Transcripts For KGO This Week With George Stephanopoulos 20150104

Good morning. Im martha raddatz, and were tracking developing stories on several fronts including former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee making a big announcement about 2016 overnight, but we start off with new and encouraging developments in the mystery of airasia flight 8501. Indonesian investigators say they may have found key pieces of the fuselage where the jets black boxes are located. Well talk to the u. S. Commander taking part in the search shortly. First the latest from abcs david kerley. Reporter bad weather, its one of the things we know about the crash of airasia 8501. The weather was bad when the airbus went down, and stormy seas have hampered recovery efforts. Abcs Muhammad Lila is in indonesia. Reporter its now been a week since the airasia flight took off from this airport. Investigators are now honing their search on where they believe the fuselage is, about 100 feet underwater in the java sea. Just today they located what they say is the fifth large piece of debris from the plane and, of course, theyve already recovered more than 30 bodies from the water. Theyre using sonar and underwater drones as part of their search, but the biggest challenge facing them now is how do they get what they found in the water out of the water because the weather has been so rough. Reporter we know the plane crashed in the java sea and most likely broke up on impact. But how does a jetliner just fall out of the sky . I have to think that as usually is the case, there are a bunch of links in the causal chain. Reporter could weather have brought down the jet . These planes are built to survive lightning, thunderstorms and turbulence. The last time a jetliner went down because of turbulence was back in 1966. What about pilot error . An air france jet went down in 2009 in similar bad weather but the crew flew that jet slowly right into the atlantic. There could have been a distraction if nothing else. The storm could have been a distraction. You could have had something totally unprecedented in the history of airbus and that is a sudden catastrophic failure. Reporter catastrophic failure. That covers a multitude of problems, engine failure, electrical failure, fuselage breakup, a wing or tail tearing off, a breach of the pressurized cabin. I think everything is still on the table here including the possibility of a bomb. Im not saying its a high probability but is certainly one of the thing ss that could have happened. Reporter all just educated guesses. The real answers are on those recorders, the black boxes on the bottom of the java sea. The indonesians say sonar has detected five large sections of debris. From the description one seems to be a large section of the fuselage, another a wing and the tail section where the black boxes would be located. But the indonesians have provided no images and no indication that the black box pingers have been heard. Two divers were down on one piece of wreckage and reported Poor Visibility because of a muddy sea floor, so this morning, martha, we know where it is, but still few answers about why 8501 went down. Thanks, david. As you know, the u. S. Military is part of the International Team searching for the missing plane. Right now the destroyer uss sampson is in the java sea near indonesia, and the ships captain, commander steven foley, joins us on the phone. Thanks for your time, commander foley. First of all, i want to thank you, martha, for having me on your show. So tell us about whats going on on your ship this morning. Weve been searching using lookouts, using optical search equipment and scanning the horizon and using our helicopters in tandem to search a wide area. The weather has been a little rough with scattered thunderstorms. The seas have been about two to four feet increasing to about four to six feet when the rain squalls come in. Weve been operating in prespecified areas as the indonesian authorities have assigned to us, and you have to remember this is their search effort and were just here to assist. And you have heard nothing from that pinger . I have heard nothing. Although we searched quite an expansive area, i havent heard anything yet. What does it tell that you havent heard anything so far . Do you think youre too far away from it . Might it not be operational . Its the range of what the pinger operates. Its only about a 4,000 to 5,000yard distance in which we can hear the pinger, so the ship really has to travel right over it or within close proximity for us to hear that pinger. Thanks, commander foley. Lets bring in our aviation expert, colonel steve ganyard, a former marine corps Fighter Pilot and a mishap investigator and, steve, what do you make of what you just heard from the commander . Well, theyre searching in an area where the debris is but we have to remember that the debris is more than 100 miles away from where the actual aircraft impacted the water, so im a bit surprised that theyre not using the u. S. capabilities to listen for that pinger closer to where the impact point is. What do you make of this mornings news which seems like very big news, if in fact, they have located the tail of the aircraft where the black box as david has pointed out is. What the indonesians have said theyve seen is on this sidelooking sonar which creates sort of a black and white picture of whats on the sea bottom. Its grainy but you can actually measure what you see on the bottom so they sent divers down, havent been able to get down into that murky water, so im from missouri on this one, i need to be shown that wreckage before i believe that weve actually found the airplane. But somewhat encouraging. Somewhat encouraging, yes. Why arent we hearing the pingers . The pingers should be close to these major sections of the aircraft. I want to go through a couple of things. David brought up weather and such. I want to take some questions from viewers off social media. Karen krowzack, whenever ive flown through turbulence ive always comforted myself by thinking that turbulence will not bring down a plane. That soothing thought is now gone, and Kathy Delaney says, aware that the weather was so bad, why were flights still allowed to take off . From reports, the storms were at 50,000 feet elevations and very dangerous. Address those two things. Lets go back to turbulence. It was 50 years ago and 2 generations of aircraft ago that we lost an airplane strictly due to turbulence so dont be concerned. The only problem with turbulence youll get hurt if you dont have your seat belt on. As far as the other aircraft in the area if we look at the radar, there were airplanes all over the sky over the java sea that day, it wasnt like it was so bad that nobody should have been flying. People are latching on to weather because they saw there was some nasty weather out there. Whether it was the factor a causal factor in this mishap we really dont know. Lets go to one of the other questions thats been out there. The pilot asked to go higher, to ascend to 38,000 feet, that was denied. It wasnt like he was just approaching a cloud or weather, correct . Correct. The airbus has a terrific weather radar so they would be looking, you know, minutes, if not 10, 15 minutes out saying we need to come left to right, we need to climb. He made the request to climb. If it had been that much of an emergency, he would have just done it on his own. One other a couple more. Reports it managed to land on the water. This came from some indonesian authority. Managed to land on top of the water and broke up on top of it. We have absolutely no idea. The thing thats such an interesting mystery about this is 32,000 feet, straight and level was the last solid evidence we have of this airplane. If the airplane had stalled and it had come down, we would have continued to have radar hits to show that it was in a descent but it just disappeared. So, was it a bomb . Was it a structural failure . For every theory weve heard theres a good counter theory so i dont think theres any good answer. Lets go to the icing, the question of icing, which has happened in the past, i believe, icing in the engine. This is very bizarre. The Indonesian Meteorological Service said, well, we think this is a causal factor. They have no idea. Was icing possible in their area . Sure, it was but these airplanes are designed to fly. Theyre certified to fly in known icing conditions. So maybe, who knows. We need to get to the black boxes. We need to get to that wreckage. Just very quickly, steve, if he find that black box, how long before we can figure it out . Probably a couple of days. When they bring the wreckage itself up there will be clues how did the metal break. What sections are there . The black boxes will have the hard evidence and have the cockpit voice recordings so a couple days after they pull it up, we should have at least an indication of what went wrong. Thanks very much, steve. You cleared up a lot for us. Thank you. Now to those new warnings about the flu and word that its reached epidemic proportions in the u. S. At least 22 states are reporting high activity of the virus. Nine states added to that list in just one week. And the cdc says that in a sevenday period last month, nearly 7 of deaths were possibly linked to the flu. Lets get more on this now from dr. Anthony fauci, director of the National Institute of allergy and infectious diseases. It is an epidemic but is it more so than other years . We see these alarming figures. Well, you cant really tell at this stage, but certainly if you look at the trajectory, its not going to be a good year. Its going to be a bad year. How bad its going to be will depend on how it actually evolves because youre still on the uptick, and if you sort of superimpose it upon other years, you can superimpose it on a bad year. Last year was not a bad year so its already way ahead of last year resembling more 2012 2013 as opposed to 2013 2014. One of the things i read is that during the holiday season, which were just out of, the flu will usually dip because youre not around your office mates, children arent at school and that that didnt happen this time and now weve got all these people going back to work. So is that an indicator that it will get worse . You know, martha, its possible. The one thing about the flu that you can be sure, its really unpredictable so some of the pattern you see you can kind of guess whats going to happen but at the end of the day it just evolves and difficult to predict. One of the things clearly different about this year is the flu shots are not as effective, maybe just 60 effective. No, 30 something. 30 something. 67 uneffective. Uneffective and even worse than i thought. Right, yes. So should people still get the shot . Absolutely. Martha, absolutely because even though it isnt a good match to what is circulating, with the h3n2, remember, there is an h1n1 and b which matches well with the vaccine even though thats not the dominant strain. Even though its not a good match to h3n2 getting vaccinated can give you crossprotection. It could be the difference between getting very sick or being just mildly sick, the difference between being hospitalized or not so strongly recommend people getting vaccinated. Tell me quickly how it happened that the flu shot is for the wrong virus. Well, flus drift and at a particular time when you have to make a decision about what to put into the vaccines, you usually do that around february. In february a certain strain was the strain that was in the community, and it was felt that this was going to be the one. As you got into the end of march, april when you already starting making the vaccine, it started to drift around, and by the time you got to september, october, it drifted to the point where it was 67 a nonmatch. One thing we should remember is that when people get the flu, particularly people at high risk children, the elderly. They should get an antiviral drug. They should see their physicians because the antiinfluenza drugs can be very, very helpful for people, particularly at high risk. Very good advice. Thanks very much for joining us, dr. Fauci. Now coming up, republicans are ready to take over congress. Well talk to three of the partys newest power players. Plus, Mike Huckabees big announcement overnight. What he is saying and what it means for the rest of the potential field in 2016. Back in just two minutes. Announcer this week with George Stephanopoulos brought to you by hp. Push your enterprise and you can move the world. But to get from the old way to the new youll need the right it infrastructure. From a partner who knows how to make your enterprise more agile, borderless and secure. Hp helps business move on all the possibilities of today. And stay ready for everything that is still to come. [music throughout] because i love you [announcer] this is my business. I believe in it. I live it and breathe it. I put my heart and soul. Blood,sweat and tears into it. I run on quickbooks. Thats how i own it. Now our closer look at that big shakeup in congress. 74 new members join the house and Senate Tuesday and republicans are now in charge. So what are their plans . Well talk to three of the gops new power players in a moment. First, senior washington correspondent jeff zeleny on the changes ahead. What a big historic night for the gop. Reporter its that historic republican landslide in november. You name it, republicans want it, the blue man group, now the Red Man Group now having lost two of three men. Reporter conservatives surging. Tomorrow we go to work to fix a washington that is out of step, out of touch and out of time. Reporter but its not washington outsiders promising to shake things up. Republicans will take control of the senate. Reporter many senate rookies are actually capitol hill veterans. Six new senators were coming right from the house which means the senate will now have 53 former house members in its ranks, the most since 1899. There are seasoned washington hands from outside congress too like former Bush Administration official dan sullivan of alaska and ben sasse of nebraska. So how does it feel . Were having fun. Got a lot to learn. Want to make sure were on time. Reporter even joni ernst and thom tillis of North Carolina hail from the halls of state government. But how much will this new Republican Congress actually do . It means some of those no votes may have to become yes. Youve been called one of the new faces of the hell no caucus. What do you think of that characterization . I would like to say yes to a lot of reforms that would lead to smaller, more limited government. Reporter republicans now share the burden of governing. Were going to function. We are. Were going to pass legislation. Reporter the first test comes quickly in debates over the keystone pipeline, president obamas new cuba policy and even his strategy toward fighting isis. The big question facing republicans is how much time they should spend trying to unravel obamacare. Americans are suffering because of obamacare. Reporter that may be influenced by members of the last freshman class whose president ial ambitions will cast long shadows over what congress may or may not get done. I know a lot of people who want to run for president. I serve in a body with a bunch of class president s. Reporter those class president s are now part of the New Washington establishment. For this week, jeff zeleny, abc news, washington. Thanks, jeff. Were joined now by three of those new republican faces on capitol hill. On election night, mia love became the first black woman elected to congress as a republican. Shes the former mayor of saratoga springs, utah. Thom tillis was the speaker of the North Carolina house of representatives before he was elected to the senate. He defeated kay hagan in one of the highest profile races in november, and senatorelect ben sasse was a College President in nebraska before he announced his run. He also served in the Bush Administration. Great to have all of you with us this morning. And i guess i have to refer to you as senatorselect, congresswomanelect. Lets start with an interview the new Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell gave. He said what the speaker and i are bound and determined to do is to demonstrate to the American People that the congress is no longer dysfunctional. Is that possible . He may be determined but i want to ask each of you what youll do towards that. Well, i mean first we have to pass a budget. Theres only been one budget passed in the last six years so obviously we need to demonstrate an ability to govern but we also need to admit that the big challenges facing this country arent going to be solved in the next 24 months. We need to set the stage for a 2016 president ial election because there are a lot of issues that people want to argue about. Senatorelect tillis. I think leader mcconnell is prepared to go back to something as simple as regular order just to be able to take matters coming from the house and from the senate and sending them to the president s desk is something we havent seen for several years so i think by just focusing on Getting Congress back to function then we can start doing things that will heal the economy and get our job situation, job creation situation, a number of other things back on track. Before i go to you, mia love, i want to play something that the president said about the upcoming congress. Okay. I want to work with them. I want to get things done. I dont have another election to run and im going to be as aggressive as i can be in getting legislation passed that i think help move the economy forward and help middle class families. His spokesman also told abc news that the president is planning big, bold, Decisive Action that he has zero interest in relitigating old fights. Do you believe he wants to get things done and work with this new congress . Well, he has an opportunity to actually show that he wants to work with congress. We you know, we have faced dysfunction because people on both sides of the aisle have said, you know, we want americans to trust us again and weve got that backwards. We have to get we have to trust the American People again. Put the decisionmaking back in their hands so that they can make decisions in their homes for their own health care, educating their own children and making sure that were giving were involving them in the political process. You know, all three of you have been seen as overcoming the establishment versus the tea party but eventually youll have to do some voting so lets take issues that led to the Government Shutdown in 2013. Will you support raising the debt ceiling when it comes up in spring or summer . I mean, obviously a country that functions needs to pay its bills but we need to have a longterm conversation about actually dealing with all the structural insolvency in our entitlement program. The debt ceiling is less than a quarter of the real problem. The unfunded obligations in our Entitlements Program are three to four times more. It sounds like you would. As part of a down payment on a longterm reform certainly. I agree with ben. Weve got to focus on the other the financial underpinnings that we have to take care of, the debt ceiling is just a part of that as ben said. We would but i think were also trying to focus on something thats a credible strategy for retiring the debt and getting our budget, getting our finances back in order. And how about obamacare . We have to again get the decisionmaking back in the hands of the American People and that means doing everything we can to change the current policy, the current aca policy. Ted cruz says he wants republicans exactly to do that, do everything humanly possible to stop obamacare . Look, i was elected by my district to make sure that we get the decisionmaking back in their hands and i said i would do everything i can to repeal and replace it with something that is functional and get with broad health care reforms, Free Market Health care reforms and thats exactly what im going to do. Senatorelect tillis, i want to turn to 2016. Your fellow freshman cory gardner said this, we have a very limited time frame in 2015 to shore up the brand of what republicans are going into 2016. Whats the most important thing you can do in congress to get a republican president elected . I think give the American People confidence that congress will work again. That we will send measures to the president s desk that he will sign into law whether its the excel pipeline, whether its regulatory reform, a number of things we can do to prove we can function and produce positive results for the American People. Congresswomanelect love, i want to turn to you on this. Im sure youre following the story of one of your house leaders this week steve scalise, who spoke to a White Supremacy group in 2002. What were your first thoughts . My first thoughts is this was 12 years ago. Its interesting its coming up now. That was i found that really interesting. These groups are awful and the last thing i want to do is give them any sort of publicity or credibility and i can say as far as im concerned with representative scalise, he has been absolutely wonderful to work with. Hes been very helpful for me and he has had the support of his colleagues. Does it hurt the image of the Republican Party and should he remain in leadership . I believe he should remain in leadership. Theres one quality that he has that i think is very important in leadership and thats humility and hes actually shown that in this case and apologized and i think we need to move on and get the work of the American People done. And, senatorelect sasse, i want to end here with you. You know what the approval rate is for congress, 77 disapproval and 20 approval in the latest abc news poll. Where do you predict that will be at the end of your term . I have no idea. But when you listen to nebraska voters and workers, part of the disapproval is because they think that the problems in this country are so much bigger than republican versus democrat, our National Media conversations love this kind of seesawing game of politics. The American People dont think the future of their kids are a game. They want a washington thats more humble that focuses on a more important but more limited set of things because they care about the future were building for their kids. We wish you all luck in the coming year. Thanks, everyone. Coming up, what Mike Huckabees announcement means for 2016. Plus, why president obama says his relationship with republicans will be different this time around. Understand . Of course not. And thats the point. Making credit confusing has made me boatloads. Ahoy, money but credit karma is ruining my dealio. Theyve given over 30 Million People their credit scores. For free. So dont go to creditkarma. Com. Go to my site do not go to credit karma dot com dot com golden phones. Fiscal . Apr index . money for me hi, im Henry Winkler and im here to tell homeowners that are sixtytwo and older about a great way to live a better retirement. Its called a reverse mortgage. Call right now to receive your free dvd and booklet with no obligation. It answers questions like. 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Guaranteed your ticket to a better nights sleep theres been a great deal of speculation as to whether i would run for president. And if i were willing to absolutely rule that out, i could keep doing this show. But i cant make such a declaration. Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee last night on fox news revealing that hes thinking about a run in 2016. Lets bring in the roundtable, robert costa from the washington post, Greta Van Susteren from fox news, television and radio host tavis smiley, author of death of a king the real story of dr. Martin luther kings final year and margaret hoover, cnn contributor and author of american individualism how a new generation of conservatives can save the Republican Party and, greta, i have to talk with you. I knew id get this one first. You knew youd be first. Was Mike Huckabee sort of pushed out . Oh, no, no, no, not at all. Oh actually i dont think that at all. Hes very first of all, i dont have the inside scoop. Im not management. Come on. Im labor but i will tell you i do know this, hes extremely well liked by his colleagues, extremely well liked by his colleagues and his show is successful. What i do think is that, you know, that fox news has taken a very hard line on people who are, you know, who might be running. As he said last night in his statement when he left the network he said that he couldnt make up his mind so hes leaving. So i would not be surprised if hes running. He doesnt commit financial suicide, fox pays quite well and they were quite happy with him. While i dont have the inside scoop my guess is that he is running and my guess is that he was not pushed out because of his success at the network and, in fact, people just like him. She made that very clear, what she thinks, doesnt she, margaret . I want to turn to you. An iowa senate exit poll it was republicans, who do you want to be the gop 2016 nominee . Huckabee, 19 . Topping the list. Rick perry, 17 , jeb bush, 14, rand paul, 14, Chris Christie, 12. So, what happens if huckabee gets in . If huckabee gets in, you have a fight in the Iowa Republican primary caucuses for republican caucuses over who is going to solidify the evangelical base of that portion of the electorate. If you have huckabee and santorum in and some of these others that cater to the right wing of the caucuses in iowa, suddenly you may have a fight over the right and allow for a centrist to come up through the center not to differ from how bush did in 2000. It potentially divides the conservative vote and makes way for a center right candidate to actually make some headway in iowa for the first time, a jeb bush or a Chris Christie. Tavis, youre nodding your head there in agreement . I was listening because it occurs to me that Mike Huckabee since it is sunday, martha, is an ordained minister and theres a bible version im fond of that says the people perish where there is no vision. If i can tweak that a bit, the party will perish and doesnt matter whether its jeb bush or Mike Huckabee, if you dont have a vision for how to expand this party in the most multicultural, multiracial, multiethic america ever, it is not going to happen. So you can win these local race you can win governorships, you can win congressional seats, you cant win the big one if you cant expand the base of the party. I will tell you this, jeb bush is dangerous because he can expand that where the hispanic vote is and Mike Huckabee in 2008 i moderated two debrises. Republicans were invited to join at morgan state in baltimore. The top three runners at the time wouldnt come. John mccain didnt come. Mitt romney didnt come. Fred thompson wouldnt come. The first one to rsvp is Mike Huckabee. He gets it. Sounds like he definitely gets it. I want to turn to you, robert. I do want to point out that youre a former this week intern. Okay, yes. My, you have come a long way. You have come a long way. Now, jeb bush resigned from corporate and nonprofit boards this week but hes not showing up at the big event in iowa. What do you make of what is happening . What are people telling you because i know you have a lot of great sources now. I spoke to representative steve king who is hosting this confab in des moines in late january and he said he did invite governor bush but governor bush got back to him through emissaries, didnt give representative king a call and the thing that really sends a signal about how bush may run his Campaign King of course is an immigration hardliner. Bush is not. Bush may look to avoid iowa if huckabee comes in and a lot of conservatives are crowding that space, maybe jeb looks to New Hampshire, goes into florida but huckabee has accepted representative kings invitation and youre going to see others like Chris Christie appearing at that event, theyre really looking to king as a power broker and someone theyll court. Iowa, if it becomes really a mess maybe the race becomes a little more extended. I think huckabees play, i talked to his advisers last night on the phone maybe he could win iowa just like he did in 200. Doesnt do so well in New Hampshire but comes into South Carolina as another conservative state. Greta, any surprises out there, anyone who will get in or wont get in . I think the big surprise is going to be on the democratic side of the ledger, whether or not, of course, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton runs. Im actually not convinced im not convinced shes going to run and i think the big sleeper candidate is actually going to be governor Martin Omalley of maryland. I realize the governorship was lost to republicans in maryland this last run. But whoever takes iowa and if you look, 2008 huckabee took it for the republicans, 2012, santorum. It really takes someone who will go there and knock on the doors. I think whats what we have too keep our eye on and governor omalley has been there a number of times. Keep our eye on and governor omalley has been there a number of times. He is a knock on the door type candidate so i think he may be a sleeper. Lets switch up to capitol hill from the white house. Were probably getting a little ahead of ourselves on that. You heard the republican panel. We just had the new members. Does that encourage you that they can get rid of the dysfunction. It does on the one hand and there is a new possibility here with a Republican Senate and republican legislature. The most productive times legislatively in our country is when youve had a unified body in the legislature and opposite party in the executive branch. You know, id like to get back to something tavis said. What we really need is republicans who are willing to disavow the worst traditions in American History and align themselves with the best traditions in the Republican Party and that means building a base and building a party that represents the history of the Republican Party. Last night ed brooke died. Ed brooke was the first africanamerican senator elected popularly to the United States senate and republicans always represented the first in every Minority Group in the senate. Women, africanamericans, hispanics, asianamericans, this is a party that has in its dna the ability to build out beyond its base, and we should draw on that history to build into the 21st century. Tavis . Really quickly, martha, i totally agree with everything you basically said here except that the party missed an opportunity to do just what you said when mr. Scalise got in trouble and they rallied around him rather than condemn what he did and missed a moment, number one, number two, to martha, to your question about whether or not this dysfunction can stop it depends on three things, Mitch Mcconnell is the same guy who a few years ago said his number one job was to defeat barack obama. If that attitude persists, nothing is going to happen, number one. Number two, im concerned about how the agenda gets hijacked as your piece reported earlier by these republicans in the senate who have president ial aspirations and how that might impact and affect the game. I want to turn to robert. The objective reporter here and, again, you have been working your sources on the hill and talking to a lot of officials. I want to quickly touch on scalise and whether that has a lasting whether that has legs. Speaking of scalises allies and his aides in the last couple of days you feel because hes expressed regret about the event in 2002 and about his appearance they believe he will be able to move on and they think scalise because hes number three, hes not number one or number two, hes not going to be a total distraction for the party and they think because he got out early and expressed that issued that statement hell be okay. Greta, do you think hes a distraction. I think hes a distraction, but this is a huge missed opportunity for the Republican Party. The Republican Party, if they wanted to send a message, i dont think its fair to congressman scalise but associate with david duke is grossly unwise. Theres no secret who david duke is. I realized this 12 years ago. He says he was there. Some people say he wasnt there. I dont know what that is. If you want to send a message to the American People, republicans and democrats, this would have been the opportunity to say, he should have stepped aside, whether its fair or not and send a message that, you know, were not going to have this distraction and we really do want to have everybody on board. And to say you didnt know. The problem is, representative love a moment ago said he had humility and apologized. He did that. The question is whether or not you knew. And to say that you didnt know nobody heres what i know. Heres what we do know. Hes not the first one to associate with but to stand behind i agree, greta, i agree but to stand behind this one guy, risking the party expanding its base margaret. Lets figure out so many people saying so many awful things, democrats, republicans, assuming the worst doesnt make it right. Doesnt make it right. Doesnt make it right. Margaret, i want your thoughts. What he didnt have was the moral courage to disavow that political ideology even in 1998. Not just 2002. It was back in 1998 where he said, you know, im a lot like david duke. I just dont have the baggage. You know thats the problem is the moral courage to disassociate yourself with those heinous political ideologies and that plagues the Republican Party. That is not good. And the moral courage would be to step down because you know it sends a very bad message to the American People and i also think there are a lot of people in the democratic side of the aisle could likewise send a message to. This is an equal opportunity, you know, disgrace with politicians. I should point out youre a reporter, as well, an objective reporter. I want to end with you about this week were going into, this very important week. What do they have to do this week . Keep an eye on the new Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell. Hes trying to take the rein ss of the party and show on health care, trade and numerous other issues that the party can govern responsibly and move away from the shutdown past and cast a new image for the party. And i think thats the goal with a lot of the legislation theyre going to be trying to pass in both chambers. The next year, predictions . In 2016 i think youll see a crowded field, one of the biggest in a long time and see Congress Work with the president ial candidates to try to come up with a coherent agenda. Okay, thanks to all of you on this. Coming up, remembering former new york governor mario cuomo who died this week at age 82. The liberal lion also inspiring our powerhouse puzzler. Heres the question, during his 1982 campaign, Governor Cuomo appeared right here on this week with his republican opponent. Can you name him . Back in just one minute with the answer. Announcer catch this week online all week at abcnews. Com on facebook and twitter. So who was mario cuomos republican opponent in the 1982 new york Gubernatorial Race . Time to reveal those white boards. I thought it was maybe jacob javits. I know thats probably wrong. Carey. Damato. Damato. I cant read your writing. Pataki. All of us are wrong. All of you. All of you are wrong. Not many memorable new york republicans i always put a question mark. New york republicans respect arent known for their the answer is lewis lehrman. There he is on the show, this show back in october of 1982. One of mario cuomos most enduring legacies is the speech he delivered two years after that appearance on this week, the keynote at the 1984 democratic convention, democrats were preparing to face off against Ronald Reagan who was running for reelection. And the president is right, in many ways we are a shining city on a hill. But the hard truth is that not everyone is sharing in this citys splendor and glory. A shining city is perhaps all the presidencies from the portico of the white house and the veranda of his ranch where everyone seems to be doing well, but theres another city, theres another part of the shining city, the part where some people cant pay their mortgages and most young people cant afford one, where students cant afford the education they need, and middle class parents watch the dreams they hold for their children evaporate. Mr. President , you ought to know that this nation is more a tale of two cities than it is just a shining city on a hill. And were back now with the roundtable. Tavis, you pointed out that cuomo did not run from who he was. A liberal democrat. He didnt and its hard to find persons today that will stand up for what they believe in terms of their liberal policies, their progressive beliefs and he never backed away from that. That speech one of the best ever and i remember watching it and getting goose bumps then and getting goose bumps now but what strikes me very quickly is he was talking then martha about income inequality and poverty and that speech is as relevant today as it ever was. Greta, thoughts. I never knew Governor Cuomo but i will say one thing. I do know his two sons, Governor Andrew Cuomo and chris cuomo, who used to be one of your colleagues. Of course. And to the extent we can judge governor mario cuomo by his two sons, hes got two really good sons. I dont know his daughters. But hes got really two decent sons. Thats a very good marker and a wonderful legacy. Cuomo had a famous saying that you included in your piece this week, robert. You campaign in poetry but you govern in prose. That still resonates. So true. I mean so many members of my generation who had never knew come foe but minutes after he died they were sharing that speech on youtube because in todays generation of politics we dont see that kind of passion, that kind of intellectual heft from our politicians and still impresses us 30 years later. Margaret, you may not agree with his politics, but republicans had a great deal of respect for him. Rudy giuliani, governor pataki, all these new york republicans all these answers to our white board even though they disagreed even though they disagree with him on a deep philosophical letter, he did codify the philosophical opposition to reagan in the 1980s and he was a principled leader and principled governor and people respect that contribution. Remarkably, i think the reason this all went viral is because it is almost more resonant today. I mean reagan went on to win almost 50 states depending on who you ask, mondales Campaign Manager says 50 states. It really wasnt a speech that codified the feeling of the American Public at the time but certainly does today. A wonderful reminder of a very powerful and great man. Thanks, everyone. Thanks, everyone. Up next we kick off our special coverage of an historic week for u. S. Troops in afghanistan after this from our this week marked what the u. S. Calls the official end of combat operations in afghanistan. A ceremony in kabul with the general in charge of troops in afghanistan, John Campbell handing over the responsibility to the afghans. But well over 10,000 u. S. Troops will remain in afghanistan under the command of general campbell. Few americans know the country better than John Campbell. I have covered his deployments in iraq and afghanistan. On top of that hilltop is pakistan. He led combat teams early on in the wars. He was there during the socalled surge in afghanistan when u. S. Forces were at their peak with 100,000 troops in the country. Weve seen an uptick in the ieds and the indirect fire, complex attacks. But i think thats to be expected. I mean the enemy knows that were going to surge our forces in. Reporter and now he is back with those 10,500 u. S. Troops still on the ground with memories still searing of the more than 2,000 who have died since 2001. I attended many of those Memorial Services with general campbell over the years. He carries cards with each of the names of those lost under his command. From the 101st weve lost 27. Were about 76 right now. We lost 96 heroes. Reporter for the general, the army is family. His son is a soldier too with service in afghanistan just like his dad. What do you tell your son when he says i want to serve. Im very proud of him but im proud of all these guys. Our country is just so very fortunate. We have great men and women that want to continue to do this. And joining us now live from kabul is general John Campbell. Good morning, general campbell. I want to start with what those u. S. Troops who are remaining in afghanistan will be doing. I know its training and assisting the Afghan Forces but wont they also be conducting raids . Well, good to see you, martha. Thanks. Yeah, we have two Early Missions here. Train, advise and assist at the corps level and administry level. Well do train, advise and assist with our special operating forces and then we still have a u. S. Counterterrorism mission so our soldiers will continue at the special operating forces to do missions that we train and advise and assist with them. U. S. Forces especially those special operators could see more combat. Well, theyre in a train, advise and assist role and we always have the right for selfprotection but they will be along with our afghan partners to a certain point to help build the special operating capability with is pretty good right now, and well continue to build that through 2015. I want to bring your attention to an abc poll released just this morning that says only 38 of americans think the war was worth fighting. 56 say it was not. Yeah, im in the camp that it was well worth fighting, continues to be very important that we have a presence here in afghanistan. If you think about 9 11, the reason we came here, the front line of defense for afghanistan and there hasnt been another 9 11 since weve been here, i think that says quite a bit. There are people out here that continue to want to harm americans, harm people in europe and by having a presence here continue to apply pressure. I think thats good news. Bad news for the terrorists that want to do that so if you take a look at any metric in afghanistan, whether its roads, its schools, number of females in the workforce, the Life Expectancy now, its gone up incredibly in the last 13 years so i think our soldiers, airmen, sailors, marines ought to be very, very proud of what theyve done the last 13 years. General campbell there is evidence, particularly around kabul, theres been massive civilian casualties. In kabul, the taliban has attacked government buildings. Theyve attacked residents. Theyve attacked westerners, that seems to be a pretty bad sign. Yeah, i wouldnt use the word massive, martha. I dont see massive casualties inside of kabul. The highprofile attacks have gone up the last three or four weeks. These are one or two people with suicide vests attacking ngos and attacking soft targets. So they have continued to try to do that. Theyre trying to show theyre still relevant because they didnt hold terrain during the fighting season. Their leadership has fractured. So they are attacking soft targets here in kabul that raise highprofile attacks but i wouldnt say massive casualties. And, again, the Afghan Security forces continue to do pretty well finding a very small magnetic ied they put on a bus and finding one suicide bomber that comes inside a city of 3. 3 million is very tough but i think they continue to work at that very hard and well continue to be partnered up with them. Thanks very much, general campbell, for joining us. Now we turn to the home front. Veterans returning from the front lines are facing a sad and stunning statistic. By 1 estimate nearly 50,000 veterans will experience homelessness each year. But there are new efforts to help vets who have fallen through the cracks, and just this week a sign of progress. Heres abcs bob woodruff. This is me. Reporter last month in downtown new orleans, u. S. Army vet darren dopia has finally found a home. He has been homeless for over ten years living in a tent in the woods and on the streets. I got windows. Look at the view. Oh, my goodness, for real, this is all for me . Reporter but this past holiday he and 25 other homeless vets got addresses of their own thanks to the work of a nonprofit, unity. These are permanent apartments where each tenant has a lease, and they can live here for the rest of their lives. Reporter this week new orleans will announce that it has successfully met its goal and housed all 193 of its Homeless Veterans. You are a bunch of angels is what you are. Oh. Reporter one of the architects behind the new orleans success is Roseanne Hagerty whos been working on homelessness for 30 years and she believes that veterans homelessness can be fixed nationwide. We talked to her in new york. New york still has a problem with veterans that are homeless . Yeah, about 900 veterans are homeless in new york. Really, still . We know their names and were on a course to get that solved. Its basically smart problem solving. If youre in business, you would figure out who is the customer, what do we know about them . Its bringing that kind of discipline to solving a complex social problem. Reporter there have been big promises before. President obama and i are personally committed to ending homelessness among veterans. Reporter and missed deadlines but also success stories. How are you doing . Phoenix phoenix. Reporter phoenix announced it had successfully ended chronic homelessness among vets. We made a concerted effort the last couple of years to rapidly rehouse as many veterans as possible. Reporter so why are veterans at risk for homelessness . Experts point to a variety of factors like strained relationships with friends and family and the difficulty vets can have landing jobs after coming home. I was homeless because i never fit in nowhere and i just kept moving. That awareness of ptsd, of the hidden injuries of war and how that can play out in peoples loss of family and support, that i think sensitized the country. Reporter los angeles is home to some of the highest numbers of homeless veteran ss including many vietnam vets, a problem i saw firsthand in the citys notorious skid row. Still, nationally the number of Homeless Veterans has dropped by about 33 in the last four years, largely because the v. A. Is working closely with local nonprofit organizations. But theres still work to be done for those who have returned from iraq and afghanistan. In the last few years i have found them outside across the Country Living in their cars. I use this side to sleep on. Reporter theyre sleeping on the benches. Pretty much like that. Reporter and the worst might still be to come for those more recent vets. Homelessness among Vietnam Veterans did not emerge as a major issue until seven years after the war ended. The iraq and Afghanistan Veterans Association takes calls from desperate veterans every week. I was calling to talk to somebody reporter and passes on the information to the v. A. Now that were winding down theyre getting out and coming home and many of them are doing well. But some of them are struggling and weve got to be there for them and have their back when theyre at that tough spot. Reporter a critical effort to make sure everyone who put their lives on the line for all of us have a home to come back to. Oh. And bob is here with us now along with phil klay, a marine corps veteran, author of the Remarkable Book redeployment. Welcome to you both. Bob, i want to start with you. You mentioned it could be seven years out but certainly since the war began were already there. Yeah, you know, thats true. Its seven years but when those that come back from the last deployment, lets make sure they get the kind of attention and help they do because thats the problem. Its true the numbers have gone down in the last four years. What you see for the first time for all veterans, homelessness under 50 , 50,000 for the first time. But the big thing is to not to have the same thing happen with iraq and afghanistan vets as it did with vietnam, which means lets do it otherwise well see this economy just slaughtered again in the future if we dont do it now and have them keep living on the streets. Phil, you have written a lot about this. Your book is remarkable. It is a piece of fiction but very real. But youve also wrote written a very powerful oped in the wall street journal thats called treat us with respect, not pity, so taking that into account how do help these veterans and approach this . I think theres always a balance between acknowledging and thinking about the very real problems that veterans often face, particularly in that transition period and realizing that when youre talking about the veteran population youre often talking about people with a lot of potential. If you look back at history, when we invest in veteran, its good for us as a country. You are talking about people who often signed up to do a very hard, difficult job out of a sense of idealism and so, you know, and that continues once they, you know, go back into the civilian sphere but during that transitional period people can face a lot of difficulties which is why i think its important to have the networks in place to support them through that. But you dont want everyone to look at the military as all heroes or certainly all victims and i hear the same thing but, bob this is particularly ptsd and brain injury are a very real problem. You through your Wonderful Foundation with your wife, the Bob Woodruff Foundation have helped so many of the wounded. I will disclose im on the board of that, as well. Yes you are. But how have you approached that taking into consideration what phil said . Absolutely. They need dignity and we also need to tell people that its more like 25 have been affected by these kinds of issues when they come back. You know, maybe 75 of them are actually very good and we know that companies that have hired them have been incredibly impressed with how well the veterans do when they come back because they got discipline. They got world experience. All of this and theyre generally older when they go to their first job in a company so theyve been really in some ways successful once they get to those companies so thats exactly it. Dont make it posttraumatic stress disorder. Take out the disorder and treat them that way and theyre good. Phil, what really worries me Going Forward is you know, we just talked to general campbell and still have 10,500 people there but i dont think people are thinking about that at all. So what worries me is that its going to be further in the background of the civilian population and theres got to be some way to bridge that gap. The military too. The military tends to say, nobody understands us. Well stay over here. You guys over there. Right, absolutely and, you know, that disconnect was already very present when i came back from iraq in 2008. All right. And it only, you know, it only continues to widen. I think we dont know what to make of iraq and afghanistan particularly, you know, the situation continues overseas and so we often dont know what to make of our veterans or how to feel about them and i think, you know, for me oftentimes its not so much whether someone is has a particular political agenda or policy proposal that i agree with but whether i think that somebody is seriously engaged with the issue. What it means to be a veteran. What that experience might be like instead of blanketing them into this kind of stereotype of youre either a hero or youre some kind of victim who is possibly dangerous. Very quickly, phil, what would you want people to say to you as a veteran or they should say to other people . I just want to have a conversation, right. Theres no one thing. Its more about where what youre saying is coming from than any one catchphrase. Okay, thanks so much to both of you and thank you for all your work, bob, on this issue. Thanks. Thank you. And we end with some good news. The pentagon did not release any names of Service Members killed this week in afghanistan or iraq. Thats all for us today. Thanks for sharing part of your sunday with us. Check out world news tonight and well see you back here next week. Have a great day. In the news this sunday, mourners say their final respects to a fallen new york police officer. Also a sad day in the sports world with the passing of long time espn anchor stuart scott. Good morning, clouds a sprinkle or two and those pollutants taking own the skyline. Another spare the air day today. I will have the details on the first full week of january coming right up next on the abc7 morning news at female announcer when you see this truck, it means another neighbor is going to sleep better tonight. 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