tv Anderson Cooper 360 CNN April 13, 2012 7:00pm-8:00pm PDT
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it. >> what can i say? you make a decision based upon your understanding of the circumstances, and you live with it. that's the best you can do. there's nothing can you do about yesterday. >> no, i guess there isn't. but like i said, however bad your day's been, spare a thought for ron wayne. that's all for us tonight. ac 360 starts now. thanks, piers. it's 10:00 p.m. on the east coast. we begin with "keeping them honest." a new and troubles chopper in the saga that landed these murderers on the street their records wiped clean free to vote and live where they please and free to buy guns as if their deadly crimes never happened. we're talking about former mississippi governor haley barbour. on his way out of office, he pardoned those men. he repeatedly refused to answer simple questions about his actions. all those killers got their first big break when they were
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chosen to work as servants at the governor's mansion for the governor, then they were pardoned. according to a report from the mississippi attorney general's office, two even got car buying help from the governor's wife. governor barbour disputes that. as we said, "360" has uncovered another facet of the story. more evidence that calls the entire process to question and suggests there was a rush to pardon the people before checking the facts. this one concerns the pardon of harry bostick. for his third dui, he was pardoned for his third dui, even though he was suspected of committing a fourth dui at the time. governor barbour's office says they didn't know that fact before they pardoned him on the third dui. tonight we know otherwise and we'll have more on that. another example it seems, the governor or his office, saying one thing and the facts say another. here's how he justified pardoning the killers.
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>> for decades our governor's mansion has been served primarily by inmates from the state penal system, almost all murderers, because the experts say people that committed one crime of passion in their life, after they've served 20 years and they have served on around 20 years, are the least likely torch ever commit another crime >> we pointed out before that experts say governor barbour's theory is full of holes but these were hardly crimes of passion. one killer murdered his victim during a holdup. another stalked his estranged wife and shot her to death as she held their child in her arms before you were thing the gun on her friend, randy walker. >> i mean, a crime of passion, to me is if you come home from a business trip or from lunch unexpected and you find your spouse doing something they're not supposed to and you snap and beat them to death with a lamp on the side of the bed table or something. you don't drive nine hours from georgia, stalk us all night long, follow me to my house, find out where i live. sleep on it all night long, get up and hunt us down the next
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morning and then do it. there's plenty of time to stop what you've done here. and that's one of the questions that if governor barbour would ever manup enough to talk to me, that's the question i'd ask him. how is this a crime of passion? show me how this is a crime of passion? >> randy walker said he got 24 hours notice that david gatlin was being set free. he said he never had a chance to fight gatlin's transfer to the governor's mansion or the pardon. as for the mother and sister of the victim, this is what governors barbour claimed about keeping them in the loop. >> they disagree with your decision. >> they came and met with my lawyers two years ago. >> governor barbour claims his lawyers met with your family two years before david glen gatlin's release. is that true? >> no, that's absolutely false. we have had no contact with the governor or his lawyers, any of his people. no one has made an attempt to contact us. >> nor has the former governor
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shown any inclination at all to answer any questions about any this. >> governor, ed lavandera with cnn, can we talk to you? >> let me get my instructions first. >> can you give us a second? he wouldn't give us a second, and walked right inside the building but not before showing us what he thought of the questions. >> governor, can you talk to us about the pardons? >> we'll wait for you out here then. >> just told me to stay where i'm cold. >> governor, can we get a few minutes to talk about the pardons with you? >> not really. when the supreme court rules it will be time to talk. i'm not so presumptuous to predict what the supreme court is going to do. but when they rule then we can talk. >> well, mississippi supreme court ruled and upheld the pardons. but governor barbour wouldn't talk to us, still won't answer our questions. but ed lavandera kept digging and he found another surprising chapter in the pardon story.
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watch. >> you have any questions? whenever you're ready. >> police dashcam cameras captured these stumbles in mississippi. the retired irs investigator was a familiar face to the officer who arrested him twice. >> i know who you are. >> reporter: in all, he was convicted of drunk driving three times between 2008 and 2009. >> have you been drinking today? >> reporter: he was serving a felony sentence in an alcohol abuse program, not in prison, when he asked former mississippi governor, hailey barbour to pardon him. friends say bostic's life fell into a destructive course after the death his teenaged son in a house fire and divorce from his wife. influential people including former prosecutors who are friends with top state-elected officials write glowing letters to barbour saying he no longer drinks alcohol and had turned his life around. last september, the mississippi parole board in a 3-2 vote, recommended a pardon for bostick but fate had him on a collision course with an 18-year-old girl
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named charity smith. >> all i think about is my child every day. >> linda smith weeps when she talks about her daughter. about a week after the parole board's vote, charity pulled out on to this road near tup low, mississippi, apparently not seeing harry bostick's truck coming down the road. he slammed into the side of her car, charity was killed. regardless of who was at fault state police say one thing was clear. bostick was driving drunk again. >> charity was quite the artist. >> i think so. >> reporter: it was just one week after the parole board's recommendation, three months later governor barbour would pardon bostick, despite his continued drinking.
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on the day haley barbour pardoned him, he was sitting in this jail in oxford, mississippi, suspected of driving drunk awe fourth time involved in the accident that killed charity smith. at the time we first reported the story, the governor spokeswoman said the governor had no idea that this had happened but now we've obtained documents that suggest the governor's office knew all along. bob whitwell, a former federal prosecutor was one of the friends that pushed for his pardon but days after the deadly car accident, and before bostick was pardoned he wrote a much different e-mail to his law school friend, the current secretary of state in mississippi. he writes -- my friend was involved in a motor vehicle accident and he had been drinking. i had no idea he had messed up. therefore, hold up on helping him. all of us are in shock. sorry. the e-mail was forwarded to the governor's office and barbour's
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chief lawyer said okay, will do. despite the e-mail, the governor helped anyway and pardoned bostick. >> this is the e-mail we wanted you to see. >> it means they knew and they still pardoned him. >> reporter: this was four days after charity was killed? >> four days. that's not right. this is not right. >> reporter: in february, we tried to ask governor barbour about bostick's pardon. governor can we get a few minutes to talk about the pardon with you? >> not really. when the supreme court rules -- >> reporter: we went back to the governor again looking for answers. >> do you regret pardoning -- >> reporter: once again, barbour refused and his spokes wyoming said since this issue could go back before the state supreme court, we do not think that it is appropriate to comment beyond what governor barbour has already stated previously.
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linda smith is convinced the former governor knew and ignored it. >> i just want to know why he went ahead and done it? knowing, why would you go ahead and do it? >> reporter: do you feel helpless? >> yes. because what can i do? i mean, really, what can i do? it's done. what's so bad is they knew and it still got done. how do you fix that? >> reporter: it can't be fixed and to linda smith, the pardon of harry bostick stinks of corruption. ed lavandera, cnn oxford, mississippi. >> again, we keep trying to get haley barbour to sit down with us any time, any place to give us his side of the story. and the invitation remains open. i spoke with linda smith earlier. how are you holding up, linda? >> i take each day the best i can.
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i miss my daughter so very much. >> it doesn't get any easier, does it? >> no, it doesn't. >> the last time we spoke you said you believed the governor's office when they said they were not aware of a fourth dui charge. now you've seen the e-mails and know that they were, in fact, aware of the fourth charge. what went through your mind when you found that out? >> i could not understand why they still did it. knowing and why didn't they stop it? why did he go ahead and do it? i don't understand that. when you have something stating someone is sitting somewhere for the same thing, only a person has died, who does that? i don't understand that. >> it doesn't make any sense
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to you that they would go ahead and do that, knowing about the fourth dui? >> no. and another thing i don't understand is if all these people wrote letters stating that this person has changed, why didn't more people come forward and -- they had to have known where he was. only one person or is there more and we just don't know about it? >> he was in jail at the time the pardon came through? >> yes. >> has haley barbour or anyone from his office contacted you? >> no. no, they haven't. >> and no one has contacted you to try to explain it?
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>> no. no one has called me. >> what do you want to happen to this man? to harry bostick? >> them knowing what they did and still pardoning him, i don't see how they can do that. i don't see how that pardon could stand up. i mean, i don't understand that part. how can that happen? >> what do you want people to remember about your daughter? i mean, to keep in mind about your daughter in all of this? >> that she had a future, a wonderful future. and she's not here to fulfill it anymore. that her dreams, they'll never -- just as she was saying to me just zaz before that, she said, mom, i'm not going to lose sight of my dreams. i'm going to get my degree and
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i'm going to do the things i set out to do. and now, she will not. i mean, she will never feel the sun on her face. she'll never grow up. she'll never have a family. >> linda, thank you for talking to us. we're going to keep on this. thank you. stay strong. >> you're welcome. >> let us know what you think. we're on facebook, google plus or follow me on twitte twitter @andersoncooper. i'll be tweeting tonight. if there was a pill to help protect your eye health as you age... would you take it? well, there is. [ male announcer ] it's called ocuvite.
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new developments in the trayvon martin case starting with the moment of the courtroom drama. the judge called a brief hearing to make a disclosure involving her ties to cnns newest legal analyst, who referred to defendant george zimmerman to his current attorney, mark o'mara. >> it's my understanding that mr. zimmerman had called mark
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mejai to represent him prior to you. as i've mentioned previously, my husband worked with mark. he only practices civil law and he does not practice criminal law at this time. i wanted to make both parties aware pursuant to the judicial cannons and under my obligations i wanted to disclose this to you as soon it was possible. that's why i set this hearing first thing this morning. and that way you all can decide how you wish to proceed. >> neither side has asked the judge to recuse herself but mark said he might file a motion next week. a bond hearing is set for next friday. the formal arraignment is may 29th. the actual trial may not begin for many, many months. in the meantime we're learning about zimmerman's daily activity in the county jail. he has no access to tv or tobacco. he can get reading material from the jail library or by mail order and can purchasing items from the commissary.
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his first order included toiletries, clothing, puzzle books, playing cards and snack food. and he gets three meals a day and three hours of recreation each week. that's a quick rundown of george zimmerman's physical circumstances. his mental state and his case going forward i talked with it to his new attorney, mark o'mara. mr. o'mara, you spoke with your client. how is he doing? >> i think he's stressed. he is certainly nervous. mark o'mara. it's been a long process for him including the imposed isolation of the last several weeks and now he's facing second-degree murder charges and if nothing else, the dress of having been involved in an event where someone passed away. >> what are his thoughts about the charges against him in the proceedings thus far? >> neither he nor i have seen the evidence presented by the state. it's hard to really say whether or not the charges of second-degree were appropriate or overcharging. we'll have to wait to see. he's frustrated he was charges at all. but i think he's at least --
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there's some solace in the reality that we now have some procedure in place, and he knows what will happen next, rather than constantly guessing. >> you've decided to hold off on pursuing bail for your client, why? >> couple reasons. i'm not certain the county court judge that was handling this would address it anyway, even if i pushed him. probably more importantly, truly trying to get a handle on the case and to try to turn down the heat. and were i to demand a bond, then that would put the state in a position of having to bring forth evidence to argue against the bond, which would have just been more public presentation of the evidence, firstly, without me having had an opportunity to review it, and i just made the decision with george that we weren't going to push the issue now. we have a bond motion filed and i think it's set for hearing the end of next week. i would like to have continued discussions with the state attorney's office to see if there's a way to come to some resolution to that. we'll see.
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>> the two gentlemen who previously were identified as his attorneys, whether or not there was any actual documents signed, it seems there wasn't, they seem to characterize him as suffering from ptsd, joe oliver, a friend of george zimmerman has also said similar things. do you think that's a fair characterization? >> if he's going to be diagnosed with something, that's going to come after a consultation, and an expert, like a psychologist or psychiatrist will make that determination. having done this for many, many years you get a feel for these things. i was able to interact with him very well. he's rational, certainly. and he understands what's going on. he is extraordinarily stressed, as anyone would be if they were in george zimmerman's position. >> so at this point, you really have not talked to george zimmerman about what happened that night, the facts of the case? >> i have not. >> you're waiting to talk to prosecution. >> i will have a conversation
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and i don't like having it in the jail but we'll talk about more particulars of the case. i'd love to have that conversation with him at my office when he's out on bond. i'm not just going to wait to see what the state says before i talk to him. we're building our trust level and it's already at a good point where i'll have those conversations with him soon. >> in terms of timeline, you're looking at a long time before trial, no? >> i would imagine a case like this, the fact that it's a second-degree with these elements, it's not an enormous amount of facts specific to the case. it's a limited number of witnesses, it happened over a limited period of time. we'll look into it but i have to be realistic that the focus of the case is going to slow down some, so i can't imagine this case being tried within a year. >> and finally, do you know when you will start to see the evidence that the prosecution has? >> i talked to the prosecutors who were involved in the case, miss corey and her assistance,
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and we're already beginning the process of getting the discovery. under the rules i don't deserve it or get it until 15 days after the arraignment but we're not going to wait that long. the state will work with me on that. >> mr. o'mara, appreciate your time. thank you. >> sure thing. >> last night trayvon martin's brother broke his silence and talked about the brother he lost. he talks about the below he knew and whether he was capable of attack george zimmerman. that's next. ttd# 1-800-345-2550 ttd# 1-800-345-2550 at charles schwab, we provide ttd# 1-800-345-2550 a full range of financial products, ttd# 1-800-345-2550 even if they're not ours. ttd# 1-800-345-2550 and we listen before making our recommendations, ttd# 1-800-345-2550 so we can offer practical ideas that make sense for you. ttd# 1-800-345-2550 ttd# 1-800-345-2550 so talk to chuck, and see how we can help you, not sell you. ttd# 1-800-345-2550 but not how we get there. because in this business, there are no straight lines. only the twists and turns of an unpredictable industry.
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he has a lot to say softly and quietly about what his younger brother meant to him. what kind of person he was and whether he was capable of doing that what george zimmerman claims. that story now. >> to javaaris, trayvon martin was the little brother that shared his room growing up. a little brother that loved to make jokes, was good at sports and wanted to follow his older brother to college. >> he was smart. he was in, you know, honor's classes. you know? he wanted to go off to college like i did. and i think it was my sophomore year he came up with me on his spring break and he had a good time. i showed him around. showed him the campus. you know, so, he was set on going to school. >> reporter: one of his last happy memories of his brother is a horseback riding trip they took together in february to celebrate their mother's birthday. it was trayvon's first time on a
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horse. >> his horse had like, some problems and it was -- it wanted to be a bully to everybody else's horse. >> how did he handle that? >> he handled it. he was the first one to learn how to, like, control them. they tell you little instructions how to make them turn left and right. he, like the first five minutes, you know, it was doing whatever he wanted. >> just eight days after the trip, trayvon martin was shot and killed. >> tell me what about when you first heard about what happened to trayvon? >> i looked at my phone and i saw i had some missed calls, one of them was my mother. so i, you know, i gave her a call. i could tell that something wasn't right. she told me that tray passed away. and i paused. because i didn't believe it, and i didn't understand it either.
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>> reporter: he says he didn't understand it because the story that developed about that night didn't sound like the brother he knew. when you found out what happened, how did you feel? >> confused. everything i heard was in zimmerman's perspective. it didn't sound like my brother at all. you know? my brother, attacked him and did all this stuff. it doesn't sound like him at all. he wasn't confrontational or violent. >> let's talk about that. george zimmerman's brother has been giving a lot of interviews. and he says that trayvon, your brother, attacked his brother from behind. you just said that didn't make sense to you, why is that? >> based on what i heard with the 911 tapes and everything and all the evidence, he tried to get away from the situation.
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he wasn't violent. for him to actually, you know, jump on someone, he doesn't even know, to me, that's not him. that's not the brother you know. >> yeah. he's smarter than that. >> though he says he's relieved george zimmerman was arrested he wants changes to florida's "stand your ground" law. >> there shouldn't be any more trayvons. not tomorrow, not next week, not next month, not next year. you know? someone shouldn't be able to murder someone and walk away. >> what do you want people to know about your brother? >> i would like them to remember him as a happy teenager. he was always smiling. i would like them to think of him that way. you know, as someone who's
quote
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positive, happy, bright future ahead of him. and, you know -- he was probably going to be someone. >> sunny hostin, cnn, new york. >> we're following a number of other stories tonight. isha is here with our 360 bulletin. the cease-fire appears to be holding so far. the proponents put it to the test today, taking to the streets in various protests. there was sporadic violence. opposition groups report seven people were killed today. residents of a small town in greenland, new hampshire, mourn the death of their police chief shot and killed last night in a day long stand-off and shootout outside a home. he was just day as way from retirement. the mayor of newark, new jersey jumped into action last night and rescued a neighbor from her burning home. corey booker suffered smoke inhalation and second degree burns on his right hand.
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his neighbor was also hospitalized on her hands. and a bit of a breather for those that haven't filed their taxes yet, you have two extra days. tax day is next tuesday, april 17th, because april 15th falls on a sunday and the 16th is a holiday in washington, d.c. the law says tax day cannot fall on weekends or holidays. mitt romney hunting for votes, but how did his speech stack up to his position on gun control? the earth's gravitationl and hurtle us all into space. which would render retirement planning unnecessary. but say the sun rises on december 22nd, and you still need to retire. td ameritrade's investment consultants can help you build a plan that fits your life. we'll even throw in up to $600 when you open a new account or roll over an old 401(k). so who's in control now, mayans? are choosing advil®.
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gave his first big speech since becoming the presumptive nominee. he painted himself as the nra best friend and president obama as its enemy. >> this administration's attack on freedom extends to rights explicitly guaranteed by the constitution. the right to bear arms is so plainly stated, so unambiguous, the liberals have a hard time challenging it directly. instead, they've been employing every imaginable ruse and ploy to restrict it. we need a president that will enforce current laws and not create new ones that only serve to burden lawful gun owners. president obama has not. i will. >> "keeping them honest", there's been very little gun-related legislation on the federal level in the last four years. and romney's own record on gun control has put him at odds with the nra in the past. while running for governor of massachusetts, he positioned himself as strong on gun control. >> we do have tough gun laws in massachusetts. i support them. i won't chip away at them. i believe they help to protect
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us and provide for our safety but i want our law-abiding citizens, likewise to purchase and use a weapon for hunting and other purposes. >> that was romney in 2002. his tough stance helped getting him elected. then he signed a ban on assault rifles and then, governor romney said deadly assault weapons have no place in massachusetts. they are instruments of destruction with the sole purpose of hunting down and killing people. governor romney increased gun licensing fees. just before leaving office he signed up for a lifetime membership to the nra and as his first presidential run got under way he began courting the nra while still trying to distance himself from some of its positions. >> my position on guns is the same position i've had for a long, long time. and that position is -- i don't line up 100% with the nra. i don't see eye to eye with the nra. i also was pleased to have the
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support of the nra when i ran for governor. i sought it. i seek it now. i'd love to have their support and i believe in the right of americans to bear arms. >> well, keeping them honest, though, the nra didn't officially endorse the candidate when romney was running for governor. in the 2007 primaries romney talked more about his love for hunting. that january he told the boston globe, i have a gun of my own. i'm a member in the nra and believe firmly in the right to bear arms. romney later admitted he didn't actually own any guns. the guns he used belonged to one of his sons. a few months later, he put his hunting skills into perspective. >> i'm not a big game hunter. i'm a rodent and rabbit hunter. small varmints if you will. i began when i was 15 and have hunted those kinds of varmints more than two times. i also hunted quail in georgia. it's not really big-game hunting if you will, not deer and large animals. >> we're not telling anybody
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what to think about guns or hunting, that's up to you to decide. today mitt romney is hunting for votes and he needs the nra support. joining me now, cnn contributor e erick erickson and democratic strategist and political contributor donna brasile. last time, mitt romney got a lot of grief after he said he hunted varmints, so called. he didn't make one personal comment in the whole speech. do you think that's a better approach? >> i think he probably wants to keep the personal out of it. every time he's tried to relate anecdotes about himself and guns it hadn't come off very well for him. he has these issues. barack obama has the national security issues from when he campaigned to close guantanamo
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bay and it's still opened. they are both going bob held accountable and that's what's going to make this campaign so found for both sides. >> romney only mentioned guns one time but mentioned president obama's name at least 25 times. is it safe to say romney's team is basically on the offensive now? >> absolutely not. mitt romney is running as fast as he possibly can from his previous record. not only on guns, but just about, you name the topic and i can show you clips as you just showed us. mitt romney previous support for planned parenthood. no longer supports planned parenthood. support for civil unions. no longer supports civil unions. the problem is that mitt romney is running for president and he wants to be all things to all team and president obama in hits re-election campaign makes it clear to voters when it comes to gun ownership he supports the second amendment and he'll continue to enforce the constitutional amendment but for mitt romney, put it this way, we don't know where he'll stand next week on many of these issues. >> despite the claims, the irony is that president obama hasn't
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been as supportive on new gun control measures as some would like him to be? he's not out there misleading voters. >> he's the president of the united states and the second amendment is enshrined in our constitution and he's taken the oath of office to support the second amendment. he firmly supports the second amendment and this notion that democrats -- we have democrats who are responsible gun owners who support the second amendment, and we have some democrats, perhaps like myself, who believe that we need to make sure that guns are in the hands of responsible people. and we need responsible common sense gun laws. but the president's been clear. >> one of the big problems is the president also seems to support the second amendment for mexican drug owners and mexican drug cartels and that can be a big issue in the campaign. how they've handled that. the delightful thing for political consultants and strategists this time around the president has said as many things as mitt romney has on issues and flipped. both sides can hold the other side accountable for the flipping and we can, i guess, ignore that the economy doesn't seem to be doing well and jobs aren't coming back as quickly as they are and 75% of americans
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seem to be upset about the direction of the country. which i think by november, all these other flip-flopping and ancillary issues from guantanamo bay and warrantless wiretaps won't matter. what will matter is whether the president came up with an economic plan and passed a budget to get something happening on the economy. >> and we welcome that debate because mitt romney's record, as governor of massachusetts, his record at bain capital is also fair game. ask the american people if they want to take what i kyle a bypass on this election, they're ready to have this conversation. i think we have been talking about it. it's just that the republicans won't come to the table because as you well know from the cnn debate, 10-1. ten spending cuts to $1 in tax revenue. the republicans said "no." this is a debate that -- this is
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what the election is about. not about personalities. it's about what your plan is for the future. if we talk plans i think president obama will win. >> what do you men about the mexican drug cartel thing? >> the operation "fast and furious" there was a report today that -- >> okay, you're referring to fast and furious? >> yeah. i think that's going to be a problem. mitt romney mentioned that in his speech today but as more comes out, that's a question we've got to answer and there's a bigger national issue there. what did the government do? not barack obama per se, but what did the american government do running guns across the border into mexico? i think there are a lot of democrats and republicans and independent who is still want answers in that investigation. >> we're looking into that on this show a lot. erick erickson, donna brazile, appreciate it. a fascinating look at a experimental surgery to treat severe depression with electrodes implanted into the brain to get deep brain
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stimulation. we're going to meet a woman who says the dread she had her entire life started lifting right there on the operating table. dr. sanjay gupta has the story right now. americans are always ready to work hard for a better future. since ameriprise financial was founded back in 1894, they've been committed to putting clients first. helping generations through tough times. good times. never taking a bailout. there when you need them. helping millions of americans over the centuries. the strength of a global financial leader. the heart of a one-to-one relationship.
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struggled with depression for her whole life says it saved her life. after trying everything else, including shock treatment, she now has the capacity to feel joy. dr. sanjay gupta has the story. >> for as long as edy can remember, she couldn't get the sad thoughts out of her head. >> my mother used to say to me, why don't you smile? i would give something like that, maybe, or just think, what is there to smile about? >> at 19, the first of three suicide attempts. >> for reasons that are inexplicable to me, even now, got up and started playing with a razor. and -- >> you cut your wrists? >> yeah. >> did you cut both your wrists? >> yeah. >> over the next 40 years, she tried counseling, psychiatric drugs and electroconvulsive shock therapy, but nothing worked.
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>> the despair i think, is what is the most powerful push tow d toward -- because it feels like there is no hope. >> but if you could look inside edie's head today, this is what you'd see. two electrodes, the thickness of angel hair pasta, powered by a battery pack under her collarbone. >> i don't think about it but i have electrodes in my brain. >> it's an experimental use of deep brain stimulation. >> so what are we looking at? >> pioneered by this neurologist, the target is called area 25. a junction box for the brain circuits, that control our moods. here at emory, where i'm on staff, my colleagues have been using deep brain stimulation for more than 15 years to treat movement disorders like
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parkinson's disease, and in that case they're targeting the brain's motor system. this doctor wanted to target area 25 for patients with severe depression. it was a procedure, just like this, done on edi. in surgery patients are slightly sedated as the neurosurgeon drills two holes. with an instrument to guide him, he then inserts the electrodes. >> is the contact on? >> contact's on. >> as a benchmark, the damage doctors ask edi rate her feelings on a scale of 1 to 10, starting with a sense of dread. >> the sense of dread is getting worse? rate it. okay. >> two minutes later, they turned on one of the four contacts. >> how does it feel now? is it still high? >> no. >> what's the dread now? >> three. >> a drop from eight to three. doctors would soon get an even
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better result. >> we're going to make some changes. >> up until this time, edi could not connect emotionally, not even with her baby grand niece, susan. >> and somebody handed her to me and i held her but i was going through the motions and i felt, really, nothing. >> nothing? >> nothing. nothing. >> that changed in the operating room. when they tried contact number two. >> let me know if anything changes. just give a shout. >> i just almost smiled. >> you just almost smiled? >> describe that for us, would you please? >> i haven't smiled before, like, in a long time. or laughed. right there in the middle of brain surgery, i felt feelings that i thought were gone. >> when you say you almost smiled, did something strike you
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as funny or was it just spontaneous? >> it was, well, actually, i was thinking of playing with susan. i started thinking about little susan and i thought, i was holding her with her face to me. >> what was that like to think that a machine and electricity could transform your emotions like that? >> it felt fantastic. i didn't care what was doing it. it just felt great. >> sanjay joins me now. this is incredible. do we know how this works? >> we don't. it's one of those things in medicine where i'll tell you, some of the original research was trying to figure out is there a seed of depression in the brain? that's a big first step to see images, anderson where you'll find this area 25, the area that's it's called, that bright green spot that's where depression lives in the brain but they didn't know what to do about that so that's why they
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decided to stimulate that area with the deep brain stimulation and i don't know if you can see it. i'll show you this quickly. it's basically, a power pack. a battery pack that sits under someone's clavicle. and this probe goes into the brain. on either side. that's what she has inside of her right now. this was done a few years ago and you saw how well she's been doing. >> how after it does it stimulate? >> that can be changed. you know, there's settings that you put on there. there's four different leads on there and you can program it to stimulate not only how often, but how much at these different leads and they play with that. they say, we turned on lead two welcome not much response. lets turn on lead one with a higher electricity. so it's trial and error when they get in there but they find the right formula. >> is it always this successful and can anyone have this procedure done or is this experimental. >> i've been following this. they started this in toronto some years ago.
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and now they've done 37 patients total. if you look at the data across the board, about two thirds the patients got better. let me preface this by saying, these patients were with patient that is had no other options. that's what qualified them to be in the trial. even things like this therapy had limited benefits. they were really out of options so these were the worst of the worst patients. two-thirds of them got better. there were with a few that did not get better at all, but there were really no significant site effects. a couple of patients had wound infections with you they tried to figure out, is it safe? and it appears to be. >> but at this point it's still experimental? >> i think it's a few years before we get possible fda approval for wider use of this. right now it's just 37 patients, still in clinical trials. as you know, that can take a while. but that was pretty remarkable what you just saw there. they're also looking at using brain stimulation for ocz, possibly anxiety. these disorders that were thought of as mood disorders,
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psychiatric disorders, possibly treated this way in the future. >> "battery powered brains: a new treatment for depression," that's on saturday and sunday. and don't miss the full report on "cnn presents" sunday night at 8:00 and 11:00 eastern. coming up, the dangers of texting while walking. and the most random example of why you shouldn't do it at all. [ rosa ] i'm rosa and i quit smoking with chantix. when the doctor told me that i could smoke for the first week... i'm like...yeah, ok... little did i know that one week later i wasn't smoking.
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let me tell you something about living here in the big apple as we call it, new york city. you walk everywhere and it's a challenge. you have to navigate through the throngs of tourists who walk incredibly slowly. cross the streets without getting hit by a taxi. dodge random puddles of urine, canine and human. and to add to that, eight out of ten people aren't looking where they're going, drifting to and fro while tempting. i think we have stumbled upon an answer, it comes from los angeles. and it's brilliant in its simplicity. bears. >> he came down the driveway, down mayfield and now he's on briggs and he looks like he's turning into another driveway. we'll maneuver around to see if he can get another shot of him. he would definitely -- we got a resident -- >> i guarantee you that guy will think long and hard while walking again. you know on account of the 400-pound bear on the lies factor. he's what he had to say, the guy, not the bear. >> i was texting my boss i would be late for work, something is going on. i'm coming down the stairs and i see the bear coming up the stairs towards me.
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so i turned back and ran for my life. >> i can see it now, texting the bear, only can you prevent sidewalk collisions. we should just spring him on the texters. that's the only way people are going to learn. they haven't been deterred by videos of texting and walking into poles on canadian television or deterred by the cautionary tale of the woman we like to call "fountain lady." she's literally a waking psa for the pitfalls of texting in motion. you've probably seen the video, it's all over the internet. she's walking through a mall in pennsylvania, texting and walking, texting and walking. she falls into the fountain. the fountain lady was not hurt but she got a lawyer and went on "good morning america" with a message to us all. >> do not text and wake. the fountain could have been empty. i could have been in the hospital. i could have walked into a bus. got hit by a car, it can happen anywhere.
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