not because I'm seeking them out, but they just happen to be there.

When Senator DeMint started talking about the spiritual revival if you well, my evangelical spidey sense, if you will, started to go off, and indeed, he kind of hit home on a main point, which is that these are god-fearing Americans, you know, they love their country, and there's a lot of that going on, it's really not talked too much about because the fiscal issues get top billing. GRIFFIN: But I got to ask you, I mean, I know there's some of that there, and certainly these are people who seem to go to church on Sundays. Quite honestly, I haven't talked to a lot of them about their religions.

But he's doing this for your network, CBN, you're the White House correspondent for CBN. Is he just pandering to your audience that is interested in this particular issue and he might say something totally different to me?

BRODY: No. I don't think that's the case at all for a couple different reasons. One, the actual interview was about the 2010 midterm elections in terms of how they -- how his role in those elections. And so, you know, this question obviously just brought up by me spur of the moment. So, you know, I don't think it has anything to do with that.

The other part of this, too, Senator DeMint, I mean, this is a guy, look, he doesn't shy away from his conservative credentials or shy away from his religious credentials or his conservative credentials as well. This guy is the real deal whether you agree with him or not. The bottom line is he believes this is the way it is going to be in the future.

GRIFFIN: One last question. You've interviewed a lot of presidents. Does this guy have the making of a president and do you think he wants to be a presidential candidate in 2012?

BRODY: I think he's holding his options open. Look, he's a smart politician as well. I mean, he understands the game.

But, look, I mean, not that we're comparing him to Reagan or anything, but there is kind of a folksy feel to him. And you know what, in 2010, with the tea party movement, and the Charlie Crist and others, you know, they're getting, you know, moving on in terms of the GOP, I mean, there may be a role for Jim DeMint in the future.

But I just think time will tell. I also think he needs to see how some of these other top-tier candidates play out.

GRIFFIN: All right, David, I hope he goes to a couple more tea parties that I've actually been to. Thanks a lot, David Brody, in Washington. Thanks for joining me.

And Josh here with some big news for us, Josh?

JOSH LEVS, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: This is big news on the Internet. We're talking about Facebook, which means it affects more than 400 million people. And the way I'm going to show it to you is by showing you how CNN.com, our website, changes for you if you're on Facebook. That's coming right up.

GRIFFIN: I'm looking for that one. Thanks, Josh.

LEVS: And cue the music. Cows, lots of them, taking over a college campus. Loaded guns went after them, Josh, loaded guns. Wait until you see how this one plays out. We're going to have that ahead.

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GRIFFIN: Josh, this sounds like the monster on the Internet. Is Facebook taking over the Internet? That's what some people who watch the web for a living are saying, Facebook, massive and growing. Now it has announced some changes, including gobbling us up. Is that right, Josh? Are they gobbling up CNN.com?

LEVS: I'm not buying into the monster metaphor. You know what, here's the thing. In a way, it's inevitable that Facebook is going to take a lot of -- first, you have to see these new numbers. It was just weeks ago that I was talking to you on this show and some other shows about the size of Facebook with 300 million people. Now they have more than 400 million active users, half of whom are logging in any given day.

Look at the number of minutes. People are spending more than 500 billion minutes every month on Facebook. If we had a dollar for each of those minutes, we'd pay off our national debt in a couple years.

So here's the thing. A lot of websites are changing because of this new deal Facebook has announced called "open graph." The basic idea means you will no longer have to go to Facebook to use Facebook while you're on any webpage in the world.

I'll show it to you by showing you CNN.com and the way it changes if you go there. This is the main page on CNN.com. It looks pretty much like it would usually look, except if you're on Facebook -- could you zoom in here? We signed into not my Facebook but one that I set up just so I could show you.

You sign into Facebook while you're on CNN.com. Underneath it you're seeing what your friends like, what your friends recommend. And then any time you're on any story anywhere on CNN.com all you need to do is click that little "recommend" button.

What that does, drew, no matter where you are, it can be a video, story, anything we have going, it will automatically send the message to all of your Facebook people, and here it is on all of our videos, recommend. It automatically sends a message to all of the Facebook people that you are friends with that you think they should see that story.

So think about it. You've got this huge network of 400 million people using Facebook. You're on CNN.com or "New York Times" or a bunch of others, you see something you like. Boom -- recommend. They see it, share it. You can get that material out to so many more people. It could be a huge change in the way the web works, hence a lot of people saying a lot of big things about Facebook, Drew.

GRIFFIN: You know, I need to hire a PR person that will navigate that for me. I think that's how it's going to work, Josh, isn't it?

LEVS: I don't know if you need PR, but it definitely takes some time to follow the navigation. There are some things that change. Some people are concerned about what happens with all your information.

GRIFFIN: If you wanted to push a story.

LEVS: I see what you're saying.

GRIFFIN: Get the company of Facebookers out there to start recommending these things and sell that service in a sub market on Facebook.

LEVS: Wow. Nice business take. Think about it.

GRIFFIN: Thanks, Josh.

LEVS: See you.

GRIFFIN: Look at these pictures of that oil rig that exploded. It looks like a movie set. It is not. Who would get that close? We're going to talk to the guy behind this camera. That's next.

And the president takes on Wall Street, sort of. So how are the markets doing? Poppy Harlow is going to have that after the break. Hi, Poppy.

HARLOW: Hey there, Drew.

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