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tv   CNN Newsroom  CNN  August 11, 2009 3:00pm-4:00pm EDT

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simil similar stuff from rick. congo is filing in the news after hundreds of thousands of women have been raped and people focused on hillary clinton's feelings. it's a pity that the most powerful woman in the western hemisphere feels she still lives in her husband's shadow. we'll be back here tomorrow. rick sanchez takes it from here a town hall meeting to discuss health care reform. instead, the illegals. >> they shouldn't even be here. >> children. >> while that baby is in the mother, we don't count that as a person. >> i would think that is unconstitutional and unamerican. >> the gettysburg address. >> the government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth. >> and god. >> one day, god is going to
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stand before you and he is gonna judge you. >> overwhelmingly republican and overwhelmingly anti-obama. since this laurel and hardy team has been in washington. >> which parties being helped or hurt by this? the president in mexico and so was our michael ware. >> i cannot tell you her name nor anyone else's in this story. nor can i show you their faces. >> mrs. clinton in congo with a bad translator. and an attitude. >> my husband is not the secretary of state. i am. >> all this in your national conversation for tuesday, august 11th, 2009. hello again efshs r. i'm rick sanchez with the next
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generation of news, not a speech. your turn to get involved. talk about a conversation. just listen to what was heard outside a health care town hall meeting in leb non, pennsylvania. we picked this up just as we were getting ready to go on the air. i want you to hear what both sides had to say in this debate. >> we do not want to pay on a health care plan that includes the right for a woman to kill her unborn baby. is this true that this plan is in the health care bill? >> i believe that most people are happy with their health care. there is a few problems. the illegals. they shouldn't even be here, let alone have insurance. >> that was the wrong tape. for what it's worth, that's the beginning of the second tape. chris, do we have that other one cued up? we don't. let's do this. what i want to do is give you a sense of what's transpired in these health care debates today? i want to tell you about the two
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town hall meetings, one with president obama and the other held by senator arlen specter. one is civil. one is raucous. as you prepare to watch this, consider this. if you want to rile up a certain crowd and get them to be against something, no matter what it is, anything, just get them to be against something, tell them it is pro same-sex marriage or proillegal immigrant or proterrorists. even if none of that is true, that's why they are called wedge issues. now, listen to this town hall meeting with senator arlen specter and ask yourself what much of this has to do about health care? >> i do not want to pay on a health care plan that includes the right for a woman to kill her unborn baby. is it true that this plan is in the health care bill? >> i believe the polls show that most people are happy with their health care. there is a few problems. the illegals. they shouldn't even be here.
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i would ask congress to do something to send them hopme, s we don't have to deal with that. >> the bill says, there will be no health care until you are born. while that baby is in the mother, we don't count that as a person. >> what about this guantanamo closure. i don't want these criminals to come over here into our area and escape and we find that a bunch of innocent people have been murdered. that's what's gonna happen. did you ever read the koran, senator? >> the koran. >> now, wait a minute. now, wait a minute, now, wait a minute. wait a minute. wait a minute. wait a minute, wait a minute. he has a right to leave.
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he is right. wait a minute. wait a minute. wait a minute. wait a minute. you want to leave, leave. >> i am going to speak my mind before i leave, because your people told me i could. i called your office and i was told i could have the mike to speak. then, i was lied to because i came prepared to speak and instead you wouldn't let anybody speak. you handed us what 30 cards. well, i got news for you, you and your cronies in the government do this kind of stuff all the time well, i don't care. [ applause ] >> i don't care how crooked you are. i'm not a lobbyist with all kind of money to stuff in your pocket
quote
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so that you can cheat the citizens of this country so i'll leave aund you can do whatever the hell you please to do. one day, god is going to stand before you and he is going to judge you and the rest of your damn cronies up on the hill. then, you will get your just deserves. >> ali velshi is on the road on the cnn express visiting town hauls and dr. woodhammer is with the physicians for national health care reform program, a group advocating reform. welcome to both of you. were you as puzzled as i was listening to these town hall forums today and noticing that so much of the debate was not about health care? ali, why don't you start us out?
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al ali can't hear me. >> this us whether or not you are in favor of -- >> have you got me there, rick? >> you are on the air. you heard the question. >> listen, i am troubled by this because -- yeah, this is just such an important debate. it is such an important thing for americans to talk about. whether or not you are in favor of health care reform. what troubles me is that i listened to that entire town hall. certainly shall the one with arlen specter were 70% or 80% about something that had nothing to do with health care. we have been driving in atlanta and iowa and kentucky. we are having interesting discussions with people. we are finding the same things. there are real concerns about the cost, about the quality of health care, whether people's choices are -- >> it it looks like we are
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getting a little bit of a satellite. let's go to dr. steffy. as you were listening to this, what was your biggest frustration. i imagine as an intellectual and somebody who wants to look at the data and analyze it as best you can. >> i don't agree with what the protesters said. the reality is that the democrats plan is going to spend a whole lot of money and not solve anything in terms of health care reform. >> you are promoting a single payer? >> single payer, that's worked beautifully in western europe. >> for the sake of argument, a lot of people are going to listen to us talk about single payer. it is one of those terms thrown around a lot. single pair means the government is the single payer. the government will pay for everyone's health care and we will, in turn, pay the government in the form of taxes, right? >> that's the way the traditional medicare program
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works and it works really well. >> that's what they have in canada. one of the best systems in the world is a french system and theirs is a hybrid, not single payer but a hybrid. >> the french system is a social security based national health insurance model. it is very similar to traditional medicare. virtually all of the insurance is public insurance. the majority of hospitals are public and they have a little bit of private stuff around the edges. the core of the system actually resembles traditional medicare. >> let me let you hear what the president had to say today. he is saying, essentially, most of these people who are going to the town hall meetings and seem in many cases to be completely ill-informed, saying things about old people being killed, et cetera, et cetera, and death panels. he says this is being
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orchestrated by certain people who want them to believe those falsities. let's listen to what the president had to say. >> every time we come close to passing health insurance reform, the special interests fight back with everything they've got. they use their inference. they use their political allies to scare and mislead the american people. they start running ads. this is what they always do. we can't let them do it again, not this time. not now. >> what do you make of what the president said there, doctor? >> well, there has been a lot of false information out there. but, really, the democrats have been putting out false information as well. >> like what? >> well, for instance, they say things are solved in the state of massachusetts where we spent a lot of money. this year, one out of every six people with health insurance said that they couldn't get care because they couldn't afford it. so you spend a lot of money. you give people insurance but it's a worthless piece of paper, because health care is still not
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affordable because of copayments deductibles and other gaps in coverage. you know, one of the leading causes of bankruptcy in this country is medical illness and medical bills but the majority of people with medical bankruptcy had private health insurance when they first got sick. they are bankrupted anyway by these gaps in coverage. >> is it realistic to think that the american people under these circumstances, given what we are hearing in some of these town hall meetings would go for a single payer system where the government would be 100% responsible for making all payments on health care. >> absolutely. people love the medicare program and part of the problem with these town hall meetings is the plan the democrats are putting forward, offers nothing to the middle class. if you have insurance through your job right now -- >> what are you talking about? the people who are complaining at these town hall meetings are not democrats. they are republicans who have essentially been reconstituted from other things where they have been against this president
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in the past. how can you say that the problem is that the democrats are positioning their program well enough for people when all the opposition that we see seems to be coming from the right? if anything, it's disheartening to see that one group is basically a part of this conversation and not the other, right? >> if you had a really good program and you could honestly say to people, look, your going to have coverage like they have in canada. that is first dollar to last dollar coverage from the day you are born to the day you die. there is no gap, no deductibles, no copayments. that might shut some of these people up and make them think twice that maybe they would benefit from the system. what obama is proposing doesn't help you if you already have insurance through your job, other than making it mandatory for you to go and purchase that insurance. if you have an income greater than 300% of poverty. greater than $33,000, the new law is going to make it mandatory for you to hand your money over to private insurance
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companies to buy one of their policies. the private insurance industry loves it but their policies are a detective product they will not protect you from bankruptcy if you have a serious illness. >> i guarantee you, one perspective that would not be well-received. >> many of these elderly people say they want medicare. >> many of these elderly don't know they are on medicare. they keep saying, leave my medicare alone, with he don't want socialized medicine. >> we need to educate them. >> the idea that we can get many of these people to understand what it is we are talking about, including some of the politicians. doctor, thanks so much for being with us. >> leave us alone. that's all we would ask, would you leave us alone. >> here is the question. does president obama win while
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the nation watches these raucous health care debates or does he lose? that's the political argument in all of this that we want to ask you. >> you want me to tell you what my husband thinks? my husband is not the secretary of state. i am. >> there is an update on this story. the state department now has a new explanation of why secretary of state hillary clinton seemed to lose it in congo. this is not about the trance lay ter's mistake. you will hear this explanation if you stay with us. also, remember, after the show, we are going to do something called after the show, on cnn.com/live right here at 4:00. stay with us. a lot of information coming in. oh, and there is a claire mccaskill town hall debate that's going on right now. we are going to be dipping into it. stay with us. we'll be right back.
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producer. by the way, both are always right, just for the record. but what do you make of hillary clinton's angry outburst in congo yesterday. it turns out she may have been right as well. why? because the state department is now saying it was caused by her reaction to a war torn region of africa where women have been cuss sttomorrow merrilly treate like they simply don't matter or worse. first, here is the moment. >> what does mr. clinton think through the mouth of mrs. clinton and what does mr. matomo think on this situation? thank you very much. >> wait. you want me to tell you what my husband thinks? my husband is not the secretary of state. i am.
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if you ask my opinion, i will tell you my opinion. i am not going to be channeling my husband. >> that's interesting. here you see clinton and the questioner later shaking hands. here is what happened. the secretary of state was responding to a question that was lost in translation, literally. she reportedly was asked what president obama believed but the trance l translator had asked her what her husband, bill clinton believed. that set clinton off on defending women. here is what a state department's spokesperson says. you can't separate the question from the setting. the state department was referring to the area of africa where women have been raped, murdered for nearly ten years. by the way, women are raped and murdered in parts of central america as well. they, and others, are bought and sold and cnn's michael ware, is going to document it for us. he takes you to places most dare not go. this is a powerful report and i
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would like you to see. stay with us. we'll be right back.
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it's always one of my favorite kind of newscasts. it tests an anchor's ability when everything seems to go down, sound, pictures, technical problems. guess what else is going down. the twitter board. we've been watching the same thing for the past half hour. it seems like twitter is down, interestingly enough. we will muster through regardless, thanks to you. i want you to take a look now at lebanon, pennsylvania. this is something else we have put together for you. before i show you this loud
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conversation on health care outside arlen specter's town hall meeting that we showed you a bit of earlier, there are a couple of things i want you to look for. you will hear a man in blue who describes himself as a veteran and you will hear a woman that tells that man that she has as much right to speak as he does. then, i want you to look closely at a man that enters the picture and says, your not helping the cause. let them scream and yell and don't engage them. is that his opinion or their marching orders? >> if you are forced to take the government's stand, i will be on
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your side. right now, right now, we need health care reform. we need it. why? you said you had credit cards. obama promised you jobs to work and pay them off. why aren't you paying your bills? >> i served my time, lady. i served my time. >> i have the right to be here just like you, just like you. we have free speech, just like you. we are here for our principles. that's what we are here for.
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we wouldn't have america and we wouldn't be standing here. >> how does the screaming help? think about that person that walked in and tried to pull the other person back. that was scene outside arlen specter's town hall meeting in lebanon, pennsylvania. >> and, and, and -- >> you are not -- >> you want to be led out of here? you are welcome to go. now, wait a minute, wait a minute. >> does it seem like these help president obama or do they hurt president obama? >> now, we are going to tell you what some of the experts are saying about the politics of these town hall melees.
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then, when we come back, a smuggler's tail. we are going to take you into places in mexico few dare tread. few dare tread. except our own michael ware memorable piece. we want you to remember the aftershow. it's on after this show. at 4:00 on cnn.com/live. stay with us. we're coming right back. because of one word, a new generation-- a fifth generation-- of fighter aircraft has been born. because of one word, america's air dominance for the next forty years is assured. that one word... is how. ies who need that one word... assistance getting around their homes. there is a medicare benefit that may qualify you for a new power chair or scooter at little or no cost to you. imagine... one scooter or power chair that could improve your
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even enslaved as we've documented. we have the proof as described here by cnn's michael ware. >> this is a tail of kidnapped imprisonment and worse, much worse. it is the story of those who fall prey to mexico's drug cartel because of their hope to come to america. i cannot tell you her name nor anyone else's in this story nor can i show you their faces or tell you where i met them. if i did, they say they would almost certainly be killed. that's because the violence drug cartels have a new and lucrative business. think of it as a hostile takeover. the people smuggling business. >> this woman fled the poverty of her home town, the seventh of 12 children as hundreds do every
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week in central america. she headed north to mexico, bound for the u.s. only to be seized by one of the most brutal cartels in the business, lozettas. [ speaking in spanish ] >> reporter: the cartel ransomed them off for whatever they could get, selling them back to families who barrel could pavement. >> they have the infrastructure. they have the money. they have the people. they have the guns. they have everything they need to control everything. >> reporter: this man is one of few working with the cartel's victims. he told us the cartel's new business, human trafficking is flourishing. >> yes. it is getting money.
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where come from the money, they don't care. when the car carrying the young woman arrived at an immigration police checkpoint, she hoped her ordeal with the cartel was over. she says the immigration officials were in on it. [ speaking in spanish ] >> reporter: this is another woman who was held by a cartel. her family was unable to pay a ransom. so for four months, she was forced to work for the other hostages and the cartel kidnappers themselves. [ speaking in spanish ]
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>> reporter: she says she was also ordered to take food to prisoners shackled in makeshift torture chak bers and to wash the clothes of the cartel jailers. [ speaking in spanish ] >> reporter: the men chopped into pieces, she said, were hostages who could not pay or more often, they were the men they called coyotes, the mexicans who specialize in smuggling people across the u.s. border. the cartel is literally butchering their competition and anything that makes them stronger is a threat to america, particularly when it offers a new means of importing more drugs. >> they are a prime example of an organization that has, from a
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traditional perspective looked into other areas of making money. specifically with the smuggling situation. it's a means of introducing drugs into the united states. >> that means only one thing. many more horror stories to come. michael wears, cnn, mexico. >> one day, god is going to stand before you and he is going to judge you and the rest of your damn cronies up on the hill. >> an ger and vit tree ol, senator arlen specter taking a bit of a beating at his first town hall event of the day. guess what? his second one kicks off in about ten minutes or so and we're going to bring it to you. you are going to see it here live. in the meantime, there is a town hall that's going on right now. this is the claire mccaskill event in hillsboro, missouri. we will dip in just a little bit to listen to her and then we'll go straight into the break and
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we'll follow it throughout the rest of the hour. >> the cure-all to something and where it has happened, it hasn't worked to bring down health care costs. >> george salava. hi, george. senator, can you assure us without a doubt that we will be able to -- i would say convenience is something that the bank of america really has the market cornered on. let me make it easier for you. let me show you how i can make it easier for you. online banking is going to be your best friend; it's going to help you manage your money. it has an alert system that can text message you. we have great new image atms. it will give you a receipt
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there is new information oven the michael jackson investigation. yesterday, we told you more about the police not releasing some medical records. now, we understand there has been a raid, possibly a search
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warrant issued today where police swarmed into a pharmacy in las vegas. i suppose the question is, is this the place where michael jackson was getting the drugs that some are saying may have led to his death? part of the investigation into jackson's personal physician, dr. conrad murray. ted rowlands is joining us now in los angeles. where were police? what are they looking for? >> reporter: well, according to a source familiar with the investigation, this is the fifth -- well, not according to the sources but this is the fifth search warrant issued in this case, the fifth one directed at conrad murray. according to the source, this is from las vegas. they came up with this one to a pharmacy not far away from where doctor conrad murray's clinic is in vegas. that assumption you had, this is where he could have gotten the poe poe thol.
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you do know. the coroner's office, they are done with their reporting and their investigation, the cause of death and the toxicology. the lapd said, instead of releasing it now, please hold off until we are done with our investigation so we can move forward united and clearly what we are seeing today happening right now in las vegas is that ongoing investigation from the lapd, which, according to this rs s source is an extension of that one. they are ibuilding a possible case against dr. conrad murray. >> this isn't the kind of propofol that you get at the neighborhood drugstore, is it? >> reporter: no, but doctors have relationships with drug suppliers and they can provide to the consumer and physicians on a professional level. that could be the relationship there wechlt don't know. that hasn't been confirmed. you are right. normally, it just goes into the hospitals and is used in only a hospital setting or in a clinical setting but it wouldn't
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come through your neighborhood pharmacy by any stretch of the imagination. >> now, could there be -- you mentioned they are going after the doctor. we all know that. that's been established. the investigation continues. still, no certain signs that he is going to be convicted in any way. we start to wonder whether there may be other people who may be involved in this. perhaps some people who have worked at some of these centers and pharmacies, for example. any news on that? >> nothing specific in terms of other potential suspects, especially on the level of con krad rad murray. they are investigating the death of michael jackson. as a side investigation, the dea will be categorizing what they have found as they help the lapd. there could very well be inappropriate prescribing going on going back years in connection to jackson. that will be separate. it appears the real focus is just connected to the death and just centered on conrad murray for now. you are right, there could be
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other doctors in the fray down the line. >> ted rowlands, on top of that story for us. we thank you so much. we have just heard there has been a development at claire mccaskill event. we told you this is going on in hillsboro, missouri, where she just two days ago is trying to inform her constituents about the health care reform legislation. moments ago, there was an altercation that involved police. >> so we catch a crook over here and the system over here. hey, hey, hey. okay. ma'am, okay, everybody sit down. everybody sit down. everybody sit down. now, let me just say what happened here. okay? i want efveryone to understand
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what happened here. everyone take a deep breath and sit down. i want everybody to remember we had a prayer at the beginning. now, let me just say what happened, okay? there was some women who came in with signs who shouldn't have had them. okay? i apologize to you for that. then, after the women sit down, someone sitting over there -- okay, okay, all right. the bottom line is, we had two people that got involved and shouldn't have and i want to apologize to all of you for the disruption. i want to thank all of you for sitting back down and realizing that we can do this. we can still have this. >> let's do this. if we can, claude, let's see if we can recue that. the outstanding question here,
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obviously, is, what signs? we saw nothing of any signs. we don't know much about that part of the story. we are obviously going to see if we can make some phone calls and find out exactly what is going on. it seems curious she would men ch chun that. steve, are you hearing me back there? you hearing me? check and see what's going on with the two signs. meanwhile, i will let you hear this. >> okay. >> listen to what mccaskill says here and see if you can find out anything about this. >> everybody sit down, everybody sit down. >> now, let me just say what happened here. i want everybody to understand what just happened here, okay? just so everyone understands. everybody take a deep breath and sit down. i want everybody to remember we had a prayer at the beginning, okay? now, let me just say what happened, okay?
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there was some woman who came in with signs who shouldn't have had them. okay? i apologize to you for that. then, after the women sit down, someone sitting over there -- okay, all right, okay, okay, okay. the bottom line is we had two people that got involved and shouldn't have and i want to apologize to all of you for the disruption and i want to thank all of you for sitting back down and realizing that we can do this. we can still have town hall meetings. >> as we follow this, obviously, a lot of this is happening before. it's hard to keep an eye on all the different town hall events that are taking place. as a matter of fact, there is one that's going to start any moment now. this is the second arlen specter town hall meeting that's going to be going on in pennsylvania.
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as you can see, the crowd is already mustering their enj i the there. the first one did not -- i guess it depends on what point of view you come. certainly, it was raucous as well. it was very difficult at times on arlen specter as this seems to be on claire mccaskill there in missouri. by the way, i should share with you that the president had some very stern comments today about these crowds and what they are being told and what they are saying and what they, quote, don't know. we have that the president has said. i want to share that with you in just a little bit when we come back for the sake of preparation, claude, if you are listening to me in the control room, that's the piece that gary had prepared at the very beginning of our newscast. it was the second sound bite from barack obama explaining where this rumor started about death panels and old people being killed under his plan. the president addresses that specifically and tells us where that started and we are going to
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play that for you when we come back. stay right there. obviously, there is a lot going on right now. we'll be back.
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there is a lot going on. a lot of information that's moving as we are following this. there you see claire mccaskill. she is in hillsboro, missouri. there you see arlen specter. we were trying to clear out what was going on with mccaskill moments ago. i think we have more sound on that. my executive producer just told me that claire mccaskill goes on to say what happened here. people had brought in signs despite the fact that they were told not to do so. listen to this again as claire mccaskill continues or amplifies her explanation. >> now, here is the sad part about this. i'm going to talk to the cameras now for a minute. here is the sad part about this. we've been at this for an hour and a half, almost an hour and 45 minutes. there is strong feelings in this room.
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and while there has been some people that have been impolite and hollered, by and large, we have been able to get through it, right? by and large, i think we've had a pretty good discussion about this bill and what's in it and what isn't and what people are upset about and what they aren't. the sad thing is, i'll betcha a dollar, all they show on the news tonight is what happened right there. so what i want all of you to do if you would do me a huge favor, what i would like all of you tonight to do -- i know many of you are on the internet. many of you are blogging. many of you are e-mailing and many of you are communicating with twitter and lots of different things. i really hope that the message goes out after this that by and large, this was a good meeting. by and large, everyone behaved. >> there you go. claire mccaskill making some clarifications.
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apparently, those two people brought proobama signs. they said they were upset that they were allowed to go in with bring in signs. that's what caused the problem. and that's what caused mccaskill to leave the mike. moments ago. she was asked by a security person, would you like to leave, and she said no, not on my life, i'm staying right here, and continuing the town hall meeting. we've got that bite again? go ahead, chris. hit that, if you got it. >> ma'am? okay. everybody sit down. >> all right, amazing as you watch that unfold. you saw parts of the sign, which is why we wanted to show you that. the big twitter board is down, but we have the little one going. you heard mccaskill, a big twitt twitterer herself, by the way. the town hall people need to
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listen to the middle class real folks. i'm shocked nobody's got into cardiac arrest and needed health care at the town hall meetings. yikes. that's some of the comments coming in from you. a big part of what we've been watching today has to do with some of the unsubstantiated reports, rumors, if you will, people have been told, for example, that if they're old, under the obama plan, there will be death panels that will allow old people to die. it's obviously not true. now, while there they be many legitimate concerns raised at the meetings, for example, people are concerned about how much money this is going to cost americans, and all of our kids. some of these concerns are not legitimate. they are, in fact, falsified. they are not true. that one, in particular, is not true, from all the research we've done here at cnn. here's the president, now, telling town hall audience just about 45 minutes ago, where this rumor came from. here it is. >> the irony is that actually,
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one of the chief sponsors of this bill originally was a republic republican, then house member, now senator named johnny isaacson who very sensibly thought this is something that would expand people's options. and it's gotten spun into this idea of death panels. >> yeah, he was talking about isaacson. here in georgia, as a matter of fact, who had raised this as a way of maybe helping people who had someone who was dealing with that type of care. but some how it's become a death panel to quote the former governor of the state of alaska in recent days. when we come back, we're continuing to monitor the latest health care town hall, which is going on right now in pennsylvania. we got that picture, claude? let's put that up if we have a chance. that's arlen specter's, and we're going to monitor that and see what's going on with that. looks like he's smiling at this point. and also, we are going to be
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joined by representative from the white house, of the obama administration, to answer some hard questions about whether the obama administration has been in ka hoolts with big pharmaceutical companies to come up with some kind of deal, as we alluded to yesterday. that, and a whole lot more coming up. stay with us.
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all right, welcome back. we've got a lot of folks lined up here. couple of things for you. monitoring what's going on with specter, he's having a town hall meeting. there it is right now. thing seems to be under control. the president had a town hall meeting, as well, and we're going to be sharing with you some of the information the president shared with the american people during that. speaking of the president, let's take you to the white house. linda douglass is good enough to join us from the white house, to bring us up to date on what's going on. she's the president's communications director on health care reform. linda, thank you for being with us. >> thanks for having me. >> this town hall strategy, did it come from the white house, and is it working, given all the chaos that we've been seeing going on, really, all over the country? >> well, you know, typically, during any recess when congress is not in session here in washington, members of congress go home and talk to their constituents about issues they
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are grappling with in washington, and every recess the members have gone home and held town hams to talk to constituents about health reform and the rising cost of health care and the imfact it's having on their lives. first of all, people want to hear from their elected representatives about how this is going to work. secondly, the representatives want to hear from the people about how they're coping with rising costs. >> yeah, yeah, but -- we know all that, linda. the question is, what do you say about all these people who are interrupting the town hall meetings and really creating chaoses chaos. it's not a pretty picture out there. >> the president said this is a country that has a tradition of spirited debate. there's been a lot of that, obviously. it's not helpful or constructive to a discussion if people are shouting when their fellow citizens are trying to hear, ask a question, get information. so, we're hoping there will be a civil discussion, and this has been a very spirited one. >> i don't mean to interrupt, i'm sorry.
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let's just talk politics here. do you really, or deep down, doesn't this politically really help the president by making the other side, perhaps, look sot so civil? >> you know, i just have no idea. all i know is that it's very important for the country right now to be having a real discussion about what's going on with rising costs, about what's going on with unfair insurance regulations. that's what your elected representatives are trying to do right now. and people are coming to these town halls as they did to talk to the president today with their questions, and certainly when they talk to the president, and it was a much more civil event than some of the ones you've been showing here on cable. they got very good, solid answers. it think it was helpful. >> we showed the president's here on cable in its entirety, by the way. >> yes, you did. >> just wanted to give you that as a wink wink, linda. hey, when you watch people ask questions, like the woman who was asking about old people all being killed under the obama
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care, or the person who starts to recite the pledge of ali j , allegian allegiance, or the woman that talks about abortion, but there's no plans to make the government or make all americans pay for abortions in the plan. what do you think, what do you say, and what's your strategy for dealing with those falsities? >> well, you know, obviously, some people have come with particular interests that are less related to health insurance reform. they're not about cost, they're not about coverage, not about if you're going to have security if you lose your health insurance at your job. they are coming with different kinds of issues, and using these forums to ask those questions. you hear people ask questions, such as the woman who is worried about what's going to happen to old people, because there's been so many scare tactics employed. what this provision does is provide coverage for a person who is seeking advice about making a living will. >> we get that. we get that. and the president explained that
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very well, by the way. did the president cut a deal with the pharmaceutical companies? >> well, cutting a deal is kind of an interesting way to put it. >> okay. i take it back. did the president sit down and come up with some kind of negotiation with big pharma, where they would be limiting their payments? >> what the administration and the senate finance committee did, in talks with the pharmaceutical industry is get that industry to agree to contribute $80 billion toward lowering the cost of health reform. it's an unprecedented sum of money, and as a result of this agreement, there will be lowering the cost of prescription drugs for seniors who pay exorbitant prices, and they will be making substantial contributions to lowering the cost of health care for everyone. it is an important deal. and yes, the white house absolutely participated in that. very good deal for the

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