Transcripts For CNNW The Situation Room With Wolf Blitzer 20110906

also mitt romney's preemptive strike on jobs, the republican unveils his plan days before the president's big speech. this hour political leaders zeroizer zeroing in on issue number one. do any have a plan that will really work? and texas wildfires destroying more than 700 homes in 48 hours. a massive blaze growing closer to the state's capital is growing bigger and more destructive every minute. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." i've covered dick cheney for many years as a defense secretary and certainly as vice president of the united states. today i found him to be very much the same as i always knew him, steadfast in his views, unapologetic for doing what he believed, and still believes is right. i interviewed cheney here in los angeles earlier today. your biggest regret as it relates to your time in office? >> i covered 40 years. >> the eight years you were vice president. >> i think as a general proposition on the big decisions i think we got it right. i worked for george bush, proud to have worked for him. i think a lot of the most controversial things that we did that people didn't like, and criticized us for, things like the terrorist surveillance program or enhanced interrogation techniques were things that allowed us to save lives, and the net result, the value of our policies is best evaluated in terms of the fact that after 9/11, there were no further mass casualties attacks against the united states, that we stopped every single prospective attack on the u.s. for the last seven and a half years we were there, i think that speaks well of our policies. >> certainly does but you're a human being. i make mistakes all the time. you must have made some mistakes as vice president of the united states. >> well, i made mistakes that i talk about in the book. >> give me an example. >> well, i got kicked out of yale twice. >> i'm talking about as vice president. we all make mistakes when we're in college. >> what i find in this whole operation is people want you to admit -- >> what's wrong with admits making a mistake. >> they don't want just an admission of mistake. they want to you say you did something wrong that they disagreed with. it's all about politics. >> but there's nothing wrong with that. >> wolf i wrote what i believe. i wrote my experiences. i talked for example about things that i got wrong in the bush administration, disagreed for example with the idea of goinging to congress to get authorization to go into kuwait, the president overrode me, he was right, i was wrong. there are examples like that. >> that was the first. >> i thought controls was a serious mistake. i was an integral part -- >> during the year of the second bush administration, no mistakes? >> i have said all i'm going to say about it, wolf. >> all right. >> i'm proud of the policies we put in place. i think they did the job we intended for them to do, and i'm not inclined to make any mi mia culpas. >> justhat's just a little bit my interview. stand by for much more of the economy, the future, much more of the book, the heart condition, the device that helps keep him alive, stand by for much more of dick cheney coming up in "the situation room." now to the one word, the big issue weighing on all of america right now, we're talking about jobs. there is a new sense of urgency right now as congress returns from a break, and republican presidential candidate mitt romney unveils his own jobs plan today. the markets are ratcheting up the pressure on all political leaders with stock prices tumbling once again today, all part of the dramatic lead up to president obama's critical jobs speech on thursday. the white house is offering a glimmer of hope that this time the president and the congress will find a way to work together. >> while expectations for what washington can do are tempered with skepticism, americans should not have to expect that washington will, by its actions, actually harm the economy. >> our correspondents jim aco a acosta, kate bolduan and mary snow are standing by. just a little while ago mitt romney laid out his vision for growing the economy and jobs, speaking in nevada, a key swing state. we have more on his plan and appearance in the west, jim acosta? jim? >> mitt romney has some urgency behind this effort today to put out this jobs plan. two new polls today show him behind in the polls by double digits to the new front-runner in the gop field, the governor of texas rick perry. so mitt romney went to nevada today with a very important mission, that is to say he is on the case when it comes to creating jobs and he not only put out a 59-point plan, he put out a 160 page book a few days getting the jobs speech, sort of a my jobs plan is bigger than your jobs plan and some of the stuff in this plan is tailor made to appeal to the tea party voters out there in the republican party, talking about ending obamacare and the president's health care law and lowering taxes but look at what mitt romney says he would do on day one of his administration if elected president, five executive orders, the first to end the national health care law that republicans call obamacare, he is also talking about issuing orders to cut red tape, in his administration, lessen regulations, in his administration. he wants to boost domestic energy production across the country, obviously more oil and gas drilling and perhaps the one component that will generate the most heat, he wants to sanction china for unfair trade practices, basically accusing the chinese of being cheaters when it comes to currency ma nip place and the fifth item, going after organized labor. earlier today, mitt romney went after the chinese, something that a lot of people did not expect to hear in this speech, take a listen. >> so i will dramatically increase the interest and the effort in our nation to establish trade relations with other nations. and that is i'll clamp down on theet chooer e echeaters and ch worst example of that. >> it's interesting to note the tough talk in china is not something we've heard on the campaign trail since donald trump left the race. back in april donald trump delivered a profanity laced speech in loss vegas, going after the chinese on that issue so that's interesting to note. the other thing that is interesting also is that mitt romney's fellow republicans are going after him on the jobs issue. jon huntsman who has struggled to get traction in the polls put out an ad contrasting his performance on jobs with the governors of massachusetts, bringing up the fact that when mitt romney was governor of massachusetts, that state had the 47th worst job creation performance in the country, and that is something that you've heard from democrats as a talking point. it is now something that republicans are bringing up, and you're sure to hear it tomorrow night at this debate here in california when these republicans go toe to toe out here, bowolf. >> we know he attacked president obama on a wide range of economic issues. did he criticize any of his republican challengers today? >> we didn't hear much of that today. this was really a chance for mitt romney to change the conversation. he has seen rick perry really shoot to the top of now four national polls if my counting is correct showing rick perry with a double-digit lead in this race, and i think what we saw today from mitt romney was an attempt to change the conversation, to go after china, the way that he did. we've been asking the question, is there anything that the government can do that it hasn't tried to do up in this point in terms of trying to get the economy going. one thing that this country has not tried to do during this recession, wolf, is pick a trade war with china and mitt romney just about do z that today with his speech, calling the chinese cheaters. those are white hot words to be using in a presidential campaign, wolf. >> thanks very much, jim acosta with that. the republican presidential candidates will be debating in tampa, florida, next week. i'll be the moderator for the debate, sponsored by the cnn tea party express, monday, 8:00 p.m. eastern on cnn. on capitol hill in washington, lawmakers are getting back to business after their five-week summer break and they're gearing up for president obama's address before a joint session of congress thursday night. we bring in congressional correspondent kate bolduan. tell our viewers some of the things on the list to do. >> reporter: you could almost call it a laundry list of things they need to address. after a month-long recess the house back today, the senate back tomorrow. it will be a jam packed fall session but it can be summed up really in one word, jobs. >> the senate will come to order. >> reporter: after the bruising battle over raising the debt ceiling, democrats and republicans returned to washington saying enough of the gridlock. let's get something done. >> the august employment report released last week should be a wake-up call to every member of congress, democrats and republicans. we cannot waste any more time as has been wasted over the last eight months. congress must act quickly to jump start the economy and in do that it will help the recovery. >> reporter: topping the list, jobs with both sides pushing different prescriptions for putting americans back to work. the republican focus, rolling back labor and environmental regulations, calling for small business tax cuts. >> many of us will continue to press for and entirely new approach, with unthat puts individuals and businesses at the center of our recovery, one that lifts the cloud of uncertainty holding job creators back and enables the american people to move our economy in the direction that they want. >> reporter: democrats though want to spur job creation through infrastructure spending. >> and so you've got to get the economy moving again, inf infrastructure projects, repairing builds, schools, bridges and roads are very important part of it. >> reporter: at the same time the so-called super committee created by the debt ceiling agreement is said to begin its work to find $1.5 trillion in deficit savings in the next three months, and congress must face outstanding budget battles over everything from funding the faa to averting another government shutdown at the end of this month. one potential and rare area of agreement, pending trade bills with south korea, panama and colombia, which both sides have said will boost the economy. >> the president himself acknowledges these trade pacts would create tens of thousands of jobs right here at home, by vastly expanding the market for u.s. goods, he should send them to congress today so we can finally ratify them. >> reporter: just today the two top house republicans sent a letter to president obama laying out their suggestions for possible areas of cooperation in terms of jobs measures, including in the area of infrastructure initiatives, but at the same time house speaker john boehner and majority leader cantor asked the president for a meeting of top congressional leaders ahead of the president's thursday speech to discuss the president's job proposals, top republican leadership aides say they have not yet received a response. wolf? >> you also, kate, have new information about what the republicans are planning on doing after the president's speech before congress thursday night. >> reporter: wolf, this is interesting and something we've been tracking for days. there has not been one person, one lawmaker, one high-profile republican designated to make the customary formal response to the president and one of the big time prime time speeches but according to one senior republican aide, there likely won't be one republican response, many or all lawmakers fanning out to respond and rebut the president's speech as they will. we did speak to aides to house speaker john boehner and they have declined to talk about any of the plans for a response but interesting developments two days out from the speech, there may not be one formal response as usually happens, it may be many republicans fanning out to make their opinions known. >> kate bolduan thanks very much. when president obama lays out his new jobs plan thursday night cnn will carry it live. don't miss our special coverage, it will begin here in "the situation room" 6:00 p.m. eastern thursday night. if president obama needs any reminding about the dire economic situation right now, he need only look to his home state of illinois. our own mary snow is looking closely to what's going on there, another state facing a painful budget crisis. what is going on? >> wolf, this is the latest chapter in the state's budget problems and they are big problems. the governor of illinois says the money isn't there to pay for the full fiscal year, threatening job cuts, one report indicates those cuts could be drastic. >> let's go! >> reporter: like many states, illinois is starting the school year with fewer services. it's just one area affected by cuts. now, illinois governor pat quinn is reportedly considering laying off thousands of state workers. he blames state lawmakers for the budget they sent him. >> there's no question their decisions will result in a situation where our state won't have enough money to get through the fiscal year, so we have to make reductions and i'm prepared to do what has to be done. >> reporter: quinn didn't spell out specifics but "the chicago tribune" reports in addition to layoffs the governor may close a state prison, juvenile detention center, homes for the mentally ill and developmentally disab d disabled. >> we think that threatening layoffs and facility closures, huge cuts and needed services and the loss of thousands of jobs, that would plunge the state into chaos. >> reporter: illinois' budget problems drew attention earlier this year after lawmakers passed a massive tax hike to create revenue. those who follow the budget policy say the fact the state has been mismanaged for years is magnified by the slow economy and stimulus drying up. >> the cuts will leave people screaming and going to inflict a lot of pain but some kind of solution is necessary. if we don't borrow there is going to have to be some kind of painful cuts. >> reporter: and it's on top of cuts already made. elizabeth mcnichol with the center on budget and policy priorities looked at state education cuts in 24 states and found illinois topped the list. mcnichol expects drastic measures to also be taken in other states as well. >> we're expecting this year the 2012 budget year the way we're seeing the impact of the cuts to be the worst year of the recession, revenues have not come back up. the federal aid has ended. >> elizabeth mcnichol who you just heard from there says looking at dozens of states the two biggest areas for cuts are education and health care and she says she does not expect revenues to return to pre-recession levels for several years. wolf? >> mary snow thank you. one of the most revealing moments of my interview today with dick cheney happened when he showed me the medical equipment that keeps him going after five heart attacks. he'll explain how that battery pack works. stand by for that. we'll also take you inside the fire disaster unfolding right now in texas. hundreds and hundreds of homes have gone up in smoke. ♪ whoa! hey! 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what a thought. government has become a dirty word in most parts of this country, congress's approval rating the worst it's ever been. the president at our near all-time lows, the debt ceiling, downgrading of america's credit rating. no surprise the federal officials may be trying to rebrand themselves, and family could conjure up images of support and security, instead of an unpopular government. also politicians rebranded unpopular words in the past, revenue enhancers instead of taxes or the estate tax instead of the death tax. officials are quick to point out the idea of the federal family is nothing new, the term was used under both the clinton and bush administrations, critics doubt the so-called federal family is going to give people warm, fuzzy feelings about the government, it might make people think of big brother or the mafia or if a family, a very highly dysfunctional one. here is the question then, do you think of the government as your federal family? go to cnn.com/caffertyfile or post on "the situation room's" facebook page. >> good idea, jack, a lot of people go to the facebook page as well. let's go to texas where wildfires have scorched almost 120,000 acres, destroyed over 700 homes and killed two people. governor rick perry says the largest of the fires is far from contained. cnn's david mattingly joins us on the scene for us. what is the latest? >> reporter: wolf, 700 homes being destroyed by wildfire in the state of texas, just in the last two days, 600 of them in that big fire the governor was talking about near bastrop, texas, where i'm standing. we've seen thousands of people evacuated, most not allowed to go back to their homes yet because it's too dangerous. those neighborhoods still in harm's way even if they haven't been hit by fire because of the wind shifts, it's so dry, the embers will blow and start new fires going in a different direction. already every bit of equipment and personnel the state of texas has from surrounding areas, surrounding states have been put to work. it was a little bit cooler today which meant some of that back-breaking work they've been doing out on the fire lines they've been able to keep at it just a little bit longer but at this point, the largest of these fires here still is not under control but they hope to have a few more cool days where they might be able to make some advances but no promises yet. we did get to see one neighborhood west of austin today that was hit by fire over the weekend, two dozen homes burned completely to the ground. we went in with one family as they went back to see their house or rather what was left of it. listen. >> katie and brian's house. and that's my house. >> reporter: right here? oh, i'm sorry. >> the oak trees are still there. >> reporter: are you all right? you're shaking. >> i'm okay. i am. the luckiest person in the world, my family is safe. now i need to check on my neighbors. i don't even know where to begin. >> reporter: hundreds of stories just like that now in the state of texas, already the worst fire season the state has ever seen. wolf? >> david mattingly with a heart-breaking story for all of us. we'll stay on top of this and get back to you. thanks very much. he started office with a booming u.s. economy but when he left office the national debt had doubled. more of my interview with the former vice president dick cheney coming up. how much responsibility does he take for the collapse of the u.s. economy at the end of the bush administration? stand by. teamster leader jim hoffa refusing to back down from the controversial comments about the tea party. uh, forgot jack's cereal. 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(laugh) reporters laugh until i tried this. nothing helped me beat arthritis pain. it's salonpas. pain relief that works at the site of pain... up to 12 hours. salonpas. met an old man at the top asked him if he had a secret and the old man stopped and thought and said: free 'cause that's how it ought to be my brother credit 'cause you'll need a loan for one thing or another score 'cause they break it down to one simple number that you can use dot to take a break because the name is kinda long com in honor of the internet that it's on put it all together at the end of the song it gives you freecreditscore-dot-com, and i'm gone... offer applies with enrollment in freecreditscore.com as washington sharpens its focus on the issue of jobs, i sat down with the former vice president dick cheney in los angeles earlier today. i sought to get his views on how the bush/cheney administration contributed to this huge economic crisis. when you took office, you and president bush, the bush administration, there were budget surpluses as far as the eye could see. when you left office, the national debt had doubled and the economy was teetering potentially on depression. how much responsibility do you personally take for seeing that economic disaster potentially unfold? >> well, like most administrations, wolf, we had to deal with the circumstances that we inherited, and that included within a matter of months after we were sworn in 9/11, and all of the sudden we're faced with the prospect of 3,000 dead americans as a result of a terrorist attack that morning, we had to undertake massive programs, create a whole new department, department of homeland security, and take a lot of steps, cost a lot of money, frankly, in order to guard against another attack like that, plus we ended up obviously with two major conflicts in afghanistan and iraq so there was no question of the policies we pursued with good reason, i would not have reversed the policies of necessitating money we would have not otherwise had to spend. >> did you ever think of you the canning spending to pay for the added expenses? >> we tried to separate out what the military costs were as a separate item from the rest of the normal budget or the normal defense budget, but the fact of the matter was you couldn't, for example, set up a whole new security system for air travel, build a whole new, one of the largest departments in the federal government like department of homeland security, undertake all of the efforts we did overseas without having to spend money. it was a fact of life. >> you could have cut, 3/4 other expenses that you had every year your budget went up and up and up, you remember john mccain always saying you guys spent money like drunken sailors, with no disrespect to drunken sailors. >> john was a sailor. >> it wasn't just the war on terrorism, the new security procedures, significant tax cuts that were not paid for, medicare benefit, prescription drug benefit for seniors wasn't paid for, all of the new expenses reduced revenue and the $5 trillion national debt went up to more than $10 trillion when you left office. >> i think if you look at it, for example, tax policy, i would argue heavily involved on the tax side of things i had to cast the tie-breaking vote at one point. >> 2003 tax cut. >> but what we did when we took down the rate, the overall rate, we also cut the rate on capital gains and dividends at a significant impact on the economy, and it was vital part of recovery in the economy. >> but it also had a significant impact in increasing the national debt. >> i disagree, you and i probably have a different point of view on the impact of taxes on the economy. i am a supply sider, if you will, and i really believe the tax cuts we put in, in fact, kept the economy from going even deeper into the hole as a result of -- >> the prescription drug benefit which costs potentially down the road trillions of dollars, did you ever think that should be justify set with spending cuts in. >> the original plan was that you would grant the prescription drug benefit in return for congress in acting reforms in the medicare program. we got the prescription drug benefit and so there were places where the system didn't produce as much as we had anticipated or hoped from the standpoint of savings, but i think with respect to the wars and the war on terror and the threat that we inherited that we had to face, that we had to deal with, we didn't have any choice but to spend a lot of money. >> there was a lot of money on that but other expenses. looking back, is there anything you could have done, should have done to avoid that during the end of your administration? >> there was a lot the president put in place and ben bernanke -- >> the t.a.r.p. program. >> the t.a.r.p. program was very controversial, it was tough to get it adopted, it was rejected originally and finally got it approv approved. i think it did a lot of good in terms of putting the financial system in order. we were in big trouble from a financial standpoint but only the tral government can deal with the question of maintaining the monetary system. we had a situation where we had major financial situations who weren't able to borrow money. >> what could you do when institutions were collapsing? >> one of the things would have been helpful if the democratic congress had adopted our recommendations for fixing fannie mae and freddie mac. there were huge problems. the whole question of substandard mortgages and financial securities that were based upon that ultimately created a lot of the problem that we had to deal with, and that was a direct result of the failure of congress to enact the reforms that we recommended for those programs. >> with hindsight and we'll move on to another sight, is there anything you should have done differently during those eight years that would have avoided that financial turmoil at the end of your eight years? >> well, i'm not an expert in the financial area, wolf. somebody may be able to have a specific answer that they could suggest but i think generally, given the circumstances we inherited and the problems we had to deal with in terms of the war on terror, afghanistan, iraq, et cetera, that we had no choice, but to go down the course we did. eventually we got a program in place that i think rescued the financial system and the basic financial institutions, the obama administration came in obviously after that, and they had to deal with difficult set of circumstances. >> a lot of your fellow conservatives hated that t.a.r.p. program. >> i they they did and i argue against governmental involvement in the economy but the one exception i would make is that when you're talking about the financial system of the country, sort of the backbone of the economy, basic fundamental credibility of the federal reserve and the treasury and the value of the currency and so forth, the only institution in our society that has the capacity to deal with the crisis there is the federal government. you can't palm that off on the states or the private sector, so we did what we thought we had to do, we did it reluctantly. if i had my druthers, i wouldn't like to be in that spot but i felt it necessary and i supported it. much more of my interview with dick cheney coming up and our panel that will fact check his comments about the war in iraq, saddam hussein, the weapons of mass destruction or not. much more of the interview with dick cheney coming up. also, we're asking why the white house so far hasn't condemned remarks by a top union official, referred to republican tea party supporters as "s.o.b.s" right before the president took the stage. stand by, more on that uproar when we come back. each of then by someone on the first morning of their retirement. it's the first of more than 6,000 sunrises the average retiree will see. ♪ as we're living longer than ever before, prudential's challenge is to help everyone have the retirement income they'll need to enjoy every one of their days. ♪ prudential. bring your challenges. much more of my interview with dick cheney come up. let's talk about what we've heard so far in our strategy session. joining us mary matelin and jamal gym monies. thanks for coming in. mary, why didn't the bush administration, and you served in the bush administration the first six years, they had a majority in the house and the senate as well, why wasn't there any really significant effort to cut spending to pay for everything it was trying to do? >> there was a significant focus, as the vice president just said, on responding to 9/11, setting up homeland security department, which we worked with the democrats on, but also recalibrating the entire culture of washington to go from the pre-9/11 mind-set, which terrorism with the law enforcement issue, but there was and the vice president and you disagreed and we're going to disagree, wolf, on this, we don't think of tax cuts as costing anything, subsequent to the tax cuts put in place, particularly capital gains grew the economy, 5% growth on average for 52 consecutive months. that grew revenues, yes there were attempts to cut costs and spending but it was costly to respond to 9/11. also there was the enron debacle and rolling brownouts. >> hold on a second, mary, for all of that effort, all of the money that you spent on two wars, prescription drug benefits for seniors, and all those major tax cuts, i don't remember any major effort to eliminate what republicans now routinely call enormous waste and abuse in federal sending during the eight years of the bush administration. i didn't see any effort, any significant effort to cut federal spending. it went up significantly every single year. >> you know what, as a percentage, the deficit as a percentage of gdp, which is how this is always measured was an historic average to low and it was going down as the president was leaving. what andy curtis aid about this, rather than go through big spending fights with democrats, he would send, they would send up budgets that were more or less in the realm of deficits as a percentage of gdp. nothing like we have now, which are quadrupled deficits of what the average bush deficit was. >> that's just not true. >> jamal, go ahead and weigh in. i want to remind our viewers during the eight years of the bush administration the national debt doubled from $5 trillion to $10 trillion and not all of that was just as a result of the wars and the war on terror, a lot of it was the result of simply wasteful spending but go ahead jamal. >> the reality is we were attacked on 9/11, the entire country was in a mood to join together to do something to protect ourselves, to go after the people who got us, and the president instead of something us to sacrifice anything, instead of asking us to do anything other than to shop or go to disney world, instead he went on with another tax cut after the first one in 2001, the first time in the history of the united states we've gone to war without raising a tax or a bond to try to pay for that war and that's what really helped get us in this mess, about $1.5 trillion to $2.8 trillion depending on the way you count. if you argue we should have gone to afghanistan but we never should have gone into iraq. $272 billion in the medicare prescription drug benefit. all of these things we did because the bush administration wanted to. now we're in this mess. the republicans in congress are just standing in the way and arguing for more tax cuts for the wealthy. that's not going to solve the problem. >> let me just quickly jamal get reaction to jim hoffa head of the teamsters caused a big uproar spoke of tea party supporters as "s.o.b.s" today jim hoffa not backing down, we didn't start this war, the right wing did, we saul have to vote to take the anti-worker politicians out of office, we stand up for what is right, i will never apologize for standing up for my fellow teamsters and all american workers. nothing wrong with that statement but was there anything wrong, jamal, in speaking about taking out all these "s.o.b.s" because the rhetoric does cross the line. >> you can take out the word "s.o.b." and i would leave everything else it is that he said. what he said was we're going to march, if you play the entire clip we're going to march and he said everybody here has a vote and we're going to take out all those blankity blanks. we're an army for the president and going to take them out, talking about marching and voting. if that's violent rhetoric we have a high standard for what rhetoric is right now. >> mary i know you want to weigh in but we're out of time but we will down the road. coming up on the trail of moammar gadhafi's inner, inner circle. stand by. if you're in "the situation room." lisa sylvester is monitoring top stories right now. what's going on? >> six high-ranking officials in the former gadhafi regime are believed to have fleed to making niger. the security chief and son were among those in two convoys that recently arrived in niger. the state department says there's no evidence that gadhafi was part of any convoy. six peopthree people are de and six of wounded. the gunman is not expected to survive. two of the dead are members of the military. retired army general david petraeus is now new chief of the cia. he served as the top u.s. commander in iraq and afghanistan. good luck to him in his new post. former vice president dick cheney has a machine implanted in his body to keep his heartbeating. we'll show you the equipment he needs to stay alive. also experts say a biological terror attack could threaten thousands of lives and cost $1 trillion. we'll explain. stay with us. you're in "the situation room." what is that? oh, we call it the bundler. let's say you need home and auto insurance. you give us your information once, online... [ whirring and beeping ] [ ding! ] and we give you a discount on both. great! did i mention no hands in the bundler? bundling and saving made easy. now, that's progressive. call or click today. let's go back to jack for the cafferty file. >> the question is do you think of the government as your federal family? washington trying to run that jive on us. your federal family. if i had an uncle sam who always wanted more money, never pitched in to help and was the town drunk and could not be trust and sent family business to chine a i would punch uncle sam in the nose. mark writes am i supposed to have a warm fuzzy feeling here? we have a government that is not working, period. we have a group vying for the republican nomination that resembles rejects from a three stooges castingly call. neither side has an interest in resolving anything for the common good. they blame whoever they can and go on vacation. they remind me of my ex-in-laws. pete in charlottesville said i think they are trying to sell something or invest in the latest scheme. they are still family, like it or not. >> more like a big brother. a mean one. >> chris said lies to me, takes my money. i have no faith. sounds like my family. >> jay said have you ever watched the simpsons? like that family. that reminded me of my drunken uncle. he showed up half dressed with a cigar hanging out of his mouth. his heart was in the right place. like our federal family, he continued to disappoint and embarrasses. you want to read more, go to my blog or through our post on "the situation room's" facebook page. wolf? >> that is becoming increasingly popular. thank you. >> huge. >> thanks for the help. i heard dick cheney say it over and over and over again. he won't apologize for the war in iraq. does the defense stand up for the fact check? is america prepared if are a bioterror attack? free 'cause that's how it ought to be my brother credit 'cause you'll need a loan for one thing or another score 'cause they break it down to one simple number that you can use dot to take a break because the name is kinda long com in honor of the internet that it's on put it all together at the end of the song it gives you freecreditscore-dot-com, and i'm gone... offer applies with enrollment in freecreditscore.com try capzasin-hp. it penetrates deep to block pain signals for hours of relief. capzasin-hp. take the pain out of arthritis. sunday's 10-year anniversary of the september 11 attacks, the federal government is warning a biological attack is possible, but are we ready? cnn homeland security correspondent reports. >> the white house estimate that is a biological attack or a federal disease outbreak could threaten humans of thousands of lives and cost a trillion. are we ready? experts say not yet. >> we have a virus. no treatment going on and no vaccine president. >> the new film chronicles the growth of a deadly blue pandemic. in three months it's a billion. >> terrorists could launch something like this and we might not detect it until it was under way. a former top counter terrorism official said it is his greatest fear. >> biological weapons, i think they had a psychological effect and potentially a huge effect in terms of human life. >> since 9/11, more than $60 billion has been spent shoring up biopreparedness. stockpiling vaccines and medical equipment. even show a 2010 report card give an f for bioterrorism preparedness. >> today there more than two dozen presidentially appointed biodefense, but not one person has a full time job and no one is in charge. does that sound lick a prird? >> they dropped 15% just in the last year. despite improved collaboration, hospitals have limited capability to ramp up personnel and beds. >> most major hospitals are parading at 80, 90, 95% on any day and would be sorely challenged to deal with hundreds much less thousands or tens of thousands of casualtiecasualtie. a circus tent is not going it make up the difference. >> technologies for detecting the outbreaks and bioattacks are inadequate. the industry is too slow to produce new counter measures. >> if you were the ceo and want to make the next blood pressure medicine or things that make blood pressure go down, that's where the big bucks are. >> experts are concerned about the proliferation of bionrnling that can produce and modify diseases in a lab. it may not be the defenses we eventually need. it can adapt to any health crisis whether made by man or nature. wolf? back to you >> thank you. and you are in "the situation room" happening now. my interview with the former vice president, dick cheney. years after the controversial invasion of iraq. he is certain, absolutely certain the bush administration made the right call. much more in my extended interview. stand by. also, a conservative american billionaire borrows a line from saddam hussein. is he declaring war on president obama? we have the leaked audio tape at the story of a huge political controversy. we are learning that president obama will likely talk about more than just jobs thursday night when he address congress zeechl n. we have new details. welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. i am wolf blitzer. you are in "the situation room" >> we want to welcome everyone to a special edition of the situation room. live here in los angeles where i sat down a little while ago with former vice president dick cheney for an interview. we covered the most controversial chapters of years in office with president bush, including what is arguably the most controversial chapter of all, an extraordinarily vigorous defense of how the bush administration conducted the war on terror and we'll follow-up with a thorough fact check >> let's talk about the war in iraq and the build up which you remember well and you write extensively into the book. in august of 2002, the invasion took place in march of 2003. you told the veterans of foreign wars. >> simply stated there is no doubt that saddam hussein has rep ones of mass destruction. no doubt he is amassing them to use against our friends and allies and against us. >> that statement was incorrect, right? >> that statement was incorrect? >> the statement you made. >> it was based on the intelligence we received at the time and tracks almost perfectly with what was said earlier based on the same intelligence. >> there was no doubt. >> not at the time. >> the intelligence we received repeatedly since the transition when we started to get our briefings and for 27 months after that until '03. they showed he had significant activity under way with the weapons of mass destruction. what we found after the war when we went in with the survey group is there were no stockpiles, but he did in fact preserve and still had the capacity to produce weapons of mass destruction. he had the people and the technology and had the feed stocks and the basic capacity to resume productions as soon as the sanctions were lifted. if you look at statements by david kay who surveyed the group he said after he finished, he said look, i thought there were stockpiles too. there weren't, but i was more concerned when i saw what it did to him. it was clear that saddam got back into the business again. >> if you read the other reports, there were those analysts in the u.s. government who had serious doubts. at the cia, there were analysts that were not concerned about the stockpiles >> the fact is you look at two years before we arrived he believed saddam hussein had weapons of mass destruction and he would use them unless he was stopped. based on that he signed legislation and made change in the regime in iraq, the object of the foreign policy and $100 million for the purpose. >> before we even arrive at the election. >> the doctor, the head of the atomic agency and the chief weapons inspector of the un. they express doubts all the time and as you once thought when you were secretary in the years that followed, saddam was contained in the box he represented a threat to his own people. not to anyone else. >> you didn't agree? >> you think there was a thing called 9/11 that happened. >> the fact of the matter is on 9/11 we move from a situation in which before that we thought about terrorist attacks as law enforcement problems. we put him in jail. when we lost 3,000 people that morning, we decided it wasn't a law enforcement problem. it was an act and more that we had to deal with the possibility for their attacks and everybody expected there to be more. the morning after 9/11 there wouldn't be any. we expected there to be more tax and expected there was a real possibility that it would now be an effort to try to attack us with weapons of mass destruction suggested they were pursuing that capability. we had to be focussed on that part of the world where terrorists could get their hands on anthrax or upon some other deadly substance or nuclear weapons. that led us to sit down and take a look, for example, at a country like iraq and saddam hussein and we concluded based on that that that was a place that was most likely to be this interchange between terrorism on the one hand and a rogue state on the other. >> he had no involvement with al qaeda and planning or implementing 9/11. >> he no responsibility that we were ever able to confirm for 9/11. we were told right after 9/11, i received a briefing from the cia and provide to him that he had. >> that are turned out to be false? >> it turned out to be false, but at the time mohammed atta met with one of the senior officials met in prague months before 9/11. that was provided to us you department know it was false. the cia didn't come in. there were months that went by that they in fact had that very much on their platter. in the final anal dis, they were never able to confirm it. there had been this cooperation if you will between mohammed atta and the head of iraqi intelligence >> because you always said and intrude many times, he's in a box. on the other hand this theory, potentially he could represent a threat to the united states if he started reporting with al qaeda in a major way. there were other state sponsors of terror that the united states did not go after. in a way he has like iran, for example like terrorists, for example. syria, a relationship with groups you can consider and why didn't you go after syria or iran and iraq? >> that was the next one we were really concerned about. first of all we live in afghanistan and the attacks of 9/11 launched out of afghanistan. >> bin laden set up training camps and trained some 20,000 terrorists and afghanistan was the base of operations. the huge presence. right behind afghanistan was iraq. we were convinced based upon saddam hussein's history and he started two wars and he violated 16 out of 17 national security or un security council resolutions and based on the fact that he had produced weapons of mass destruction against his own people. saddam hussein had killed him with his wmd. that was the target we had to be focussed on if we avoided a situation where we ended up having to deal with a terrorist organization equipped with that deadly capabilities. saddam provided to the terrorists, he was making payments to the families of suicide. >> a lot were doing that as well. >> not making the $25,000 payments. you couldn't go after everybody at once. we went after the ones afghanistan first and iraq that we thought represented the biggest threat to the united states. it was the right call >> we will have more on the interview and let's discuss what we heard from the former vice president. joining us is analyst gloria gorger and analyst peter berg. he wrote at length about the debunked connection with the longest war. you are an expert on all of this. did the former vice president give us the picture between intelligence connecting iraq supposedly and 9/11 >> he uses interesting construction and we never confirmed he was involved in 9/11. that was a strange thing to say given that the fact that the largest investigation ever being conducted in history they intrude 160,000 people and followed up hundreds of thousands of leads and produced no evidence of any kind and links to 9/11. leaving the idea that this possibility that there could have been a confirmation and the idea that mohammed atta was regarded as so devious that even when secretary powell gave his united nations speech before the war which was an attempt to get the community to buy into the war, the secretary and his staff excluded that. they thought it was devious and now we have in custody the intelligence agent that was supposed to be there, he denied the meeting and he did an enormous sophisticated timeline and what they were doing his cell phone usage was found. he made withdrawals from a local bank. he tried to rent an apartment. et cetera, etc. the united states government proved that there was no link to this between saddam on 9/11 and no meeting with the hijacker the agent was known well before the war. >> it's interesting after the war started in march of 2003 and followed a lot of americans believe there was a connection between saddam hussein and the 9/11 hijackers. a lot of your interview in 2004. >> i interviewed him the day after the 9/11 commission report came out and he said they had no evidence of the link. >> i remember asking dick cheney about it. he said i don't have evidence one way or the other. i am a skeptic. i think the way he is changing listening to your interview, he is clearly blaming the cia for providing bad intelligence. his argument is look, we are only as good as our intelligence was and dick cheney then was the last person standing who seemed to believe that mohammed atta had been in prague that day and met with al qaeda. >> he met with iraqi intelligence officials in prague. >> i'm sorry. >> yes. >> gloria we will have much more as well. i want to fact check more of the interview coming up. much more in "the situation room" and 25 past the hour. your questions are followers and we asked them what they would want me to ask the former vice president. if they think the cost of the war was worth it. new details about what you could hear in president obama's major job speech before congress [ cherie ] i always had a job, ever since i was fourteen. i could not make working and going to school work. it was not until the university of phoenix that i was able to work full-time, be a mom, and go to school. the opportunits that i had at the university of phoenix, dealing wh profesonals teaching things that they were doing every day, got me to where i am today. i'm mayor cherie wood, i'm responsible for the largest urban renewal project in utah, and i am a phoenix. [ male announcer ] find your program at phoenix.edu. [ doorbell rings ] hello there. i'm here to pick up helen. ah. mom? he's here. nice wheels. oh, thanks. keeps me young. hello there, handsome. your dinner's in the microwave, dear. ♪ where do you want to go? just drive. [ engine revs, tires screech ] mom? ♪ >> let's check in with jack cafferty. >> president obama has a tremendous amount riding on thursday's job speech. maybe even his presidency. as president obama gets ready to adjust to joint session of congress and realing for 9% unemployment, he is a in a tough spot and the republicans about it. his ratings continue to slide. a powell out today shows him at the lowest mark of his presidency. only 44% approve. a new poll by politico shows 72% of those surveyed say the country is headed in the wrong direction. only 39% approve of the president's handling of the economy. "issue #1." if f this economy doesn't turn around, the president is finished. one democratic pollster said that president obama is no longer the favorite to win reelection. that's why thursday's speech is so important. here's the thing. the president has made speech after speech on the economy for three years now. where are the jobs? the details of the speech are being kept under tight wraps. it might call for spending and job training and tax breaks for businesses and workers. extending unemployment benefits. so far no word on where the money for all of this will come from. we are $14 trillion in debt. the president claims he will propose ways to get americans back to work that both parties can agree to. don't bet a lot of that agreement thingy the republicans can smell the blood in the water. they know president obama is vulnerable and seems unlikely they will agree to anything that might improve his position. here's the question. what's the point of president obama's job speech. go to cnn.com/cafferty file and post a comment on my blog or go to the post on "the situation room's" facebook page. wolf? >> thanks very much. we are learning that the president will talk about more than just jobs when he addresses congress. let's bring in the chief correspondent who is getting more. what are you learning? what are you picking up? >> democrats say they believe schools and teachers will be big beneficiaries of the president's jobs plan. >> the plan is still under wraps, president obama is pressing to pass it. >> the time for washington games is over. the time for action is now >> policy makers expect one of his themes will be ed which should sound familiar. >> if we want innovation to produce jobs in america and not overseas, we also have to win the race to educate our kids. >> teachers have not fared well in the recession. in august of 2007, the unemployment rate among educators was 4.9%. by last month it skyrocketed to 9.4%. policy makers believe the plan will propose new funding to put laid off educators back to work. democrats say a a win for teachers and students. this republican economist disagrees. >> the monies will hire a punch of teachers is a crazy one. what we need to do instead is come up with a way to help the economy get going again. throwing money at schools will not help. >> they expect the plan to propose funding to renovate schools that democrats see as a way to get workers on the job and clean up campuses. >> it makes schools save and puts people to work relatively quickly. not only are we putting construction workers back to work, but increasing factory orders for materials. those are made in america. >> no buy in here. >> no way that an idea like this will have impact on long-term growth. >> another group that policy makers told me could benefit in the plan are first responders. democrats see substantive advantage here, but a political one as you can imagine. it could be harder for members of congress to vote against new monies for teachers and first responders. then again in this environment, maybe not. wolf? >> we will be watching that speech thursday night. thank you. coming up here in "the situation room," much more of the interview with the former vice president, dick cheney. his reaction to the killing of osama bin laden and why he thinks the bush administration deserves some of the credit. exclusive to the military. and commitment is not limited to one's military oath. the same set of values that drive our nation's military are the ones we used to build usaa bank. from free checking to credit cards to loans, our commitment to the military, veterans, and their families is without equal. ♪ visit us online to learn what makes our bank so different. usaa. we know what it means to serve. >> let's get more of my interview with dick cheney. we will discuss the war at length with cheney vigorously defending the decision to invade iraq in 2003. many of you wanted to know more. >> we asked our followers on twitter, on facebook for questions. i will give you one from ken blevins. the current fatality count in iraq is 4,474 and the cost is climbing over 800 billion. has it been worth it over n your opinion? >> yes. >> no doubt about it? >> no. >> even though they are moving closer towards iran that may be the biggest winner than in the united states? >> lock at what happens here. when we went in and took down saddam hussein. it's one of the worst dictators in the world. he was tried and convict and executed. secondly when we went in, we have the rudeiments of a democracy established. -it is not perfect. major problems and got overcome. >> it's not concerning to you? >> we have major amount of work to do without question. a third proposition in terms of what happened, gadhafi saw what we did. five days after, gadhafi became public and coughed up his materials. the uranium feed stock that he acquired. running a black market to libya and to iraq and there were a lot of things that came out of what we did in iraq. they were very positive and had to happen and they were much better off with saddam hussein gone. in the nuclear business today, you have the outfit that was supplying them out of business and they shut down the operation. they didn't get it all done. i am concerned when all the dust settles in iraq. the u.s. troops pull out by the end of this year although there may be a residual number left. when all the dust settles, the regime in iraq is going to be a partner of iran. syria in recent days by the government has supported him in his crack down on peaceful protesters in syria with the iranians. is that why the u.s. went to war so that iraq could be a partner? >> first you are constructioning a worst case scenario. i don't think it will happen >> i think the iraqis will be somebody we can work with on a regular basis. they will have a rudimentary democracy >> what are goes through your live sn. >> i think he is not long for this world either. looks like he is on his way up because of the unrest that has been occasioned by his own people in syria. he is one of the least popular. it's the mideast. stuff happens in the mideast. you covered it for years. you cannot -- i don't think you can make a case. the world would be better off. they made exactly the right decisions. >> afghanistan. the way it's unfolding will have a happy ending when the dust settles. >> it's worth our doing everything we can to get it to have a positive out come. >> what did you think when you better that president obama succeeded in killing bin laden after all the years that you and president bush and your administration tried unsuccessfully to kill him. >> i thought he was doing great. he made a public statement and congratulated him on it. i am convinced based in part on some of the books i still talk with that a lot of the work we did through the intelligence community. during the bush administration laid the ground work for the capturing and killing of osama bin laden. the effort that our rear people deserved a lot of credit for. i gave president obama credit and he had to make the decision the last minute. >> it was a gutsy decision. >> the criticism with the bush administration cornered in tora bora. afghanistan and you took your eye off the ball and focused in on iraq and let bin laden escape. >> i don't buy that. i think we have a lot of monday morning quarterbacking going o. this is what happened. i don't believe it. >> did you know he was cornered at the time? getting the daily reports? >> no. >> nobody told you about that? >> no. we had a major effort to take down the tal kbhan we did. bin laden was high on the list of people we wanted to get our hands on. we were not able to capture him and he survived for several more years. the steps we took including i think enhanced interrogation techniques made it possible for us to provide the intelligence that was required to take down bin laden. the guys who worked hard on that and both administrations deserve the credit. >> more of the interview coming up, but let's bring back our analyst gloria gorger and peter berg. you just heard dick cheney say he didn't know for sure. you do you wanted that extensively. what do you make of that suggestion by the former vice president >> because the taliban wouldn't hand over the author of the largest mass murderer in history. suddenly the white house was not being inform and suggested one of two things either incompetence or ignorance that is possible given the fact that this was a competent group of people or suggest that politely was the simulation and what the vice president told you. it was widely known that he was at tora bora and there were briefings to that effect. he said that and in the time frame that bin laden was there >> the special forces community knew he was there and president chenno two occasions was asked on nbc news and abc news and he said yes, he was at tora bora. it became with senator john kerry and cheney said that they didn't think it was politically convenient and a race to say he wasn't there. it was well-known within the government and this is a monday morning quarterbacking. the assessment of what happened. this is not monday morning quarterbacking. the record is volumeinous. one final point. the special forces history is publicly available and said between december 9th and december 2014, there was multiple intercepts talking on the radio. this is not just my opinion. this is the opinion of the special forces historians who looked at the battle. >> because it was in his book, she silent onner toa bora. that's why i questioned him about it. gloria, as i run on my cnn.com/situation room blog, the vice president has no regrets about any decision he made in years as vice president. he refuses to say he made even one mistake on the economy on the wars and anything as vice president. does this surprise you as someone who is reported on him and covered him for many years? >> for many years. it doesn't. dick cheney is someone who as you know has been the most outspoken defender of the bush administration more than george w. bush. he has been the person out there criticizing barack obama. he has been the person talking about enhanced interrogation and the value of enhanced interrogation as he did to you. he has been out there talking about iraq, afghanistan, the fact as he said that iraq has no nukes and libya has no nukes now and given credit to the bush administration, this is part and i think you can understand it. this is part of dick cheney trying to build his legacy and set the record straight. i covered him in congress for a long time. he was a man who prided himself and think still does on truth telling as he sees it. peter says the tora bora thing is say question. mohammed atta very much a question. he will tell you what he remembers and how he remembered it because this is his legacy as he sees it >> gloria, thank you. as well dick cheney as all of our viewers know about by now. he survived five heart attacks and relies on an implanted machine to keep him alive. he will demonstrate how he stays alive when we come back. [ male announcer ] members of the american postal workers union handle more than 165 billion letters and packages a year. that's about 34 million pounds of mail every day. ever wonder what this costs you as a taxpayer? millions? tens of millions? hundreds of millions? not a single cent. the united states postal service doesn't run on your tax dollars. it's funded solely by stamps and postage. brought to you by the men and women of the american postal workers union. ♪ dick cheney relies on the special machine to keep him alive. he showed us how it works. >> let me talk about your health right now. you have heart issues as all of our viewers know. explain what's going on with the battery if you don't mind. >> i had a series of heart attacks. five heart attacks over more than 30 years. i had my first heart attack when i was 37 years old back in 1978. my first campaign for congress. i reached a point a little over a year ago after my fifth heart attack when i went into heart failure when your heart is not pumping enough blood to provide adequate blood and oxygen to your kidneys and liver and so forth. at that time what we did was go in and small something called a -- not an artificial heart, but it supplements the beating of the heart and it's tied into the ventricle and takes the blood out and puts it through a pump that is implanted in my chest, a small one. it's about 8,000 rpms and pumps into the a oerda and throughout the body. it restores the blood flow and for the last year plugs, i have been living with this device. it's battery operate and i wear a vest all of the time. two batteries here. here's one. i have another one just like this. it comes apart. it will bleep in a moment. >> that are means you better put it back? >> that's means you are disconnected. >> that are lasts for how long? >> several hours. >> the other side is the spare? >> i carry. >> the other side is automatically wired. you have two batteries going. >> i carry a bag with spares for all of this external equipment. >> someone suggested you need a heart transplant. >> so far, so good. >> the concept came about as a result of trying to build a transitional device that would take people from people who needed a transplant and couldn't get a heart to put him on this system and allowed him to survive until they could get a heart. overtime, this technology got better and better and the device got smaller and more reliable. you have more people for a matter of years i will go for a transplant. >> you are 70 now? >> 70. your cardiologist saying you are strong enough for a transplant? >> yes. i am back doing everything i wanted to do before. i had to have the pump implant and i haven't made a decision with respect to going forward with the transplant. it depends a lot on how i do with this and what my doctors recommend. >> we will have more of the interview sunday morning with our tenth anniversary commemoration of 9/11. we will hear what he has to say about being briefed the summer about al qaeda operations plant in the united states. could that have been averted? stand by. more coming up on sunday as well. when we come back, we will have saddam hussein, those are the words from one conservative billionaire. much more coverage when we come back this one works. ooh, the price sure doesn't. i'm tired of shopping around. [ sigh ] too bad you're not buying car insurance. like that's easy. oh, it is. progressive direct showed me their rates and the rates of their competitors. i saved hundreds when switching. we could use hundreds. yeah. wake up and smell the savings. out there with a better way. now, that's progressive. conservative activist made no secret of it. the nob one mission is to topple president obama. they are raising eyebrows. digging deeper into the story. what are you finding out? >> this audio record suggest causing a stir because the brothers are so secretive about the gatherings and one of the brothers is caught using some of the heated rhetoric that is more typical at these closed events. june of this year, a discreet affair at a plush resort near vail, colorado. the billionaire charles koch addresses a group. in a segment of audio tape that he and his brother likely didn't want to you hear, he said this about the presidential election. >> we have saddam hussein, this is the mother of our world. we have the light of this country. i don't want to put any pressure on anyone here. this is not pressure. if this makes your heard feel glad, so be it. >> those remarks are reported in the magazine and the article claiming he was referring to president barack obama in his saddam hussein comment. a spokesman call that is a false claim taken out of context by the magazine. in an e-mail, the spokesman said he was not referring to president obama in his remarks. he was referring to the mother of all wars comment made by saddam hussein on the eve of the first gulf war. i asked the writer how he got the recording of charles koch. >> i was contacted after the event by someone who became a source. someone who was an insider and i developed a reputation over the years for reporting on whistle blowers and that's how the source found me. >> certain to make the koch brothers seeth. they are intensely private and part of what observers call the political thet works operated by the main parties. they own the firm koch industries, one of the largest privately held companies in america. the koches raised millions for libertarian causes promoting smaller government, less regulation of big business and republican candidates. they also raised money for the arts and some democrats. the liberal group common cause that adkro voicates for more transparency and government protested outside a fund-raising seminar hosted by the koches. >> there is nothing wrong with what they are doing. >> it's not illegal, but it's wrong to be fully transparent. we believe that in the best interest of democracy and the best interest of the american culture and nature, the future of america for full disclosure to be made. >> bob said he doesn't like the tone of what was said, but adds it was no worse than what the president said about voting fea party lawmakers out. >> let's take them out and give america back america. >> two of america's most influential governors were at that conference in june. head of the republican governor's association and texas governor and presidential hopeful rick perry. >> is there a risk forever governor perry to be associated? >> republicans go after democrats for ties. democrats go after republicans for ties to the koch brothers. you will see if govern nor perry is the nominee in an effort to link him to the most extreme versions of their views out there >> governor perry did not immediately notify his constituents that he was going to the koch brothers event contacted by cnn, a spokesman said it was last minute and reported on his disclosure forms and he went there only to discuss jobs and the economy. a spokesman for bob mc donald did not get back to us. wolf? >> thanks very much. jack cafferty is up next. who knew madonna doesn't like hydrangeas? have i got a surprise for you! [ barks ] yeah, it's new beneful healthy fiesta. gotta love the protein for muscles-- whoo-hoo! and omega-rich nutrition for that shiny coat. ever think healthy could taste so good? [ woman announcing ] new beneful healthy fiesta. get right back to jack for "the cafferty file." jack? >> the question this hour, is what's the point of president obama's big jobs speech on thursday? bill in maryland writes, 2012 is riding on this speech. it's got to be a grand slam. i'm trying to figure out why the president's so reluctant to go toe to toe with republicans? unfortunately, every time he tries to float like a butterfly and sting like a bee, he gets swatted. now's the time to do more than the right thing. if not, then he should withdraw from running for re-election and let someone else fight the fight. rod writes, the only thing the president wants is to be re-elected. obama knows that he's in terrible shape. it's a desperate attempt to get back in the game. even sarah palin would have done a better jonathan the community organizer in chief. jim in north carolina writes, purely political. he's got to seize this issue with both hands to convince the electorate, democrats like me included, that he has a clue about how to solve the problem that's upper most in the minds of at least 75% of his constituents. if this fails, if it falls flat, as i frankly suspect it will, he's in heavy seas indeed. rex in oregon writes, the point should be, i don't create jobs, business and industry do that. i did not eliminate jobs. business and industry did that. it's time to wake up and realize the limitations of the presidency. it's time to realize the control of the economy's not dependent on federal spending, but upon private sector spending. tom on facebook says, everybody was clamoring for obama's plan before he went on vacation. now nobody wants to hear it. this is a pretty good indicator of what the response of his speech will be, no matter what details are contained in the plan. and dave in new hampshire writes, there is no point. no matter what he says, the republicans will do whatever it takes to block any effort he makes in order to get him out of office. so, after 2012, then we'll have a republican president and it will be the democrats' turn to block progress. meanwhile, the country flounders. what a system we have. i wonder how the chinese will run things. if you want to read more on this, go to my blog cnn.com/caffertyfile, or through our post on "the situation room's" facebook page. wolf? >> jack, thank you. jeanne moos coming up. her take on the queen of pop's big up? . ♪ [ country ] [ man ] ♪ gone, like my last paycheck ♪ gone, gone away ♪ gone, like my landlord's smile ♪ ♪ gone, gone away ♪ my baby's gone away with dedicated claims specialists... and around-the-clock service, travelers can help make things better quicker. will your auto and home insurer... be there when you need them most? for an agent or quote, call 800-my-coverage... or visit travelers.com. ( singing along ) ( singing high note ) that should do it. enjoy your new shower. ( door opens, closes ) aspercreme breaks the grip, with maximum-strength medicine and no embarrassing odor. break the grip of pain with aspercreme. here's jeanne moos on madonna -- >> reporter: it's enough to make a hydrangea wilt. insulted by madonna in videos that have gone viral. there madonna is at the venice film festival when a fan among the press people gives her a flower. >> you are my princess, thank you so much. >> reporter: but after madonna tells him thank you, some say she rolls her eyes, out comes the truth, barely picked up on an open mike. "i absolutely loathe hydrangeas." >> i absolutely loathe hydrangeas. >> reporter: hydrangeas of the world unite, geez, madonna, what did hydrangeas ever do to you? the "b" word flew at madonna, the one that rhymes with witch. we went to flowers of the world in manhattan to think why anyone would hate hydrangeas. >> a lot of people think they are their grandmother's flower. >> reporter: in addition they grow in people's yards. >> i see it in other people's yards, it can't be that great of a flower. >> reporter: but these are from the netherlands and cost 20 or 30 bucks a stem could madonna's loathing turn hydrangea into the new broccoli. >> i do not like broccoli and my mother made me eat it and i'm the president of the united states and i won't eat any more brocco broccoli. >> reporter: she may run through fields of

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