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Political debates and how they're playing out with the bloggers on-line. The generosity of a Pennsylvania family towards her Louisiana family after the hurricanes. Her household increased by 30 people. Honoring Rosa Parks as an American Pioneer. Many call her funeral a celebration.

Aired November 05, 2005 - 19:00   ET

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

CAROL LIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good evening. I'm Carol Lin with a look at what's happening right now in the news. The summit of the Americas behind him, President Bush is taking a roundabout route back home. He has just arrived in Brazil and tomorrow, he's going to be in Panama.
Two years house arrest. That's for a Florida teacher who left the scene of an accident in which two young boys were killed. Jennifer Porter pleaded guilty. The victims were black and some say Porter's punishment is too light because she is white.

And a warm San Francisco welcome for Charles and Camilla, the royals are wrapping up their U.S. tour with a visit to the west coast. That's what's happening right now in the news. I'm Carol Lin. Next, ON THE STORY, how will the president protect us from the deadly bird flu? And the behind the scenes look at the summit of the Americas.

At 8:00 p.m. Eastern, CNN presents "Reasonable Doubt," can crime labs be trusted? CNN looks at serious flaws at crime labs that could raise doubts about the validity of some evidence. That's what's happening right now in the news. I'm Carol Lin. Now, ON THE STORY.

JOHN KING, CNN ANCHOR, ON THE STORY: This is CNN and we are ON THE STORY. From the campus of the George Washington University here in the heart of the nation's capital, our correspondents have the stories behind the stories they're covering.

(INAUDIBLE) on the story of upheaval in the U.S. Senate this week, with Democrats pushing for answers about intelligence before the Iraq war.

Dana Bash is in Argentina with President Bush as he tries to move past the Scooter Libby indictment and domestic problems.

Internet reporter Jacki Schechner talks about what's buzzing online on the big political stories.

Elizabeth Cohen on the story of bird flu. Will that latest $7 billion plan protect the United States?

Two months after Katrina, Alina Cho looks at how a Pennsylvania woman invited Louisiana relatives to take refuge and dozens arrived and stayed. Dan Lothian is on the story of Rosa Parks, buried this week an inspiring a new generation.

Welcome. I'm John King. Ed Henry is with me here and we'll be joining our colleagues as we move throughout the hour. We'll be taking questions as well from our studio audience drawn from visitors, college students and people across Washington. Political drama in this town this week, Democratic senators are outnumbered and out of power, but thanks to some rarely used rules, Democrats force the Senate into closed session and they speeded up consideration of how the Bush administration used intelligence in the run up to the Iraq war. Congressional correspondent Ed Henry is on that story. Here's Ed's reporter's notebook.

ED HENRY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We're sitting outside the Senate chamber trying to figure out what's going on inside and basically Senator Reid had invoked Senator rule 21, very rare maneuver and some dramatic consequences come from that.

SEN. HARRY REID (D) NEVADA: I now move that Senate go into closed session.

HENRY: Staffers are being kicked out. Our television cameras are turned off. Reporters are literally kicked out because they're going into a secret session where they were going to talk about intelligence matters.

You're instantly picking up the cell phone, calling as many staffers are you can. We immediately pounced on it and CNN was first on the air with this story and the adrenaline is just running high because for the next few hours, we're just live, live, live on this story.

I just got off the phone with a Democratic strategist who said this was also a message to the White House on Judge Alito. The natural question is, not just how will this affect the debate over Iraq, but how will this spill over into a whole range of other debates, including the Supreme Court nomination.

KING: Fascinating week for Ed Henry. Our first question on the story is from our audience. Sir, what's your name and what's your question?

QUESTION: Hi, I'm Declan from Wheaton, Illinois. Did the Democrats decision to hold a closed session of the Senate change how the minority party can operate within the government?

HENRY: Yeah, I think they were trying to show finally, amid all these allegations that the Democrats haven't had a plan, they haven't had a spine. Some of their own activists in their party have been saying, where's the life (ph)? You're not standing up to the Republican leaders on the Hill. You're not standing up to the White House and I think John, we've been hearing that for a couple of years and I think basically it was one of those moments where Harry Reid said, we're mad as hell and we're not going to take it anymore. And they wanted to stand up.

KING: Stand up because they're mad as hell at the Republicans in the Senate or stand up because they see a weakened Republican president in the polls and they think this is their moment.

HENRY: It's the latter. They are pouncing because they, this Scooter Libby indictment, which you've been covering this week with the arraignment, basically the Democrats see finally their opportunity. They've been waiting on the sidelines. They haven't been able - you saw John Kerry a year ago this week trying desperately to make the case on Iraq, on the war on terror and he couldn't do it against the president. Democrats now think the indictment of Scooter Libby has opened the door, but I think there's some risk there as well for the Democrats. If they do launch a filibuster against Judge Alito, if they keep pounding away on Iraq, that maybe they look too partisan, too negative. Republicans already saying, what's your alternative on Iraq and over the last couple of years, the Democrats have never come up with one, number one. And number two, a lot of Democratic leaders voted for this war and it's hard for them now to mount a strong criticism.

KING: But with the president weaker, the Republicans simply saying the Democrats, where's your plan or the Republicans, especially I assume more so in private, they're pretty nervous. They're the ones on the ballot next year.

HENRY: Very nervous because in fact they are vulnerable right now on a whole range of issues, not just Iraq. And you're seeing Republicans on the Hill saying, you know, the president's taking a pounding in the polls. But he doesn't have to face the voters again. The Republicans on the Hill are facing the voters a year from now. And they are very nervous about this and there is, beyond the stunt, the sideshow we saw in the Senate this week a substantive issue, which is was this war launched on a lie? Have more than 2,000 U.S. service personnel died because the intelligence was manipulated. So there was a stunt here. There was a sideshow. What Democrats are saying private is, New Gingrich was accused of doing stunt and sideshows in 1994, 1993, but it led a revolution that ended up having the Republicans take control of Congress. Democrats hope - we don't know if they're going to do it, but they hope to do the same next year.

KING: They call this the six-year itch, the midterm elections. Another question from our audience. Sir, what's your name? What's your question?

QUESTION: Hi. My name is Chris from New Jersey and my question is, how much negative reaction have you sensed to the fact that the current nominee to replace Sandra Day O'Connor is neither a woman nor a minority?

HENRY: Well, I think especially the gender was initially almost a problem that Democrats were really trying to harp on, the fact that even the president's own wife, the first lady had said, she was hoping that a woman would be picked and the fact that a man was picked was something that I think stopped people at first. But I think the bottom line, I talked to enough senators in both parties that say, they're kind of tired of the gender politics, that whether you're going to pick the first Hispanic or not, they want the best nominee and after the Harriet Miers debacle, which I think you can call a debacle now, I think especially Republicans on the Hill, conservatives who were upset at this president are saying, give us somebody qualified.

KING: The president doesn't like to be reminded of it, but he said Harriet Miers was the best he could find. She of course went down in flames, largely because of conservative opposition. The Democrats never fired a shot if you will in that war. I assume most everyone on Capitol Hill, Democrat or Republican, thinks the president did this, Judge Alito because he knew the one constituency he cares about most, his conservative base, would be happy.

HENRY: That's right and Democrats are pouncing on that as well and saying that because of the Harriet Miers problem, the president was sucking up to the right, was sucking up to his base and that's where he went with Alito, but I think that argument has been pretty hard for the Democrats to really go much further with because Alito seemed very well qualified in this early stage. Also, he seems not quite as conservative as the Democrats thought on some issues. His position on abortion may be a little more complicated than they initially thought and so in fact, Republicans are saying, they think he's not going to be filibustered and that's another reason why Democrats have been pouncing on Iraq. They don't see much of a fight on Alito. They instead see a very vulnerable president on foreign policy and they are just banging away on it.

KING: Is that a risk for the Democrats, that if the president had rallied his base from the Miers disappointment with the Alito pick, the Democrats might have a happy base right now, because of this, you called it a stunt, bringing the Senate into closed session. If Alito goes through, will there be a deflation of the Democrats?

HENRY: I think there could be a very angry liberal base, because they saw Chief Justice John Roberts get through pretty easily, after initially Democrats saying there was going to be a big fight and partly because he ended up being so qualified in the eyes of many lawmakers. He got 78 votes and the liberal base was very upset and the Democratic senators kept saying well, wait. Roberts is still well qualified. We're holding our powder for the next one. Well, the next one's here and so I think you're right. There was an expectation among liberals that the fight was going to be over whoever this was, but it turned out the president may have picked a good one here. Miers was one that they did sit on the sidelines, but now with Alito, it's hard for Democrats to not (ph) much of an opposition.

KING: (INAUDIBLE) more to come and Ed, we're going to keep talking about what happened here in Washington when we come back. But up next, Dana Bash with the president in Argentina. Can he leave behind his political problems? Dana is back on that story after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The investigation on (INAUDIBLE) as you know is not complete and therefore, I will not comment upon, about him and/or the investigation. KING: President Bush there Friday in South America, still facing questions about his senior White House aide, Karl Rove and the CIA leak investigation. We are on the story. Mr. Bush began the week early Monday morning naming Samuel Alito to replace his earlier Supreme Court choice, Harriet Miers. Dana Bash was with the president for Monday's nomination here in Washington, to a high security summit in Argentina. Here's Dana's reporter's notebook.

DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Monday was the day that the White House really wanted to try to get past the week, the week they had the week before.

UNIDENTIFIED CORRESPONDENT: Dana Bash, good morning. Tell us about Samuel Alito.

BASH: Well, two sources familiar with the decision do confirm that it is Samuel Alito.

And at 8:00 a.m., they started out with their new Supreme Court nominee.

BUSH: Judge Samuel A. Alito, Jr.

BASH: They wanted to try to change the subject because anything that the media, anything that reporters were talking about that wasn't Scooter Libby, Karl Rove or Harriet Miers was a good thing for them.

Escaping to the world stage is an old trick of the presidential trade. People say it's incredibly exciting. Wow, you get to go with the president. You get to go to Argentina, to Brazil, to Panama and it is incredibly exciting, but the truth of the matter is, you don't really see very much. You go from the airport where you left off to the hotel and that's about it. Security, it seems as though, it gets tighter and tighter as the summit go forward and it really makes it very difficult not only to get around. It also makes it very difficult to cover a story.

KING: Dana Bash with us now from 5500 miles away in Argentina. Dana, thanks for joining us on the story. Our first question for you from out audience. Stand up for us and you can have the microphone for a second. What's your name and what's your question?

QUESTION: Elena from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Is President Bush's presence at the summit of the Americas an opportunity for Castro and Chavez to showcase anti-Americanism?

BASH: Well, if you just look at what happened at the end of the week, particularly with Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, absolutely, that's what they hope, that's what they hope this summit is from their perspective. Now he had a massive turnout at a stadium not too far from where the summit is. At that point, the protests were quite peaceful and he was just railing on and on and on, I think maybe close to an hour. Careful not to use the president's name. It was clear who he was talking about and look, he is President Bush's nemesis in Latin America and part of the dynamic, the interesting sort of interplay of this summit has been whether or not the two of them would actually meet face to face, whether they would actually talk and whether there would be actual conflict, personal conflict between the two of them. Haven't seen it so far, but certainly it is something that the White House is trying to put aside, say it's just a sideshow. What they're trying to focus on is what maybe they say the other 32 leaders who are meeting here in Argentina really care about.

HENRY: Hey, Dana, it's Ed Henry and you and I both know there's been an adage or used to be anyway in Washington about politics stopping at the water's edge and when the president of either party was overseas you'd stop the attacks. But we were just talking about the onslaught that's continued from the Democrats and I'm sure Democrats will point out, in the Clinton years, the same happened from Republicans on the Hill. But specifically on Iraq, on Karl Rove, the onslaught has continued. How is the White House, the traveling White House, dealing with that?

BASH: Well, it's a really interesting point Ed, because the dynamic right now is that the president has a vice president that's still back in the United States and he is, as you well know, a primary target right now for the Democrats. So they're, as you know, being careful while he's abroad not to direct it personally, their attacks on President Bush. But they don't need to worry about it, because there's so much that they have to play with if you will back at home. But as far as the president goes, now he's tried to get away, certainly tried to focus on trade, on democracy here and sort of use the world stage to change the subject. But every day we see things like new polls coming out showing that he's, his already low approval is at an all-time low and of course, he's got up traveling with him, so they do have to face questions. The president didn't want to answer them and actually didn't answer a lot of the questions, but he still has to face them.

KING: And Dana, we have another question for you from our audience here at the George Washington University. Sir, what's your name and fire away.

QUESTION: I'm Blaine from Baton Rouge, Louisiana and I was wondering, regarding the CIA Karl Rove investigation, how will that affect the president's agenda for t he next three years and can he survive politically?

BASH: That is the $64,000 question and it is the question that everybody around Washington and probably around here in Argentina, they're all asking. Look, let's take them one step at a time. The president's agenda, nobody at the White House denies the fact that by and large, it's stalled. Remember Social Security reform? Remember - at least I do those town hall meetings. We went all over the country with the president, following him, saying he's going to change Social Security. Well, nobody's even talking about that right now. What they want to do is try to start anew at the beginning of the year, the state of the union in January always gives any president an opportunity to talk about new ideas and that's the White House plan for sure.

Second part, Karl Rove, this is an investigation that is still going on and that is part of the reason it is so hard for the White House to move on.

KING: Dana, I want to follow up on that point, because you had at this summit a remarkable moment. The president came before reporters, took a whole bunch of questions, didn't really answer any of them, but clearly the White House decided he had to stand there and take it for political reasons, take us behind the story. Why did they put the president out there when he clearly was going to say, can't answer, can't answer, can't answer.

BASH: You're right. Over and over again, it was a mantra. I can't answer the question. I can't answer the question. It's an ongoing investigation. So it was quite frustrating, the reporters trying to figure out different ways to ask the president a question about the investigation which he simply refused to answer. The big question is whether or not he's sort of like buying time, because he doesn't want to do that here and whether or not when he gets back, he's going to hear the pressure from Republicans, not just Democrats, but Republicans to give some kind of explanation to the American people that he hasn't done since last week when Scooter Libby was indicted.

KING: All right, Dana Bash in Argentina. We will follow your reports as you follow the president back here in Washington early next week. Thank you. And when we come back, the risk of the bird flu pandemic. CNN medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is back on that story after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: We're on the story now. Is the United States protecting itself from bird flu? Can it be done and at what cost? Is the $7.1 billion plan spelled out by President Bush in time to make a difference? CNN medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is on the bird flu story. Take a look now at her reporter's notebook.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right now in this flu season, which we are in right now, if there were to be a flu pandemic, this country would be in big trouble. There's no question about that. The biggest challenge is going to be explaining that if this pandemic were to happen, it could indeed be horrible. You have to strike this balance between scaring people and not scaring people. The very first thing that people can do if they're feeling panicked about this, is to think now about what you're doing for infection control.

Stay at home if you're sick, keep your kids home if you're sick and be prepared for public health authorities to tell us to do things that might seem a little odd. President Bush did (INAUDIBLE) major points about having enough anti-viral, having enough vaccines, having the right public health infrastructure. And one of the things that some of the doctors felt that he missed is that with millions of uninsured Americans who can't get health care now, how are they going to get health care during a pandemic?

KING: Elizabeth Cohen joins us now from the CNN center in Atlanta. Thank you Elizabeth. Our first question is from the audience. Sir, what's your name and fire away.

QUESTION: Gerald (ph) from Chandler, Arizona. Has the administration outlined how the $7.1 billion is to be allocated and is the focus now more on prevention or containment efforts?

COHEN: The focus is really on both of those things and the way that they've allocated these different things, some of it to developing a vaccine which obviously is really key and that would be prevention. Some of it is getting anti-viral stockpiling, getting more because we're woefully under prepared in that way and some of it also for public health messages about what to do if there is a pandemic, some of it to build more isolation rooms. So they're distributed across a variety of strategies.

KING: Going to keep it in our audience, Elizabeth stay with us. Sir, what's your name and what's your question?

QUESTION: Yes, Dan from Preston, Connecticut and I guess I'm old enough to have seen several strains of flu come and go over the years and I wondered what differentiates this strain from those that we've seen in the past. What makes an epidemic a pandemic?

COHEN: That's a terrific question. Now if you were alive in 1968 or 1957, I don't think you were alive in 1918, but in those other two years, you might have seen one of them, some of the pandemics that we've seen in the past 100 years. What separates it is that this is a totally new strain of the flu. There's almost no one in the world right now who has an immunity at all to the avian flu. However, when other strains of flu show up in pandemic years, many of us have some resistance to it so that we don't all get violently ill, but for example, the avian flu. It has killed about half of the 121 or so people that it's infected. That's a 50 percent mortality rate. That's incredibly high. So what it is is just a brand new strain that human beings haven't seen before so they have no resistance.

HENRY: Elizabeth, would you compare this at all to mad cow disease where a couple of years ago people were very worried about and fortunately it really did not become a problem in America. If you're thinking this is more serious, what do people really need to do? What do families need to do to prepare themselves?

COHEN: You know, it's interesting. Over this past week, the whole feeling around mad cow, John, that did come to my mind, that Americans got very anxious about something that wasn't here. The difference is that a flu pandemic really is much more of a public health threat. It's not here now. It may never in the coming years be here. That it might now happen right away in the next couple of years or so. But if this avian flu virus learned how to go quickly from person to person, which it has not learned how to do yet, but if it were to learn that, it would be a huge threat, really much bigger than mad cow.

KING: Elizabeth, how much of this is out of the control of the president or the Centers for Disease Control, the National Institutes of Health. People are polite in public when they talk about this, but what do your sources say privately about what the governments in the region most affected now in Asia. Are they doing enough? What do they need to do to do a better job?

COHEN: Right, what you hear people say privately all the time John is that countries like China have not been very forthcoming in the past about diseases in their area. You can think about SARS. SARS was around for quite a while before China said, you know what, we need help, before they would really own up to what was going on in their own country. So really, in this country, we can do as much as we possibly can, but if we can't get other countries, where these viruses tend to start, like in Asia, if we can't get them to be honest about what's going on in their country, that's a huge problem.

HENRY: Elizabeth, this is Ed Henry again and I wonder, what are some of the steps then that people can do since this may be a lot more serious than something like mad cow disease. What can families across the country do to get prepared and not just wait for the government to do it?

COHEN: Well, there's not a whole lot in many ways that people can do, but there's some very - there are some limited things that people can do. First of all, you can get used to it. Now is a good time to start, because we're in flu - flu season, get used to doing things like washing your hands more frequently than you probably do. Get used to doing things like if your child seems sick and you think, oh, should I keep him home from school or not, keep him home from school. When in doubt, keep him home, not just for their sake, but so they won't get other people sick, helpful during this kind of a flu season. That would be incredibly helpful during a pandemic season. Don't go to work if you're not feeling well and also, be prepared. Think about the fact that if there were to be a pandemic, the government would be asking us to do things that we're really not used to doing. They might say, you know what, don't get on an airplane unless you really, really need to. Or we're going to quarantine your house because we're concerned about people who are sick inside of it. Or you know what, no large public gatherings unless absolutely necessary. Those are measures that we as Americans are not used to, but could, if there was a pandemic, we might have to get used to.

KING: Elizabeth, you talk about the long-term threat here, it's John King again, what about now, the immediacy of other flues. We are heading into the winter season now. Are there enough flu shots? Last year we went through the almost rationing if you will of flu shots. There was a concern that there weren't enough. Are we prepared for the here and now?

COHEN: Right, John, what a difference a year makes. A year ago, we were seeing stories about people standing in line for hours and hours to get a flu shot, people getting very panicky. Now this year, there are plenty of flu shots and in fact, the CDC is saying something you really don't hear them say very often, which is come one, come all, the old, the young, the sick, the healthy, everyone come get your flu shot. Whereas what they used to say is please, only get your flu shot if you're high risk. So this year seems quite different. There seem to be enough flu shots at least at this point.

KING: Elizabeth Cohen in Atlanta, thank you very much Elizabeth. I'm sure we'll be seeing you back on the story on this flu pandemic threat, also other major medical stories in the day's ahead. And we'll be moving back to the big political debates of the week and how they're playing online. Internet reporter Jacki Scheckner is back in a moment on the story online. And we are on the story from Washington, Argentina, Boston and Atlanta, but also elsewhere this week, from rioting in Paris to political succession in Tokyo and Madrid. Take a look.

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Night after night, the rioting has not just continued, but spread to nine different suburbs, heavily populated with immigrants and the children of immigrants from North Africa who face high unemployment and discrimination. The government's inability to stop it has now gotten the full attention of everyone from the president of France on down.

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In appointing his new cabinet, Prime Minister Junichuro Korizumi (ph) is planning for his party's future without him. He has said that he expects ministers to quote, compete in implementing a reformist agenda as fast as possible. The grand prize perhaps, filling his shoes as prime minister.

AL GOODMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Spain's crown prince Philippe (ph) is the proud father of his first child, a baby girl and no small matter in Spain, where royal boys still outrank girls in the line of succession. But socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Ocatero (ph) has committed to pushing a constitutional reform that would give women the same right as men to inherit the throne.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

AL GOODMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): ... has committed to pushing a constitutional reform that would give women the same right as men to inherit the throne.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: More of ON THE STORY in just a moment. But first, a look at what's happening right now in the news.

Pirates fired upon and tried to board a luxury cruise liner off the African coast early today. The ship managed to get away from the attackers.

And U.S. and Iraqi troops are leading a major offensive against insurgents near the Syrian border right now. So far, dozens of insurgents are reported killed with no American deaths or serious wounds.

And there's still two months before the confirmation hearing. But lobbying for and against Judge Samuel Alito for the Supreme Court is ramping up. New poll numbers today. Americans across the country overwhelmingly undecided when it comes to how they feel about the president's pick.

At eight o'clock eastern, CNN PRESENTS: Reasonable Doubt. Can crime labs be trusted? CNN looks at serious flaws at the crime labs that could raise doubts about the validity of some evidence.

That's what's happening right now in the news. I'm Carol Lin. Now, more insight into the week's big stories. CNN's ON THE STORY continues.

JOHN KING, CNN HOST: Welcome back. We are ON THE STORY here on the campus of the George Washington University in our nation's capital.

The big political stories of the week rippled across the newspapers, the news casts and, of course, across the Internet.

We are ON THE STORY on-line with our On-line Internet reporter, Jacki Schechner.

Jacki, what are you seeing and hearing?

JACKI SCHECHNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, I don't have ON THE STORY. I have on the stories. We had a different big story every single day this week.

It started it out on Monday when Judge Samuel Alito was nominated to the Supreme Court. We thought that was going to be the big story all week long.

Then on Tuesday, President Bush announced his strategy for Pandemic Flu, and we spent the day digging around the website that he introduced, PandemicFlu.gov. By the way, not a bad sight. Pretty comprehensive. We dug into every link; every story to figure out what was going on. It's a good one to check out.

Then on Wednesday, Harry Reid went and shut down the Senate. And that became our story and we shifted focus back to Iraq and pre-war intelligence and the "Scooter" Libby indictment.

Then Libby went to court. And that was our story for most of the day on Thursday.

By Friday, we were focused on the rioting in Argentina, and it seemed like the bloggers were focused on the rioting in Paris. Essentially, something I like to call media whiplash.

And what I'd like to do now is bring in a couple of bloggers to talk about that syndrome and other things.

First we've got Steve Clemons, who writes thewashingtonnote.com. He's a senior fellow at the New America Foundation. This is a D.C. think tank. And he's actually joining us live by a web cam in Sante Fe, New Mexico, where he is taking part in a conference and giving a speech on politics and blogs.

Steve, thanks for being here.

STEVE CLEMONS, BLOG WRITER AND SENIOR FELLOW, NEW AMERICA FOUNDATION: Good to be here, Jacki.

SCHECHNER: We shipped over to the right -- We shipped over to the right with James Joyner, who is editor and chief of OUTSIDETHEBELTWAY.com, and he is a management analyst and a defense contractor in Virginia, and he is a combat veteran of Operation Desert Storm, has a Ph.D. in political science.

James, thank you for being here.

JAMES JOYNER, BLOG WRITER AND MANAGEMENT ANALYST, DEFENSE CONTRACTOR: Thanks for having me.

SCHECHNER: I want to start with you, Steve.

First question, a lot of big stories this week, definitely a busy news week. Do you tend to think that we have a short attention span in the media or were these all really good stories to focus on?

CLEMONS: I think these were tremendous stories, but we also have a tug-of-war going on between the White House leadership and the democratic leadership.

I think that, while they didn't control the riots in Paris, they certainly did have a lot to do -- You know, President Bush tried to change the conversation with America to make it about the Supreme Court on Monday. And Harry Reid wanted it back on the Libby indictment and the clouds over Karl Rove and about WMD and intel abuses. And when he shutdown the Senate, I think, he pretty successfully brought the conversation back to those issues.

SCHECHNER: James, over to you.

As a conservative blogger, I'm sure you also expected the nomination of Judge Alito to be the big story all week long, especially after all the vocal dissent on-line over the nomination of Miers. Were you at all surprised that he seemed to drop off the radar by the end of the week?

JOYNER: Well, you're always sort of the victim of the news cycle and, you know, things happen. It's unusual that this many big stories are happening.

But the Alito story sort of, you know, partly the republicans have helped push it off the radar screen by sort of checking the nomination battle in the Senate until January. It's really sort of no longer really a high priority story right now, so it's one that will keep. Whereas, these others, you know, you've got immediate sort of exciting footage from the television cameras and, you know, that's what's going to drive coverage, especially on television.

SCHECHNER: So I heard word that John King has a question. John? KING: Gentlemen and Jacki standby. We have a question from our audience here.

What's your name and what's your question?

KATHY FROM BETTENDORF, IOWA: Hi, Kathy from Bettendorf, Iowa. And I was just wondering if it seems that the reaction of the conservative bloggers, after the nomination of Harriet Miers, had anything to do with the president's new nomination of Samuel Alito?

KING: That's a great question.

SCHECHNER: James, why don't we start with you?

JOYNER: It is an interesting question. It's one that's been debated a little bit in the blogs. I think, probably not so much the bloggers. Probably, the whole sort of conservative opinion that's sort of correlesced around the Miers opinion had some impact.

But, I think, mostly in terms in of making sure that they got a traditionally qualified nominee in terms of the resume, more so than somebody who's necessarily ideologically more secure. In fact, I would argue that Miers was probably a more reliable conservative vote than Alito is going to be, and certainly than Roberts was. But getting somebody who's just so obviously qualified resume-wise, I think, sort of took the steam out of it.

SCHECHNER: Steve, you want to weigh in?

CLEMONS: Very quickly, I think, bloggers like David Crum had a very significant degree of influence. You know, David knew Harriet was out of the White House and is a prominent neo-conservative blogger, who is out very quickly with his critique of Harriet Miers.

And, I think, that whether you want to say that it was Sam Brownback and the Senators who really did pull the rug from underneath Harriet, I think, that's accurate. But, I think, David Crum influenced those Senators and affected the ecosystem for that debate.

KING: Jackie and gentlemen, thank you very much. We'll see you back ON THE STORY On-line.

Of course, coming up, generosity and family loyalty after the hurricanes. A Pennsylvania woman opened her door to Louisiana relatives and dozens came in. Alina Cho is back on that story after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: CNN is on the story two months since Hurricane Katrina. For many storm victims, life is still very much a struggle.

CNN correspondent, Alina Cho, tells how one Lancaster, Pennsylvania, woman reached out to her Louisiana family, her extended family. She opened her doors to more than 50 relatives, and more than 30 are still there. Here's Alina's Notebook. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This story shows you that a lot of people are still a long ways from being able to be on their own again.

(voice-over): The biggest challenge is getting away from the noise. I mean, there were a million conversations going on at once. So we were constantly having to gently tell the kids to, maybe, go to another room, move to other rooms so that we could get some peace and quiet, though, it was hard to find that.

And it was even hard to shoot in such tight quarters. Some of the rooms, some of the bedrooms in particular, were so packed with boxes and clothes that you couldn't move around in them.

I think, it's important to tell stories outside the Gulf region. Having spent some time there, I can tell you how the story directly affects the people who are still living there. But this is a story that affects people who are 1200 miles away.

And it also shows that, two months after the hurricane, people are still in transition mode. The kids may be in school, but the adults are still trying to find work. They're still trying to find a place to live.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KING: And Alina joins us now. Uplifting, also quite sobering.

Alina, thanks for joining us ON THE STORY. Ed Henry has the first question.

ED HENRY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Alina, I want you to take us inside the atmospherics there, inside the house. I mean, obviously we've all been, not quite through this kind of situation, but close quarters with family members and squabbles come up sometimes. I mean, how do you navigate through a home like that?

CHO: Well, first of all, I can tell you the first thing I noticed when I walked into the room, walked into the house was that it was like Grand Central Station. As I mentioned before, a million conversations going on at once. You can't really make sense of anything. And it's hard to get or find a place where you can get some peace and quiet.

Yes, two months later, I think, it's important to remember that these are family members not always get along. There are going to be fights. But this woman, Pat Edwards and her husband, they run a tight ship. They call a family meeting and they said, "Hey, this isn't a time to fight. We all love you. We've opened our homes to you. Remember that you got out with your lives. You may not have your homes, but you're alive and be thankful for that."

KING: That's pretty amazing. Alina, stand by, I have question now from our audience.

Sir, what's your name and your question?

CLYDE FROM HORSHAM, U.K.: Thank you. I'm Clyde from Horsham in the U.K. Do you think New Orleans will ever recover its standing it had before Katrina, or is it a city that's destined really to wither on the vine?

CHO: Well, it's hard to say. You know, I've spent two tours there. I'm going to go back to New Orleans again next week.

It's a city in recovery mode, I can tell you that. I spent some time there just after the storm and it was devastating to see the city in ruins. And really, that's the way to describe it.

When I went back a couple of weeks ago, it was really heartwarming to see that things had changed. Particularly, in the French Quarter. John King and I were there at the same time. There was electricity. We were happy for that; running water.

The city is coming back, but half the city is still without power. And only a quarter of the residents have returned. So it will be a long time before people really come back to the city.

KING: And Alina, another question from our audience.

Sir, your name and your question.

ANDREW FROM SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA: Hi, I'm Andrew from Sacramento, California. Do you think it could be a lack of faith in the protective powers of the federal government that's caused many New Orleans citizens to choose not to return home?

CHO: You know, you hear that from some people, and I appreciate that question. But I can tell you, having spent time with this family in Pennsylvania just last week, that a lot of it depends, I have to say, on whether these people have children.

If you think about it, if you've moved to another place, you put your children in school. You may not have a job, but your kids have been displaced once. You may not want to displace them again. And I find time and time again, whether I talk to families in Baton Rouge or Pennsylvania or New Jersey, people who are displaced throughout 44 or more states in the nation, that it really depends on whether they have children.

Some people who don't have children are vowing to go back. And certainly Mayor Ray Nagin is hoping that those people will come back.

KING: Alina, expand on that a little bit, because I found the same thing. I met a family that lives up here now and they say they want to go back, but their kids are into new schools. So part of it is a family issue. Part of it is an economic issue. When you talk to the parents, I mean, how does that tear them?

CHO: Well, I think that's -- You know, listen. These families talk about how they miss the gumbo, how they miss the culture. I mean, you know, you've spent time there, John, and I have too. Sadly, I didn't spend any time in New Orleans before the storm.

But, you know, it is a culture. It's the Big Easy and people talk about, you know, the music and the jazz and the cuisine. People will miss that. But, again, I think it depends on whether they have children. I mean, these people are vowing -- despite the fact that many of them don't have jobs yet or have homes to live in. They're in temporary shelters or housing, hotels, living with families.

They want to go back in some sense, but in another sense, they don't want to displace their families again.

KING: Alina Cho, thank you for that inspiring story. We'll continue to watch, and safe travels as you continue covering the aftermath of the hurricanes.

And just ahead, honoring a civil rights pioneer, Rosa Parks, and why touched both young and old. CNN's Dan Lothian is back on that story in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) KING: Civil rights pioneer, Rosa Parks, was buried this week and we are on that story.

Boston bureau chief, Dan Lothian, went to Detroit for her funeral. He saw how she is honored by people of different races and different ages. Here's Dan's Reporter's Notebook.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the thing that you find out as you talk to people is that, you know, they didn't have to know Rosa Parks.

(voice-over): They didn't have to meet Rosa Parks. Yet, everyone feels like they have a piece of Rosa Parks with them.

(on camera): The other thing was just the commitment that people wanted to come here. It wasn't enough for people to just sit back at home and watch this on television.

(voice-over): They wanted to be here. As people stood in the lines, waiting to go in for hours and hours and hours, they were singing gospel songs. And they would even revise some of the gospel songs to include Rosa Park's name. A lot of heartfelt emotion as people celebrated her life.

The biggest surprise is that the young people. You see so many young people out here. Fifty years ago we're talking about. Many people were not alive at that time and so, for many, this is an introduction really. Not just African-Americans, but across all races. People are being, perhaps, reintroduced to Rosa Parks.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KING: And Dan Lothian joins us now from my hometown, the great city of Boston. Dan, I'll tell you, you had the job of the week. A sad days in many ways but an eye on history. Ed Henry has our first question.

HENRY: Dan, I wonder, obviously it was a very powerful story to cover, what was it like for Dan Lothian the person, not just Dan Lothian the reporter, to be there and see that?

LOTHIAN: Well obviously, as an African-American, it was touching to be there. And then to watch all of the people who had stood in line for so long. I talked about that a few seconds ago. About how people waited for hours and hours, and even lined up the night before at the funeral. Because they wanted to get inside.

It wasn't enough, as I mentioned, sit at home and watch it on television. But they really wanted to be there. They wanted to walk by that casket and say goodbye to Rosa Parks.

And I was talking to one person and I said, you know, I'm here to cover the funeral for Rosa Parks, and he said, "Oh, you mean the celebration for Rosa Parks." They really, everyone felt that this really was a celebration, because it was pointing out what one woman was able to do. One woman who wasn't a leader. She wasn't a president or anything like that. She was just one woman who had one small act, and she changed a lot of people's lives.

KING: And Dan, we have a question now from our audience.

Ma'am, your name and your question?

MARY KAY FROM CHICAGO: Mary Kay from Chicago. Based on the interviews with Rosa Parks over the years, how did she view her role in American history, and how would she like to be remembered?

LOTHIAN: Well, it's amazing that she never really expected that all of this would have transpired by just sitting down on that bus and refusing to give up her seat.

In an interview on LARRY KING LIVE, about a little more than five years ago, she talked about that. She was asked if she ever thought that that one act would have lead to the civil rights movement, that it did, that spark that started the fire. And she said, "No, I never expected it."

And then there were all those reports about whether or not she was sitting down because her feet hurt at the time and she did not want to stand up. She said, "Listen, the only thing that I didn't want to do that day was to give up my seat to someone who paid the same amount that I did to ride on that bus."

KING: A great point. Dan, stand by. Another question from our audience.

Stand on up. Say hi to Dan, your name and your question.

EMILY FROM CHICAGO: Hi, Emily from Chicago. With the death of Rosa Parks, a door in the history of civil rights has been closed. In what ways can contemporary civil rights activists learn from her example?

LOTHIAN: Well, she really focused a lot in the later part of her life on educating young people, young black kids. And that is what some of the civil rights leaders point to that should be the focus of the future.

Everyone talks about how education is so important, which can lift some of these African-American young people out of poverty, that can give them a good future. And so that is the one thing, I believe, that people can take away from her life.

And also the fact, going back to what I said a few seconds ago, that one person can do so much with just one small act. We believe that we have to be running a company or a network or have a major position in order to make a mark on society. But what she pointed out to a lot of people is that you can do great things with just one small act.

KING: Dan, interested in your thoughts. You obviously had a who's who of the civil rights movement. A who's who of mostly democratic politics inside. One thing I was struck by, the Reverend Al Sharpton essentially lecturing the hip-hop industry saying they portray women in these violent sexual ways, essentially saying when you write those songs, think, could you look Rosa Parks in the eye? Was essentially his challenge. I'm wondering how that tone went over?

LOTHIAN: Well, you heard that and, not only that, but you heard a lot of other talk about political issues as well. There were a lot of civil rights leaders represented there. As you mentioned, a who's who of civil rights leaders. And they used that platform to really tell whatever message they felt was important at the time because they knew they had a big audience.

So whether is was challenging young people about, what they believe, are the harmful affects of rap music or rap videos, or whether it was some political statement that they wanted to make, they used that particular moment, believing that that's something Rosa Parks would have wanted.

KING: Dan Lothian with an eye on quite a remarkable historic story this week. Dan, thank you for joining us and we'll see you soon back ON THE STORY.

Ed and I will be back in just a minute with what we're expecting on our beats next week. Stay with us right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: And keep yourself ON THE STORY at CNN.com. Our website tells you about the panel, the topics and how to get tickets to join our audience.

Let's take a quick look ahead ON THE STORY.

Ed, what's up for you in the week ahead?

HENRY: Samuel Alito, the president's Supreme Court pick, of course, will be back on the hill. I'll be watching that closely.

But, I think, an even bigger story may be the fact that oil executives have been called up to the Senate on Wednesday. A lot of lawmakers in both parties very nervous about these gas prices. Particularly republicans are calling them in to find out about these record profits, and they are even some Republicans saying there, maybe, should be an oil-windfall-profit tax redirected to people with their home heating costs. A lot of other Republicans are saying that's a bad idea.

What about yourself?

KING: I'm going to try to look at a number of things. But one of them is, the one thing, I think, both the left and the right agree on when it comes to Judge Alito, it is an opportunity to raise money. A lot of fundraising going on around this nomination fight. I'm going to take a look at that story in the week ahead.

Thanks to my colleagues and especially our audience here at the George Washington University.

And thank you for watching ON THE STORY. We'll be back each week, Saturday night, Sunday afternoon. Straight ahead, the check on what's making news right now.

LIN: Good evening. I'm Carol Lin with a look at what's happening right now in the news.

A U.S.-based cruise ship continues...

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