tv AC 360 Later CNN January 15, 2014 7:00pm-8:01pm PST
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new you. the one thing that everybody needs, money and advice. i've got just the man for that. dave ramsey will be here answering your questions about saving for retirement and avoiding the top money mistakes. that's live tomorrow night. that's all for us tonight. "ac 360 later" starts right now. good evening. welcome to "ac 360 later." tonight, what first responders saw on the scene of that fiery plane crash in san francisco. also, was the war in iraq worth it? violence there raising new questions. and richard dreyfuss on his new life as an oxford academic. and michelle obama's 50th and the latest installment of who wants to be france's first lady, the girlfriend or the mistress. we'll show your comments at the bottom of the screen. with us tonight, correspondent christiane amanpour. journalist alison stewart,
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author of "first class," and also political commentator margaret hoover joining me at the table. plenty to talk about tonight, starting with a unique view of the crash of a korean 777 airliner on approach to san francisco international airport. the images were captured by a helmet cam and a robot mounted camera. they show nearly everything, including a young woman who survived the crash, wound up on the ground outside but did not survive the rescue. drew griffin joins us tonight, because the story and the images are so compelling. we're going to play the entire report. >> reporter: it was a dramatic crash caught on tape. a tumbling airline boeing 777, crashing at san francisco's international airport last july. >> oh, my god! >> reporter: but it would be this video emerging only now, months after the crash, that is becoming the most disturbing of
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all. >> whoa, whoa, stop, stop. there's a body right -- there's a body right there. right in front of you. >> reporter: a body right in front of airport rescue truck number 10. this body. and according to the san francisco medical examiner, it was, in fact, a living body. ignored by firefighters who failed to check. the 16-year-old had somehow escaped her seat in row 41 of the aircraft, walked or was carried from this escape slide, and came to rest here, lying in a fetal position, but alive. and as you can see in this emergency vehicle camera, firefighters walk around her, pass by her, even directed a fire truck past her, and not a single firefighter checking her pulse or even seeing if she was breathing. >> it's unthinkable. it's unimaginable, because the first thing that -- the first priority of the firefighters,
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any rescue personnel is saving lives. and the first step in triage is to take the pulse, check the respiration. that was never done, and the video, which i think is the best evidence of what happened, shows at least five firefighters who saw her, who understood she was there, and none of them did the basic step of checking if she was alive. >> reporter: attorney justin green, who represents the family, has filed a claim against the city of san francisco based on reports from the fire department, the city and the ntsb. but mostly based on this video evidence. according to the claim, rescuers breached their duty of care to the girl, and were grossly negligent. the video is from a firefighting goal truck that pulled up to the scene within minutes of the crash. there doesn't appear to be any chaos or confusion. at one point, a firefighter leaves the vehicle to guide the
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truck around the body. this is her? >> that's right. >> reporter: he's saying -- >> there's a person. >> reporter: a body there. a warning made all the clear in a helmet camera on one of the firefighters. >> there's a body right there, right in front of you. >> reporter: according to the claim, firefighters notify a lieutenant but are told to move on. in the video, that is just what truck number 10 does. as fuel leaks from the left wing, unit 10 sprays foam on the ground. minutes later as smoke emerges from the fuselage, unit 10 circles to move into position, ignoring or forgetting the body on the ground. at this moment, right here, the fire truck rolls over the girl's head and she is killed. >> the tire of the truck went right over her head. >> reporter: it would only get worse. the complaint alleges a firefighter arriving late to the scene jumped in another rescue
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vehicle, number 37, a vehicle not equipped with any infrared device and rolls over her body. >> she's run over twice by two different trucks. >> reporter: i can't imagine what the parents think. >> the parents, part of what you have to understand too is in china, they're only supposed to have one child. this is the family's only child. a girl who was a star student, who was the focus of their lives. everything that they did was poured into this girl and her future, and that was taken away because of some terrible mistakes and inaction by the firefighters. >> reporter: she was coming to the u.s. for summer camp, described as a class leader who dreamed of becoming a television news caster. >> i particularly want to express our condolences and
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apologies to the family. >> reporter: last july, after it was determined rescue vehicles di killed her, the san francisco fire chief apologized profusely. the explanation then was of a chaotic rescue scene. the video shows a much different picture, and the city of san francisco and its fire department have now declined comment, citing pending litigation. the yi family remains in china, waiting to find out what, if anything, can explain why their daughter is dead. >> it is truly horrific. drew griffin joins us, as well as jeffrey toobin. drew, the family are suing, they want money and they want more than that. >> they absolutely are filing a claim against the city and asking the city to set this will case for monetary damages. but above all, they want to send out a reminder to all rescuers,
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check the bodies. don't just assume because a body is laying on the ground that that person is dead. check the pulse, do the triage that they're all trained in. >> jeff, you have a different take on this. look, the firefighters are concerned about a larger catastrophe possibly happening, a larger number of casualties in the triage situation, the plane exploding in a triage situation, they may overlook an individual because they're concerned about greater casualties. >> that's right. and i don't want to diminish this tragedy at all and the loss of this girl and the pain that her parents are going through. but let's be clear. what's happening now is a lawsuit to try to extract millions of dollars from the taxpayers of san francisco, and i think to fault the firefighters, who are in an extraordinary situation, who are looking at a giant airplane that
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might blow up and kill hundreds of people, that might excuse a horrible mistake that they made in where they drove their fire truck. so the idea that the firefighters are necessarily civilly liable is not a conclusion that i'm ready to draw based on the evidence in drew's really excellent, interesting, but ultimately inconclusive piece. >> well, you know, with all due respect and always respect to you, jeff toobin, people sue in this country at the drop of a much lighter hat. i mean, this is a major case that people would expect some kind of reparations and damages to be held. i've seen a lot of emergency individuals in war-like situations, and that moment that you have been -- you are given that video, there was nobody screaming and shouting. it didn't look like chaos at the moment. and somebody pointed to that person and they just didn't go
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to that person. >> are they suing the airline, as well? >> that was my question. >> there is a lawsuit against the airline, as well. and it is a claim, it is not a suit at this point. but to your point, there wasn't really chaos at the moment, and if you look at the timeline, at the point when the foam is being sprayed and the plane is catching fire, everybody is off that plane. most of the people, only three people died on this plane. >> what was the explanation for them saying that the body was covered in foam when most clearly it was not? >> that was the explanation they gave -- >> why did they say that? the people who were standing there knew it wasn't covered in foam. >> i don't know if they didn't do their due diligence in terms of an investigation at that point. we're talking two weeks after the accident. now the video emerges and shows that body was not covered in foam. >> drew, how did this video come to the family's lawyer? >> this is all the result of
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ntsb, city of san francisco's own investigation, and this was made to the attorneys available through the investigations going on. this will be part of the ntsb's. they'll look at the response and all of this video, and i'm told there's even more of it will come to light. >> just to play devil's advocate, for all we know, whoever laid her body down there, yelled out, she's dead and the first firefighter, not believing she was dead, then the others assumed she was dead. we're not sure -- >> one of the great mysteries is we don't know how she got there. she was in the back of the plane. >> i think we need to point out that there are several different time periods stitched together. that's how we do television. we edit down the tape. but if we are doing this in a legal setting, people are going
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to have to know what happened first, who said what when. that's important to know. i think to condemn the firefighters and say they were grossly negligent and the city of san francisco should pay a great deal of money, you need to do more investigation than we've done. the lawyers we spoke to have a clear agenda, and we need to take that into consideration. >> it does feel a little misplaced that there isn't some shared culpability in terms of due diligence with the -- >> we know from the initial investigation that cultural differences in the cockpit distributed to this crash. the pilot was concerned about glare off the runway, but didn't want to wear sunglasses because he thought it would be insulting to his fellow pilots in the cockpit. he didn't want to voice the concerns because he thought it would be impolite.
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>> have you read "tipping point" who speaks about this phenomena of crashes with asian airlines. this is unbelievable. >> it's unfuruating to think that cultural sensitivities in a cockpit could contribute to a crash. >> i want to get back to your point, jeffrey. we know from the coroner, who did the medical exam on this person that she was alive laying there, and she was alive with non-fatal injuries. that was the point of the coroner's report, and she died because a truck rap over her. whatever the circumstances were, had a fireman, a policeman, anybody, just taken her pulse and pulled her out of there, she would be alive. >> they knew she was there. >> that is obviously a very important fact. but i don't think anyone should lose sight of the fact that the people who are responsible for this poor girl's death are not
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the firefighters who were trying to save the people on that plane, but it was the incompetent, inexcusable pilots who crashed this plane on a clear day on an empty runway. coming up next, new evidence that america's only prisoner of war is alive. this is an american sergeant captured in afghanistan. we'll be joined by a journalist who just spoke with his family and who himself survived more than seven months as a captive of the taliban. [ tires screech ] [ car alarm chirps ] ♪
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welcome back to "ac 360 later." the pentagon is studying what's apparently a new video of the only american who is currently a prisoner of war. you probably didn't even know there was a american being held as prisoner of war. he's believed to be in pakistan held by the taliban. this is from 2010, the last time he was seen. back with the panel, author david rhode. david and a colleague were captured in afghanistan and held for several months. does the family have any new information? how are they doing? >> they don't. and they are struggling. if bo is anything like this family, he's an incredible young man. his mother is graceful and strong. his father has this big beard he's grown.
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he's done that because bo has a big beard. i had a big beard. they make you grow as a prisoner. they're just an incredible family trying to survive this. >> do they want people to see the video? it's always tricky. families often don't know how -- what do you do in this kind of situation? >> they're very happy with the american military effort to bring bo home. they just want what's going to bring bo home. >> what did they ask you? what are they seeking from you? >> that i can sit here today. it was much shorter time for him. he's been there 4 1/2 years. i'm here, i was reunited with my wife and just seeing me gives them hope that he can get through this. >> the parents have been in touch with the taliban. they got fed up with the u.s. efforts to get their stop back. as we know, the stop has kind of been almost like a pawn in these
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fruitless negotiations to get five gitmo prisoners released in return. he's a bit of a victim at the moment in that. is his father still in touch with the taliban or the people he thinks have captured bo? >> i don't know. and i don't go into those things with him. but i would be shocked all the time that's gone by, the money and man hours the taliban have gone into guarded him, they want these five prisoners. >> a lot of pressure from congress, any time you try to do a deal like this, but how did they get this video? it's not like the taliban sent it out. how did the military get this video? >> i don't know. i think it's good there's a video. it's a good sign. >> how did you get through -- it is my greatest fear to be kidnapped and held like this.
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day-to-day, how do you get through? >> look, to me it's very similar if you were diagnosed with cancer one day. you are forced to face your own mortality, forced to realize you don't know what's going to happen and you realize you don't have any control. the human mind helps you get through. >> you're not with friends and family. >> it's true. it's unbelievable he's held out this long. >> do captors explain to you why they're keeping you alive? >> yes. >> what do they say to you? >> the honest thing is they're delusional about what they will get. for me they wanted $25 million in cash and 15 prisoners from guantanamo. for bo, it's down to five prisoners. a young american woman caitlin coleman is there. there are about 30 journalists captured in syria.
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this is an al qaeda tactic they started doing in 2012. how is the administration going to respond? >> were you confident about the u.s. government's efforts to find you and to help you escape or -- >> once you are taken into the tribal areas of pakistan and other places like this around the world, there's nothing anyone can do to help you. the pakistani military will not go into the tribal areas of pakistan. this has been going on since 9/11. we've given them $17 billion in aid. so unless the pakistani military is going to confront the taliban, he's stuck. >> you have laid out that they're not interested in seeing you or any captives die. they want to get what they can out of them. but from what we've heard, his health looks to be deteriorating. >> that's the latest thing from this video, that it is deteriorating. again, the positive sign is that they're releasing this video. maybe they want to make a deal finally. the question is what will the administration do.
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>> the video is san older video. we haven't shown the newer one. >> why are we not showing it? >> we're still working on it. let's talk a bit about america's war in iraq. at least 61 people killed today across the country. doesn't even make headlines. 8,000 people killed in 2013. killed in bombings and shootings, suicide attacks, sectarian reprisals. and fallujah, where so many americans died, it's now back in the hands of extremists affiliated with al qaeda. nearly 4500 americans were killed in iraq. it cost american taxpayers $1.7 trillion. with all this country endured, a lot of people are asking, was the war worth it? i want to bring in mike durham. mike, when you see the bombings, when you see the death tolls going up, when you see fallujah in the hands of extremists, was
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it a mistake? did we pull out too soon? >> well, as somebody who served in the bush administration and supported the war, i've got to say that's probably the question i hate the most. because if i'm to be honest, i have a lot of doubts, as i think anybody who has looked at this does. what we expected from the war and what happened were two very different things. can't escape the fact that in the last poll i saw over 60% of americans think it was a mistake. but as i say, having served in the bush administration, i always feel like that question is a little bit like are you still beating your wife? that if i say yes, i have regrets or have questions about whether it was really worth it, then i feel like i'm buying into a whole narrative and a whole set of criticisms of the war they don't necessarily agree
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with. i think definitely there were mistakes all along the way. in the bush administration and the obama administration, and we need to take stock. >> also, just this conversation is not to take anything away from the sacrifices made by american forces or other forces. >> we need to talk about that. those sacrifices have been put in some jeopardy now. you can talk to marines who fought in fallujah. it was the worst battle since vietnam. >> not just street by street, it was house by house, inch by inch. >> to see the black flag of al qaeda flying over fallujah again is a humiliation. they were going to pull out, but there was no successful attempt to keep a proper force there to prevent against this kind of thing. everybody can argue why, but that's what you do. when you have troops there, when you have an embassy there, when you have expended so much blood and treasure, you negotiate
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properly and keep a force there to protect your investment. so iraq was just damned because of the mistakes of the bush administration going in. fallujah was the most terrible thing. but there was a surge, america doubled down, put more troops in, it worked. joined with the sunni tribesmen, the awakening, it worked. and now, because they pulled out and because of the vacuum in syria, which has given rise to al qaeda again, the whole thing is going to hell. >> do you put the blame on syria and america, what about malaki? >> when the united states pulled out, they said we are leave thing country on the road to a stable democracy. everybody new malaki was not somebody who was democratic and he's proved it over and over again. yes, the lion's share of the blame lies with malaki, because he so alienated the soup sunnis would rather stand with al
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qaeda. >> ryan crocker said the price of disengagement is -- has greater consequences than intervention. >> correct. >> this is exactly what you're saying. >> david, what do you think? >> we have to engage. there's almost a hangover from iraq. we need to move past iraq. engaging doesn't mean invading with 150,000 troops. you can have special forces there, training iraqi troops. we have to move past iraq, and this administration -- >> you say that, iraq is the reason why we've moved so far past it, nobody intervened in syria and al qaeda has grown up again. >> what do you see now, given all that's happened, what do you see as the steps forward? how do you deal with what's happening in iraq now and by comparison, syria? >> i think the epicenter is syria. malaki has made a lot of
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mistakes and we have to be engaged with what's going on in iraq. but the center of disruption in the region right now is syria. and we are nearly totally absent from that -- >> not totally absent. >> just a word on iraq. i think the starting point there, i totally agree with everything christiane said. the starting point is not to accept malaki's narrative. his narrative, which he's trying to sell to us, it's either me or al qaeda. there's no other opportunity, there's no other alternative. and there are other alternatives. we have to go back to the surge and look at that as a model and engage with all the different elements in the iraqi spectrum to create an alternative other than what we're seeing right now, which is greater polarization. >> that's the line given by just about every ruler in the world, it's either me or the flood. we have to leave it there. mike, good to have you on, david, as well. just ahead, something completely different. michelle obama, days away from a milestone birthday, and an interview with "people"
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magazine, she talked about the big 5-0 and getting older. that's ahead. [ male announcer ] this is the story of the little room over the pizza place on chestnut street the modest first floor bedroom in tallinn, estonia and the southbound bus barreling down i-95. ♪ this magic moment it is the story of where every great idea begins. and of those who believed they had the power to do more. dell is honored to be part of some of the world's great stories. that began much the same way ours did. in a little dorm room -- 2713. ♪ this magic moment ♪ i took medicine but i still have symptoms. [ sneeze ] [ male announcer ] truth is not all flu products treat all your symptoms. what? [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus severe cold and flu speeds relief to these eight symptoms. [ breath of relief ] thanks. [ male announcer ] you're welcome. ready? go. you stand behind what you say. there's a saying around here, [ male announcer ] you're welcome. around here you don't make excuses.
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welcome back. first lady michelle obama turns 50 on friday. in an interview with "people" magazine, she talks about the half century mark and some of the nitty gritty details of aging. and she can see herself as a grandmother one day. joining the panel is sandra westfall. great to have you here. you sat down with her for about 25 minutes.
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this is your 12th interview with her. >> yeah. we go way back. she's dancing into her 50s and she actually they approached me about doing the interview. they knew people would be focusing on this moment in her life, and she wanted to use that as an opportunity to send a message to women, that, you know, it's -- it can only be uphill from 50. and she wanted to spread the word about what she's doing for her health. >> the thing about botox has gotten a lot of headlines. what did she say about that? >> i gingerly asked her if she had a philosophy on enhasments. >> is that how you phrased it? >> yes. and she was game. she says, you know, i think women should believe free to do what they need to do to feel good, as long as they're doing it for the right reasons. >> what's so surprising -- >> she says she hasn't planned on it but hasn't ruled it out. >> she says i don't see myself going down that route but never
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say never. >> it doesn't seem congress with her other beauty -- she doesn't obsess about what she eats, she exercises, she's just a all natural, very beautiful person. so the botox piece feels almost -- >> i think a wise answer. we know there have been plenty of people who said never, never, never, and then as the numbers creep up, suddenly it changes. >> her mother is 76, and if she's got those genes, she knows she's never going to have to face this question. >> they were so protective of the family. >> she always battles this inner sharer when talking about her girls. she just can't help herself. there have been interviews afterward where the staff comes and says, you know, she wishes she hadn't said that or they worry they have embarrassed
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malia. so if anything, she tries to reign it in. but you get them talking about their girls and they can't help themselves. >> she did something interesting today. she gave a speech, a presentation that her 50 plus and rest of white house years are going to be dedicated to education, to getting kids through high school and to really helping her husband realize his goals of improving test scores and getting into college. and they're pretty bad. the latest figures show only a third of high school students doing -- even getting into college and terrible s.a.t. scores. there are millions of jobs going, not just here but in europe, and kids are not trained to take these jobs. >> she also talked about kind of life after the white house. >> exactly. and previewing what you just talked about, that's going to be an issue for her. she wants to do more
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international travel in the second term. she used to have a coffee table book. she said she can't find it out, but the girls have always loved coffee table books and it was the 100 most beautiful places on the planet. she said she just wants to pick one and say let's go. but she also talked about this idea that she wants to -- one of her issues after the white house will be getting especially girls all over the world the opportunities she has had. >> how has she changed? you've interviewed her more than anybody i know of. how has she changed? is she a different person now than when you first met? >> i looked at my first interview in 2007. the only difference i struck by is her makeup has gotten more professional. >> probably a little better dressed, too. >> but honestly, that was the only difference i could pick up.
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maybe a little less unguarded. >> really? that's interesting. >> and it usually happens in the reverse. you get into the white house, the walls go up, and you turn inward and you get more guarded. >> i think as women when you get into your 40s and 50s, you don't care anymore. you know who you are. you're going to say what you want to say. >> unless you've got the west wing breathing down your neck. >> you alluded to that in the article that she is most comfortable and getting even more so. maybe by the time she's her mother's age, she will be as confident as her. >> she says her mother every single day does what she wants to do and says what she wants to say without apology and that's where she hopes to get herself. >> mrs. robinson is a cool lady. >> and she does want grandchildr grandchildren? >> she does. and i felt a little funny about that. she jumped right in and said believe it or not, i have
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already started to think about that, because she can start already to envision her daughters going to college, getting married and having careers and she's starting to picture herself as a full-time caregiver. >> i'm fascinated by what they're going to do in the two years after the white house, when sasha hasn't finished high school. what is a presidential couple going to do in washington? >> they haven't made that decision. sasha will have a vote on that. >> i'm joining 50, 3 1/2 years away. >> that's just such an advertisement that you're not 50 yet. >> it's an advertisement that i'm so lame that i'm thinking about it. that's what it is. >> 50's great. >> really? >> yeah. it's great. >> i don't know. >> i'm looking forward to it in about ten years. >> listen, thank you for being with us. it's a fascinating article. up next, one of hollywood's
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biggest actors on his life as an oxford academic. richard dreyfuss takes our fifth chair right after this. [ male announcer ] research suggests cell health plays a key role throughout our lives. one a day men's 50+ is a complete multivitamin designed for men's health concerns as we age. with 7 antioxidants to support cell health. one a day men's 50+. it's almost too late. or is it? introducing new, fast acting advil. with an ultra-thin coating and fast absorbing advil ion core™ technology, nothing works faster to stop pain in its tracks. new fast acting advil.
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nothing works faster to stop pain in its tracks. we read and write poetry because we are members of the humanshend race.eness"] and the human race is filled with passion. and medicine, law, business, engineering - these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. but poetry, beauty, romance, love - these are what we stay alive for. to quote from whitman, "o me, o life of the questions of these recurring. of the endless trains of the faithless. of cities filled with the foolish. what good amid these, o me, o life? answer: that you are here. that life exists and identity. that the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse." "that the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse." what will your verse be?
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it's hard to describe, because you have a numbness, but yet you have the pain like thousands of needles sticking in your foot. it was progressively getting worse, and at that point i knew i had to do something. once i started taking the lyrica the pain started subsiding. [ male announcer ] it's known that diabetes damages nerves. lyrica is fda approved to treat diabetic nerve pain. lyrica is not for everyone. it may cause serious allergic reactions or suicidal thoughts or actions. tell your doctor right away if you have these,
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new or worsening depression, or unusual changes in mood or behavior. or swelling, trouble breathing, rash, hives, blisters, changes in eyesight including blurry vision, muscle pain with fever, tired feeling, or skin sores from diabetes. common side effects are dizziness, sleepiness, weight gain and swelling of hands, legs and feet. don't drink alcohol while taking lyrica. don't drive or use machinery until you know how lyrica affects you. those who have had a drug or alcohol problem may be more likely to misuse lyrica. ask your doctor about lyrica today. it's specific treatment for diabetic nerve pain. welcome back. richard dreyfuss is one of the most successful actors of his generation, starring in movies such as "jaws," "the goodbye girl" for which he won an oscar. but these days, he's the driving force behind the dreyfuss
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initiative, reminding americans the importance of teaching civics to schoolchildren. he studied for four years at oxford. we're pleased to have richard dreyfuss. >> hi. >> i find this amazing and really cool, because it's very rare for somebody to leave a business that they have been so successful in, at a very successful time, and do something else that they're passionate about. i think it's really a cool thing to do. were you nervous about leaving? >> no, no. i adored doing something for 40 years, and if you do something for 40 years, you're allowed to stop doing it. and i like it, but i like my country. >> there's a lot of people -- a lot of people hang on until, you know, far past the time they maybe should have stopped. >> my daughter wrote a novel about a desperate actor trying to get back. about a year later, i said the novel hurt. she said, why? i said, because it wasn't true.
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and she went, dad. and i said, think of it. i went to oxford for four years. you can't do both. >> why oxford? what did you do at oxford? >> i was a senior advisory researcher at st. anthony's college, and i was doing -- i was trying to figure out the damage being done by the absence of civics and it's huge. and the problem is, or one of the problems, civics itself is a boring word. that deals with an urgent problem, and if it's not dealt with, we're not going to get out of this century. >> kids aren't learning american history, the constitution. >> right. and neither are the office holders or the president or corporate people or industry or military. >> did you come up with a program, with a plan, what? >> yeah. you have to have the youngest of
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our kids develop affection and pride and love of country. and then you teach them reasoning with logic, clarity of thought and expression. and then critical analysis, which needs some emotional maturity to exercise. >> did you see a difference between the gap you were trying to fill here in the united states and english kids, was there a difference in their attachment to civics? >> they were kind of like american. they don't figure on being called english or british, but i didn't care about that. >> was there a catalyst, were you seeing a kid texting during the pledge of allegiance that made you realize civics was the thing -- >> here's what i felt was in any newspaper, in any city, you can see stories about crimes being committed by the corporate world or the military or the president
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or somebody, and you don't see any stories about anyone being held accountable. and also, when you look at the newspaper's front page, you don't understand one story on that page. you don't understand the trillions of dollars on wall street. you don't understand the mortgage scandal. you don't understand anything, and that means we're completely failing our children, which means that at a certain point in the future, they will turn to us and say something that has never been said, they're going to say how could you have abandoned us like this? because they're not being prepared at all. >> do you think your kids will lead a better -- you know, most generations in america have always had the expectation that the subsequent generation will lead a better life, will have more opportunities. do you have that confidence for your kids?
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>> let me ask you all, when you think of the future of the country, are you comfortable and easy and confident? or are you uneasy and uncomfortable? >> most people answer that question in the negative. most parents say today that they do not believe in the american dream still exists for their generation, and that their kids don't do what american generations generally do, and that is do better than them. that is pretty shocking, especially those from overseas, because this is what this country is all about. then we were just talking before you came on about the state of education. it's a pretty big crisis. michelle obama has decided that's what she wants to focus on, high school students and not just civics but educational proficiency. if that's lacking here in the greatest and most powerful country in the world, it is pretty troubling. >> what do you think the mandate of public education is? why do we spend public money on public schools? >> to prepare us, and prepare
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our children to be responsible citizens and to be able to go out and contribute to our society. >> how? >> by learning. >> i would say this -- it's to develop intellectual skill sets, and it means that you want to develop what is called the agile mind so that you can bounce from subject to subject and take care of whatever life throws at you. and we are not only not doing that, but i asked the chancellor of the university of virginia, what's the mandate of public education? and he said, i don't know. i said, well, 900 kids are going to walk in here 200 kids and i'm going to ask you that question and she left. >> the chancellor of the education here in new york, huge article about her and her mandate which is similar to what you were saying. >> you said civics because i love my country. where did your love of country come from? >> my parents and my grandmother
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and her grand aunt, who assassinated czar alexander. my grandmother was a witness to the factory fire and went to work for eugene debs. i have been political my whole life and always promised myself one day i was going to say, in a book, i was going to say, i was not born in 1947, i was born in 1881 when all the stories started that developed my character. >> but you look back to the kennedy era, i believe, and feel that was the last time that there was a real enjoinment of civilians, kids, grownups in a sort of national purpose. >> yes, yes. >> where do you put economics into this? i spent the last five or six years in the d.c. school system dealing with kids who go to school hungry and come home to no parents or foster homes or don't have homes, asking those kids to be civically engaged is asking a lot.
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>> especially if they take home ec out of the curriculum. they do take the necessary classes out of the curriculum, so you don't have any knowledge of civic authority. we are the sovereign in this country. nobody knows it, and nobody raises their hand and says, mr. president, answer the question. no one does that. and i went to the press club and i made a speech and i said, i was thinking of asking the people that were here how many of you thought you were heirs to edwin r. mur row, and i decided not to ask because i would lose my sense of humor. >> tim was one of the standouts. >> no, no, he wasn't.
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and i would say -- i would say -- and i said it that night. i said, when the one person who did do her job was exiled and tim said, what would we have done? >> who are you talking about? >> helen thomas. i said you don't have to show up at the next press conference. i mean, everyone knows that everyone is lying. everyone. politicians, everyone. >> there's quite a stormy confrontation going on in the white house press room these days, certainly jay carney and the abc white house correspondent are always going an it. people are reminded of the days of sam donaldson who would never allow reagan to walk past without shouting questions about him. >> but there is a tendency to ask two questions and you move on. there's nothing more infuriating as a viewer to be sitting there, you end up yelling at the screen saying, just keep asking that
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one question if they're not going to answer. there's nothing more infuriating than somebody -- >> you remember jon stewart coming on "cross fire?" we're going to take our children to that experience at the museum, because he was so brilliant. he nailed them both. the next day, commentators from the left and the right attacked him. and i think that we built a media of distraction. we do sound bites and distraction. we don't deal with the issues. and we are satisfied are going to a dinner party and knowing only the sound bite. >> a lot changed when news had to start to make profits for corporations. i like to remember asking walter cronkite before he died, what were your ratings? he had no idea. we have to take a quick break. we'll be right back with stories
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you might have missed today. we'll be right back. [ male announcer ] this is kevin. to prove to you that aleve is the better choice for him, he's agreed to give it up. that's today? [ male announcer ] we'll be with him all day as he goes back to taking tylenol. i was okay, but after lunch my knee started to hurt again. and now i've got to take more pills. ♪ yup. another pill stop. can i get my aleve back yet? ♪ for my pain, i want my aleve. ♪ [ male announcer ] look for the easy-open red arthritis cap. ♪ she loves a lot of it's what you love about her. but your erectile dysfunction - that could be a question of blood flow. cialis tadalafil for daily use helps you be ready anytime the moment's right. you can be more confident in your ability to be ready. and the same cialis is the only daily ed tablet approved to treat ed and symptoms of bph, like needing to go frequently or urgently. tell your doctor about all your medical conditions and medications,
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welcome back. time now for what's your story with the panel. richard, what's your story? >> i addressed the 50 chief justices of the state supreme courts, and i said, i'm going to ask you a question and you tell me if i'm crazy. if you received notice from your local tv outlet that said from now on, traffic congestion news would be on a $4 surcharge, you would hit the roof, right? they all went right, because it's news, right? right. so is politics.
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you can't profit from politics. you must cover it, but you cannot profit from it. and so all of these media people who take a cut from the tv ad buy, that's called a conflict of interest. but we are not a country of law anymore. >> you don't believe that? >> no. >> you don't believe that we're a country of law? >> i know we are not. did we impeach a president that lied and got us into a war? i would like to see committees that overlook the president's movement and you cannot -- lyndon johnson lied, bush lied, and you can't just let it go. >> do you believe president obama lied? >> about what? >> benghazi, a lot of things that -- >> i think all politicians do that, but not avoiding the constitution. there's a bigger problem. and also when president bush said, don't think of
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sacrificing, go shopping. that's an insult to every man and woman whoever sacrificed their lives in earlier wars. that's an unacceptable things. >> talking about sacrificing lives, there is unbelievable video out of north korea, the most unlikely place, north korea, pbs did a documentary, watching now people pushing back against the state, physically this woman pushing a police officer who was trying to deny her the right to make -- that's interesting. >> we're out of time. richard, great to have you on. that does it for us. we'll see you tomorrow. there's a saying around here, you stand behind what you say. around here you don't make excuses. you make commitments. and when you can't live up to them, you own up, and make it right.
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