dan lothian joins us now in from the white house. dan, let me ask you.sident and the white house aides have talked about a divided congress that wasn't elected to be dysfunctional as they say. and now that the bill has been signed into law, what is the president saying about the process? >> well, you know, they do believe at the white house this was a very messy process but in the end it shows that they were able to find compromise. but you also heard from the president lamenting the fact that it took sort of this ticking clock, the specter of having the nation going to default to get everyone reach agreement. listen, there's enough motivation out there. there are a lot of americans who are struggling, who are unemployed, who are trying to stay in their homes, and na enough, the motivation of trying to make the life better for american people out there should be enough to get folks up on capitol hill to get on the same page, compromise and get things done, randi. >> the message right away after the passing of this bill, dan, seemed to be jobs, jobs, jobs

also joining us is dan lothian and ali velshi. global editor at large for reuterss and david walker, former of the united states, heads up the comeback initiative. and also did the administration know this was coming and what exactly are they saying tonight on or off the record? >> they are at 1:30 this afternoon i'm told sent the analysis to the treasury department. and said that we were going to do this. let's do this. do it now. they call a $2 trillion doll mistake. the administration says when they pointed that out, we're going to change our treasury officials saying and other administration officials and s&p made its decision and in the market and when they rebutted the analysis, mr. chambers made his case of the administration's position and consider the source. president obama would be the first president in history to ever downgrade on his watch. they fought this and they lost. but their position is it's going to be a big mistake and s&p essentially put the train on the tracks. >> it's already occurring among liberals, rep

the wind is picking up, we're staying on top of this story, not far from where i am, dan lothian, ourhe white house, smart, dan, tell us what's going on, the president made a point of being on top of this crisis earlier in the day. >> that's right, wolf, first of all, i should point out that you know that the president cut his vacation short on martha's vineyard, so he could come back here to martha's vineyard, they felt it was prudent for him to be here on martha's vineyard. they're getting the track of the storm and the update on what all the various federal agencies are doing to respond to the hurricane and then later in the day, the president did go over to fema headquarters, more specific, that is where you have representatives from different parents oftsz government who are able to stay in touch with state and local officials also private organizations and volunteers. to so make sure there's a free throw of information so that people can get that information quickly. the president toured the facility. the president said that they're doing a good job, but they need to stay on top

dan lothian is with the president on martha's vineyard and barbara starr has the military perspective from the pentagon. >>> all right. let's get to tripoli where all the action is right now. we've been telling you about the fighting in and around green square. it's been a big symbol for the gadhafi regime. in fact, until recently, they've been using it for big pro-government demonstrations. cnn's sarah sidner has been watching the rebel invasion and pretty heavy fighting as well. she fired this report before the rebels pulled back from the square. >> finish, gadhafi finish. >> very, very happy. gadhafi finish. >> reporter: we are in green square. what you're seeing behind me, the rebels are now saying there's going to be a massive battle here. they do not have full control of the city. >> at the moment, we are not fully in control of tripoli because you can see, you can see that -- >> reporter: what does this make you -- how do you feel about this day? you are from tripoli? >> yeah. >> reporter: why is this day important? it's an historic day? >> historic day because we had to leave

republican weekly address and he says the real problem is leadership. >>> white house correspondent dan lothianyard. dan, as you know, the market lost more than 1300 points in the --? just this month. how is the president dealing with the criticism he shouldn't be taking a vacation right now, he should be back in washington? >> well, you know, the white house will push back on that saying that the president deserves to go on vacation and that even though he's away from the white house, he is not removed from his job. and evidence of that was the first picture that we saw of the president here on martha's vineyard, was of the president sitting down with his counter terrorism adviser, john brennan. he was getting briefed on a whole host of national security issues. in addition to that, the president, also we are told, received paper briefings from his economic team and then, next week, all of next week, one of his top economic advisers will be here to give the president, we're told, frequent updates on the economic situation. as you know, the big push from the white house is, looking forward to t

jay lupp, jay powell, dan lothian, gentlemen, i thank you. have a great weekend.ers, better late than never. they are getting back on the federal payroll. but the agency's funding turbulen turbulence, not over quite yet. also nasa hopes this spacecraft here will teach us a little bit more about how the solar system formed. but it will take years to get to its destination. another good thing about geico is, they've got, like, real live people working there 24/7. so like say you need to report a claim, alright. a real person will be there to help you. then you can use geico.com to view photos of the damage, track your claim, print an estimate. you want an english muffin? they literally hand you a toasted muffin with butter and jam. (sigh) whaa. tasty. that's, that's a complete dramatization of course, but you get my point. vo: geico 15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance. >>> minutes ago, the president signed that bill that put thousands of furloughed workers back on the job. congress will have to take the matter up again. they wept on recess without

cnn's dan lothian is live for us on martha ee's vineyard. orking vacation, as the white house puts it. so how is he dealing with these issues during his time on the island there? >> reporter: that's right, very much a working vacation. the president away from the white house, but as the white house describes it, with very much on the job. it was described to us that the president in the morning receives two kinds of briefings. first of all, his economic briefing, which yesterday and today have been on paper. and then in person, with a national security briefing from john brennan, his counterterrorism adviser. that's how the president's morning shapes up. and then in the afternoon, he tries to have some fun time, if you will. but the focus really has been on what to do about fixing the ailing economy, and the president plans to after returning to washington from his vacation, roll out a jobs proposal, a jobs plan. that is something that he's working on here on the island. his advisers, who are here and those back in washington, also working on

as dan lothian shows us, they are using postcards to tell the president, we wish you were here. >> reporterr the third summer in a row president obama and his family are returning to martha's vineyard. the welcome signs on the island are out. the tourists are hoping to catch a glimpse. >> i can't wait for him to come over. >> very happy he is coming. we both voted for him. >> reporter: but this setting of surf, sun sets and seemingly endless golf courses is not the presidential picture some americans want to see as the stock market falls, as the president forms his new jobs plan and as administration turns up the pressure on syria. >> the people of syria deserve a government that respects their dignity. >> reporter: republican presidential hopeful mitt romney took a swipe at the president and his ten-day getaway. >> i wish the president were in washington calling back congress and dealing with the challenges we have. >> reporter: the republican national committee is circulating a harsh tongue in cheek rebuke on the internet. 18 most cards with doctored photos of the president and captions l

i understand dan lothian is on martha's vineyard where the president is vacationing. we heard the statement from the white house from wolf. we heard brief comments from the president as well. so this is happening during the president's holiday. what happens in a situation like this when a major foreign policy development occurs, what happens in the president's inner circle, dan? dan, can you hear me? you're on the air. >> reporter: okay. sorry, i didn't hear you. can you ask the question again? >> what happens when the president is on holiday and a major foreign policy development unfolds like that? what goes into motion? >> reporter: well, this is something we have been reporting on over the last several days. the president, when he 'cause come on vacation, while he's away from the white house, he's very much on the job surrounded by advisers, if you will. either in person or via conference call. he's had his counter terrorism adviser john brennan here giving him updates throughout the day. and the white house as wolf pointed out telling us that the president after 9

i want to go to our white house correspondent dan lothian who's standing by now. dan, you heard what i said. john boehner says it is not the greatest deal but it shows that we have changed the terms of the debate in this town. it certainly backed the president into a corner and put democrats really on the defensive here because republicans got mostly what they want, democrats didn't. >> that's right. you heard the president essentially say that this is not a perfect deal but it did accomplish a couple of things. first of all, raising -- or will, if it is supported, raise the debt ceiling and avoid what many here were calling a major meltdown for the u.s. economy which already has been having a difficult time in the economic recovery. so first of all, that has -- will potentially be avoided. secondly though as the brpresidt himself pointed out, this is yet another opportunity to show that xrom piz can coompromise can co. while you may not have a perfect deal, can you still reach some agreement on compromise. the third thing that i thought was interesting, which the

do we have dan lothian?'m here. 9. >> dan, huge, huge, lugely anticipated jobs report coming out in just a couple hours for the last month? >> reporter: that's right. i think everyone will be watching closely. one of the things that i think a lot of people perhaps were too hide on the optimism scale, if they were to reach a deal, it would prevent this kind of sell-off that we have seen here, but it shows it's another sign there are a lot of negative points on the overall u.s. economy. the white house not commenting specifically on the stock market. jay carney saying earlier today they don't comment on something that they can't control, but they've been pointing to a lot of negative pressure on the economy, including what happened in japan, other head winds, oil prices and so forth, that have been putting pressure on the overall economy, and saying this just shows there's still a long way to go. the issue for the president now, as we've been talking about over the last couple days, is how to come up with any

dan lothian, thanks so much. chad myers here in the weather center as well. you, too, were listening intently to what the president had to say. >> i don't think people really until they get in the water understand the power of what this rain is going to do to the northeast and into new england. if you're in north carolina, i understand you felt that power. here's the map behind me of all the flash flooding that's going on. here's the map behind me of all the flooding that's going on. all the rivers that are flooding. every county except for cape cod, every county from maine all the way down to new jersey, has some type of flood warning fwoing on right now. let me take you to just the latest. we're getting so many flood warnings coming in. here's just the latest that came in from -- at 4:48, the campton pond dam has been breached. in grafton, county. this is new hampshire. so many dams in trouble or at least water going over the top. the water is filling the dams. the dams are in risk of breaching, falling apart in some spots. you have to understand whether yo

the answer to your question will come if they have all the democrats on board that they need. >> dan lothian the white house, dan, thank you. >>> next a look at the stark physical and mental transformation of one young soldier experiencing war for the first time. i got mine in iraq, 2003. u.s.a.a. auto insurance is often handed down from generation to generation, because it offers a superior level of protection and because u.s.a.a.'s commitment to serve the military, veterans, and their families is without equal. begin your legacy. get an auto insurance quote. u.s.a.a. we know what it means to serve. >>> from a small-town teenager to a lean, mean combat engineer, a man on the front lines in afghanistan. jason carroll chronicled the evolution. >> that was the bike i learned to ride first. >> reporter: this is will mclain, he was desperate to eggs cape his hometown. >> there's a lot of things to miss. >> reporter: that was nearly two years ago. since then, we've watched his dramatic physical transformation, following him from recruit through basic training. to soldier. how much more weight hav

thanks dan lothian. thanks so much. i'll see you throughout the weekend.the hurricane getting

cnn white house correspondent dan lothian live from the white house rose garden where the announcement also hits the road this week, right, dan? >> yes, that is right. the president will go to minneapolis tomorrow where he will be delivering remarks at the national american legion convention. i'm told that is mostly veterans who will be there, but that the president will also talk about how service members and their families are impacted by conmy, and then of course, we have been talking all about how the president wants to talk and focus on jobs post-labor day the president rolling out the jobs proposal, a way for the administration to try to bring down the high unemployment rate. that is something that the president has been working on while on vacation at martha's vineyard, expecting that to be rolled out some time after labor day. >> dan, we have a minute to the top of the hour, and

dan lothian joins us live from martha's vineyard.licans have already come out, namely senator john mccain, and said that if the united states and nato had thrown more at libya, wouldn't have taken six months for this thing to drag on and moammar gadhafi to be knocked out of power. still, it was only six months, so is the president happy with the way things turned out? >> well, look, this is good news for the administration as you pointed out. it was just six months ago that president obama stepped in front of the cameras and said that moammar gadhafi needed to go. and there has been, as you pointed out, a lot of criticism from republicans that the administration should have been more forceful, more forcefully engaged from the very beginning because it would have not taken six months. nonetheless, the administration pleased with these latest developments. they have been very careful, though, not to get out too far in front of the developments on the ground. you did not see the president step in front of the camera last night. instead

. >> joining me is dan lothian. white house believe the libyan rebels, the national transitional council can actually establish order in libya, and is there any talk at all of an international pea peacekeeping force? >> reporter: on your first point i think the white house has now for some time been putting its full support behind the rebels and you heard from the president today that the administration will continue and the u.s. and its allies will continue to provide the support as they try to make that transition a peaceful transition, as the president put it, to democracy. how much and how big the involvement of the u.s. will be is unclear. the administration, top aides making it clear that no u.s. boots will be on the ground there, that the strategy for u.s. boots on the ground remains unchanged, but there are a lot of questions about whether or not the rebel groups will be able to carry out that transition and certainly carry it out in a peaceful way. >> also, dan, when the president was talking about how init

dan lothian is live from martha's vineyard. dan, his team that has traveled with him. much a working vacation is what the white house has been saying. is he spending a lot of time kind of refining the proposal that he's going to unveil to the country about economy, the economy and jobs? >> well, he is. i'm told by senior administration official that the president and his advisers have been making some progress on that plan that he plans to roll out when he returns to washington. it was described though to tme s a work in progress. right now, they are essentially crunching the numbers and weighing different options and that this is something that will continue all of next week. the president, one of the president's advisors will be coming here to the island to help with this process and to give the president frequent updates throughout the week on the whole economic situation, but yes, very much, the president here trying get a little r and r, but also folked on the big issue at hand and that is creating jobs and turning the economy around. >> all right. just looking at

dan lothian reporting for us.cain, as you saw, was among first to call for intervention in libya. now that the regime has basically collapsed senator mccain says the obama administration should have opinion more aggressive. senator mccain is joining us right now. senator, thanks very much for coming in. >> thank you, wolf. >> let me get your quick reaction to the news that we broke here in "the situation room." the libyan ambassador here in washington represents the rebels, the transitional authority in libya. he says that one of the sons of gadhafi, muhammad gadhafi, has been hijacked or escaped. what does that say to you? >> seems to me that the situation is still rather unsettled, and, again, there's two steps forward and one step back, and there's still a lot of work to dork not only militarily, but there will be a great task ahead as building a democracy in a country that's never known it and it's going to rare a lot of work and a little luck. >> some have suggested that the gadhafi loyalists, the mercenaries

dan lothian is traveling with the president there in massachusetts. what a backdrop, dan. >> reporter: that's right. very nice backdrop here. but looking grim on the market as we saw yesterday. one thing the white house has stayed away from is commenting on the daily gyrations of the stock market. in fact, josh ernest saying during a gaggle with reporters yesterday at the white house that he was not going to speculate on the movement of the market. what they will talk about, though, is the fact that the president is focused very heavily on fixing the economy even while he is on vacation. in fact, one of his economic advisers will be coming to martha's vineyard next week and we are told he will provide the president with regular updates and the president will be touched with senior members of his economic team in washington. as we know, the president is working on that speech that he will be making and the new ideas as the white house puts it that he'll be rolling out after labor day after returning to washington from martha's vineyard as ways to create

joining me from martha's vineyard, cnn's dan lothian. the white house in terms of reaction to what we've been witnessing on the ground? >> reporter: i can tell you first of all that the national security team has been closely monitoring the situation, watching some of those pictures over the last 24 hours on television, monitoring social media, also in touch with the ntc, the rebel group. the president himself did receive a briefing from john brennan his counterterrorism adviser, unclear whether the president himself is seeing those dramatic pictures on television, but we're told that he has gotten all of the reports. the white house has been unable to tell us whether or not they believe they know exactly where gadhafi might be, but they do think that he is still inside libya. that is less important, though, than the fact that they believe that he is no longer in control of that country. one other point, the white house does have some concerns about the ntc, that rebel group's ability to carry out that peaceful transition to democracy, b

cnn's dan lothian is live on martha's vineyard where the president is vacationing. ite house has long focused on criminal -- criminal illegal aliens but this is going case-by-case now instead of 300,000 people, i think, in the deportation process? >> reporter: that's right. and still focusing on the high profile cases such as those involved in criminal activity. as you pointed out, department of homeland security will be reviewing all 300,000 pending deportation cases in federal immigration courts. again, the idea is to focus on the high profile cases, not on the low profile cases, such as students or senior citizens. secretary napolitano outlined this new policy in a letter to members of congress about two dozen members of congress. she set that out yesterday, explaining this is a way to not only move these cases through a system that has been clogged, but the administration believing as well that by targeting the high profile cases, these illegal immigrants who are involved in criminal activity, that it will also go towards helping in the department of public safet

you shall that they need. >> dan lothian at the white house. also, we're following the brutal riots in london. the city, at least parts of it right now in flames. stand by for the latest on the unrest and what's behind it. and a trickle finally getting through to famine-stricken somalia. just how horrible the suffering has become and how you and the world can help. [ ben harper's "amen omen" playing ] we believe doing the right thing never goes unnoticed. liberty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy? >>> jack cafferty is here with "the cafferty file." >> i guess we ought to all send congress thank you notes. don't know where to send them, though. they're on vacation for five weeks. before they pushed through that phony bill on deficit reduction and the debt ceiling, they were told by the ratings agencies a minimum of $4 trillion in cuts would be necessary to preserve this country's aaa credit rating. they passed and the president signed less than $1 trillion in cuts. oh, and we may or may not get an additional $1 trillion or so

dan lothian is in martha's vineyard traveling with the president. hi, dan. >> reporter: hello.n addition tock out on the golf course, which we've seen over the last few days, he's out at the beach right now with his family, but before he went out there, he did have at least three different briefings starting out this morning with his counterterrorism adviser john brennan, briefing on the latest development in libya. the president also convened a conference call with his emergency management officials and others to get the latest information on the hurricane and make sure that the federal government is coordinating with state and local officials, and then finally the president also had a conference call with treasury secretary timothy geithner and others on his economic team to get a broad view of the economy but also the updates on the jobs proposal that the president will be rolling out when he returns. now, while all of this is taking place here on the island,

dan lothian is traveling with the president. tell us, has the president been briefed on what's happened and where is he? >> well, look, i can tell you that we're waiting to find out if, in fact, the president felt the earthquake. he's currently out on the golf course and the pool of reporters who are in a holding area, not far from where the president is, a couple of them actually felt the earthquake. i was on the first floor of the building, right now we're up on the fourth floor. i was down on the ground floor when this earthquake hit. i felt it. i lived for quite a while out in los angeles. so i'm quite familiar with the feel of an earthquake. so immediately, i knew that it was an earthquake. the ground was swaying from side to side. looked up at one of the light fixtures, it has a little piece hanging down from it, that was swaying as well. that was surprising because we were starting to hear the reports of the earthquake in new york and d.c. and then when it starts hitting someplace like martha's vineyard off the coast of m

let's go to my colleague, dan lothian, traveling along with the president who is on vacation there ini am not with the president on the golf course, i do not know if he felt the earthquake but i can say you felt the earthquake. >> reporter: i did feel it i was on the ground floor of the hotel we're using as a work area and i felt the ground start to sway, being that i have spent quite a bit of time out in los angeles i was quite aware that we were dealing with an earthquake and looked up and some of the light fixtures were moving around so we knew we were in the midst of the earthquake. the president we don't know if he felt it on the golf course but we are getting information from the white house, deputy spokesman josh ernest saying at 2:50 the president led a conference call with janet napolitano and a whole host of top level advisers, they discussed the earthquake and the status of critical infrastructure. the president was told there are no major infrastructure damage at airports and nuclear facilities and currently no requests for assistance. the president asked for regular updat

our white house correspondent dan lothian is up there with him. dan, what are white house officials saying specifically the prospect of hearing directly from the president tonight? >> reporter: well, the president himself, wolf, was asked about the situation in libya when he was out at a local restaurant here on martha's vineyard, in fact in oak bluff. the white house being very careful about getting out in front of the developments on the ground there in libya. first of all, i should point out that the president since this morning has been briefed on the situation there by his counterterrorism advisor john brennan and then has been receiving updates throughout the day. not only from john brennan but also teams on the ground in libya. but again, they're being very careful because as one white house official described it, the situation there is fluid, an so they want to be careful about what they say. that's why the president was also careful when someone asked him a question tonight. take a listen. >> now the message from the white house remains co

dan lothian is with the president, and dan, we know as many of his vacations go, there is no break from developments of the world. i suspect that he is watching very closely to what's going on in libya. >> he is. perhaps presidents should take vacations in a different month. august always tends to blow up with something while presidents are out on vacation. this one is no different. the president was hoping to focus on jobs, working on that speech he plans to unveil his jobs proposal when he returns to washington. that is still ongoing, but also the administration has to focus on the situation in libya. president obama has been given frequent updates from john brennan, he also took part in a conference call with senior members of his national security team, so the president very much staying on top of the situation there, but not saying a whole lot on camera. the pool crew traveling with the president yesterday as he was going to a takeout restaurant in oak bluffs, did ask him for any comment at all on libya, and the president said he wanted to wait until they got more confirmation befo

dan lothian over at the white house. republicans, by the way, pushing back hard against the democrats. senator orrin hatch tells me that member of the president's party could have easily ended this standoff if they backed down on provisions to make it easier for airline workers to unionize. >> they just think they've got a good political issue here and they're crazy. they're the ones costing $30 million a day and they're the ones that won't budge. they're the ones that want and it's all over that improper change of labor law. the power of the united states senate and house where bureaucrats just determine to overturn the law. >> senator hatch blocked the compromise agreement that could have been worked out yesterday. he'll be here. we'll have more of the interview in the next hour here in "the situation room." he'll explain why he decided to do that. >>> now another financial crisis. the city going bankrupt that its workers are being asked to sacrifice a big chunk of their retirement nest eggs. a nightmare we could see i

dan lothian in martha's vineyard. dan, thank you very much. that will do it for me. cnn newsroom continues now withdrew griffin. hi there, drew. >> randi, thanks. in for brooke today. boy, a day for you. tracking, watching, bracing for hurricane irene. millions of people could be impacted by this monster storm. much of the eastern seaboard, now from the carolinas up to maine, on alert. irene is a major category 3 hurricane. it could come ashore two different times. north carolina first gets hit on saturday, and then somewhere in new england after that, even in areas that don't get a direct hit though, there's the flooding damage, wind damage and power outages, a major pain. you're looking at live pictures from folly beach in south carolina. residents keeping an eye on irene. it could pass by though. they haven't been told to leave though. they are urged to take precautions. evacuations are under way though in the north carolina outer banks. the governor declaring a state of emergency ahead of the hurricane. many areas are accessible only by ferry so voluntary evacuat

let's go to dan lothian watching what y what's going on. >> he was pointing out that some big challenges still remain. his message was a, not only of the american people but also a divided congress. you heard the president say both democratings and republicans shared the responsibility of moving the economy forward. however, some were saying the president needs to do much more in terms of offering new ideas. >> departing the south lawn of the white house for a weekend getaway at camp david, president obama left behind a rocky economic week that saw a stock market plunge, a debt ceiling deal no one liked and an faa funding dispute only partially resolved. but the jobs report gave him a lift. >> nobody should be patting themselves on the back for this. but the gas prices, from europe, from japan, this is at least a welcomed sign. >> in addition to the overall numbers, the white house is touting 2.5 million new private market sdwrobs over the last few months. but even the president is the aware one set of numbers doesn't erase the effects of a recession overnight. >> we need to create a cyc

dan lothian did good reporting up there.t of the candidates are criticizing him for taking a vacation. i guess they're supposed to. they're trying to oust him from office. they won't say anything good about him. mitt romney spoke out about that vacation that the president is taking. >> the white house spokesman is calling it a working vacation and said he's going to spend time with his family to quote "recharge his batteries." paul steinhauser with that political update. thank you, as always. great to see you. >>> talk about a wild roller coaster ride at the opening bell on wall street. the dow was up, then it moved up, then back down again. that is a massive improvement over yesterday, 419 point drop triggered by the sluggish u.s. economy and fears over the european debt crisis. as for europe, more doom and gloom today. our richard quest tells us in a nutshell what happened. >> reporter: the europeans were down initially and they went down further. they rallied with wall street. we closed down 1% in london. in paris 1%. one

we want to talk to dan lothian who is traveling with the president.t do we expect the president to address? >> reporter: the president will tell us what the administration is doing and what the federal government is doing to stay one step ahead of this hurricane. the president, by the way, did receive a briefing this morning or had a conference call with his top emergency officials, including those from the dhs and from fema and other officials. they want to make sure they are properly coordinating with the federal government and state and local officials to ensure that nothing falls through the cracks. this president aware of the criticism that can come if the administration is not on top of the situation. he has been briefed over the last few days to get a sense of the track of the storm and what the federal government is doing. the president over where he is vacationing on the compound will be stepping to the microphones, we expect in the next few minutes or so. his remarks expected for five or ten minutes. >> he had a conference call earlier today

dan lothian is with the president up in massachusetts. i know thaw felt that earthquake.me that the president did, even as he was playing golf. >> reporter: we don't know yet if the president felt it. we were on the ground floor with reporters. around 2:00 is when we felt the ground swaying, light fixtures sway as well. about half an hour later was when one of our photographers got exclusive video of the president on the golf course take the phone call. the white house will not confirm what exactly was said in that call but right after that the president convened a conference call with his federal emergency response officials. the white house says at the time he was told that their initial reports show no major infrastructure of problems. he was also briefed on hurricane irene. this comes on a day when the president was receiving briefings of the latest developments in libya. wolf. >> so much for a slow august in washington and beyond. dan, thanks very much. nothing disrupts politicians as usual. the delaware senator was preparing to preside over the senate when the tremo

. >> dan lothian thank you. i want to bring in ali velshi from new york again. we were talking about u.s. treasury, interest rates. i know we have ted rowlands in chicago with more on that. >> i'm taking a look at commodities right now. pretty much everything is down but for gold, which is up again. most commodities are down, cotton is up a little bit. ted is at the chicago mercantile exchange in chicago where these commodities get traded, where s&p futures get traded. you're in the only place on earth right now, ted, where money is actually going in. money is coming out of every other market. give me a sense of what's going on with treasuries. the one thing that should have been hit hard by this downgrade didn't get hit hard. >> yeah. on one level that's accurate. but people are saying, listen, this downgrade did one thing. it was another negative component into this fueling of the selloff that we're seeing today. as you've pointed out, what happens when you sell off? you have this money to park. where are they parking it? ? treasuries because it's the only gam

. >> you know, we spoke with dan lothian from the vineyard a few minutes ago. the administration was already taking questions about whether or not the president feels vindicated. they didn't seem to exactly answer that question. a spokesman didn't at least. do you think they'll get any sense of vindication that yes, i told you so, this was the right move. >> i don't think he's going to gloat or anything. it's still a very, very uncertain situation. yes, it looks like gadhafi has done, his sons arrested there will be a new regime and transition into this new regime in libya. no one knows for sure what it's going to look like in six days or six months or six years. so i suspect there's not going to be any mission accomplished type of statement along those lines. although, he will praise nato, he will praise some of the arab countries that have helped the libyan rebels, specifically i don't know if i'll get into details, cutter, for example. the united arab emirates. they've been helpful in trying to get rid of gadhafi. they recognize the rebels as the legit -- lo