>> but i think the language is the same. i'm not sure it was rooted in race. you seem to be absolutely, when i think we've just gone through two examples that are close, that is with george h.w. bush in talking to school children and, secondly, the one with the speaker, excuse me, the senate majority leader harry reid calling the president of the united states a liar. i think it's very, to me, it's interesting to see this effort to call, to create a race issue around public policies. >> we don't want to simplify it too much, lou. we want to talk about not only the content but the context. in this particular case, jimmy carter is someone, keep in mind, that grew up in a segregated southern state, went on to become governor of that state and then president of the united states. his exposure and experience with these issues are quite profound, so very well when you have president carter saying things like this in his analysis and if you listen more to what he's saying, that we've seen these

kind of strategies played out to actually interfere and create a disparate effect for african-americans, whether you're talking about being able to get a job and how easy it is to dismiss someone who's african-american, we still believe at first -- last hired, first fired, there are many disparate attitudes still utilized and in this case an attitude to prevent even the president of the united states who happens to be african-american from clearly expressing himself. that's a big problem i think. >> we'll have to quit here but i have to disagree with you on the end. if this president is having trouble expressing himself i haven't noticed it. thanks very much. >> my pleasure. >> hilary shelton. still ahead, homeland security spending is under fire. why secretary napolitano is backtracking on what had been her efforts to stimulate spending along parts of the borders that are barely crossed. we'll introduce you to the fellow that played a role in fellow that played a role in that decision. proclaims "gq" m.

the dew point homeland security back peddling on a massive spending program. until very recently a multimillion-dollar upgrade in the works for two remote border towns in montana. so remote, in fact, that the locals question the plan about

upgrading those crossings. tonight secretary nop tawno is calling for a full review of her department's spending decision. we want to introduce you to the man who has contributed to all of the trouble being caused the secretary. our drew griffin we want to those remote locations in montana to investigate and this is his report. >> reporter: we knew this we had to see this to believe it, but after driving for hours we thought we might never see it. we've been driving for five in a country that has more antelopes than people. bridges to nowhere. this may be the topper. it was supposed to be $15 million to replace what appears to be a perfectly fine border

crossing station. especially when you consider the bureau of transportation statistics say this border crossing station in montana sees fewer than 20 vehicles a day. it's not that you could just call this border crossing slow. here i am in the middle of the day sitting in the middle of the road. there's nobody here. it's even quieter here, the boarder crossing at white tail, montana. the bureau of transportation statistic says the custom agents here have aj an average of fewer than two vehicles a day. yet, this, too, was to see a $15 million upgrade thanks to the federal stimulus bill. >> i think there's been $32 million on a new border station. i believe they need to update, but that seems to be kind of crazy numbers. >> reporter: why suddenly was so

much money supposed to come to northeast montana border crossing? especially when you consider that these border crossings are so unused, they're both closed at night. could it be politics? since the democrats took over in the senate, montana's two democratic senators have become very powerful. they pushed homeland security for the stimulus spending. this is good news for all of montana and especially communities across the northern tier. senator baucus said in that release. senator test either said the spending would pay off for generations to come by creating new jobs and opportunities that will benefit all of montana and just this week senator hest either reiterated his support in a statement saying to his spokesperson, because our

borders are only as strong as their weakest link, john supports sealing up all security gaps and expects to see the work done as responsibly and efficiently as possible. the department of homeland security even told us that security concerns, not politics, drove this decision to spend on the ports. >> we feel that these ports, like all ports of entry, are a violates part of that network of security that we establish along the borders and that the assessments that we're going to do at these ports of entries are critical steps to support that we can perform that mission. >> reporter: his land this s adjacent to the border crossing. in winter, entire days go by, he says, where you won't see a single car. an idea to build a new border station that sees fewer than 20 cars a day at a cost of $15 million tax dollars says could have only come from washington.

>> when you are spending somebody else's money, the cost is no big deal, right? if i was spending your money, what do i care as long as you have a big pocketbook? what do i care whether i spend it? the accountability that we need to have and the sensibility and the commonsense needs to apply here. i mean, the senators did a fine job as far as getting money to northeast montana. absolutely great. but would it be wiser spent on something more useful to the public generally? >> reporter: well, lou, some of that commonsense may have blown east from the plains over to washington, because just hours after we were interviewing that dhs official who was defending the port's program, homeland secretary janet napolitano suspended the program for 30 days. shements to review the entire process saying that she wants further transparency in this process, and just for house cleaning, i want to point out that we did contact both of these senators and ask them for comment.

they were extremely busy, and we did get that final little statement from senator tester yesterday. >> good thing it is. great work. i got to say max baucus, who has come up with a health care proposal today and john tester, the democrats in the senate, they've got a lot to chew over here, as, of course, does senator napolitano. great work, as always. well, coming up at the top of the hour campbell brown. campbell. >> hey there, lou. coming up, we are going to have the very latest on the arrest of the killing of that yale grad stupt. plus, new details about the suspect. we're also going to talk about what could have been a motive in this case. also, new pictures from the home in california. our first look inside the house where jaycee duggard lived for 18 years. also, our exclusive investigation. a mother who says breast feeding cost her her job.

do nursing moms need a national law to protect them at work? we've got that plus our match-ups and the other news at the top of the hour. lou. >> thanks, campbell. here we're coming right back. national car rental knows i'm picky.

so, at national, i go right past the counter... and you get to choose any car in the aisle. choose any car? you cannot be serious! okay. seriously, you choose. go national. go like a pro. okay. seriously, you choose. boss: come on in, i had some other things you can tell people about geico - great claims service and a 97% customer satisfaction rate. show people really trust us. gecko: yeah right, that makes sense. boss: trust is key when talking about geico. you gotta feel it. why don't you and i practice that with a little exercise where i fall backwards and you catch me. gecko: uh no sir, honestly... uh...i don't think...uh... boss: no, no. we can do this. gecko: oh dear. vo: geico. fifteen minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance.