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Rick's List

President Obama Meets With Arizona Governor Over Immigration Law; Interview With California Congressman Darrell Issa; Umpire's Bad Call Costs Pitcher Perfect Game; Product Safety Claims Aren't Always True

Aired June 03, 2010 - 16:00   ET

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

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN ANCHOR: Poppy, did you see that last night? I'm sure you saw it today. Unbelievable stuff.

But you're talking about BP being downgraded.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we are.

I didn't see that. That was the first time I watched that, and he was definitely safe. I will just leave it at that. I have no power in that debate.

However, we're talking all about BP. Wall Street's watching BP. Surprisingly, shares are trading up about 4 percent right now, Drew. The big news of the day when it comes to that company is two major downgrades by big rating agencies, Fitch and Moody's knocked down their rating on this company by a notch.

The reason is, a lot of reasons, the economic damage, the environmental damage, the billions of dollars they think the cleanup process, all the legal liability is going to cost BP. They also really talked in these ratings announcements about the civil and potentially criminal charges in all of this. We know the Department of Justice is investigating that.

And then, also -- this is a very important point -- these rating agencies think that this cleanup and the amount of money and energy that is going into this, it's around the clock, will limit BP's ability to grow in all the other areas of its business.

And then, this, I found fascinating. You had Chuck Schumer, the New York senator, calling for, Drew, BP not to pay its dividend out to investors. They paid $10 billion in dividends last quarter, and they say you should -- the -- Senator Schumer and others say you shouldn't pay that until you pay to clean up the oil mess.

Still, outside of all of that, BP's stock up 4 percent, the market ending higher right now on Wall Street, the Dow up about eight points, the Nasdaq, the S&P 500 also up as well, Drew, a pretty nice day on Wall Street, after the -- the big gain that we saw for the Dow, about -- up 225 points yesterday.

But, again, the story continues on Wall Street. It's all about BP. And you never know what the next day is going to bring, Drew, when it comes to that.

GRIFFIN: Hey, I might be out on a limb here, but let me just -- well, first of all, BP got a $69 million bill, just probably a down payment from the government today, and BP says it is going to pay for this.

HARLOW: Right.

GRIFFIN: My question to you, Poppy, is, doesn't -- isn't BP flush with tons and tons of cash?

HARLOW: Tons and tons of cash.

This is a company with extremely deep pockets. I think they have about $6.87 billion cash on hand. That's huge. A lot of the oil giants have that.

They revolve day to day on a cash flow basis of about $28 billion. They can pay for this. I think the question, Drew, honestly, is, can their reputation take it? Every single day, this becomes a worse and worse story for BP. If their consumers react and don't buy gas at BP gas stations -- I think we're far from that -- that's the big question down the road.

Right now, they can certainly afford this.

GRIFFIN: Poppy, thanks for that. Thanks for the closing bell on Wall Street.

HARLOW: You got it.

GRIFFIN: Breaking news all over the LIST this hour.

We're embedded with the man in charge of the Gulf disaster cleanup, Admiral Thad Allen.

President Obama weighing in on Arizona's get-tough immigration position.

And one of the world's most wanted men now in police custody. We have got that and more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GRIFFIN (voice-over): Here's what making the LIST.

ADMIRAL THAD ALLEN, U.S. COAST GUARD COMMANDANT: For the first time in a couple of days, I have got good news. We have just cut the riser off the lower marine riser package.

GRIFFIN: Well, that's refreshing, a success for BP, as they attempt to stop the gushing crude. They cut off a pipe and are trying another containment dome. Will this work?

Joran van der Sloot, he was the prime suspect in the disappearance of Natalee Holloway. Where is he? Former FBI special agent Harold Copus was on the Natalee Holloway case and joins me live. A perfect game ruined by an ump's bad call. What was he thinking? And will baseball make this right?

The video you haven't seen: panic. This is inside Haiti's presidential palace as it comes crumbling down.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GRIFFIN: Topping the LIST is the oil disaster.

The Obama administration sends a preliminary bill to BP, $69 million. I got to believe that's just a pittance for what's to come. That's for the response and cleanup so far.

And on the screen, you are seeing BP's latest attempt to slow down the spill. Next, BP will attempt to capture the oil by lowering a containment dome over the well that is the problem. Having to use the shears instead of the diamond cutter has resulted in a rougher cut. What does that all mean?

Let's go to David Mattingly, who is live in New Orleans, and has been covering all of this, David.

It -- basically, they're trying to put an upside-down funnel on the leaking well, right?

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's essentially it.

And the bottom line here, with that cut that they made on that riser pipe, when they made the cut, they ended up not having the kind of smooth cut that they wanted. They had a rougher cut, which means they're not going to get the tight seal that they had wanted, that they had preferred.

But they do have multiple options here. The dome they're going to be putting down there, they're going to try and wedge it down there as tightly as they possibly can, but they are still looking at the possibility of oil billowing out from underneath of it, as that pressure overwhelms its ability to siphon it off to the surface.

Now, they're also preparing another system that's sort of a reverse of what we saw with the top kill. Before, with the top kill, they were pumping mud into the system to drown the well. Now they're going to use that same system to pump oil out of the well and back up to the surface.

So, two things, they are going to have into operation within the next couple of weeks. First, they have got to get that cap on, and, if they do, that will be the first turning point that we have had in this disaster where you can say this -- the -- the pollution is not going to be worse today than it was yesterday.

GRIFFIN: David, I want to ask you, because, in the last hour, I'm sure you were watching our exclusive with Kyra Phillips, who's now out on that rig. She's with Thad Allen. Thad Allen was making some comments that this was certainly a positive development. Your reaction to what Kyra was reporting in terms of the progress they're making out there?

MATTINGLY: There's been so little progress to report that anything is a good sign.

And we heard from Admiral Allen today, when he came right out and said, just a few minutes before I walked in here, I found out that they had successfully cut that pipe off. That was a huge moment, because, up until then, it had been failure after failure after disappointment after disappointment.

And now what they're looking at, the permanent solution to this is to drill that relief well and intersect the well that's leaking now and fill it up with cement. The target date for that is some time in August. And we were hearing Kyra. She is -- was talking to some of the workers out there.

They are not hazarding a guess on what day, but they are working as quickly as they can. And something to remember about drilling that relief well, the further down they go, the harder and slower it's going to get. But, as of just a couple of days ago, we were being told that they were just a little bit ahead of schedule. We will see if that keeps up.

GRIFFIN: All right, David Mattingly live from New Orleans with the very latest on this oil spill. Kyra Phillips is still live -- well, she's not live, but she's out on that rig exclusively. We're going to be looking for her reports as she brings them in. David, thank you.

Did the White House try to influence another election? That's what Colorado candidate Andrew Romanoff claims, and he says he has the e- mails to prove it. That's ahead.

A former prime suspect in Natalee Holloway's disappearance now arrested in Chile in connection with a murder in Peru -- the manhunt and the mystery, that's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: Time for the roundup list. Let's do it.

Number one: Joran van der Sloot in police custody today. He's in Santiago, Chile. This is what he looks like now, the main suspect in the violent death of a young woman in a hotel in Peru last weekend. For a long time, he was a suspect in the cold case of an American teenager named Natalee Holloway who vanished from her vacation in Aruba. That was five years ago.

Number two, the trial begins for this guy, Rod Blagojevich, the former Illinois governor impeached on racketeering and fraud charges. It's jury selection today in Chicago. CNN confirming that White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and senior adviser to the president Valerie Jarrett, both Chicagoans, have been subpoenaed to testify. Blagojevich stands accused of trying to sell the Senate seat vacated by the newly elected former Senator Barack Obama.

Number three: Another aid ship called the Rachel Corrie, here it is in a file photograph. It's in the Mediterranean supposedly headed for Gaza, and the crew is asking Israel not to interfere with its journey, like it did with an aid vessel a few days ago. The ship delaying its arrival in Gaza to hook up satellite and video equipment in anticipation of another altercation with Israeli forces. Nine people died Monday when Israeli commandos stormed an aid ship headed for Gaza.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just can't believe the umpire missed the call. It's plain. It's simple.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It put a knot in my throat.

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRIFFIN: Everyone in the stadium saw a perfect game, except one guy, the umpire. How could he get it so wrong? We're going to show you what happened, then talk with a man who's been in that hot seat before. That's ahead.

There are new allegations the White House tried to lure a candidate out of another state campaign with promises of a better job. What the heck's going on here? That's what Congressman Darrell Issa wants to know. We are going to talk with him live. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: The list moves to politics now.

For the second time in a week, the White House saying, yes, it did dangle a job before a Democrat to try to avert a competitive Democratic primary race.

On Friday, the White House counsel released a statement saying Bill Clinton was enlisted as a go-between to try to lure Joe Sestak out of a Senate race in Pennsylvania, a race against Arlen Specter.

Sestak rejected the offer of an advisory panel position, we're told by the White House, and ended up beating Arlen Specter in that primary last month.

OK, now, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs confirming the reports that Deputy Chief of Staff at the White House Jim Messina urged Colorado Democrat Andrew Romanoff to apply for an international aid position, rather than launch a challenge to Senator Michael Bennet. Romanoff says no job was offered, and he's staying in the race against Bennet.

Some are suggesting there's a problem here, but they don't include the former ethics chief for the Bush administration. Richard Painter is quoted today as saying the incidents the White House is confirming did not violate government ethics laws, including the Hatch Act, which governs officials' conduct in federal elections.

Now, there are Republican members of Congress who might disagree with that assessment, among them Representative Darrell Issa of California.

He joins me live.

Congressman, you're in San Diego. Thanks for joining us.

Let me -- let me go through this, because there's two issues now. Let me go through the first one...

REP. DARRELL ISSA (R), CALIFORNIA: Sure.

GRIFFIN: ... which is Sestak. All right?

He is running against Arlen Specter. I guess your position is that President Obama, the White House, Rahm Emanuel, want to get him out of the Arlen Specter race, so they dangle a big job in front of him, which I presume you think is the secretary of Navy.

We wait for months for the details of this to come out. And then we're told everything's OK. Bill Clinton kind of urged him to get into this nonpaid position, which was an advisory position.

You think all these guys are just lying, right?

ISSA: Well, certainly, there's inconsistencies that beg a reasonable independent investigation.

First of all, Congressman Sestak could not have accepted the position that was earlier described. And now the White House has said they won't -- it wasn't that position, but they won't answer which position it was.

Additionally, in the case of Romanoff, here you have a situation where the press for 10 weeks tries to get an answer on Sestak, finally gets an answer. And they don't bother to mention the other case, and a case that, by the way, was a paid position, would have qualified as high ranking.

And why? Why is it, if you're going to be the most open and transparent, you -- you -- you're anything but? I mean, to a great extent, this administration is open and transparent like the Manhattan Project or D-Day. They're giving what they have to give, only after the facts come somewhere else.

And what we're looking for is, first of all, just because everyone did it doesn't make it legal. Just because the Bush administration apparently has something to hide in their own closet for similar actions doesn't mean that this president shouldn't say, this is unethical behavior; it's beneath what he should be doing.

It's not that he's trying to clear the field as president, trying to encourage one to run and another not. It's that he's using government-paid-for positions or government-money-spent-on positions. Either way, your taxpayer dollars are helping clear a Democratic primary, which he thinks are in the best interests of his party.

But, by the way, if you're a Democrat wanting to vote in a primary, like in Pennsylvania, and you're being -- Pennsylvania -- and you're being denied a choice, and, in this case, you would have been denied the choice that the Pennsylvanians chose.

Congressman Sestak was a clear choice of the people of the Democrats of Pennsylvania. And, you know, the president tried to stop that. He tried to stop them from having a choice. We're not a one-party country, and we shouldn't be a one-candidate party.

GRIFFIN: But, Congressman, I just want to get to the -- the nitty- gritty here, because if this Sestak issue eventually does come out, the conspiracy is a lot bigger than whatever wrongdoing might have happened here, because you would have to have a former president, a White House chief of staff, a congressman, and apparently a White House counsel all participating in some kind of a scheme to get their facts straight before they finally release the story.

Isn't that what you're saying happened here?

ISSA: Well, that -- that's what appears to be happening.

You know, they -- they had to have the president over at the White House and contact Congressman Sestak's brother, his campaign manager, before doing this one-and-a-quarter-page release that basically didn't say a whole lot, and certainly didn't say the whole truth.

But, remember, Drew, what we're asking for, as the minority, a party that doesn't have the power, doesn't have subpoena, is simply for the FBI or a choice of the attorney general, to do an independent investigation, to ask the questions that should be asked, including, would you please show us all the other examples of political positions that were given in order to clear the field to make sure that none of them violated the Hatch Act, which -- I disagree with the former Bush administration official -- I think clearly does violate the Hatch Act?

The American people don't expect their tax dollars to be used to clear the field or in some other way affect for the benefit of a party their party or their party's election.

GRIFFIN: Congressman, you have got really no -- no power to get any answers up there from the White House or from Eric Holder, who already said he's not going to be looking into this, not going to have a special prosecutor look into this.

A full-disclosure moment, Congressman. Quietly, under the table, are any of your Democratic colleagues in the House saying something smells here? Is there anything internal that you can tell me in the Democratic crowd that says they want to find out what happened?

ISSA: A number of Democrats have said, you know, this thing's only going to go away if they -- if they tell the whole truth, and we wish they would.

You know, certainly, for Michigan and midwestern Illinois and Pennsylvania members, they have already got -- many of them are in swing seats that the were taken away from Republicans. They would like to not have this -- this problem on their hands.

And, certainly, for Congressman Sestak, until the White House comes fully clean, every day, he's going to be asked more about what really happened, since nobody really believes that it was a 30-second "Oh, by the way" that led to a 10-week asking of the White House again and again and again to explain something that they're now explaining as no big deal.

GRIFFIN: Yes.

So, the only real pressure that you have is to come on shows like this one, to get the press to ask these questions. But, you know, there's a lot going on, Congressman. This could literally just evaporate, for lack of interest.

ISSA: You know, if the press stops caring about what is right and wrong about the use of taxpayer dollars, about political cronyism, then, you're right, all is lost.

But for 220-plus years, the press, the free press, has cared about not having corruption or corrupting activity in government. And they have always stayed with it.

So, whether it's CNN, FOX, or the three networks, broadcast networks, I and -- for that matter, the newsprint -- I have high confidence that they are going to continue to want to get this behind the White House, but only through full disclosure.

That was through in Teapot Dome. That was true in Watergate. That's been true for years. Even the dismissal of the travel office under Bill Clinton, it was the press that really ultimately got the FBI to go in and do a separate investigation, reach separate conclusions from the White House answer, and put it behind us.

I do not believe this is one of those impeachable event -- offense. However, if the White House keeps stonewalling, covering up and so on, it could get to be a much bigger problem for the White House than it is today. And then particularly when you -- when it's likely that the Bush administration did something similar, wrong, but similar, based on some of their officials thinking this was no big deal -- well, we think it is a big deal.

GRIFFIN: Congressman, thanks for the conversation. We appreciate your views.

And speaking of the White House, we did reach out to the White House for reaction. Apparently, nobody available to join us today.

Thank you, Congressman.

Take a look at this. This is what it's like to literally run for your life, to get out of the way as a palace comes crashing down around you. You are watching the Haiti earthquake as it happened. And it's just incredible. That's ahead.

Plus, this: Arizona governor, she met with President Obama. Is there any change to her state's get-tough policy toward illegal immigrants? We will have that for you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: The immigration tug-of-war between the White House and the state of Arizona pulled into Washington this afternoon. We just got this official photo of President Obama meeting with Governor Jan Brewer. That's a couple hours ago. The result of their talk? No real movement, but the promise of better communication.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. JAN BREWER (R), ARIZONA: So, we are going to begin some really more direct dialogue in a couple of weeks. People from the staff are coming out to Arizona to brief us on what their projections are going to be in regards to the 1,200 National Guard and the $500 million that he has indicated that he's going to send down there, and we're going to see how that's going to get distributed. He assured us that the majority of those resources would be coming to Arizona.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRIFFIN: So, it does sound like Arizona will get some boots on the ground, some money to fight illegal immigration. But what about a fence between Arizona and Mexico?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BREWER: I would like to see construction started on a fence on the border, and I tried to get that kind of information from him today.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

BREWER: I was not successful. I -- I was successful in getting the promise that somebody would be out to Arizona within the next couple of weeks, to speak with my staff, to give us the kind of information that they have available to present to us.

And, so, we're looking forward to that. And I -- you know, today, I'm further ahead than I was yesterday. At least I have got a promise of two weeks, information, facts that we can share with the people of Arizona, with the people of America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRIFFIN: As for Arizona's tough new immigration law that the White House has openly criticized, the topic was brushed over, according to the governor. She says the president indicated he's leaving any decision about the lawsuit up to the Justice Department.

They also talked about the president's desire for immigration reform, which didn't go over real big with the governor either. She tweets, "Calling for immigration reform before securing the border is like asking for energy policy reform before stopping the oil leak in the Gulf."

That's what the president did yesterday.

Well, President Obama sees it very definitely -- differently. He would not answer the question when he talked with our Larry King shortly after meeting with Governor Brewer, but the president had plenty to say about the Arizona law and the need for comprehensive immigration reform.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "LARRY KING LIVE")

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Although I understand the frustration of the people of Arizona when it comes to the inflow of -- of illegal immigrants, I don't think this is the right way to do it.

I think this puts American citizens who look Hispanic, are Hispanic, potentially in an unfair situation.

And...

(CROSSTALK)

OBAMA: And, more importantly, it also creates the prospect of 50 different laws in 50 different states when it comes to immigration.

This is a federal job. What we have to do is take on that federal responsibility by working with border states on border security. And I told Governor Brewer that we have already put more resources into border security than we ever have. We have got more border guards in Arizona than we ever have.

We have got -- we just made decisions to put in additional National Guard. But, without comprehensive immigration reform -- that is Congress' responsibility -- we are not going to solve this problem. And that's what we have to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRIFFIN: We had Larry on earlier in the show. He said it's a fascinating, wide-ranging interview with the president. And you can see all tonight with "LARRY KING LIVE" tonight at 9:00 Eastern, all of Larry's interview, the president. That's tonight.

Larry gets tough, gets some thoughts on the oil leak and the economy, even LeBron James. So, stick around 9:00 tonight, Eastern time.

A young pitcher's shot at history stolen by a bad call -- the almost perfect game, and how it could reshape the game of baseball. That's ahead.

And what's going on underground? The latest sinkhole to stop traffic and confound construction crews, that's next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: Hey, you know, how it's way off limits to joke about terrorism, especially at the airport, right? Well, time for the video list. We call it "Las Fotos del Dia."

Three big no's in air travel: no liquids, no smoking, and, oh, yes, no terrorists. The third one's a biggie, as British Airways painfully reminded recently.

Their internal magazine showed a fake boarding pass with this guy's name on it, Osama bin Laden. Yes, next to an article about a new mobile phone boarding system.

B.A. released a statement on its Twitter channel saying, yes, a mistake occurred. They're working to find out how this happened. And, oh, by the way, bin Laden's seat was first class.

Hey, think you have a tough commute? It's been tougher for drivers in Tulsa after a giant sinkhole opened up in a road there, 12 feet wide, 24 feet long. It made Interstate 44 impassable. Storms slowed repair efforts, but crews reopened that road this morning.

Relax. That is not blood. It's alcohol, $9,000 worth of booze, all of it destroyed. A modern-day Eliot Ness, a woman walked into a San Francisco package store and just started destroying the stock. She walked down an aisle and smashed bottle after bottle.

You can see all of our photos on "Las Fotos del Dia" on CNN.com/ricksanchez.

Take a look at this. Haiti's presidential palace in the midst of the deadliest earthquake to hit that country, a side of the January disaster you haven't seen before. That's ahead.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have done some umpiring, and I'm -- we're not right. We miss calls.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Armando handled it like a professional and a gentleman, though, and I admire him for that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRIFFIN: An imperfect ending to what should have been a perfect game. Will Major League Baseball right this wrong? And just how hard is it to be an umpire in that situation? That's next.

And as we head to break, think about this question -- how would you rank this on a list of the worst calls in sports history? We'll look at some other botched notable plays.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) GRIFFIN: So close. An almost perfect game ruined by a bad call. That was last night.

Today, this could have been a tense moment. Detroit Tigers' pitcher Armando Galarraga brought out the starting lineup to the home plate umpire, who just happened to be umpire Jim Joyce. Yes, the same Jim Joyce.

He got applause and boos and a handshake from Galarraga. Joyce admits he just missed the damn call -- that's what he said -- and cost Galarraga a perfect game last night.

Check it out. A perfect game right before the bottom of the ninth, two outs. This hit, that's when it happened.

Clearly, the guy was out. Jim Joyce had a beautiful line on the play. He just got the call wrong, as you can see by instant replay there. He called the runner safe. Obviously, he was out.

How could this possibly happen? Baseball commissioner Bud Selig said mistakes on the field need to be addressed. He's looking in to it.

Let's talk to a former MLB umpire. You know, this is a name just about everybody knows, Rich Garcia. He's on the phone with us now.

Rick, thanks for joining us.

You've been in big games, you've been on World Series. You've also called a couple of perfect games, as I recall. And you've been involved with some tough calls.

What's your take on what happened last night?

RICH GARCIA, FMR. MLB UMPIRE: Well, it's just an unfortunate incident that happens. That's just the way the game of baseball is. That's what makes baseball the greatest game in the world. That's -- you know, it's part of history, and part of the beauty of the game is our mistakes.

GRIFFIN: But, Rich, put me in the situation where Jim Joyce is right there. He's in the right position to make the call. He's clearly looking at the play.

Is he seeing something differently, or is he emotionally caught up in the moment which affects his judgment?

GARCIA: Well, I don't think emotion had anything to do with it, because I believe if emotion had anything to do with it, he would have called the guy out, because you would probably lean more to calling the guy than calling the guy safe. So, I don't believe it has anything to do with emotion.

It had just something to do with life. That's just the way life is.

GRIFFIN: Yes. GARCIA: These things don't work out for you all the time. I can tell you one thing. I know that he was the most hurting man in the world last night. I can tell you that.

GRIFFIN: Well, he was clearly crying today when he was out on that field getting that lineup card, and he had to wipe away a few tears, because he's obviously still feeling the effects of that.

But a couple of things can happen now. Bud Selig apparently is reviewing this, could overturn this. Let me ask you first about that.

Is that a good idea?

GARCIA: Well, you know, when you ask a question like that, is it a good idea, you know, what the commissioner of baseball is doing, that's a hard question to answer, because, you know, I'm not there. You're not there involved in the meeting. You're not there.

Some of the things that might come up -- personally, I -- you know, personally, I think that anytime you get involved in changing a -- some kind of a judgment call, I think you're going to run into a little bit of a problem. But, of course, there might be some other circumstances that I don't know about that might grant it to change it.

I don't see any advantage to changing this, myself. I don't see a -- I don't see a situation where --

GRIFFIN: Right.

GARCIA: -- you know, this -- a perfect game, a no-hitter, is a game within a game.

GRIFFIN: Yes. Yes.

GARCIA: You know, the game is whether you win or lose. It's not whether you win by one run or 10 runs or one hit or no hits.

GRIFFIN: All right.

GARCIA: A game is whether you win or lose.

GRIFFIN: Rich, let me bring you in on something else the commissioner said. And I think we've got his tweet over here.

"Given last night's call and other recent events, I will examine our umpiring system, use of instant replay and all other related features."

Hey, they've been talking about these replays for a long time.

GARCIA: And do you know what? They're going to continue to talk about them.

I mean, the -- you know, the way that we have today, everything that you have today to see games, there's so much exposure to the umpires, there's so many channels, sports channels. And like I told a girl that gave me a call, I mean, CNN is a news channel. It's not a sports channel. It's CNN channel, and here we are talking about baseball in a news channel.

So, it's exposure. It's overexposed. The umpire situation is overexposed.

GRIFFIN: Well, Rich, let me just ask you, what's the matter with having replays? The game, as traditionalists say, we can't have replays, we can't change the game. But, come on, this game started when there wasn't even TV.

GARCIA: Well, why don't we just get anybody to do your job?

GRIFFIN: Well, anybody can do my job.

GARCIA: No, I don't think so. I disagree with you. I think you've got to be trained to do your job.

GRIFFIN: But it hasn't hurt the officials or the professionals officials in football. Has it?

GARCIA: Well, that I don't know. I don't -- I can't compare the Major League umpires to football officials. I don't think there's that even a close resemblance to officiating as an NFL official compared to a Major League umpire, who goes out there every day, spends six months of the year out on the road traveling everything days, going in and out, out of hotels, eating in different restaurants all the time. These guys work once a week.

GRIFFIN: All right.

GARCIA: So I don't -- you can't compare -- there's not another officiating group that you could compare to Major League umpires.

GRIFFIN: And just for the record, you're saying no to instant replays, right?

GARCIA: No. I'm not saying no to instant replay. I think the instant replay situation that we have today works. I think it's great.

I wish in 1996 that they had that. But they don't have it. They have the (INAUDIBLE), foul, fan interference. Those are good. That's fine.

GRIFFIN: Yes. OK.

GARCIA: You get involved in judgment, and you've got a tremendous, tremendous scope that you've got to deal with.

GRIFFIN: Rich Garcia, thank you so much for joining us.

Rich mentioned the 1996 wish that there was some replay, and I'll tell you about that in a second. There's no doubt about it. Last night's call at the close of the Detroit Tigers' Armando Galarraga's perfect game bid was a bad one, but it's not the first controversial call. I've got a list that still causes the blood to boil in many of you out there.

What are the top three best -- or I guess you could say worst bad calls? Here they are.

No. 3: 1972 Olympics. The undefeated U.S. men's basketball team leading the Soviet Union 50-49. In the final seconds of the game, the ref's bad call led to time being put back on the clock twice, allowing the Soviets to score a basket at the buzzer. That cost the U.S. the gold medal.

No. 2: Rich Garcia remember this one, because he was there, the Yankees/Orioles game in 1996, where 12-year-old Jeffrey Mayer (ph) reached over the outfield wall at Yankee Stadium, catching a Derek Jeter fly ball just a split second before Baltimore Oriole Tony Tarasco. The catch tied the game and allowed the Yankees to come back for the win.

And No. 1: The hand of God goal during the 1986 World Cup quarterfinal. Diego Maradona rises up between two defenders and punches the ball into the goal. The ref never saw it, and the goal remained. The goal led to Argentina beating England.

Well, by this time tomorrow, President Obama will be back at the oil disaster, trying to avert a political one. Wolf Blitzer has been tracking the fallout and the White House policy on future drilling. That's ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: Ever heard anybody say they wish they could go back to a simpler time? Well, in some ways we are, and that's not necessarily a good thing.

Chief Medical Correspondent Sanjay Gupta takes us back to a time when we were sold wonder products that weren't really so wonderful, products that resulted in a toxic childhood for a generation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: Life today is so much more pleasant. Yes, it's good to be alive today.

SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: It's 1947, Anytown, USA.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No doubt you've heard of DDT, jet propulsion, the atom bomb? In short, the better-known wonders of the modern world.

GUPTA: I'm here to take a look at the latest wonder product, the pesticide DDTs.

ANNOUNCER: It's a handful of concentrated death. GUPTA: Hmm. That sounds dangerous.

ANNOUNCER: But this new insect destroyer contains a lot of DDT, not just a little. Its DDT content is even higher than government specifications.

GUPTA: But it's nothing to worry about, right? After all, they said it was safe.

ANNOUNCER: Used right, it is absolutely harmless to humans and animals.

GUPTA (voice-over): You could use it anywhere in the home.

ANNOUNCER: And it's perfect for ridding Fido of those unwelcome house guests.

GUPTA: It's even safe around children.

(on camera): A generation of new pesticides -- liquids, powders, sprays, everywhere.

Look, we all know how this turned out. The promise of safety was completely untrue.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GRIFFIN: That's just part of what you can see, Sanjay Gupta's "Toxic America," tonight at 8:00 eastern. Worth a look.

Well, she appeared on Broadway, off Broadway, and prime-time television and soaps, but most of us remember her best as the vain, sassy, sexy southern belle, Blanche Devereaux, in the groundbreaking sitcom about four older women living together in Miami, "The Golden Girls."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "GOLDEN GIRLS")

RUE MCCLANAHAN, ACTRESS: I beg your pardon? Why, when I submit to a man's advances, it is with my consent.

A woman has the option to say no. Honey, you weren't given that option. You were given nitrous oxide.

(END VIDEO CLIP, "GOLDEN GIRLS")

GRIFFIN: Rue McClanahan won an Emmy and sashayed across our TV screens as Blanche for seven seasons from the mid-1980s to the early '90s. She died early today in a New York hospital with her family surrounding her. She was 76.

A couple of tweets.

Singer/actress Mandy Moore tweets that "RIP, Rue McClanahan. Sending love and prayers to her loved ones." And actor/comedian Marlon Wayans calls McClanahan "A great actress with a wonderful filmography. You will be missed. Thanks for the laughs, Blanche."

This is Haiti's earthquake like you've never seen it before. The presidential palace falls apart. Staffers running for their lives.

We're going to play it all for you. That's ahead.

An immigration sit-down between the president and Arizona's governor. The White House accused of trying to influence elections. And a bit of progress in the oil leak fight.

It's been a busy day in politics. What makes Wolf's political list?

Well, we're going to talk to him next, too.

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GRIFFIN: It's been a busy day in politics, and the oil spill cleanup, and all of it coming together into one hopefully good piece of news down off the coast of Louisiana. The riser has been cut. They're trying to move a cap in place that would at least contain most of the oil that will be leaking, we're told, until August.

What they're trying to do is put a cap on top of this right now, and that was good news -- minute good news coming from Thad Allen. But he said good news, nonetheless, and the first we've had in a long time.

Wolf Blitzer getting ready to anchor his show, "THE SITUATION ROOM," from Washington. He joins us now.

And Wolf, a lot of activity from the president, I thought, today. He announces he's going back to the Gulf tomorrow. He's talking with Larry King about energy policy.

Is this a transitional moment, you think, where the president is trying to move past this oil spill and tackle one of his political agenda items, a bigger item of energy policy in this country?

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Well, he's certainly stressing that now, and he's using this moment -- it's a real crisis -- to try to underscore his desire for energy reform, for some sort of serious energy policy, the one that he wants creating new green jobs and everything else. But it's not going to be easy, by any means.

He's got a difficult situation right now. The immediate need is to stop the oil from flowing. Hopefully, this procedure that's under way right now will contain it somewhat. It's not going to completely stop it. It's going to go on for some time through August, at least, assuming those two relief wells really work.

And I've got to tell you, Drew, that it's not 100 percent guarantee those relief wells are going to work. We all hope they will work. They probably will work. But they might not work, and if they don't, who knows what's next? GRIFFIN: Wolf, I want to reference some new video that I'm told is just now coming in to CNN which is going to make the president's job a lot tougher. These are birds.

You know, we've been waiting to see the wildlife disaster that is going to take place. These are birds covered in oil now, coming in to CNN for the first time, I am seeing in this particular crisis this kind of video. We can watch along with this.

But this is what everybody has been waiting for and dreading at the same time, the visual images of this disaster, Wolf.

BLITZER: Yes, it's heartbreaking to see that. And it's just only beginning. It's probably going to get a whole lot worse before, eventually, we can only hope and pray, it gets better. But these are images that certainly will make the president's job a lot more difficult right now, the U.S. Coast Guard admiral, Thad Allen, who is the point man on the scene. Certainly BP's responsibility for all of this will be even more complicated now.

Let's just hope today or tomorrow we get positive word that at least most of the oil is contained. All of it won't be contained. Let's just hope most of it is contained and it doesn't get worse.

GRIFFIN: And you were saying that this -- that the president has to be careful. And I do believe he has to be careful not to try to take a -- or be perceived as taking political advantage of a crisis. Rahm Emanuel, his chief of staff, has said never waste a good crisis moment. This could become very, very political, if he pushes too fast and too far.

BLITZER: Everything is going to be political this year. We're only a few months away from midterm congressional elections in November, so between now and November, everything is going to be very political.

And you know what happens right after the November elections, Drew? They start getting ready for the 2012 presidential elections. Republicans are going to start throwing their names out there.

So, this is a heavy political season. As much as everyone says let's keep the politics out of this, we've got a crisis affecting the Gulf of Mexico, affecting that entire Gulf Coast region right now, politics are certainly going to be a play.

GRIFFIN: All right. Wolf Blitzer, live in Washington, getting ready for "THE SITUATION ROOM."

We'll be watching, Wolf. Thanks for joining us.

I want to tell you that those pictures that we just saw coming in are from Anderson Cooper's team. They are in the Gulf region, obviously getting very, very close to what the disaster is going to be meaning in the future. These are -- as far as I know, these are the first birds that seem to be extremely stressed and covered with oil.

Tonight, Anderson Cooper, 10:00, live from New Orleans with the story behind these horrific pictures.

Well, speaking of horrific pictures, terror at the presidential palace at the moment the tragic earthquake hit in Haiti. We're going to play that next.

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GRIFFIN: The image is dramatic. The damage, undeniable. Behind me, Haiti's presidential palace before and after January's catastrophic 7.0 earthquake.

Now, watch the building collapse from the inside. Please, just stop what you're doing and take a look at this video. You will not believe what you're about to see captured as it was happening.

I can tell you, having been in earthquakes, not as severe as this, but it really captures the fear as this man is trying to hug the wall and trying to figure out which way he can escape down this hallway as it just collapses on top of him. The Haitian government showed the collapse at a conference of countries that pledged billions of dollars to help Haiti rebuild. Almost five months after the quake, more than a million Haitians still living in tents and under tarps.

That's going to do it for us.

Rick, I think, will be back tomorrow, but right now we want to toss it right to Washington, D.C., "THE SITUATION ROOM" with Wolf Blitzer -- Wolf.