Transcripts For CNNW Erin Burnett OutFront 20130130

I just know california traffic is already bad. You ever do any of those doughnuts . No, no. I would never say it on live tv if i did. Were not doing it either. You can always follow us on twitter. Thats it for us. Thanks very much for joining us. Well be back here tomorrow. Thanks for watching. Outfront starts right now. Outfront next, the United States prepares new offensive against al qaeda. Plus, will she or wont she . Hillary clinton, robert reish, a man who has known her since he was 19 years old, reacts to our cnn interview and tells us about a date he had with her. Apple will launch a new ipad with a very different price tag. Lets go outfront. Good evening. Im erin burnett. Outfront tonight, attack of the drones. The American Government is launching a new war, some of this countrys 7500 drones may be about to take off with new targets in their sights. Today, nijars Ambassador Says he has agreed to let the u. S. Military put drones in his country in an effort to gain intelligence on mali, algeria and libya, three spots where we have seen a recent explosion in Al Qaeda Linked attacks on americans. Eric schmidt is Senior Writer for the New York Times covering terrorism. He broke the story this morning that the u. S. Is planning a drone base in niger. The Lieutenant General oversaw the first predator drone strike in 2001. In such a crucial question as this war on al qaeda ramps up again, eric, you reported on it today, how big of a deal is had . This is a Major Development by the u. S. Military. It creates an Intelligence Hub in a former french colony right below libya, next to mali. Its a key base from which to fly Surveillance Drones to monitor the activity such of whats going on with mali right now with the frenchled operation there. But also watch for militant fighters and weapons flowing out into some of these other countries. I mean, it is amazing. They dont want to use boots on the ground but at least if they do end up arming them which is the big question mark, would be americans maybe in the United States still killing people there. Lieutenant general, the administration told me no boots on the ground with al qaeda in mali, but is this the new boots on the ground . Well, drones are more properly titled remotely piloted vehicles, and what they allow us to do is project capability without projecting vulnerability. Thats one of their advantages. But the biggest advantage is really persistence. In other words, they provide the ability to observe a particular area, analyze whats going on and then react in an appropriate way to meet whatever the National Security objective is at the time. In this particular case, theyll be used for Intelligence Surveillance and reconnaissance purposes up front. Eric, heres the likely new cia chief john brennan. He was the guy who sort of started the whole drone thing. Heres what he said about drones that seems to be really important when we think about what the repercussions could be for this country. Theres another reason that targeted strikes can be a wise choice. The strategic consequences that inevitably come with the use of force. As we have seen, deploying large armies abroad wont always be our best offense. Countries typically dont want foreign soldiers in their cities and towns. But they also dont want drones over their towns either. Look at pakistan where the president has gone allin on drones six times more attacks by drones under president obama than under george w. Bush. Pakistanis, 94 of them think drones kill innocent people. What do we get out of this . Heres the tradeoff. The problem is, this part of africa is one of the big problem spots for the u. S. Intelligence community. I travel with general carter hamm, head of the militarys africa command, this month and he told me this is one of the real blind spots for u. S. Intelligence agencies. They dont have good ways of collecting intelligence. They dont have good spy networks on the ground. So introducing these drones will get a head start on trying to monitor some of these militant networks including the al qaeda affiliate there. People might say who cares about drones. Lot of people in this country say look, we dont want to risk american lives. If were going to have to fly over and kill quote, unquote bad guys with drones, so be it. Lets do it. There are people on the left and the right who agree about that. They say what about the pakistanis or in this case, the africans, what are they going to do about it. But someone might one day. It could cause someone to launch another terrorist attack or some of the other 70 countries that have drones right now but most cannot arm the drones might be able to arm drones. Say iran. Well, the first thing to realize, erin, is that using remotely piloted aircraft contrary to popular belief actually provides the greatest degree of ethical oversight for their use than does any other use of military force. Because youre essentially carrying around an entire intelligence Analysis Network with you in the context of the number of people that are involved in overseeing the operations. What people dont realize is theres nothing unmanned about the system except that little piece of fiberglass itself flying around in the sky. It takes about 200 people to maintain one orbit and you can either pause and figure out whats going on if youre uncertain or you can react quickly with all the information that you have. So they provide an asymmetric advantage for the user. Okay. But eric talks about in a sense the transparency but it seems there has been anything but when it comes to drone, who drones kill. So if somebody makes this decision, it has not gone through traditional paths in this country. Thats right. American diplomats in niger have been careful, theyre laying the ground work for these type of operations for over a year now. The u. S. Ambassador there has spoken to religious leaders and basically clan leaders in niger and are trying to explain this to make sure the perception of drones which as you pointed out, the negative perception coming out of pakistan and afghanistan for many people, does not carry over here. Let me ask each of you about the cutbacks on defense. This seems crucial to me. I dont know if you saw the wall street journal had an oped saying why the french cant fight. Provocative title and they backed it up with the facts that they pulled. They have a point of view but they note that the french are deploying into mali right now with barely half the vehicles that they had four years ago. There have been so many cutbacks in the french military. Barney frank always used to tell me theyre freeloading off the u. S. Everyone freeloads off the u. S. Military but if we start cutting back dramatically are we going to end up in a situation where we cant fight a traditional war, the only thing worse than having to be the country that bears the Security Risk for the whole world is not being able to do it . Let me jump in here because quite frankly, that goes to the essence of why we have a government and our Senior Leadership as we discuss these fiscal cuts needs to get to the heart of why we have a government in the first place. If you go back to the preamble of the constitution, it states that we put together this government, number one, to provide for the common defense and then promote the general welfare. So prioritization of what the United States wants to be able to do in terms of National Security is very, very important and it will determine just how many resources we spend to maintain that capability. Just to top that off, looking at whats happening here, you have the United States providing the french both high end and low end equipment. Youve got the supersophisticated drones and providing intelligence, but you also have relatively mundane cargo planes and refueling planes as well that are key parts of this operation for mali. Thanks very much to both of you. We appreciate it. Serious questions this country will answer and whether this is just one step in an inevitable path towards more conflict. The president and republicans disagree over what needs to be done to secure the southern border of the United States. We will take a look for ourselves. We have an outfront investigation for you. And the nra, Wayne Lapierre, executive Vice President there, is going to be testifying at a Senate Hearing tomorrow on guns. You know what . Theres a reason why hes loved and hated. We have a special report. Hillary clinton answering questions about 2016. Her relationship with bill and this. Which of these three three or four months on this. The incredible hillary. The artist formerly known as the secretary. Or just hill clinton. [ male announcer ] when these come together, and these come together, one thing you can depend on is that these will come together. Delicious and wholesome. Some combinations were just meant to be. Tomato soup from campbells. Its amazing what soup can do. But they havent experienced extra strength bayer advanced aspirin. In fact, in a recent survey, 95 of people who tried it agreed that it relieved their headache fast. Visit fastreliefchallenge. Com today for a special trial offer. Our second story outfront, the big question for Hillary Clinton. Okay, not that one about 2016. This one. Which of these three names would you like to adopt. We spent three or four months on this. The incredible hillary. The artist formerly known as the secretary. Or just hill clinton. But it does sound a bit like bill. Yeah. I think were going to have to work on that list. All right. Does that list include president . Today we asked about her president ial ambitions and here is how she chose to answer that question. I have absolutely no plans to run. Okay. You heard her. Robert reish has insight into what hillary really means. The former secretary of labor has known clinton since she was 19. They attended Yale Law School together, served in the Clinton Administration together and he even went out with her in their college days on a socalled date. Now, going to get to that later because trust me, there is a revelation coming your way, viewers. I spoke to professor reish just before the show and asked him if hillary will run for president in 2016. Well, its been said that once you are infected with the president ial bug, it is very hard to get it out of your system. So i think there is a strong likelihood that she will run, but i believe her when she says she has no current plans. Shes been working so hard for so long that she genuinely needs some time just by herself. She needs some time off. I dont think i dont see how its possible to decide to make that kind of commitment until youve actually had a time to rest. Look, its a fair point. I just want, though, just because i guess this is what people do when they may run for president or have the bug, as you said. She and bill clinton have said similar things before she ran in 2008. Here she is in 2006. Do you ever want to be president . No. Ever . No. Never . Youll never run . You know, tim, i have no intention of running for president. No intention. So shes done this before. Yes. And when somebody says i have no intentions or i have no plans, that usually means either they do have an intention or plan or they just want to keep their options open. I think its the latter in case of Hillary Clinton right now. She does want to keep her options open. She doesnt want to close any options. Thats rational. But i dont think she really is planning on running right now. I dont think its possible after the intensity shes been under to make those kind of plans. Its sort of, in 2006 president obama was asked if he was going to run and he said i will not. I guess this is one of those cases where, you know, no means yes. I want you to know i am definitely not running for president in 2012. I want to give you a chance to hear she also today talked to some of the reporters who have known her over the past four years. She was very loyal in saying i want to talk to these reporters and among them, Jill Dougherty and elise labbitt at cnn. Heres what she told them about her future. Right now, i am trying to finish my term as secretary of state and the president and i had a good laugh the other night because, you know, i am out of politics right now and i dont know everything ill be doing. Ill be working on behalf of women and girls. Ill be hopefully writing and speaking. Those are the things that im planning to do right now. So what do you think as someone whos known her and you knew her in those years, 19, right, when we all were as idealistic and rosyeyed about the world as we could possibly be. Well, look, Hillary Clinton we see today is obviously more sophisticated and a little bit more wizened than the Hillary Clinton i knew when she was 19, but the young Hillary Clinton, hillary rodham, in those days, was incredibly talented, incredibly bright, determined, ambitious, had a very deep sense of social justice and really wanted the world to change and was determined to be a leader. I dont think the Hillary Clinton we know today is all that different. But let me just say this. She has been under not only intense pressure as secretary of state, visiting more nations than any secretary of state has ever done before, but before that, she was in the senate. Before that, she was first lady. Before that, she was first lady of arkansas. This is not somebody who has had much chance to stop and just, you know, measure where she is, where shes going. I think its going to be a great opportunity for her for the next year at least. She doesnt have to make a decision. I mean, its possible that you could have been the first man, if you had things had gone a little differently back then. What is this oh, i dont think there was very much going on there. I mean, when she ran for president , a reporter from the New York Times called me up one day, had found some of her old letters and said well, she mentions that she went on a date with you and to be completely candid with you, i did not remember it. But i didnt want to insult her by saying that. So i just went along with it. Even to this day its very sketchy. She was president of her freshman class. I was president of my sophomore class. I think it was more like a president ial summit. You were like the bmoc. At least you dont kiss and tell. All right. I was pretty short then. I dont remember any kissing or any telling. Anyway, lets end this right on this note, erin. We will do that. Thank you very much, professor. Great to see you. Thanks. Good to see you. You got a revelation about hillarys dating life. Outfront next, president obama says americas borders have become more secure. Its a big claim. We investigate it. Does it really add up . The answer next. And some people say that the super bowl ad, you will see it, is racist. But is it a manufactured controversy . Later in the show, covered, oh, my god, in foam. See life in the best light. Outdoors, or in. Transitions® lenses automatically filter just the right amount of light. So you see everything the way its meant to be seen. Maybe even a little better. Visit your eyecare professional today to ask about our newest lenses, transitions vantage and transitions xtractive lenses. Experience life well lit. Ask which transitions adaptive lens is best for you. Our third story outfront Border Security. So president obama went to las vegas today. Hes trying to sell the country on his version of comprehensive immigration reform. Now, the president says now is the time to replace a broken system and he says a consensus is emerging on how to do that but he also said something that really caught our attention. He said that americas borders have become more secure during his first term. First we strengthened security at the borders so that we can finally stem the tide of illegal immigrants. We put more boots on the ground on the southern border than at any time in our history. And today, illegal crossings are down nearly 80 from their peak in 2000. Okay. That is true. The number of undocumented immigrants caught crossing in from mexico has plunged. There could be many reasons for that. Many people who live and work along the border say the president s rosy picture just doesnt add up. Casey wian is in the small border town in arizona with this outfront investigation. Its bull. Its not true. This border is not secure until they want to have harsh treatment and penalties for coming illegally, theyre never going to be secure. Reporter johns cattle ranch spans 14,000 acres along the arizona mexico border which here is a dirt road and a 13 foot high fence. This is the hole they cut last friday afternoon to bring two truck fulls of dope in. They torched the metal, then they just break it with a toe strap on the truck. Then they use a portable grinder to cut the mesh. Reporter they then took off through his property. He says it was the 28th and 29th smuggling vehicles crossing his ranch in the past year. People traffic is down. Theres no doubt about that. But we still have two or three groups a day. Reporter two or three group a day . Yeah. Reporter he scoffs at claims of dramatic improvements in Border Security based on fewer Border Patrol apprehensions and says its too soon for comprehensive immigration reform. There has got to be a bunch of people coming across. Trying to get here while they can, take advantage of the pathway to citizenship. Reporter the Sheriff Deputies chased and lost the drug smugglers on ladds land friday. Theres a lot of unrest in this county, especially in the rural parts. People just dont feel safe because of the illegal flow, the criminal elements that are floating through the county and entering our nation. Its scary. Reporter he blames the nearly two decades old Border Patrol strategy of pushing illegal traffic into remote rural areas. The Border Patrol vehicle just drove right by. You said theres not enough agents on the border. What would it take to get this border secured sufficiently where you would feel comfortable as sheriff . First of all, the first report card on that is when the people of the county are not in fear to go out in their backyard like the gentleman i was talking about here three or four nights ago, went in his backyard and was hit in the head with a two by four while they burglarized him and took off. Until i get the feeling from the citizens of the county that hey, were comfortable, were confident that its making a difference. Right now thats not the case. Casey, obviously youre there tonight. The Border Patrol says the number of people apprehended, they have taken under custody trying to cross the border was 1. 7 million in 2000. Thats an incredible number. 1. 7 million, everybody, when you think of 10 million or 11 million undocumented immigrants, only 340,000 in 2011. So less traffic or less enforcement . Reporter well, its definitely less traffic. Of course, we had the economic slowdown. That cut traffic across the border. Lot of illegal undocumented immigrants returned to mexico. Its not a lack of enforcement because they have increased the manpower on the border dramatically, more than doubling the size of the Border Patrol in the last ten years. Theyve increased technology. Billions of dollars invested in things like cameras, remote sensors, drones. What people here argue about is the strategy of enforcement. Youll see behind me that theres no Border Patrol agents anywhere in sight along this border. Theyre relying on the fence, relying on the technology, deploying their agents in many cases away from the border, thinking they can funnel these illegal trafficking groups into specific areas where they can catch them north of the borders. The communities in these rural areas say theyre the ones that are the victims of this strategy and theyre the ones whose properties are being run through by these immigrant drug smugglers. Thank you very much, casey. Still outfront four years ago, president obama made a very big promise. Every one of you watching probably remembers this. He promised to close guantanamo bay. Today, it looks like it might never happen. A big development. Plus, the nras Wayne Lapierre will be testifying on capitol hill tomorrow. Is he about to double down on his view on guns . Would you pay 1,000 for that . 1,000 bucks, everybody. 1,000 bucks. train horn vo wherever our trains go, the economy comes to life. Norfolk southern. One line, infinite possibilities. Music make someone happy music make someone happy its so important to make meone happy. Its so e make just one heart to heart you you sing to one smile that cheers you one face that lights when it nears you. And you will be happy too. Your doctor will say get smart about your weight. Thats why theres glucerna hunger smart shakes. They have carb steady, with carbs that digest slowly to help minimize blood sugar spikes. [ male announcer ] glucerna hunger smart. A smart way to help manage hunger and diabetes. [ male announcer ] glucerna hunger smart. Tax time can ofbe. Well. Taxing. So right now well give you. 10 off any turbo tax deluxe Level Software or higher find thousands of big deals now. At officemax. Welcome back to the second half of outfront. We start with stories we care about, we focus on our reporting from the front lines and we begin today with an american official telling cnn that a cache of weapons seized off the coast of yemen may have come from iran. Surface to air missiles, potent explosives, rocket propelled grenades, they all had markings on them that indicate they came from the Iranian Revolutionary guard. The official tells Barbara Starr the weapons were believed to be headed for shiite muslim insurgents in yemen. Gregory johnson, a scholar at princeton, tells us the Yemeni Government claims iran has been supplying the insurgents with weapons for years. The United States has only recently believed them. Apple is releasing a new ipad. It doubles the tablets current maximum capacity. 128 gigabites. That means you can store 100 dvd quality movies or 30,000 songs. I dont even use apps. The only other thing that changes is the price which starts at 799 for wifi only. It is set for release february 5th but editor in chief of laptop magazine tells us the timing is curious, given they are releasing their latest tablet on the 9th. Apple is trying to steal a little of their thunder. We are learning more about the fire in which 234 people were killed in brazil. A Santa Maria Police department inspectors says fireworks used by the band that night were intended for outdoor use and accuses the band of intentionally purchasing the fireworks because they were cheaper than those for indoor use. He also said investigators found evidence of faulty and fake fire extinguishers. Fake fire extinguishers. Here in the United States, Robert Solomon of the National Fire Protection Association says one reason the fire was so bad was because of the combustible acoustic material in the building. He says one it catches on fire, theres no number of sprinklers or fire extinguishers, real or fake, that can put it out. Now an update to a story we have been following closely, ongoing activities at a plant suspected of being home to Irans Nuclear weapons program. A plant inspectors have continually been denied access to. The institute for science and interNational Security has posted new satellite images taken on january 17th, and they say the images show the possible foundation of a new building, the extension of a security perimeter and a building that was rebuilt after being demolished. Its been 544 days since america lost its top credit rating. What are we doing to get it back . You know what, not very much. But you know what, stocks are nearing all time highs so go ahead and celebrate. Dow closed at 13,954. 210 points shy of the record hit before the world went to hell. Now our fourth story outfront, closing guantanamo bay. Is it really a priority for this president . According to the state department, the man who was assigned in 2009, his main job, his job, everybody, to be down there to help close the infamous prison, has been reassigned and there are no plans to replace him. For more than four years, we have heard president obama promise to close that prison. Were going to close guantanamo and restore habeas corp corpus. Those prisoners that we hold in guantanamo deserve to be able to go before a court and say it wasnt me or i didnt do it. Pretty clear. Its still open. President obama insists he still wants to close it but as of october, there were 166 detainees still being held in guantanamo and the question tonight is will he keep his word. Outfront tonight, the Senior Reporter for pro publica who covers guantanamo. What do you think . Will he keep his word . He says it again and again. Im sure that its a goal but nothing that hes doing right now is affecting any possibility of a change. You know, i think part of it is they just were so boxed in by congress but i think also theres just been no leadership thats really been pushing this. And we saw this office at the state department achieved a number of its goals, was able to get a lot of people back either home where they came from or to other countries who would hold them. Im just curious because on the point youre making now, according to the director of national intelligence, 28 of the people who have been released, detainees released from guantanamo have gone back to terrorist activities. Those numbers from 2011. Back to trying to kill americans. One of them has been mentioned as someone with possible attacks possible links to the attack on the consulate in benghazi. Did the president just not understand all this . Was he being too idealistic and not aware of the facts . Or is he aware of this and thinks this risk is worth it . I think that that is at the heart of the question that a lot of people were asking right from the beginning with his plan about closing guantanamo. Remember, president bush even in his second term sent hundreds of people home from guantanamo. At its height there were almost 800 prisoners there. Today there are fewer than 200. When president bush sent a lot of people home there was no pushback obviously from his own party. The democrats were happy there would be a lot more pushback for president obama to do it, right . People on the right would say youre some sort of peacenik, so idealistic and conveniently forget what george w. Bush did. I think thats exactly what happened. The president came in, he thought this would be a bipartisan issue, he thought he would have all this congressional support. It melted immediately. Even harry reid, who is the Senate Majority leader, a democrat, voted against funding for the president right out of the gate in 2009 to move people back from guantanamo to hold them in u. S. Prisons. Just said no. Will he end up putting more people in here now that we have the war on al qaeda which is not over, has spread somewhere different, is different now. You have more people coming. Its very possible. Whats really possible and whats really happening, too, is that theyre not sending people home as you said to places like yemen. Theres another prisoner who was supposed to go back to algeria. Now algeria seems unstable. So not only new people but sending people back to countries that have become more unstable since this plan to close guantanamo has made it very difficult. So is he right now there are 87 people there who are supposedly approved for release. Is he going to let those people go . Because it would seem now especially given that no ones been held to account for the benghazi attack, that the president still has not said a single word himself publicly about the americans who died in algeria, that having any of these people linked to another attack would be horrific for this president. I think it would be really, really tough. Once somebody who was killed recently by a drone strike, this goes to your earlier segment about yemen, this was somebody who was in guantanamo for six years. Somebody they then turned around and targeted with a drone strike. So i think that theyre very worried about recidivism. Actually. Thank you very much. Really appreciate your taking the time. This will be a tough one. Let us know what you think. Will the president keep his promise on guantanamo . All eyes tonight are on capitol hill. Nra executive Vice President Wayne Lapierre will be testifying at a crucial Senate Hearing on gun violence and its tomorrow but hes obviously in the center of everybodys proverbial crosshairs. We have looked through his prepared remarks. There is no sign he will be softening his tone but it is the provocative, tough often insulting talk that has made lapierre loved and hated in this country. Tom foreman is outfront with the story. Reporter always quick to attack his foes, since shortly after the newtown shootings, Wayne Lapierre has been everywhere, talking up gun ownership, talking down gun laws and promoting his solution to School Shootings as he did on meet the press. If its crazy to call for putting police and Armed Security in our schools to protect our children, then call me crazy. Reporter many critics have called him just that. In his 22 years as leader of the nra, the former conservative activist and lobbyist is well known for what his opponents often call inflammatory statements. In a 1995 fundraising letter, for example, he called federal agents enforcing gun laws quote, jackbooted thugs. In 2000, he implied president clinton was an accessory to murder, allowing gun deaths to mount up to build public support for gun control. After the Columbine High School killings, he told congress the nras members were being unfairly blamed. Somehow our reckless societal pathogen, an empire opposed to safety, caution and reason. Thats a cruel and dangerous lie. Reporter when arizona congresswoman Gabby Giffords was shot, lapierre said it happened not far from a school, a gunfree zone. Once again, he lit into his foes. It didnt make any difference. Their laws dont work. Their lies dont ring true. And if tucson tells us anything at all, it tells us this. Government failed. Reporter now even with newtown still close at hand, he says it is gun control advocates who are endangering america. We believe in our right to defend ourselves. And our families, with semiautomatic firearms technology. Reporter still, for all his bluster, lapierre has turned the nra into a political juggernaut, amassing more than four million members and pouring 16 million into Political Races last year alone. Making politicians fear not only his bark but also his bite. Erin . Thanks to tom foreman. Still to come, controversy . What controversy . If you havent heard about this, here goes. The question is are companies playing the race card and why are we falling for it. The ad of the super bowl. Later in the show, seafoam, as high as ten feet, blankets this coastal town. This is absolutely incredible. Anyone have occasional constipation, diarrhea, gas, bloating . 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Tell your doctor about any history of depression or other Mental Health problems, which could get worse while taking chantix. Dont take chantix if youve had a serious allergic or skin reaction to it. If you develop these stop taking chantix and see your doctor right away as some can be lifethreatening. If you have a history of heart or blood vessel problems, tell your doctor if you have new or worse symptoms. Get medical help right away if you have symptoms of a heart attack. Use caution when driving or operating machinery. Common side effects include nausea, trouble sleeping and unusual dreams. With chantix and with the support system it worked. It worked for me. [ male announcer ] ask your doctor if chantix is right for you. It worked for me. Did you just turn your ringer off so no one would interrupt and. Us . One. Oh no, i. Just used my geico app to get a tow truck. Its gonna be 30 minutes. Oh, so that means that we wont be stuck up here, for hours, with nothing to do. Oh i get it, you wanna pass the time, huh. holds up phone fruit ninja emergency roadside assistance. Just a click away with the geico mobile app. Meet the 5passenger ford cmax hybrid. When youre carrying a lot of weight, cmax has a nice little trait, you see, cmax helps you load your freight, with its footactivated lift gate. But thats not all youll see, cause cmax also beats prius v, with better mpg. Say hi to the allnew 47 combined mpg cmax hybrid. Were back with tonights outer circle where we reach out to sources around the world. We begin in egypt where growing defiance against morsi has the countrys defense minister warning of a possible government collapse. I asked how crucial the situation is. Reporter for the second night in a row, people here essentially told president morsi we know theres a curfew in place but we will come out in protest anyway. Thousands of people here poured out in the streets after the 9 00 p. M. Curfew, chanting antigovernment, sometimes expletiveladen slogans against president morsi. Port sayed is a city in one of three provinces where the president has declared emergency rule and curfews. We should point out most people seem to be abiding by the curfews. Obviously other people are not. But late tuesday night, a sign that perhaps the president is backing down from his strategy. On his twitter page, he made an announcement that hes now leaving it up to the governors of these provinces to decide whether to keep these curfews in place. Well see what the reaction to that is going to be. Erin . Now we go to australia, where after weeks of extreme weather, aussies are grappling with an absolutely disgusting phenomenon. Seafoam. It looks brown and foul. It is on australias east coast where the froth has washed ashore. Reporter it looks like theyre playing in a giant bubble bath but this is seafoam, full of air and whipping its way on to the beach. For those who took the plunge, not necessarily pleasant. Absolutely disgusting, putrid stuff. Reporter the phenomenon is a repeat of the bizarre scenes on the Sunshine Coast yesterday, where a car emerged from nowhere. Here, the dirty water from the swollen Hastings River turned todays wild ocean a filthy shade of brown. Its churned up into foam and washed ashore. The churning ocean looks like a washing machine and this, the soap. Further out, the strong winds are causing rough seas, making for dangerous conditions. Filthy froth and a shade of brown. Anderson cooper, i dont know what would be worse. I dont know. That froth looks pretty disgusting. It certainly does. Yeah. Whats coming up . Keeping them honest tonight, the head of the nra heads to capitol hill tomorrow. Were getting advance word on what that testimony may be. Well also take you back to newtown where a hearing turned ugly. The crowd heckling the father of a man whose son was killed in sandy hook. Plus the fine print on immigration reform. We will look at that tonight. The president talking tough today in las vegas. Gary tuchman goes back to the border to talk with a cattle rancher who says not a day goes by where he doesnt deal with illegals on his land. Plus, garrett mcnamara, a daredevil looking for a rush. He tells me what may be the world record for surfing, a record which he already holds, by the way, but may have been beaten with this wave that he just surfed. I talk to him ahead. Also, tonights ridiculist at the top of the hour. Wow. Just imagine if he was surfing in the froth. Thank you, anderson. Thats amazing. Now our fifth story outfront, volkswagens super bowl ad. Funny or offensive . The automaker released the ad early and its already getting hit with accusations that its racist because it features white actors with jamaican accents. Take a look. I hate mondays. Theyre the worst. No worries, man. Everything will be all right. Yeah, man. Dont fret. Sticky bun come soon. Hey, youre from minnesota, right . Yes, the land of 10,000 lakes. The gopher state. In conclusion, things are pretty dismal. You know what this room needs . A smile. Traveling along theres a song that were singing come on get happy you guys are three minutes late. Dont be no cloud on a sunny day. Respect bossman. That did not go over well with the New York Times columnist charles blow. Here is what he had to say about it this morning on starting point. I dont like it at all. Its like blackface with voices. I dont like that. I disagree. Outfront tonight. Good to be here. Okay. Youre both, you know, both people of color. This is a touchy subject. This is a touchy subject. I dont know what to ask. Its about women, all right. You find it racist . No, actually it was funny. I dont know what charles blow is talking about. Seriously, its funny. Okay . Now, heres the deal. The whole notion of get in, get happy, the guys in a happy mood, when you go to jamaica, i have vacationed there more than anybody, thats how it is. Heres whats interesting. The father of tourism in jamaica is white. Hes white. I mean, seriously, this is the problem in this country when we talk about its either racist or not racist as if theres no in between. Some things can be insensitive, some racist, some can simply be funny. There is well, one thing i want to say about rolands point is its actually racist for people to assume only black people have jamaican accents. Its a diverse population. Bracketing that conversation, heres the thing. America is different than it was 30 years ago. When we talk about racism, racism is about hierarchy. Racism is about saying racism is about saying that some groups are better than other groups, but this is not about racism. If we cant be playful about our differences, then we actually cant be a real mixed melting pot, multicultural society. Right. The thing about this ad, it is not saying jamaican equals bad or lazy, that would be racist. It would be bigoted in some way. But race, to your point is separate. So again, see, what has happened when we come to the issue of race, if its homophobia, either youre antigay or youre not, or youre racist or youre not. As opposed to you might thats offensive, but that doesnt mean that youre racist or homophobic. Have we just become so sensitive. So as a woman, let me just tell you race makes me nervous. This is not my okay. Woman. People make jokes about woman. Oh, my gosh, youre not a feminist. Stereo typical things about women, oh, you want to talk it out all the time. Sometimes its grounded in truth. Thats why stereotypes are to acknowledge. There are things, if we want to be honest, there are things that women can say that a guy cant say or things that black folks can say but white folks cant say. Same thing for hispanic, jewish. Yes. You have this we can but you cant. Again, we cant be so afraid we talk about race to not just jump right to oh, my god, its racist, take it down. The reason for that is simple. When theres some groups that are powerless, when theres some groups on the receiving end of these things, sometimes these are the groups where theyre now trying to assert themselves and say, no, we wont let you get away with that. Thats a fair point. Lets go back to the issue of accents. Viewers, listen to this, this is how the world has changed. A 1989 ad from polaner jelly. Uhoh. Please pass the all fruit. Pass the polaner all fruit. Pass the polaner all fruit. Would you please pass the jelly . Okay. Southern accents. Clearly the stupid guy, doesnt have any manners. Not necessarily the stupid. Heres the deal, when we were in the newsroom, i brought this up. Im born and raised in texas. I saw that and im sorry, i said thats funny. Why . Because youre sitting there going, i dont care what you all call that, pass the doggone jelly. Its funny. The salsa commercial. New jersey . I mean, thats what it is. We cant get upset all the time. Maybe we shouldnt get so upset about jersey shore. A reverse snobbery thing saying that the texan was the unpretentious cool guy in that ad. But accents can be problematic. Here is an ad the last time around that people were critical of this from an attack ad against then senator, super bowl last time. You may recall it. Thank you, michigan senator debbie spenditnow. Debbie spent so much american money, you borrowed more and more from us. Your economy get very weak. Ours get very good. We take your jobs. Thank you, debbie spenditnow. See, you push my buttons, erin. You push my buttons. Ung houhoh. Thats an issue thats representing an asian person as though asian people arent part of the fabric of this country, too. As if having an accent, it does seem to demean. In that case, also, you can find plenty of Chinese People who can speak flute english, right . When harold ford was running for United States senator in tennessee when they had the white woman in the commercial and i met him at the playboy club. So again, it goes to what are you trying to say, black guy, white female, whats going on here . Thats different because thats a political ad. You didnt have the muse nick the background, you didnt have the jimmy cliff playing. So it was conveying a whole different message than be happy, drive a vw. Vw, i think theyre a winner. You know why . Because were playing it, because everyone around the country is going to play it and talk about it and more volkswagens sold. Were having a conversation about it. Next thing i want to see you what is that far fig nugen. Ive got it tattooed across my chest. Let us know what you think, go to cnn. Com outfront and we have an online poll for you. Still to come, americans stocking up on supplies, people thrown in jail. 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