isaac's aftermath. flooding from the storm prompts thousands of evacuations as president obama declares parts of louisiana and mississippi a disaster zone. >> everything on the water. everything. >> rallying cry. vice presidential candidate paul ryan hits president obama early and often in his speech at the republican national convention. >> these past four years we have suffered no shortage of words in the white house. what is missing is leadership in the white house. and killing bin laden. a navy seal who took part in the raid on osama bin laden's compound speaks publicly for the first time. >> can you guys pull this off and i'm pretty sure to a man we

>> can you guys pull this off and i'm pretty sure to a man we all said yes, absolutely. captioning funded by cbs this is the "cbs morning news" for thursday, august 30, 2012. >>good morning everybody. good to be with you. i'm terrell brown. president obama wasted no time signing disaster declarations for the areas in mississippi and louisiana hardest hit by isaac. it's now a tropical storm and only expected to get weaker as it moves inland. it's currently northwest of new orleans with sustained winds near 50 miles an hour. the slow-moving storm is still dumping drenching rain. some areas could get as much as 25 inches. more than 700,000 homes and businesses lost power in louisiana. the storm is has threatening to spin off tornadoes. at least three twisters were reported to have touched down in mississippi. the high floodwaters trapped many residents in their homes. in plaquemines parish, the national guard had to knock out a window. officials say a levee there is under so much pressure, pun

parish in louisiana will be flooded to relieve it. bigad shaban is in new orleans this morning with more. >> reporter: good morning to you. although strong winds and bands of rain have let up -- here in the state as well as mississippi, it's also sending storm surges of up to 12 feet high, which has caused severe flooding in communities not far from here. neighbors stood in bunches, huddled together in the wind and rain waiting to be rescued. just before noon when isaac's high winds pushed a tidal surge of water out of lake pontchartrain and into the town of la plas. 30 miles west of new orleans. >> all of a sudden the water started rising. >> the flooding caught nearly everyone off guard. >> it looked like it came all at once, just all at once. woke up, it was fine. next minute it was like all over the place. everything underwater. everything. >> up to 3,000 people were forced from their homes.

many spent the night at a shelter in a nearby church. long time residents say this kind of flooding has never happened before, not even during hurricane katrina. >> right there. she's never -- neither have i. >> here in new orleans, the levees built after katrina worked just as they were designed. the lieutenant governor believes the levees may have forced water into new areas like la plas. >> at least 35 people were rescued from the rising waters. officis decided to intentionally punch a hole in the levee. >> if they breach the levee, now that the winds shifted, it would blow the water out. with the breach, that would be four days for the water to leave. without that breach it could take as long as 15 days to pump it out. >> for those not dealing with flooding, there's a lack of power. electricity has been knocked out to nearly 700,000 residents.

the national hurricane center says isaac will only continue to lose strength as it moves west. but even once the storm passes here, terrell, residents along coastal louisiana will still have to brave the cleanup. >> bigad shaban in new orleans thank you so much. the republican national convention in tampa wraps up tonight when mitt romney claims the nomination for president. paul ryan accepted his party's nomination as vice president last night. it was the first time many americans had ever seen or heard the congressman from wisconsin and he went right after president obama. susan mcginnis is in tampa with details. susan, good morning to you. >> good morning, terrell. yeah, he's being called an attack dog. ryan got high marks for his appearance last night. he was not well-known out of washington before and tonight mitt romney gives the most important speech of his career. paul ryan's family and party embraced him as he accepted the republican nomination for vice president. >> i accept the duty to help lead our nation out of a jobs

crisis and back to prosperity and i know we can do this. >> the 42-year-old wisconsin congressman drew sharp contrast between president obama's record and the plans he and mitt romney have to create jobs. >> the issue is not the economy that barack obama inherited, not the economy that he envisions, but this economy that we are living. >> ryan blasted the president's health care reform and promoted the medicare plan romney will call for tonight. >> mitt romney and i know the difference between protecting a program and raiding it. ladies and gentlemen, our nation needs this debate, we want this debate, we will win this debate. >> a lot of people think that touching that third rail of entitlements, medicare, social security is a tough slog down the loroad. the polling is split between what folks think obama or romney would do better on the medicare issues. >> crews are reworking the stage

for tonight when mitt romney will accept his party's nomination for president. he'll also build on the themes paul ryan laid out last night in a speech delegates are calling a home run. >> i loved what he had to say. i thought it was a perfect message and it obviously excited the crowd. >> one thing the republican party needed to concentrate on is getting the youth and younger voters involved. he's going to be a new face of the republican party. >> another rising young gop voice will be in the spotlight tonight. senator marco rubio of florida will introduce mitt romney. former republican nominee john mccain and former secretary of state condoleeza rice also spoke last night talking about the administration's failure in international leadership. terrell, perhaps they were used to try to chip away at the president's perceived success in foreign affairs. >> right. the big finale tonight. susan mcginnis in tampa. thank you so much. an analysis coming up on "cbs this morning" and cbs live coverage of the republican

national convention continues, including mitt romney's acceptance speech tonight at 10:00 p.m. eastern right here on cbs. one of the sharpest differences between president obama and mitt romney in campaign 2012 is with medicare. mr. obama wants to keep the government health care program for seniors mostly as it is. but romney says it needs to change. dean reynolds takes a look at bothplans. >> this is where you had your biopsy site last time. >> linda shult is a 45-year-old cancer sur vafr making a living in the volatile real estate market in orlando. the market has been improving, but she's worried nonetheless. >> health insurance is an issue for you? >> it's a major issue. i went from being perfectly healthy person and really great shape and everything to i was dealing with breast cancer. >> today she exercises regularly because she knows that cancer could return and even though she's 20 years shyf eligibility for medicare, she is anxious about the debate over its future. >> 20 years is going to fly by,

i understand that. >> we're done. in the affordable care act, the president offers little change in traditional medicare for patients and while republicans say he is cutting $700 billion from the program, that's really the estimated savings over ten years from lower payments to hospitals and doctors. >> my plan's already extended the li of medicare by nearly a decade. >> mitt romney says the system is going bankrupt and to prevent that, he would offer those now under 55 a choice. keep medicare or buy private insurance with help from an annual lump sum payment from the government. that, he says, will drive down costs. >> it will be greater competition between the government and the private plans. >> but he doesn't say how generous the government payment would be and acknowledges that patients would be on the hook for medical bills exceeding whatever the amount is. >> it's a lovely view back here. >> with the current administration, i'm not sure that our economy is going to flourish as it would if we had

romney in there. but i'm not really certain what kind of a health plan we'll have with romney. it is a huge tug of war. it's a huge tug of war. >> a tug of war between her health needs of the future and the economic conditions she find herself in, in the here and now. dean reynolds, cbs news, tampa. president obama hit the campaign trail wednesday visiting another college campus at the university of virginia. he told students to get out and vote and fired back at republicans saying their economic plan doesn't work. this was president obama's 12th campaign swing to virginia this year. coming up on the morning news on this thursday, a navy seal speaks out. he took part in the raid that killed osama bin laden. now he opens up about why he wrote a controversial new book about the mission. this is the "cbs morning news." it's time to live... wider awake. only the beautyrest recharge sleep system combines the

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the navy seal raid that killed osama bin laden. now a member of at that elite team that went into a abbottabad pakistan last year wrote a book called no easy day. a firsthand account of that day and some contradicts the account issued by the obama administration. the seal spoke with scott pelley for an upcoming edition of "60 minutes." >> then you walk into a secure room. >> he calls himself mark owen. that's not his real name. we've disguised him and will keep his name confidential for his own safety. owen was on the helicopter that crashed in bin laden's compound. he was the second man in the room when bin laden was shot. he took the photographs of the body that have never been released. but owen told us that the story is notbout him. he says it's the story of hundreds of americans who spent years gathering intelligence, planning and training of the seals owen says, we just took care of the last 40minutes. we built what we believe is the most accurate model of bin

laden's compound ever constructed. owen told us that before the mission, a full-sized replica of the compound was built in the united states for training. and there was a dress rehearsal for the top brass, including the chairman of the joint chiefs, admiral mike mullen and admiral eric olson, head of special operations command. >> how did that rehearsal go? >> it was fine. i mean, this is nothing new to us. the part that was new was all the vips sitting there watching. one of the things that i liked after the fact was i remember admiral mullen coming by and talking to each one of us and admiral olson as well. that was cool that they walked by, shook each of our hand and said hey, are you guys ready? can you guys pull this off? i'm pretty sure to him we said yes, absolutely. >> how long was it before you got the call to go? >> we had a week off in virginia beach. when i say off, it wasn't completely. we had a week off at home.

conducted one more rehearsal, day training on the life size mockup and then we got the word that we were going. >> owen's book was to be released on the anniversary of 9/11, but the release date has been moved up to next week. there has been criticism that the book is timed to influence the election. >> my worry from the beginning is it's a political season, this book is not political whatsoever. it doesn't bad-mouth either party. we specifically chose september 11th to keep it out of the politics. if these crazies on either side of the aisle want to make it political, shame on them. this is a book about september 11th and it needs to rest on september 11th. not be brought into the political arena. because this has mog to do with politics. as scott mentioned, a few organizations have discovered the real name and published it.

cbs will not reveal his true name. you can see the interview one week from sunday, september 9th, only on cbs. this morning iran claimed once again that it will never try to build a nuclear bomb. ayatollah khamenei said that iran is only for showing nuclear energy. also attending the summit is egypt's new -- morsi. the countries remain divided over syria. morrissey said it was necessary -- syria is an a lie of iran. up next, your weather forecast and in sports, a three-time winner of the u.s. open takes one final. this is the morning news.

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get in early for sears labor day mattress spectacular. for the first time ever, get 36-month special financing save up to 60% plus get an extra 10% off with free delivery. this is a wakeup call. this is sears. here's a look at the weather in some cities around the country. sunny in new york, 85 degrees. same deal in miami, 81 degrees. sunny in chicago, 87 degrees. partly sunny in dallas, 90 degrees and sunny in los angeles, 88 degrees. let's check your national forecast. remnants of hurricane isaac will bring heavy rain and possible flooding infloond. tornadoes possible in louisiana, mississippi and alabama. the northeast will be sunny and pleasant. the midwest and west will be mostly sunny and dry. in sports this morning, the anaheim angels are trying to create back into the american league playoff picture. versus the red sox, hits to

right field. chris eye net i comes up with a two-run shot of their home. they're 3.5 games out of the wildcard. cincinnati reds come back. trailing the diamondbacks until the seventh when they launched a home run barrage. the reds went deep four times in two innings, including two homers by chris -- cincinnati wins 6-2. the first team in the majors to reach 80 wins. replacement officials will be on the field when the nfl opens the season next week. the league locked out the referees in june on negotiations of a new collective bargaining agreement or at a standstill. kim sliclijsters is calling a career. after the match she announced she will retire. she retired in 2007 but returned and won the title in 2009 add and then again in 2010. maybe retirement is her thing. see if thee comes back. when we come back, first

lady michelle obama tells david letterman why she's not watching the republican national convention but why you should. er a taste of what's hot? check out the latest collection of snacks from lean cuisine. creamy spinach artichoke dip, crispy garlic chicken spring rolls. they're this season's must-have accessory. lean cuisine. be culinary chic.

here's a look at the weather in some cities around the country. mostly sunny in washington, 87 degrees atlanta 82 degrees. st. louis 92 degrees. top stories now on a thursday. tropical storm isaac continues to dump torrential rain. some areas could get as much as 25 inches. president obama has declared federal emergencies in parts of louisiana and mississippi. hardest hit by the storm. and paul ryan accepted his party's nomination as vice president as the republican convention continues. he immediately went on the offensive slamming president obama's policies. while the republicans launch mitt romney's campaign in tampa

and the president tours college campuses, first lady michelle obama was here in new york appearing on the late show with david letterman. dave asked mrs. obama if she's been watching the gop convention. >> i as the wife of the guy they're running against, i tend not to watch it. but i think it's important for everyone to watch these conventions because this is the time where you get to know the party. you understand the platform. you understand the candidates. this is technically where the campaign begins. >> the first lady is on a back to school media tour. she discusses ways for the parents and kids to get ready for the new school career. in spain, pamplona has the annual running of the bulls. but there's the throwing of the tomatoes. it's described as the world's biggest food fight. they were armed with 120 tons of tomatoes all slimy. it left everyone seeing red and the person really seeing red is

probably the person who has to clean that up. coming up after your local news on "cbs this morning," live reports from louisiana and mississippi on the aftermath of hurricane isaac. i'm terrell brown. this is the morning news. v for 9 and 50% off this craftsman mechanics tool set and 50% off clothing plus comeback cash this is worth the rush. this is sears. ooh gas, take an antacid. oh, thanks. good luck. good luck to you. doesn't he know antacids won't help gas? oh, he knows. [ male announcer ] antacids don't relieve gas. gas-x is designed to relieve gas. gas-x. the gas xperts. gas-x is designed to relieve gas. mmmm, just how satisfying of new light & fit greek? morning donut cookies chips, chips,...! silence those tempting thoughts with new light & fit greek. its creamy thick texture helps satisfy you. it has twice the protein of regular lowfat yogurt. and at 80 calories it's the lightest greek yogurt with fruit.

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. good morning. it's 4:25. thursday morning. you're almost there. thanks for joining us. i'm mike hydeck. good morning, monika samtani howard bernstein? >> we have 50s in a couple of

spots but a little bit warmer than yesterday. of course isaac dumped plenty of rain down across louisiana and mississippi this morning. we'll talk about isaac in a few minutes. we want to start with our day planner. it's nice morning out there. great visibility under mostly cloudy at reagan national. we had a few high clouds come across the region but nothing to worry b. by noon we'll warm to 83. yesterday we got to 87. today probably about 89. without the humidity it's not going to feel that bad at all. satellite and radar, it's even tough to pick up a few clouds. some gray ones on the maps here this morning. that's it. it's a nice, quiet, comfortable morning. got 59 in cumberland. oakland is 55. frederick 60. these areas northern shenandoah valley, the upper 50s the next few hours. 74 in annapolis. prince frederick and bowie 64 this morning. we have 67 over at andrews. forecast highs this afternoon

sunshine. light southerly winds. another nice day. we may tickle 90 at manassas. 86 winchester. 85 in easton. 89 at reagan national. let's check in with monika samtani here at 4:26 with timesaver traffic. overnight just after 2:00 in the morning on the outer loop just before the wilson bridge, there had been a police chase that did end in a crash and a fire. it sounds more serious than it was. no major injuries on the outer loop before the bridge. you may find some activity sitting on the left shoulder on the northbound side of 95. you've got some police activity as well down in dumfries on the southbound side of i-95. then just a couple of spots of construction as you make your way up on 95 itself. let's take a live look in springfield on the northbound side. here things are good. no problems to 395 and up to the 14th street bridge. let's go back over to the maps. once again construction on the west side of town. beltway through tysons and annandale. both directions of 66 right here at the beltway.

a quick live look at the american legion bridge as well. no issues to report. all lanes are open between bethesda and the river. i'll be back at 4:39. >> thanks, monika. tropical storm isaac is dumping lots of rain, more than a foot in louisiana and the flooding has become a major concern there. now dozens of people in plaquemines parish had to be rescued when the flood waters pushed over the levees. they will intentionally puncture one of the levee walls in the parish in order to relieve some of the pressure from the water. this is a live look from one of the traffic cameras. the storm's high winds have snapped power lines, as many as 700,000 people don't have electricity this morning. we have the latest from the storm. >> reporter: neighbors stood in bunches, huddled together in the wind and rain waiting to be rescued. it was just before noon when isaac's high winds push add tidal surge of water out of lake pontchartrain 30 miles

west of new orleans. >> all of a sunday the waters started rising. >> reporter: the flooding caught nearly everyone off guard. >> it came all at once. woke up it once. next minute it was all over the place. everything under water. everything. >> reporter: up to 3,000 people were forced from their homes. many of them spent the night at a shelter in a nearby church. long time residents say this kind of flooding has never happened before, not even during hurricane katrina [ inaudible ] >> reporter: here in new orleans, the levees built after katrina worked just as they were designed but the state's lieutenant governor believes the levees may have forced water into new areas. in plaquemines parish, at least 35 people were rescued from the rising waters. now officials have decided to intentionally punch a hole in the levee. >> the idea would be if they breach the levee, now that winds have shifted, itld