it has secrets, it's trying to tell them to you. pay attention to your body. >> larry: thank you, dr. oz, thank you. great to see you. >> my honor, love you. attack care. we'll be talking golf as tiger woods returns to the masters tomorrow. right now, anderson cooper and ac "360." >> tonight, keeping them honest, the governor of virginia declaring april confederate history month but not the proclamation of slavery. now, he's singing another tune. was he pandering to his base and an issue that ripped this country apart? coming up, sarah palin and michele bachmann? are they the new faces of the republican party or outshining the republican party? tiger woods appears ainu ad,

the first since the scandal, the ad featuring his late father's voice, strange no doubt about it. strangely compelling as well. what it means, we'll let you decide. first up, keeping them honest. governor bob from virginia calling april history month. a proclamation that resulted in the governor a few hours ago reversion himself. i want to show you what the proclamation said. it was issued friday by the newly elected governor of virginia. this is him. i want to make it big. april is the month the people of virginia joined the confederate states of america and goes on to -- joined the con f fed -- confederate states of america. and the civil war. skips ahead to clause 3, it is important for all virginians to

reflect upon our commonwealth shared history to understand the sacrifices of confederate leaders, soldiers and citizens during the period of the civil war. do you notice anything missing? he's sack in the month of april, all the people in the state of virginia black-and-white should understand and effectively pay homage to the sacrifices of confederate leaders, soldiers and citizens and makes no mention of the half million enschaeffered people. you can scroll through the prock clamp meigs and never see the word, slavery. that was friday. when asked about it tuesday, he didn't say that was an oversight, he actually suggested slavery was insignificant in virginia, telling the "washington post" there were any number ofs a folks that conflict between the states, obviously it involved slavery, it involved other issues but i focused on the ones i thought were most significant for virginia. a few hours ago, after

increasing criticism, the governor called the slavery omission a mistake and inserted this into the new proclamation. this is the new paragraph he put in. whereas it's important for all virginians to understand the institution of slavery led to this war and was an evil aind humane practice that deprived people of their god given in l inalienable rights and all virginians are thankful to its permanent eradication from our borders. >> it seems hard to argue this was an oversight by the governor. as early as yesterday he was defending any mention of slavery. and the other mention, it was calculated effort to appeal to his base. he was lobbied to make the proclamation by the sons of confederate veterans. they call the war the second american revolution and saying the soldiers who fought for the confederacy person fi the best of americans. their quote. >> joining me now, from the sons

of confederate americans and political contributor, roland martin. >> reporter: roland, was this a mistake or was the governor trying tie peel to his base? >> he was clearly trying to appeal to his base. it was an idiotic mistake to sit here and proclaim this. bottom line, the confederacy was based upon this issue of slavery. it was hurtful, it was degrading, an oppressive system. i don't see how he can come up with this motion, it wasn't significant enough to mention it, no big deal. that's like someone sitting here saying, let's celebrate nazi soldiers for simply doing their job. ridiculous. >> brad, your group, sons of con federal veterans lobbied the governor to make this proclamation. was it a mistake? >> not at all. i applaud the governor for his courage and his insight. i completely disagree with mr. martin.

there were a whole lot of issues other than slavery involved in that war. actually, he's given a good reason why there should be confederate history month because he knows only one reason. that's slavery. there were a whole lot more. >> that was the dominant reason. >> do you think it was a mistake interior governor not to mention slavery in his proclamation? >> the governor -- it was an omission. the sons of confederate veterans has always wanted a true and accurate history of the war. that includes slavery, so we are not at all opposed to the insertion of that clause, no sane person in the 21 rst centu supports slavery. it was 150 years ago and there are people that act like it's 1865 right now. >> on your website, though, your home page, you don't mention anything about slavery, you say the civil war you call the second american revolution was about the preservation of liberty and freedom, that was the motivating factor. >> it was, there's no doubt about it.

knew ma . >> you make no mention of slavery hill. >> we're naturally going to support the honor and good name of the confederate soldier. he wasn't a politician, he was a soldier. >> wait a minute. here's the reality. the fact is virginia did not want the federal government telling them what to do, dealing with the issue of slavery. you sit here and talk about freedom. guess what? people who looked like me, they were not free. >> i hate to give you a history lesson, sir -- >> let him finish. >> again, though, that this is reality. when you sit here and say we will celebrate the confederate veterans, these folks committed treason by taking up arms against the united states. they were domestic terrorists. >> can i speak? >> yes. >> okay. he's incorrect, especially when it comes to virginia. slavery had absolutely nothing to do with virginia leaving the union. >> come on. >> as of fort sumter, virginia

was firmly pro union. it was when abraham lincoln called up 75,000 troops to invade the lower south that virginia su see seeded and the governor of virginia said no virginian would be allowed to fight against fellow americans and be coerced into staying in the union, virginia wouldn't do that. it had nothing to do with slavery. >> then why did they do it? slavery. suicide bomberi south carolina, it's all slavery. you can dance around it, spin it, dress it up, that's the reality. the problem is, you had two previous democratic governors who would not issue this proclamation and a couple republican governors who did so. even governor jim gilmore saw the need to call slavery what it was. this governor made an egregious mistake. it is insulting for you to say it was an omission. >> you wouldn't have supported the con federal proclamation

even if he put the reference in. this is political. >> i don't support celebrating of terrorists. >> this is political, mr. martin. >> i don't support somebody celebrating nazi soldiers by simply saying they were only doing their job. i.e. kuwait the two the same. >> i hate to tell you but the confederate soldier was hardly a nazi. he's been the main fighting force for the united states in every war we ever fought as a southerner. >> brad, do you then disagree -- brad, do you disagree with what the governor has now done -- >> no. >> in the new statement in the new proclamation, he seems to disagree with you, you said slavery had nothing to do with virginia and the war. >> i disagree with the fact he said it was the reason and it wasn't. but he's been pushed into this by people like mr. martin. this is an a political opposition to robert , is basically what he's hearing

from. >> it's called history, these same confederate veterans didn't want people like me to read and why we understand the history. you can sit here and create a secondary history. it can be revisionist. that is the reality. there is a whole body of work that lays it out. people say it was states rights not telling us what to do, because they wanted to keep the way of life, which was to keep people like me in chains, beating them, oppressing them and denying them the rights they richly deserved, those are facts. >> the united states was the only country in the western hemisphere that ended slavery through war. that was a policy of the union government. >> what was the first state to legalize slavery? virginia. who had more slaves than any other state? virginia. every single president that came from virginia was a slaveholder. you can sit here and say that's not true but they are simply facts. >> guy you call the civil war the second american revolution? >> we're seeing the same

issues-? it's part of the united states. >> mr. cooper, we're seeing many of the same issues today that the confederacy fought for 150 years ago. smaller government. >> like what? >> lower taxation, less empierialistic government, too. >> are you saying that the current efforts by republicans are similar to efforts by confederate soldiers? >> no, i'm not. i'm saying the issues, many of the issues, which were part of the confederacy in 1860, you still see today. >> those issues were pretty much resolved by the civil war. >> sucession was resolved by the civil war. that was the only issue truly resolved. >> they suceeded because of slavery primarily. these are the ones that use

states rights. the tenth amendment have been because of slavery and education. in a position, all those particular position, the same voice, the same people saying, oh, no, confederates, way of life, the southern way of life. that should be rejected absolutely. he wants to talk about taxes and things along those lines, nonsense. slavery was the primary issue. >> we will continue this conversation in just a moment. we will take a quick break and let us know what you think. join the live chat and talk to viewers watching around the world. >> sarah palin versus republican chairman michael steele. which one really speaks for the gop. >> and tiger woods on the golf course and a commercial break, talk about an ad raising questions, tiger woods' first ad since the scandal broke uses his dead father's voice. listen. >> tiger, i am more prone to be inquisitive, to promote discussion. oh sure, we have plenty of employees that...

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welcome back. we're talking about this proclamation virginia governor, bob mcdonnell made, not mentions slavery at all and add an update about slavery and the

controversy is not dying down. my guests, one who lobbied the governor to make the proclamation in the first place and roland martin. >> there are those who say this is offensesive to african-american citizens in the state of virginia and being asked in the proclamation to understand the sacrifices made by confederate leaders and citizens and soldiers and says nothing about formerly enslave ed africans, enclaved black people. >> this is supposed to be a resolution, proclamation sought for by an organization honoring the sacrifices of confederates. >> why should -- why should black -- why should black citizens in the state of virginia today be told that this is a month in which they should understand the sacrifices made by confederate leaders and soldiers. you can understand why some black residents in the state of virginia would say, what are you

talking about? >> thank you. >> let me ask you something. if we don't -- i'm sure this is the way my opponent here feels. should we not study confederate history, which is an important part of american history because if we don't we'll be treating it like russia. that's the way the soviet union handled the history they didn't like. >> let me give my answer and then roland. i have relatives who were confederate soldiers, i have relatives who were union soldiers and have relatives buried in the state of mississippi, i go and visit their graves. that doesn't mean you whitewash what the history, the cause was, i think your critics say that's what you're trying to do. >> i think governor mcdonnell was writing a proclamation for our organization. that's the approach he took. he changed it now because of the vitriolic opposition of people like roland. >> roland. >> here's the problem.

your organization does not represent all virginians. he is the governor of the commonwealth of virginia, that means whites, african-americans, hispanic, asians, men, women, people who support confederate veterans and those who oppose them. when the governor makes this kind of decision, he has to make it for all the people in that particular state. that is what so is offensive. no right thinking person, especially any african-american would not sit here and support the praise and celebration of a group of people who wanted to oppressor their an cessers. when you talk about your ancestors, trust me, mine were in chains, they were beaten, oppressed, degraded, families were broken up. for you to say, they had to sacrifice, guess what? people with my skin color paid a significant sacrifice by dealing with the folks who you are supporting. >> i can say this. i don't think you represent the feelings of all black people either. >> i didn't say all black people. i can tell you this here,

virginia had more slaves than anybody else. it was a state deeply embedded with the culture of slavery. you can deny it and dress it up. that was the whole point of the civil war. it is shameful you cannot recognize the mistake that this governor has made by not even mentioning it, and then following up by saying, it was not significant enough to mention it by saying there were other issues he wanted to focus on. and then to put tourism into it, give me a break. >> there were other issues. >> that's like tiger woods' wife saying i'm leaving you because we can't communicate. you're leave because he cheated. the issue that cast a cloud over everything was slavery. >> i want to give you the final thought and then we have to go. >> no, i just -- i totally disagree. i think there's a place to honor veterans, all veterans. the confederate veteran is a recognized american veteran by congress and he deserves full

honor for the sacrifice he made. >> the critics say why not have the month where everyone who fought in the civil war is recognized, confederate veterans -- >> that's an easy one because the union army invaded the south. the union army killed thousands and thousands of virginians. >> right. there were plenty of virginians who actually supported the union and actually formed the state of west virginia and to say that they invaded virginia, there are those who would argue with you as part of the united states. >> i think that's the prime motivating factor of the confederate soldier this is fact they were invaded and they had to defend their homes and families and some of the things the union armies did when they were in virginia by completely destroy i destroying shenandoah valley and stealing things. >> sir, how -- >> this is the way the union army behaved in every southern

state from the march to the sea and south carolina. it was shameful and degrading. >> so were you offended when they destroy ed africans? were you ashamed when they destroyed family, killed them, tortured them, murdered them? >> the union army? >> no. the people you're supporting, they tortured and killed africans who were slaves and you're sitting here by saying they invaded. come on, do you even hear how you sound? >> i think i sound perfectly rational. i'm giving you what happened. >> i think you sound delirious when you can't even recognize how they destroyed human beings. this was a -- >> you're giving a perfect reason why this whole era needs a full study. >> but you're not -- i just want to give you an opportunity to respond to what mr. martin said, you do recognize that, you know, slavery was inherently evil and africans who were -- >> i do.

i do. i make no defense of slavery. but we live in 2010, we don't live in 1860, where slavery was a world-wide institution. it's a completely different place now. >> and it was wrong then. and the governor's statement, he even said we need to recognize the times people lived in. i'm sorry, sir, i reject evil then and i reject it now. >> we have to leave it there. we appreciate your perspective being on the program with us and roland martin as well. thank you. >> interesting discussion there. breaking news, i want to show you denver international airport on the ground, united flight 663. we're being very preliminary, being careful not to get ahead of the facts. there was a disturbance aboard the flight from d.c. to denver. someone tried to light their shoes on fire.

and being investigated by the fbi. and joining us former white house security advisor, fran, what do you make of this? >> caller: the first thing they're trying to figure out, is this person crazy? in other words, somebody had a mental breakdown and caused a disturbance on the flight. the concerning factor of the shoes on fire, reminiscent of richard reid, i guess that was 2002. was this an attempted terrorist attack bilike the christmas day attempt or was this a mentally disturbed person? i'm sure that's what they're sorting through now. interesting they have the fbi there and tsa. one of the other questions i have is what does the national counter-terrorism center know about this individual? some preliminary reports suggested it was a diplomat. i guess we have to wait and see

what more we can find out about it. >> the other question is, were there air marshals on board this flight? is that how this person was subdued, if it came to that. >> caller: that's right. initial reports suggested there had been air marshals on board to help subdue this person. now, united airlines spokesperson didn't confirm that and said they had asked for law enforcement officials to meet the plane on the ground. conflicting reports early on, that's not really a surprise. i expect they're trying to sort this whole thing out. one good information to me, i understand airport operation ingoing and outgoing flights at the airport haven't been affected. that's a good sign and that means they feel like they have a real good handle on this? >> this was united flight 663 going from reagan national in washington to denver. peter bergen, leaving from

washington d.c., security is always tight at that airport. reagan has extreme tight security. this is a big black eye. appears there is a shoe bomber involved so soon after the christmas day attempt. speculation on my behalf here but the guy who built th that -- the bomb on christmas day, the bomb that didn't go off over detroit, that bombmaker is still out there. clearly, that bombmaker may have been involved in the richard reid attempt. and the bomb was petn, an unusual explosive. no indication that bombmaker has been eliminated or captured. building a shoe bomb is not an easy thing to do. we may find it's this same bombmaker in all these cases because they bear a certain amount of similarities. >> they all have a similar signature in that ingredient? >> in that ingredient and either the ankle length hiking boots

richard reid was wearing or shoe bomb in this case or secretion in the undergarments in the case of christmas day. as you know, this kind of situation, misinformation, going back to christmas day, the first of the reports were that a firecracker had gone off on northwest flight 253. of course, it was much more serious. right now, we have these fragments about the story. the fact that the fbi is involved, as fran mentioned, that indicates to me this is not just some guy acting out on a plane, this is something more serious that they're going to be looking at. >> as always in these situation, there are a lot of rumors out there, a lot of speculation out there floating around right now. we are not telling you that because we want to be very clear what we know and don't know and what is just rumor. united flight 663, the flight is on the ground, clearly, as you can tell by the flashing lights around that plane, at the center

of that, met by law enforcement. the flight's crew asked for law enforcement to meet the plane, there was a disturbance on the plane, no one on board was injured, to the best off the spokesperson's knowledge. they had no details on the nature of the incident, a boeing 757, 157 passengers on board, six crew, the flight leaving from reagan national to denver. one source saying airport operations have not been affected. met by the tsa. we will bring you any updates as warranted and probably have a few more updates later in this hour. stay tuned for that. also tonight, new developments to make the upper big branch coal mine safe enough for rescuers to locate four miners who might still be alive although hope is slim. that new tiger woods' ad involving tiger woods and his late father. >> i want to find out what your

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continuing to follow breaking news, this disturbance out of a flight out of washington, someone trying to light his shoes on fire. we don't know how serious the incident was. serious enough law enforcement is surrounded, tsa representatives as well as the fbi. bring you updates on that as they come in. meanwhile, lisa bloom joins us with the "360" bulletin. >> anderson, a federal official says rescue crews may be able to enter a rescue mine to search for four missing miners sometime tonight. dangerous gases kept them from going inside the upper big branch coal mine but the levels have been dropping. 25 miners died from an explosion, the deadliest disaster in 25 years. in kyrgyzstan, waves of protesters storming the building

and there has been a claim of an interim government. alan greenspan said he made mistakes. he said he was wrong, get this, about 30% of the time. he also said his policy of keeping interest rates low did not inflate the housing bubble. he was testifying at a hearing on the causes of the financial crisis. in less than 24 hours, tiger woods tees off at the masters. today, billy payne, the chairman of the augusta international golf club didn't cut him any slack say hegg disappointed everyone with his sex scandal. this is a new ad featuring tiger woods and the voice of his late father. >> tiger, i am more prone to be inquisiti inquisitive, to promote discussi discussion. i want to find out what your thinking was, i want to find out

what your feelings are, and did you learn anything? >> i've seen the ad now a couple times, lisa. i find it really compelling and intere interesting, also kind of creepy at the same time, it's his late father's voice. i'm not sure what the message is that's supposed to be there. it's certainly thought provoking, i guess. what do you think? >> my first reaction was the same thing, creepy, using his deceased' father's voice in some other context to give him a public spanking. it occurs to me, this is nike, one of the biggest sponsors that stuck by tying their last five month, unlike some of the other ones, they never dropped him and presumably want to use him in other ads and needed a transition, they cheese to do it this way, almost as if nike is giving him a public spanking using the voice of his

deceased's father to do it. >> and putting us in the shoes and visual sight of his father, looking at tiger woods, sort of asking us to ask him what was going on. i mean, it's interesting, an interesting commercial, obviously very thought provoking or talkative. i don't know that it sells nike products but i don't think that was the intent. >> the questions his father is asking him, what were you thinking? what have you learned? he really hasn't answered those questions. is that going to be the next set of nike ads or will they move on? these are only running a day and half on a couple of sports channels, the espn golf channels, has to be one of the shortest in history. >> but it's like those on youtube, people run them everywhere because they find them so fascinating. they didn't need to do a big ad because us and folks like us will run them and talk about them as we just have. coming up, who's in charge of the republican party? are these two the new face

offers the republican party? drawing crowds, what sarah palin and michelle bachmann. and martina navratilova. what do you think?

i think i'll go with the basic package. good choice. only meineke lets you choose the brakservice that's right for you. and save 50% on pads and shoes. meineke. politics tonight and who is an charge of the republican party. the question is, are you looking at them? sarah palin with michelle bachmann, outshining the state's governor, tim pawlenty used to be considered the top presidential contender and

giving a shout-out to the tea party movement. michelle and i were talking about the tea party movement, catching up a little bit and i was wondering, do we have some tea party americans here today? i thank you then for being part of this beautiful grass movements sweeping across our country, full of common sense conservatives ready to take our country back. i thank you for being a part of this. >> no shout-out for this guy, gop michael steele. cnn contributor gop advisor saying the party needed to change direction because chairman steele has lost the trust of any party's lifeblood major donors. the latest gap, rnc money spent at a hollywood bondage theme called voyeurs, called itself an art club. let's talk to krrcnn contributo

ed rollins and david forum. should michael steele step down? >> i think nor the good of the party, he should step aside. he can't be effective in the very important six months we have left and be the voice of reason. >> has he become too much of an distraction? >> he's absolutely a distraction. we have spent the last two weeks discussing things that shouldn't be relevant to the american public, what should be the president signing not a very good treaty with 3 russians and health debate going on and we're talking about sex clubs. that goes against our base. i think niany donor today will think about jets and wasted money spent well on a candidate. >> david, do you agree he should step down? >> i do not agree. you led the story with the proclamation in virginia. i don't think governor bob mcdonnell had any ill intent and trying to avoid controversy, not

make controversy but he couldn't see that situation except the eyes he happened to have and the eyes around him are different eyes. we need different perspectives inside the republican party and the highest levels that no other in american history and other points of view and not from a book. that is something very precious michael steele brings. he is also the victim here of the difficulty of breaking a media narrative. on my website we broke a story the democratic national convention spent not $1900 but $6,000 at a d.c. club called josephines, putting it all over our front page and that doesn't get as much traction. are there calls from the dnc to step down? michael steele didn't make that strip club decision, made by somebody who has since been disciplined. michael steele should not be made the victim and fall guy for everything that goes wrong. >> is so much money always traditionally spent at strip clubs by republicans or democrats? >> i have great respect for

david, a great speechwriter for president bush. i oversaw it whether when i was at the houwhite house. the man at the top has total control. we have had four or five scandals we're turning donors off. the role of the national republican committee is to raise money. haley barbour is saying don't give to them, give to the rga and the head of the congressional committee saying give to us. how are you effective? the party is about the people. not people running around with hats every four years at conventions. >> what about to david's point needing different voices, different complexions? >> we need to elect people. michael steele will hopefully run again some day for office. at this point in time, everyday it's about him. it's not a good reflection. he himself making comments about race being involved in this was

a very real insult to republicans. at the end of the day, our job is to take safe republican seats we have 180 of them, take good candidates, may also be african-american and hispanic and elect them. it won't be david and i talking about why you should be a good republican, it will be people like those elected who can do that. >> david, could anybody in the republican party ask michael steele to step down because of his race? it certainly would not -- that would become an issue, wouldn't it? >> i get the feeling quite a lot of people are asking him to step down including ed rollins. i don't think race buys you any immunity, nor should it. we just should value, i think, some of the insights michael steele brings. it's sobering to consider what would the party's national image look like? >> would you give money to the rnc or another group right now? >> i would give money to the rnc because i'm a small dollar donor

i'm afraid, i apologize to stay and small dollar donors have historically gravitated to the rnc and big party donors sometimes go elsewhere. who would be the face of the party but for michael steele? the media collaborates we wouldn't here so much from mitt romney and tim pawlenty but hear a lot from sarah palin and faces at fox news. that's not enough of a face to turn to the country. >> are you concerned by the attention sarah palin gets or michelle bachmann gets? are they the face the republican party wants? >> they're a big part of the republican party. i think the party is to elect people to office. the office holders are the ones that vote everyday. the rest is a service part of the organization. the more people you can have, the more diversified you can have, the better. sarah palin was our

vice-presidential candidate and ener energized a part of this nobody else could. she's an important part of this. if she ever walked away from our party -- michael steele can go away, if she decided the would go to the tea party and run as an independent candidate, she would do so much damage, we need her and more like her. she's an effective communicator. >> do they need her? >> she is like plutonium. ed rollins is right, if she started to run as a third party candidate, she would do a lot of damage and if she started to run inside the republican primary, she will do a lot of damage. pretty much wherever she goes, she will do a lot of damage. despite the intense devotion of her relatively small band of followers, she's relatively off putting. half of republican women think sarah palin is unqualified to be president. she has a huge reverse gender gap, her own gender is more suspicious of her than the male

gender is. >> she energized a very large segment of this party. if she wanted to be a player, she can be a very significant player? thanks for being on. breaking news, disturbance on flight from washington, did a passenger try to light his shoes on fire? [ tires screech ] ♪ [ sighs ] ♪ that's two for doubting. [ chuckles ] you hit like my sister. really? i'd like to meet her. [ male announcer ] the volkswagen cc. award-winning design starting under $28,000. it's a whole new volkswagen, and a whole new game.

i will bring you up to the breaking news out of denver. flight 663, on the ground safely. we don't know the nature of the disturbance from the plane out of washington. did the passenger try to light his shoe on fire or is it all a

misunderstanding. norad reported f-16s were scrambled to escort the flight in. it was met on the ground by tsa and the fbi. peter bergen is with us. the tsa did put out a statement earlier saying tsa is monitoring an incident on board united airlines flight 663 from d.c. to denver that a federal air marshal responded to a passenger possibly causing a disturbance on board this aircraft and the flight landed safely at denver international airport. law enforcement responded to the scene and the passenger is in custody and all steps being taken to ensure the safety of the traveling public. a lot of rumors floating around, and one that it was a misunderstanding. >> a diplomat knows the passenger in question knows the passenger whose name i will not mention. appare

apparently this arab diplomat knows the passenger, the passenger on the plane may have been smoking, may have made and unfortunate joke or comment resulting in this discussion of a shoe bomb. this is just one source who says he knows the passenger in question, but he's saying this is a misunderstanding. the person involved, in this is estimation is a terrorist, a diplomat at an embassy in washington. i pass that on for what it's worth. >> hold on to that. i want to bring in fran townsend, former homeland security advisor. what have you learned? >> caller: hi. i understand from senior law enforcement officials it was a diplomat from the embassy here in washington. an initial examination of the shoes turns up there is no -- it is not an explosive device and so they don't believe he had a

bomb he was trying to ignite. i don't understand -- the person i spoke to said they're still trying to understand why they either think he was trying to set his shoes on fire, why he was in the bathroom for an extended period of time. they haven't gotten to the bottom of that to their satisfaction, but they were very clear with me, this was not an explosive device based on initial look at the shoes. >> i don't know if you heard from peter but i want to bring peter back in. your source, who allegedly knows this diplomat said, what, he was smoking in the bathroom or in the bathroom a long period of time? >> apparently, might have been smoking in the bathroom and might have made some sort of joke about what he was doing there, perhaps about a shoe bomb which would have triggered this, a dump thing to say. this diplomat is based, as fran reported, in the qatar embassy, sort of mid-level diplomat.

the person i just spoke to knows him pretty well, says this is not the sort of guy who would be engaged in a shoe bomb operation and all an unfortunate mistake. >> we should point out for those who don't know much about qatar, there's u.s. presence in qatar in doha. there's been a long military presence there and they have a unique role in the middle east. >> and because the operational command over 9/11, khalid shaikh mohammed actually lived in qatar in 1996 and lived there basically under protection of the government minister. the fbi went to arrest him and he was tipped off and disappeared and then the operational commander of 9/11. qatar, one of the richest countries in the world, a place which does have -- has had infamous terrorists that passed through it, yet at the same time, a close american ally. >> clark, is also on the phone,

formerly with the fbi, what are you hearing? >> caller: as this is breaking, i'm learning this as everyone else is, this brings back to mind the whole richard reid incident and reminds us, there's always the potential for airplanes to be a terrorist target. interesting this breaks just a week or so after the announcement by tsa of the relaxation of their post christmas day incident rules to target people from 14 countries known to be associated from terrorism and instead have an intelligence-based system. shows our system is on hair trigger alert, exactly as it should be. it appears this is nothing to be worried about now and shows authorities are alert and as it ought to be. >> what moron on the planet does not know you don't make a joke like blowing up an airplane or light ing lighting a shoe bomb or anything on an airplane or anywhere near an airplane.

it is so stupid if that is in fact what happened? >> caller: i agree with you, anderson. i tell you, interesting because a senior law enforcement official said this doesn't make sense to them when they heard about the disturbance of intended terrorist attack. this is a u.s. domestic flight and reagan has explosive capability that would have picked up such a bomb. they had questions as soon as they got the initial information which is why they have completely dismantled this guy's shoes. he's now without shoes and they're going through it pretty carefully to make sure there was no explosive. you're right, how stupid to make such a joke. >> bottom line from two sources, this was not an incident, a misunderstanding and we'll take a short break and have more when we come back. it doesn't take much;

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bring you up to the minute on breaking news out of denver, united flight 663 is on the grounds safely. there was some sort of disturbance or misunderstanding from reagan airport out of washington. it was first thought a passenger was trying to light his shoes on fire. it's unclear at the moment.

we had two sources who said this was some sort of misunderstanding. norad says f-16s were scrambled to escort the flight in. the tsa and fbi is on the ground. and the suspect is in custody and being questioned quite thoroughly. joining us national security analyst, peter bergen and fran townsend, former white house homeland security advisor. confirmed the main detain on the flight has credentials as a diplomat from qatar and have former inspector general on the phone with us. peter, for those with us close to the top of the hour, what you have heard from your source is this is a misunderstanding? >> yes. anderson. the diplomat in question, according to my sources, he is listed as a diplomat on the qatar embassy website in washington d.c. is described as somebody who wouldn't be engaged

in a terrorist attack of any kind. my source is an arab diplomat that knows this guy pretty well says he may have been smoking, maybe even a pipe near the bathroom near the back of this plane and that may have triggered this response and may have made an observation about a shoe bomb. you can't really make those kinds of observation is in this environment. >> fran townsend, that's similar to what you are hearing from the folks you have talked to? >> caller: that's right, anderson, i spoke to senior law enforcement officials who told me this qatar diplomat was in the bathroom an extended period, that they don't know what he was doing, they want to get to the bottom of that. when the plane landed, they examined his shoes and did not find it contained any explosive device. the other thing i should mention is this senior law enforcement official say thens tire national

security and homeland security ap rparatus in washington was monitored an high alert and monitoring very closely. >> amazing in this day and age how quickly a small incident becomes a big one. more at the top of the hour. we are building a website by ourselves. announcer: there's an easier way. create your own business site with intuit websites. just choose a style, then customize, publish and get found. sweet. get a 30-day free trial at intuit.com.

breaking news at the top of the hour if you're just joining us, a major scare at an airliner that smelled like a terror attempt but thankfully not. we're about to show you the runway of international denver airport. a man coming out of a lavatory, apparently asked what he was doing so long there in, made a reference to lighting his shoes on fire. the man, a mid-level qatar diplomat. he was taken in custody and no explosives found in his shoes. peter bergen joining us and fran townsend and clark, former homeland inspector general.

peter, you heard from a source, even if this man had tried to do something, he is a diplomat and would have had diplomatic immunity, correct? >> indeed, although there have been case is in the past where diplomatic immunity has not worked. there was a case in washington a diplomat from georgia killed a young girl in a traffic accident some years back and the country involved allowed his diplomatic immunity to be revoked so he could stand charges. diplomatic immunity is not -- doesn't excuse you from everything. obviously in this case, interest rate seems this was just a misunderstanding. he may face some charges, creating some sort of public nuisance or i'm not sure what the charges would be. if it was a serious crime, diplomatic immunity can be revoked. >> in the last hour, you were talking about past history in qatar and a person from -- who lived there, one of the planners

of 9/11, but the government of qatar has a goodrich with the united states. >> absolutely. they also fund al jazeera, not the most friendly television network in the world, but the gulf of emirate states, quite pro american, has one of the highest per capita income in the world because of enormous oil reserves, not a hotbed of radicalism but khalid shaikh mohammed, the 9/11 operational commander did live there under some sort of government protection in the 1996 time fram frame. >> fran, i know you've been talking to your sources in the last hour. bring us up to date on what you have heard from the folks you have talked to. >> sure, anderson. what we are hearing what i heard from senior lost officials, very much what peter said.

there was a disturbance. the diplomat was in the lavatory and comes out and had reason to believe he may have tried to set his shoes on fire. after the plane lands, law enforcement met the plane. did an initial examination of the shoes and we are told, were satisfied from that initial examination there was no explosive. here's the good news to all this, while this was an idiot that made some statement like, he was trying to set his shoes on fire, as peter was saying, likely what happens here is he probably, because he's in diplomatic status is not ultimately charged with a crime, assuming he is not is some sort of terrorist attack, but he will be removed from the united states. that has the most likely informal way of resolving it. the good news in all this, though, look how quickly the entire law enforcement community

came together at national and local level. information flowed, people were reacting and sharing information including the locals there in denver. norad did scramble fighters and did accompany the jet in for safe landing. the plane was met by the fbi and transportation security administration. in some sense, if there's any good news to this story is the system this time worked as you would have expected it to work in response to the incident. f>> how does that compare to the underwear incident and the richard reid incident? can you make comparisons, in terms of response time? >> it's a little bit hard. let's compare it to the christmas day incident. the initial information the

information was bert and more accurate from the very beginning. the reports on christmas day was that a firecracker turned out to be something much more serious. what we knew here, there was a disturbance, they would get to the bottom of it and they very quickly looked at it and able to make assessment it was not serious and got that accurate information disseminated across the federal and local governments and the public. that is an improvement over wha we've sometimes seen in the past. the thing you can't really tell this is protection the prevention people, did that work? don't really know. they didn't prevent the christmas day bomber getting on a plane. this was not a bomber and we don't know if the system would have worked to prevent such an attack. >> fran, i appreciate you working your sources over this last hour. it could have been a lot worse, thankfully it was not.

thank you for all the others at cnn and their sources to bring us the correct information. we will continue our programming, a lot of controversy out of the state of virginia, a pro prock -- proclamation naming april as confederate history month. we'll have the debate ahead. ( tires screeching ) there's never been a better time...

( tires squealing ) to have bad tires. come to meinekand save $20 on two or more tires. at meineke, you're always the driver. first up tonight, keeping them honest. governor bob mcdonnell governor bob from virginia calling april history month. a proclamation that resulted in the governor a few hours ago reversing himself. i will do to the wall and show you what the proclamation said. it was issued friday by the newly elected governor of virginia. this is him.

here is the actual proclamation. i want to make it very big here. it starts off saying whereas april is the morning the people of virginia joined the confederate states of america and joins the confederate states of americaine four year war between the states for independence, talking about the civil war against the war of the united states. skips ahead to clause 3, it is important for all virginians to reflect upon our commonwealth shared history to understand the sacrifices of confederate leaders, soldiers and citizens during the period of the civil war. do you notice anything missing? he's saying that in the month of april, all the people in the state of virginia, black and white, should understand and effectively pay homage to the sacrifices of confederate leaders, soldiers and citizens. makes no mention of slavery, about the sacrifices the half million of enslaved people were forced to make.

you can scroll through the proclamation and never see the word, slavery. that was friday. when asked about it tuesday, he didn't say that was an oversight, he actually suggested slavery was insignificant in virginia, telling the "washington post" there were any number of aspects to that conflict between the states, obviously it involved slavery, it involved other issues but i focused on the ones i thought were most significant for virginia. a few hours ago, after increasing criticism, the governor called the slavery omission a mistake and inserted this into the new proclamation. this is the new paragraph he put in. whereas it's important for all virginians to understand the institution of slavery led to this war and was an evil and inhumane practice that deprived people of their god given inalienable rights and all virginians are thankful to its permanent eradication from our borders and the study of this time period should reflect upon and learn from this painful part of our history. keeping them honest, it seems hard to argue this was an oversight by the governor.

we showed you as late as yesterday, he was defending any mention of slavery. and the other mention, it was calculated effort to appeal to his base. governor mcdonnell was lobbied to make the proclamation by the sons of confederate veterans. they call the war the second american revolution and saying the citizen soldiers who fought for the confederacy personny fi the best qualities of americans. that's their quote. >> joining me now, from the sons of confederate americans and political contributor, roland martin. >> roland, what do you make of this? was the governor trying to appeal to his base? was this just a mistake? >> he was clearly trying to appeal to his base. it was an idiotic mistake to sit here and proclaim this. bottom line, the confederacy was based upon this issue of slavery. it was hurtful, it was degrading, an oppressive system. i don't see how he can come up with this whole notion it wasn't significant enough to mention it, no big deal.

let's celebrate the con fed rats. that's like someone sitting here saying, let's celebrate nazi soldiers for simply doing their job. ridiculous. >> brad, your group, sons of confederate veterans lobbied the governor to make this proclamation. was it a mistake? >> not at all. i applaud the governor for his courage and his insight. i completely disagree with mr. martin. there were a whole lot of issues other than slavery involved in that war. actually, he's given a good reason why there should be confederate history month because he knows only one reason. that's slavery. there were a whole lot more. >> that was the dominant reason. >> do you think it was a mistake for the governor not to mention slavery in his proclamation? >> the governor -- it was an omission. the sons of confederate veterans has always wanted a true and accurate history of the war. that includes slavery, so we are not at all opposed to the

insertion of that clause, no sane person in the 21st century supports slavery. it was 150 years ago and there are people that act like it's 1865 right now. >> on your website, though, your home page, you don't mention anything about slavery, you say the civil war you call the second american revolution was about the preservation of liberty and freedom, that was the motivating factor. >> it was, there's no doubt about it. >> you make no mention of slavery here. >> we're an organization of confederate descendents. we're going to support the honor and good name of the confederate soldier. he wasn't a politician, he was a soldier. >> wait a minute. here's the reality. the fact is virginia did not want the federal government telling them what to do, dealing with the issue of slavery. you sit here and talk about freedom. guess what? people who looked like me, they were not free. they were oppressed doctri-- >> i hate to give you a history lesson, sir -- >> let him finish. >> again, though, that this is

reality. when you sit here and say we will celebrate the confederate veterans, these folks committed treason by taking up arms against the united states. you celebrate that? they were domestic terrorists. >> can i speak? >> yes. >> okay. he's incorrect, especially when it comes to virginia. slavery had absolutely nothing to do with virginia leaving the union. >> come on. >> as of fort sumter, virginia was firmly pro union. it was when abraham lincoln called up 75,000 troops to invade the lower south that virginia ces srkseded. fand the governor of virginia said no virginian would be allowed to fight against fellow americans and be coerced into staying in the union, virginia wouldn't do that. it had nothing to do with slavery. >> then why did they do it? slavery. south carolina, it's all slavery. you can dance around it, spin it, dress it up, that's the reality.

the problem is, you had two previous democratic governors who would not issue this proclamation and a couple republican governors who did so. even governor jim gilmore saw the need to call slavery what it was. this governor made an egregious mistake. it is insulting for you to say it was an omission. >> you wouldn't have supported the confederate history month proclamation even if he put the reference in. this is political. >> i don't support celebrating of terrorists. >> this is political, mr. martin. >> i don't support somebody celebrating nazi soldiers by simply saying they were only doing their job. i equate the two the same. >> i hate to tell you but the confederate soldier was hardly a nazi. he's been the main fighting force for the united states in every war we ever fought as a southerner. >> brad, do you then disagree -- brad, do you disagree with what the governor has now done -- >> no.

>> because in his new statement, in the new proclamation, he seems to disagree with you, you said slavery had nothing to do with virginia and the war. >> i disagree with the fact he said it was the reason and it wasn't. but he's been pushed into this by people like mr. martin. this is a political opposition to robert mcdonnell, is basically what he's hearing from. >> no, it's not. it's called history. these same confederate veterans didn't want people who looked like me to read and this is why, becaus we understand the history. you can sit here and create a secondary history. it can be revisionist. that is the reality. there is a whole body of work that lays it out. when people sit here and say, it was state's rights, not telling us what to do, because they wanted to keep the way of life, which was to keep people like me in chains, beating them, oppressing them and denying them the rights they richly deserved, those are facts. >> the united states was the only country in the western hemisphere that ended slavery

through war. that was a policy of the union government. >> what was the first state to legalize slavery? virginia. who had more slaves than any other state? virginia. every single president that came from virginia was a slaveholder. you can sit here and say that's not true but they are simply facts. >> why do you call the civil war the second american revolution? >> we're seeing the same issues -- >> it's part of the united states. >> mr. cooper, we're seeing many of the same issues today that the confederacy fought for 150 years ago. smaller government. >> like what? >> lower taxation, less imperialistic government, too. >> are you saying that the current efforts by republicans are similar to efforts by confederate soldiers? >> no, i'm not. i'm saying the issues, many of the issues, which were part of the confederacy in 1860, you

still see today. >> those issues were pretty much resolved by the civil war. get, roland. >> no. c secession was resolved by the civil war. that was the only issue that was truly resolved. >> they sece, dee, debecause of slavery primarily. these are the ones that use states rights. the tenth amendment have been because of slavery and education. in a position, all those particular position, the same voices, the same people saying oh, no, confederates, way of life, the southern way of life. that should be rejected absolutely. he wants to talk about taxes and things along those lines, nonsense. the secondary issue, slavery was the primary issue. >> we will continue this conversation after a quick break. also breaking news on the disclosur disturbance from denver on a

flight out of washington. and then sarah palin and republican chairman, michael steele, which one really speaks? thanks for coming. it was really nice to meet you, a.j. yeah, you too. a.j.? (alarm blasting) (screaming) (phone rings) hello? this is bill with broadview security. is everything okay? no. there's this guy - he just smashed in my door. i'm sending help right now. thank you.

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we're back talking about virginia governor bob mcdonnell's proclamation and history month, initially not talking about slavery at all. the controversy is not dying down. we're here with brad bolin and roland martin and the sons of confederate veterans lobbied the governor to make the proclamation in the first place. there are those who say this is inherently offensive to the residents of the state of virginia being asked in the original proclamation to understand the sacrifices made by confederate leaders and confederate soldiers and citizens, and says nothing about sacrifices forced upon enslaved formerly africans, enslaved black people.

>> right. this is supposed to be a resolution, proclamation sought for by our organization, honoring sacrifices of con fed rats. >> why should black citizens in the state of virginia today be told this is a month when they should understand the sacrifices made by confederate leaders and soldiers, you can understand why some black residents in the state of virginia would say, what are you talking about? >> thank you. >> let me ask you something. if we don't -- i'm sure this is the way my opponent here feels. should we not study confederate history, which is an important part of american history because if we don't we'll be treating it like russia. that's the way the soviet union handled the history they didn't like. >> let me give my answer and then let roland give his answer. my answer is i have relatives who were confederate soldiers, i have relatives who were union soldiers and have relatives buried in the confederate cemeteries in the state of mississippi, i go and visit their graves.

that doesn't mean you whitewash what the history was, what the cause was, i think your critics say that's what you're trying to do. >> i think governor mcdonnell was writing a proclamation for our organization. that's the approach he took. he changed it now because of the vitriolic opposition of people like roland. >> roland. >> here's the problem. your organization does not represent all virginians. he is the governor of the commonwealth of virginia, that means whites, african-americans, hispanic, asians, men, women, people who support confederate veterans and those who oppose them. when the governor makes this kind of decision, he has to make it for all the people in that particular state. that is what so is offensive. no right thinking person, especially any african-american would not sit here and support the praise and celebration of a group of people who wanted to oppressor their ancestors. when you talk about your ancestors, trust me, mine were

in chains, they were beaten, oppressed, degraded, families were broken up. for you to say, they had to sacrifice. guess what? people with my skin color paid a significant sacrifice by dealing with the folks who you are supporting. >> i can say this. i don't think you represent the feelings of all black people either. >> i didn't say all black people. i can tell you this here, virginia had more slaves than anybody else. it was a state deeply embedded with the culture of slavery. you can deny it and dress it up. that was the whole point of the civil war. it is shameful you cannot recognize the mistake that this governor has made by not even mentioning it, and then following up by saying, it was not significant enough to mention it by saying there were other issues he wanted to focus on. and then to put tourism into it, give me a break. >> there were other issues. >> what was the dominant issue? that's like tiger woods' wife saying i'm leaving you because we can't communicate.

you're leaving because he cheated. the issue that cast a cloud over everything was slavery. >> i want to give you the final thought and then we have to go. >> no, i just -- i totally disagree. i think there's a place to honor veterans, all veterans. the confederate veteran is a recognized american veteran by congress and he deserves full honor for the sacrifice he made. >> the critics say why not have the month where everyone who fought in the civil war is recognized, confederate veterans, union veterans? >> that's an easy one because the union army invaded the south. the union army killed thousands and thousands of virginians. >> right. there were plenty of virginians who actually supported the union and actually formed the state of west virginia and to say that they invaded virginia, there are those who would argue with you as part of the united states. >> i think that's the prime motivating factor of the

confederate soldier, is the fact they were invaded and they had to defend their homes and families and some of the things the union armies did when they were in virginia by completely destroying shenandoah valley and burning people's homes and stealing things -- >> sir, how -- >> this is the way the union army behaved in every southern state from the march to the sea all the way through south carolina. it was shameful and degrading. >> so were you offended when they destroyed africans? were you ashamed when they destroyed families? killed them? tortured them and murdered them? >> the union army? >> no. the people you're supporting, they tortured and killed africans who were slaves and you're sitting here by saying they invaded. come on, do you even hear how you sound? >> i think i sound perfectly rational. i'm giving you what happened. >> i think you sound delirious when you can't even recognize

how they destroyed human beings. this was a -- >> you're giving a perfect reason why this whole era needs a full study. >> but you're not -- i just want to give you an opportunity to respond to what mr. martin said, you do recognize that, you know, slavery was inherently evil and africans who were -- >> i do. i do. i make no defense of slavery. but we live in 2010, we don't live in 1860, where slavery was a world-wide institution. it's a completely different place now. >> and it was wrong then. and the governor's statement, he even said we need to recognize the times people lived in. i'm sorry, sir, i reject evil then and i reject it now. >> we have to leave it there. we appreciate your perspective being on the program with us and roland martin as well. thank you. coming up next, sarah palin speaking out today, what she is

saying about the tea party and what they're saying about her political future and michael steele leading the gop. and now, what seems like some sort of misunderstanding or acti active stupidity on the part of a passenger. "get down, get down, get down!" that's the type of ied that earned me a purple heart in iraq six years ago. this is what our troops are up against today. "it can penetrate four inches of armor." efps. specially designed topier. it's a devastating weapon and it was created in oil rich iran. they're ending up in the hands of our enemies. and everytime oil goes up a dollar, iran gets another 1.5 billion dollars to use against us. the connection between oil and the enemy couldn't be clearer. we need to break that connection by breaking our addiction. and we can, by passing a clean energy climate plan. it will cut our dependence on foreign oil in half. some in congress say it's a tough vote.

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we continue following breaking news throughout the hour, terrorism breaking news from washington to denver and a qatar diplomat joking about lighting his shoes on fire. and sleigh bloom has the "360" news. f rescue crews may be able to enter a rescue mine to search for four missing miners sometime tonight. dangerous gases kept them from going inside the upper big branch coal mine but the levels have been dropping. 25 miners indeed monday's explosion, the deadliest mining disaster in 25 years. in kyrgyzstan, waves of protesters storming government buildings and apparently driving

the president from office. at least 40 people killed and a former foreign minister claims to be in control of the interim government. alan greenspan said he made mistakes during his 24 year tenure as chairman of the federal reserve. he said he was wrong, get this, about 30% of the time. he also said his policy of keeping interest rates low did not inflate the housing bubble. he was testifying at a hearing on the causes of the financial crisis. in less than 24 hours, tiger woods tees off at the masters. today, billy payne, the chairman of the augusta national golf club didn't cut him any slack, saying he disappointed everyone with his sex scandal. this is a new ad featuring tiger woods and the voice of his late father. >> tiger, i am more prone to be inquisitive, to promote discussion.

i want to find out what your thinking was, i want to find out what your feelings are, and did you learn anything? >> i don't know what to make of that. it's -- critics say he used his kids to promote his image and now he's sort of using his father to be sympathetic and make us see things through his dad's eyes. i don't know. i'm not sure what to make of it. what about you? >> i can't think of any other situation where a large company like nike would bring on their celebrity endorser and politically spank him. to ad to that, using the recorded voice of his deceased father obviously recorded in another context. it is eerie. maybe nike is trying to transition into more positive ads for tiger and i don't think

they had to do this. >> i don't think spanking is the best term to use. >> you had to go there. >> it's only running a couple d days on basic cable. that's it. >> it will show up everywhere. they probably don't need a big ad buy. >> not that there's anything wrong with basic cable. >> not at all. it comes with the package. who's really in charge of the republican party. the question is, are you lookin at them? sarah palin and michelle bachmann. and in the state of tim pawlenty, who was a presidential contender and probably still is. f>> backstage, michelle and i were talking about the tea party movement. we wanted to give a shout-out t

the tea party movement and do w have any today? >> i thank you then for being part of this beautiful grass movements sweeping across our country, full of common sense conservatives ready to take our country back. i thank you for being a part of this. >> no shout-out for this guy, gop michael steele. cnn contributor gop advisor alex, saying the party needed to change direction because chairman steele has lost the trust of any party's lifeblood major donors. talking about the latest gaffe on steele's watch, rnc money spent at a hollywood bondage theme called voyeurs, called itself an art club. there have been a number of other missteps since steele became chairman. let's talk "raw politics" with cnn contributor ed rollins and former bush speechwriter, david fr frum. should michael steele step down? >> i think for the good of the party, he should step aside. he can't be effective in the very important six months we have left and be the voice of reason.

neither of which i think he can do at this point in time. >> has he become too much of an distraction? >> he's absolutely a distraction. we have spent the last two weeks discussing things that shouldn't be relevant to the american public. what should be relevant is the president signing not a very good treaty with the russians and health debate going on and we're talking about sex clubs. that goes against our base. i think any donor today, who thinks about giving money to the rnc will think about jets and wasted money spent well on a candidate. >> david, do you agree he should step down? >> i do not agree. you led the story with the proclamation in virginia. i don't think governor bob mcdonnell had any ill intent and actually, was trying to avoid controversy, not make controversy but he couldn't see that situation except the eyes he happened to have and the eyes around him are different -- similar kind of eyes. we need different perspectives inside the republican party and the highest levels that no other in american history and other points of view and not from a

book. that is something very precious michael steele brings. michael steele is also a little bit the victim here of the difficulty of breaking a media narrative. on my website we broke a story the democratic national committee spent not $1900 but $6,000 at a d.c. strip club called josephines, putting it all over our front page and that doesn't get as much traction. are there calls from the dnc to step down? michael steele didn't make that strip club decision, it was made by somebody who has since been disciplined. it was a big mistake and there are a lot of problems inside the rnc but michael steele should not be made the victim and fall guy for everything that goes wrong. >> i had no idea. ed, is so much money always traditionally spent at strip clubs by republicans or democrats? >> first of all -- i have great respect for david, a great speechwriter for president bush. i oversaw when i was at the white house for the rnc, the man at the top has total control of that place. we have had four or five scandals we're turning donors

off. the role of the national republican committee is to raise money. it's not doing a very effective job. haley barbour, one of our great governors, former chairman, is saying, don't give to them, give to the rga and the head of the congressional committee saying don't waste your money there, give to us. how are you effective? in six months we have an alaska. the party is about the people. not people running around with hats every four years at conventions. >> what about to david's point needing different voices, different complexions? >> we need to elect people. michael steele will hopefully run again some day for office. at this point in time, everyday it's about him. it's not a good reflection. he himself making comments about race being involved in this, i thought was a very real insult to republicans. at the end of the day, our job is to take safe republican seats we have 180 of them, take good candidates, may also be african-american or hispanic and elect them.

that will long term broaden it. it won't be david and i talking about why you should be a good republican, it will be people like those elected who can do that. >> david, could anybody in the republican party ask michael steele to step down at this point because of his race? it certainly would not -- that would become an issue, wouldn't it? >> i get the feeling quite a lot of people are asking him to step down including ed rollins. i don't think race buys you any immunity, nor should it. we just should value, i think, some of the insights michael steele brings. it's sobering to consider what would the party's national image look like? >> would you give money to the rnc or another group right now? >> i would give money to the rnc because i'm a small dollar donor i'm afraid, i apologize to say, and small dollar donors have historically gravitated to the rnc and big party donors -- big dollar donors sometimes go elsewhere.

who would be the face of the party but for michael steele? the media collaborates we wouldn't hear so much from mitt romney and tim pawlenty but hear a lot from sarah palin and faces at fox news. that's not enough of a face to turn to the country. >> are you concerned by the attention sarah palin gets or michelle bachmann gets? are they the face the republican party wants? >> they're a very important part of the republican party. i think the party is big enough -- i go back to the point, i think the party is to elect people to office. the office holders are the ones that vote everyday. the rest is a service part of the organization. the more people you can have, the more diversified you can have, the better. sarah palin was our vice-presidential candidate and energized a political part of this campaign nobody else could including john mccain. she's an important part of this. if she ever walked away from our party -- michael steele can go away, if sarah palin decided she

would go to the tea party and run as an independent candidate, she would do so much damage, we need her and more like her. at the end of the day, she's an effective communicator. >> david, do you think the republican party needs her now? >> she is like plutonium. ed rollins is right, if she started to run as a third party candidate, she would do a lot of damage to the republican party. and if she decided to run inside the republican primary, she will do a lot of damage. to the republican party. pretty much wherever she goes, she will do a lot of damage. to the republican party. despite the intense devotion of her relatively small band of followers, she's very off putting. cnn has done a pal, an interesting number, half of republican women think sarah palin is unqualified to be president. she has a huge reverse gender gap, her own gender is more suspicious of her than the male gender is. >> she energized a very large segment of this party. if she wanted to be a player, she can be a very significant player. >> ed rollins, david, appreciate you being on tonight. we're continuing to follow

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updating breaking news out of denver, united flight 663, on the ground safely. fran townsend is reporting a passenger, qatar diplomat is in custody and may have been smoking in the bathroom and when asked, he joked he may have been trying to light his shoes on fire. joining us live from denver

international airport with the latest, jim, what are you hearing? >> anderson, as you said, details are sketchy. sources saying it's very early in their investigation, i just spoke to a passenger on the plane, coincidentally, a spokesman for norad. even though two norad f-16s had been scrambled to accompany the plane, passengers weren't aware anything was going on. they landed, stayed for two hours on the plane and row by row take often the plane and questioned by the fbi in a remote location. he said he knew nothing and had no information. didn't even see the gentleman in question being taken off. they're on their way back here to the terminal to go about their business. it's like business as usual. you would have no idea anything of this magnitude of investigation was going on. >> let's bring in national security analyst, fran townsend.

she's on the phone. what have you heard from our sources so far? >> caller: anderson, what they're telling us is after the plane landed, law enforcement officials began examining this guy's shoes because initial reports suggested he tried to light his shoes on fire, concerning potentially a shoe bomb similar to richard reid in 2001. they did an initial examination and no indication there was any explosives involved and that frankly led over the course of time to the fact it appears there has been some sort of misunderstanding that led to this whole thing. >> this man is a qatari diplomat, has diplomatic immunity. nothing in terms of prosecution would take place, even if he had done something. >> reporter: that's probably right. there have been instances where countries wave diplomatic

immunity to permit somebody to be prosecuted here. if this is, as we expect it, a misunderstanding, more likely this is a case he will not be prosecuted and frankly, if it was handled in informal diplomatic channels, he may be recalled back to qatar and returned to his country nationality. although on the phone, jeanne meserve, hearing from your sources? >> i'm told they're still finishing up the investigation here, they're still questioning all the people who are on that flight. they're going over the aircraft, they're being extra careful that in fact nothing of significance has occurred here. but in the meantime, i think what i'm hearing is largely what the others have heard, that this individual was in a restroom, he took a long time, a federal air marshall became curious about what he was doing, interrupted him to find out what was going on, and this man is -- i'm told by a u.s. official made an

unfortunate remark about possibly having a shoe bomb. and that is what led to this incredible series of event this is afternoon as they try to figure out what's going on. i can tell you, having travelled with the federal air marshalls one time, one thing they take their eye on is what's going on with the restrooms, because there's always fear someone could hide something in there. there's concerns something could be assembled in a restroom. they monitor quite carefully the traffic in and out, and how long someone lingers when they're there. anderson. >> it's an indication of -- at least on this flight, that there were air marshalls assigned that the program is in place, and in this case, at least, they were on the front line right there. >> absolutely, anderson. and furthermore, there's an indication the plane was clearly communicating back to the tower

on the ground in denver. there were tsa officials requesting to meet the plane. norad was notified. they scrambled two f-16 fighter jets, as you heard. the people on the plane weren't alerted to a problem until they landed. in that sense, that's a positive development from the story. >> i appreciate you working your sources to this late hour, covering this breaking story, jeanne meserve as well. we'll continue to follow the story tonight and in the morning. how college students are turning trash into cash. we'll be right back.

students at one university are not just preparing for exams, they're protecting the environment, it's a campuswide effort that's being echoed across the country. here's jim spellman. >> reporter: at the university of colorado, boulder even the trash has gone green.

>> i tell people what is and isn't compostable. >> reporter: the campus is sao focused on the environment, that the school has topped the sierra club's cool schools ranking. football games are zero waste, everything is either recycled or composted. bicycles rule on campus, there's 10,000 of them. one for every three students. campus buses run on biodiesel, and the school chancellor tools around campus in an electric hybrid. >> this one, just since january has refilled 24,000 times, that's 24,000 16-ounce plastic water bottles that we are not sending to the landfill. >> how long has the environmental center been around? >> 30 years. >> reporter: the center is governed by students and funded by students 100%.

so the students here have voted with their wallets for 40 years. >> the recycling effort has actually turned into a profit center for the university. it's turning trash into cash. >> it's about a $15 per ton net benefit. this particular model is working really well for us. >> reporter: the students aren't afraid to do the dirty work. >> at the end of the day, i feel like i've done something by recycling this paper. this is like a symbol of how we could create an impact in the world. >> reporter: behind all these efforts, there's one simple thing. create students whose impact on the planet will grow after they graduate. >> when they leave, i believe they're going to believe the leaders of the next generation, from the stand point of preserving this environment. >> not only when i leave here, this college, i think that when i leave this shift, i'm going to take what i learned away with me, outside into wherever i'm at right now. i think it boils down to

personal behavioral choices. how you see the needs that you have, how you pursue them. >> it's not only for those hippies in boulder, it's something that should be a part of every day life, and you don't even think twice about it. >> reporter: students with a lesson for us all. jim spellman, cnn, boulder, colorado. >> well, that's it for "360." thanks for watching. larry king starts right now. we'll see you tomorrow night. >> larry: special edition of "larry king live." they are hanging to a shred of hope in west virginia as workers continue to vent the deadly gases. a press conference is underway. let's get the latest from cnn's brooke baldwin on the scene. >> reporter: larry, huge