Transcripts For MSNBCW The Rachel Maddow Show 20141002

Back. The Rachel Maddow show starts about. Thanks at home for joining us this hour. Rachel has the night off. Back in the early days of thensenator Barack Obamas president ial candidacy, back when he was just starting to run for the nomination against hillary clinton, go all the way back to then, even then he could still pull in a crowd. Early february 2007, this was just before he even officially announced his campaign for president. A medium sized event at Iowa State University in ames, but it had to be moved because of, quote, larger than expected interest. Organizers thought that about a thousand people would show up at the event, and thats really a good crowd for most politicians. A thousand people if you can draw that, youre doing pretty well usually. But in the days leading up to that event for obama in 2007 the organizers recalculated and found that about five times as many people as that were going to be there or want to be there. They moved it to Iowa State Universitys basketball arena, Hilton Coliseum they call it so they can accommodate the 5,000 people who were clamoring to hear senator obama speak. It was a small crowd for candidate obama. Weeks later 9,000 people waited in long lines to fill an Outdoor Sports complex just to see him. In austin, texas, 20,000 people turned out. In oakland, california, there were well over 10,000 people who came to hear barack obama speak. In april of 2007 another 20,000 people turned out to hear him in atlanta, georgia. Those enormous crowds, those huge crowds were a major reason why barack obama was given secret Service Protection early. Very early. Earlier than the secret service had ever provided security to a president ial candidate in history. In may of 2007, which was still nine months before the first vote was cast in the first primary for the democratic nomination for president , that was a full year and a half before the 2008 general election, back then is when the secret Service Started trailing senator barack obama and his family. In the crowds were actually om part of the security issue that obamas new protection had to deal with. Even before his inauguration, he was facing assassination threats. In denver on the day before the 2008 Democratic National convention, Police Officers stopped a dodge pickup that had been swerving between lanes. The search of the vehicle turned up a bulletresistant body armor, two rifles with mounted scopes, walkietalkies, even a wig. The driver of the car and two acome mys have been discussing plans to shoot the democratic nominee for president from somewhere overlooking the stadium where he would deliver his acceptance speech. Then late october, another assassination attempt or plan was foiled. Two men with links to a White Supremacist Movement had been planning a killing spree in a school in tennessee that was supposed to end with an attack on senator obama. This was all before barack obama even became president. Before he was even leekted president. When protecting any president , no heart who it is, with this particular president , the job has been even bigger. Vent reporting by the Washington Post has suggested that president obama has had three times as many threats against his life as past president s. And as this has happened. As the number of threats against the president has apparently climbed to unprecedented levels, as all of this has been playing out, the Agency Responsible for dealing with that huge threat seems to have fallen apart. In 2012, that april, april 2012 president obama went on an official threeday trip to colombia to attend a summit of the americas. Before he even touched down, 11 secret Service Agents who were part of an elite Security Team haddy to be relieved of their duties and released. A full scale investigation into this scandal which has proved highly xarsing for the agency, the u. S. Military and this administration. President obama returning to washington late sunday after a weekend summit in colombia facing an evolving prostitution scandal within the agency that is supposed to protect him. The u. S. Secret service. If it turns out that some of the allegations that have been made in the press are confirmed, then of course ill be angry. The alejd incident happened on wednesday night at this cartagena hotel just days before the president was set to arrive, staying at a different hotel. According to u. S. Officials who have been briefed on the matter, 11 special agents and two supervisors brought prostitutes back to the el caribe. Guests at the hotel have to leave their i. D. S at the front desk. Thursday morning managers realized one woman hadnt picked up her i. D. By checkout time and found her in her room fighting with an agent after he failed to pay her. The hotel called local police who alerted the u. S. Embassy. Ultimately it went all the way to the white house. 11 secret Service Agents. They were supposed to be working on the substantial task of securing a foreign city in advance of an official visit for the president of the United States. 11 of those agents were sent home because of their involvement in hiring prostitutes that they brought back to a hotel mere blocks from where the president was going to be staying then got into a dispute over how much to pay those prostitutes. While prostitution is legal in colombia, it is in direct vital of the secret Services Code of conduct. Thats fair to say that was the least of the worries in this incident. The sheer embarrassment as president obama was to meet with all sort heads of state. That was embarrassing enough for the president and this country but also the compromising situation these agents had put themselves in, the potential for blackmail. So they had to be relieved of their duties and sent home. And that scandal in 2012 became a huge problem for the secret service. It also unearthed other problems they were experiencing from what was called a wheels up, rings off approach that they were taking on official overseas travel. So there was a shakeup. The director promised reform, tightened the rule of conduct, drinking while on duty, barring agents from disreputable establishments and assigning chaperones on travel and they replaced that director. They brought in someone new to clean up the agency, someone to make sure that nothing like what happened in colombia would ever happen again. The person who was brought in for that job was a secret service lifer with three decade of experience with the agency. Someone who had served on the protective detail for president george h. W. Bush. Julia pierson was her name. The first female ever of the secret service. Her job to restore confidence. She took the job in march of last year. That hardly put an end to the secret services trouble. Every day now, every hour it brings with it a new troubling revelation, but what we already know about the secret service is worrisome enough. A man wearing a cartoon pikachu hat and carrying a stuffed doll of the pokemon character hopped the fence at the white house. He was stopped by secret service. Then a week later secret Service Agents allowed an armed man with a criminal record to ride in an elevator with the president. He aroudzed the agents concerns when he wouldnt stop taking video of the president despite being ordered by the agents not to. He had a gun on him in the elevator with the president. A gun. A man jumped the fence and this time made it all the way into the white house. It turns out he was armed with a knife. There were initial reports that he only made it to the portico of the white house. Those reports were wrong. He made it all the way into the white house. He made it through the unlocked front door, into the white house where he ran freely past a staircase leading to the private quarters of the president and his family, all the way to the back of the building where he was finally tackled by a secret service agent, an off duty agent who happened to be in the right place at the right time to make that tackle and stop that intruder. It is that incident that put the problems o the secret service, serious enough to Bring Congress back to hold hearings on this issue. Yesterday as part of those hearings they hauled in Julia Pierson to answer for it. Needless to say, it didnt go very well for her. Congressman Elijah Cummings spoke with Kristen Welker after it. Do you still have confidence in the director of the secret service . I have to tell you, my confidence is eroded. One of the things that bothered me, for example, small things like when the report was first issued with regard to this most recent incident. Theres nothing in that report that even mentions the knife, the weapon, i mean, its small things. And what those things do, when things like that happen, it erodes trust. So after that hearing yesterday, it wasnt a huge surprise today that Julia Pierson handed in her resignation. Homeland security secretary jay johnson announced today that shes stepping down. In a press release he thanked her for her 30 years of service and announced he was appointing an acting director for the service to head the agency on an interim basis. Joseph clancy is his name. Hell lead the agency while an Ongoing Investigation into the fence jumping incident is still under way. A review of that inquiry is said to be submitted a month from now. In the meantime, the president and his family are at home tonight at the white house. Given what weve learn in the past month, what confidence can we have that this resignation of Julia Pierson will make a difference . Secret service after all has tried this before. Just last year. Its why she got her job in first place. There clearly seem to be bigger problems at the agency. How will they really fix this . Joining us now is congressman Jerry Connolly of virginia, hes a member of the oversight reform committee. Thanks for being here tonight. Great to be with you. So apparently Julia Pierson is citing that difficult hearing she had before your committee yesterday saying it was a difficult hearing for her. What specifically did you hear from her yesterday or did you not hear from her yesterday that you consider particularly troubling . First of all, i want to say, i think shows a very committed person. Shes got a 31year career. Shes put herself on the line. And i think shes a dedicated public servant. Having said all of that, im not sure shes the right person for leading the agency in a time of crisis. She gave no evidence whatsoever of a sort of anger and outrage over whats happened. She conveyed nothing but a flat monotone kind of approach to every issue that was addressed. In public and closed session frankly she failed to reveal the incident down in atlanta where an armed individual got on an elevator with the president of the United States. Thats just a jaw dropping development and she never mentioned it. That was maybe the coup de grace for her. When you withhold information inadvertently or deliberately from congress when youre under oath at a hearing, you are committing a very serious event thats bound to erode confidence. I understand why you were so upset with her testimony yesterday. But when you look at that intro that we just put together there, the reason she has her job in the first place was this scandal, this embarrassment, what happened with the secret service in colombia two years ago. She has that job because of what happened. Time to put somebody in there to clean all this up. Now shes losing her job because of another scandal, another huge embarrassment, risk that the secret service is expose the president to. Is there any confidence that this will change . No, i think youre asking exactly the right question. Weve got the look at the whole culture. Weve got to look at the structure and the mission of the agency. Weve got the look at how personnel are distributed throughout the agency. Weve got to look at clarity of mission. If you go on their website, you see kind of a mishmash of missions. And protection of the president , first family and other elected leaders of the government is grafted on to their original mission on their own website. I think things the have evolved. I think we have to be very careful in looking at what is it we want the secret service to be doing. What is the priority for them . And i would argue protection and related investigations with respect to that protection frankly trumps counterfeit missions and other missions of their past. Has something gone wrong in the secret service in the past years that make these lapses and breakdowns more frequent, glaring or is this going on for years and were just finding out about right now . Its awfully hard to tell. I think youve got 1300 men and women who are willing to put their bodies in the line of fire willing to protect the officials that are hard to guard, we honor that and weve seen that in many, many situations. All too many frankly in my lifetime. But having said that, theres a management structure, theres a culture that has led to its own very slip shod methods that has allowed some behavior that is clearly not acceptable, not appropriate and has, by doing that, frankly, put the protection of their charges at risk. How safe is the president right now . Im sorry . How safe is the president right now . Well, had mr. Gonzalez had a different kind of weapon, a gun or semiautomatic and managed to get through to the white house the way he did and had the first family been in the white house, i would have to say to you they werent very safe at all. We cannot rest easy that just with a change in management the first family is safe and secure tonight. I am very concerned as are my colleague on both sides of the ail because these incidents have eroded confidence in the confidence of the secret service to fulfill its mission. Congressman Gerry Connolly from virginia, appreciate you taking the time tonight. My pleasure. More ahead including what happened to the issue that republicans were going say they were going to run on. Also some Game Changing news about the race that will decide who will control the senate and a best new thing. Ever since darryls wife started using gain flings, their laundry smells more amazing than ever. sniff honey, isnt that the dogs towel . dog noise hey, mi towel, su towel. More scent plus oxi boost and febreze. Its our best gain ever introducing new listerine® healthy white™. It not only safely whitens teeth, but also restores enamel. Lose the nerves, and get a healthier, whiter smile that youll love. Listerine® healthy white™. Republicans entered this election cycle determined to do exactly what they did in the last Midterm Election back in 2010, they were going to run against obama care. They were calling it the number one issue in the country. And for them, 2014 was going to be all about obama care all the time. Obama care, of course, was passed only by democrats only with their votes. It was signed by a democratic president. Then a year ago today, exactly a year ago today, october 1th, 2013, the federal website for buying into obama care officially opened. And then it crashed about and then it kept crashing. Hhs secretary Kathleen Sebelius got hauled before congress to try to explain what was going wrong. Eventually she ended up resigning. The rollout of obama care last year at this time was absolutely disastrous. Republicans saw it as their clearest path to victory in 2014. They were going to run against obama care. They were going to run against the botched rollout of obama care all the way to november 2014 and another big victory. Today one year after that rollout and one month before the 2014 midterms the Republican Party did release an ad that seemed to celebrate their own campaign. Hello, im the private sector. And im obama care. I know you had a tough year. So i got you something for your anniversary. Obama care. What are you doing . Im crushing democrat campaigns. But if that feels like republicans are just going through the motions there with that ad, well, they pretty much are because heres one of the secrets of the 2014 campaign, for all their bluster a year ago republicans really havent been saying much about obama care for months now. Bloomberg news reported this summer that republican antiobama care ads were drying up in key battleground states. In fact, i think we actually have a slide show for this. Dim the lights for dramatic effect. All right, here we go. First slide. Please. There it is. The top five issue ads in North Carolina as of six months ago, april 2014, the ones against obama care accounted for 54 , more than half of the ads airing in North Carolina. Now, lets look at the next slide. By july, the antiobama care ads were down to 27 . They had fallen in half. And during that time, moving to the next slide, we got these numbers showing the percentage of people going without Health Insurance in this country had dropped. It was dropping dramatically. You can see there where the president signed obama care and where we are today. Now, the next slide. Turns out ta even though obama care had a truly awful beginning last fall, lots of people ended up signing up anyway. Roughly 8 million of them. It appears that most of those people are sticking around and theyre paying their premium. Next slide. So that is actually im not sure is that a walrus or a seal or anyway, if you enjoy walruses or seals, enjoy that, but here is something that is about obama care. He posted this chart at the new republic. Youre looking at what the Congressional Budget Office expects the government to spend on health care over time. And on the left you can see that calculation from when obama care was signed. In the middle that rises the calculation before octobers disastrous rollout, on the right you can see the calculation now. The Affordable Care act is costing less than we expected and it could actually end up reducing the deficit. So thats the story. Millions of people signed up. It didnt break the bank. And that ferocious 2014 Republican Campaign against obama care, well it kind of fizzled out before it even started. That is the story of this big year, this first year in obama care. So youving following the fight for control of the senate then you know the most unlikely battleground this fall is in kansas. Thats where pat roberts is up for reelection. That shouldnt be a big deal. After all hes a republican and this is kansas where no republican has lost a senate race in 82 years now, not since 1932. Also roberts was running against two people at once, a democrat and an independent, two opponents who looked like they were going to split the antiroberts vote and guarantee a roberts victory. It looked very simple. But then a few weeks ago, the democrat suddenly dropped out of the race and asked that his name be taken off the ballot. That put pat roberts, it put him in big trouble because a one on one race is a lot different than a three on one race. Now the latest twist in the drama. The attempt by the republican secretary of state in kansas to force the democrats to put a new candidates name on the ballot even though democrats dont want to. That effort today officially failed in court. Unanimous ruling by a threejudge panel a court ruled that the democrats do not need to provide a nominee for the u. S. Senate race. While this might not be the end of this matter could be appealed. For the time being it looks like it probably puts an end to this legal matter. The ballots will be printed, theyll have pat roberts, theyll have an independent candidates name on them, greg orman, and they will not have a democrats name on them. If thats the case, the race is between roberts and orman only. We j also say today that greg orman is the frontrunner. The new poll has imup by five points. It does an average of all the polls conducted in every race. In their average which includes todays poll shows that greg orman is ahead of pat roberts by five or six points. In other words, greg orman is in the lead in kansas. While we dont know which party hell caucus with if he does win this race, democrats are betting that he will be with them if they need him. The path to knocking off a republican in kansas, of all places, just got a little bit easier. And if they can win a seat in kansas, surely that means theyre going to hang on to the senate this fall. Or will it . Because the other story this week about the senate take to us the state of iowa, democrats have been waiting all year for republican candidates from the senate to do what they did in 2010, to do what they did in 2012 to say politically reckless things to make them lose unlosable elections. You know how this works. Its a legitimate rape, the female bodies has ways to try to shut that whole thing down. But lets assume that maybe that didnt work or something. There should be some punishment but the punishment should be on the rapist and not attacking the child. Im not a witch. Im nothing youve heard. Im you. The only exception i have for to have an abortion is in that case the life of the mother. I struggled with it myself for a long time but i came to realize that life is that gift from god and i think even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape that it is something that god intended to happen. Do you believe that being gay is a choice . I do. Based on what . Based on what . Why do you believe that . You can choose who your partner is. You dont think its something thats determined at birth . I think that birth has an influence over it like alcoholism and some other things. Why should you vote for me . Because i do not wear high heels. Those are all races that republicans should have won in 2010, should have won in to 12 and all races that they lost, they blew it because of comments like that. This year democrats have been waiting all year for one of those moments. For another one of those moments wondering which republican candidate will step up in 2014 and do the same thing and blow an election that republicans shouldnt lose. The surprise twist in all this is that the candidate who did that this year probably isnt a republican, its a democrat. Its bruce braley. Hes running for a republican seat. Democrats have to keep that seat if theyre going to hang on in the senate. Bruce braley was caught on tape months ago talking to a group of lawyers trying to raise money from them. He didnt seem to thing anyone was paying attention, didnt seem to think anyone was videotaping it. He made disparaging remarks about farmers and the senior senator from iowa, Chuck Grassley. Take a listen. To put this in stark contrast, if you help me win this race, you may have someone with your background, your experience, your voice, someone who has been literally fighting tort reform for 30 years in a visible and public way on the Senate Judiciary committee or you might have a farmer from iowa who never went to law school, never practiced law, serving as the next chair of the Senate Judiciary committee because if democrats lose the majority, Chuck Grassley will be the next chair of the Senate Judiciary committee. Says the democratic candidate for senator in iowa, bruce braly that he did not want Chuck Grassley to be the chair because he doesnt want a farmer to chair the committee. It has been likened to the 47 tape of mitt romney. Where he gave this impression with a significant chunk of iowa voters that bruce braley doesnt care about them. This has been a huge issue in iowa. That became pretty clear this past weekend because the Des Moines Register released their poll. This is considered the absolute Gold Standard of polling in iowa. Its usually spot on. The poll came out late saturday night. It caused shockwaves because it put republican candidate joanie ernst ahead six points ahead of bruce braley. This was a stunner as far as polling goes. Take a look at the real clear politics average, ernst is ahead almost a threepoint lead for joni ernst in the polling average. Braley is doing badly specifically with rural voters. Only 15 support him compared with 58 for ernst. One poll responded. A selfidentified democrat who grows vegetables for a living in rural iowa told the register, quote, i think he has an attitude about the voters and life in general which was indicated by what he said about Chuck Grassley. He thinks he knows better than us. Thats a democrat talking. And the thing is, its not like the republican candidate hasnt said her share of supercontroversial things. Shes talked about the minimum wage, about supporting personhood, about impeaching the president. She said a lot of the things that democrats thought they needed republican candidates say to beat republican candidates. What the most recent polling is telling us that none of what she is saying or what she has said on those issues is breaking through because of what bruce braley said. Because of this, this is giving her an opportunity to win this race. Winner of the politically suicidal comment of 2014. At least at this point in the 2014 race looks like it might be a democrat. Democrats are catching a huge break in kansas right now, but even with that huge break, right now their candidate in iowa could be costing the party a seat that it dearly needs to win. And if it cant win that seat, it could cost them control of the u. S. Senate. Joining us now to talk about the week in the Senate Battle is casey hunt. Great to have you with us here. So i want to get to kansas and iowa, two very different stories, but lets start in kansas wa this news today. We now have a twoway race, greg orman, pat roberts. Were looking at this polling that shows him as a frontrunner. It is safe to say orman is the frontrunner in this race right now . The poll that came out today as you point out suggests that. Everyone im talking to behind the scenes is saying that their internal polling is saying that it is actually difficult to see a situation where roberts makes this a really close race. This is changing moment by moment. The Roberts Campaign is now fully engaged. For orman, its a little bit of a race against time. Theres a little bit of a to go against the conventional wisdom of this Third Party Candidate dropping out or excuse me the democrat dropping out of the race, there is a sense among some independents that i talked to when i was in kansas, setting this up as a one versus one makes it easier for Roberts Campaign to identify against orman. Hes somebody that would operate outside the system of washington, d. C. As we know it. I mean, thats kind of his pitch to voters. Thats clearly whats resonating with voters on the ground. The other thing is theres an interesting potential backlash going on with the tea party in kansas. They supported milton wolf when he was running in his primary against pat roberts. Theres some suggestions that the tea party is making some demands of the Roberts Campaign. If they were to sit this out, that could also dramatically change the dynamics in kansas. I want to move on to iowa here because the democrats have to thread a very difficult needle here. Its doable. But if they want to keep control of the senate, you got to get orman over the top. Then you got hold on to iowa, too. This poll from the Des Moines Register was such a revelation to me, specifically looking at the lack of support for bruce braley after that videotape thats been getting a lot of coverage out there. You thing of tom harkin with all his populist appeal has appealed to farmers, bruce braley not benefiting from that. Joni ernst is one of the most conservative republican candidates running in a battleground race this year. A lot of opportunities for democrats to go after her on these issues we mentioned. Right now being overshadowed by this video. What can bruce bayly do, what can democrats do to save this seat . You sort of hit it right on the head. To a certain extent braley has a personality problem. Part of why democrats arent succeeding in taggy ernst with this long list of overly conservative issues is because her personality comes across completely contrary to that. If you take a look at the debate they held earlier this month, braley came across kind of on the defensive. Ernst, while she continued with those that democrats are trying to hit her on still came across strong, shes grown as a candidate. Sort of learning how to deal with the potential pitfalls of being on such a national stage. I think what democrats need to do at this point youre starting to see from the braley campaign an effort to make sure that the outside money doesnt write this race off. Theyre trying to make sure that people are aware that their own polling shows him sort of in a closer race. And i think that thats where the real danger zone is for braley. If you see these outside groups that have really decided that iowa is the place they need to save the senate start to bail on braley, thats a sign that hes really in trouble. Casey hunt, appreciate the the year was 1985, new coke was introduced and then yanked. Nintendo released supermario brothers. The loafer was the big trend apparently in male footwear. Big puffy shoulder pads were all the rage among women. 1985 was a great year. It was also a very, very long time ago. Then something happened today well really, really early today that hasnt happened since 1985, it hasnt happened in 29 years. It happened today, it is awesome. It does not involve a return to new coke. [ female announcer ] we lowered her fever. You raise her spirits. We tackled your shoulder pain. You make him rookie of the year. We took care of your cold symptoms. You take him on an adventure. Tylenol® has been the number 1 doctor recommended brand of pain reliever for over 20 years. But for everything we do, we know you do so much more. Tylenol®. There is no place in the world, i will suggest to you, that has better professionals, better ability to address this than in texas. We wish it were somewhere else. But the fact is its here. Governor rick perry of texas this morning just one day after a man in dallas became the first person in the United States to be diagnosed with the ebola virus, which has taken the lives of 3,000 people in west africa since the current outbreak began. The patient left liberia on september 19th to visit his sister in dallas. He arrived there the next day on the 20th. Began feeling sick on the 24th. He went to the hospital two days later on the 26th, but he was then sent home. Another two days later on the 28th this past sunday he called for an ambulance. He was taken to Texas Health Presbyterian hospital and this time he was put in isolation and hes been in isolation ever since. Last night he was diagnosed with the ebola virus. Right now hes in serious condition. Today we learned a little bit more about who he is. His name is Thomas Eric Duncan. Hes a Liberian National who lives in monrovia. Thats the capital of liberia. We also know how he may have contracted ebola. The New York Times reporting four days before he left monrovia, the daughter of duncans landlord became very sick. Duncan and the womans brother helped to take her to the hospital where she later passed away. The womans brother also passed away. Four days after he helped the woman get to the hospital, duncan boarded that plane out of liberia. He was screened for ebola symptoms which is the standard protocol for all leaving the country since the outbreak began. Since he was exhibiting no outward symptoms of the disease, he was cleared to board. Ebola isnt contagious unless the infected person is exhibiting symptoms. Health Officials Say they arent concerned about anyone that might have flown on that plane with duncan, then to brussels, to washington, d. C. Then to dallas. But today we learned that a team of federal Health Officials is tracking anyone who came in close contact with duncan after he began experiencing symptoms on the 24th. Health officials have identified 12 to 18 people that came in close contact with him. Theyll be keeping tabs on them. If any of those 12 to 18 people do become sick, theyll need to be isolated immediately. Of those 12 to 18 people we know that three are members of the ambulance crew that transported him to the hospital on sunday. Five of them are school children. Thus far no one else has begun to show symptoms. Those five students attended four different schools which will remain open, the New York Times report, but theyll be thoroughly cleaned as a precaution. Today we learned why he was sent home after his initial trip to the hospital on the 26th. It was due to a breakdown in hospital staff communication. During an initial hospital visit, a nurse asked duncan whether hed been to any part of west africa recently. Duncan confirmed that he had. But a hospital official said that his answer, quote, was not fully communicated to the highers up on the medical team. So duncan was diagnosed with a low risk infection, basically the common cold, and was sent home with antibiotics. It wasnt until he was brought three members are from the ambulance crew. Five are schoolchildren. Thus far, no one else has begun to show symptoms. Today we also learned why Thomas Eric Duncan was sent home after his initial trip to the hospital on the 26th. It was due to a breakdown in hospital staff communication. During the initial hospital visit, he was asked if he was in is it wrong to be a little worried, maybe even a little pooniced about whether our Health Care System is ready to handle something thats been so destructive halfway across the world. Join ugh us a prof sor in the school of health. Lets begin with the patient and the status of the 12 to 1 people he came in contact with. Do we know anything more tonight about that . So the hospital us earlier today that his situation previously was critical. Now theyre saying its serious and stable. We also learned today a new development. He actually went to the hospital the day after he landed sorry, five days after he landed. Thursday evening, just after 10 00 p. M. Was when he first went to the hospital and thats when he told them that crucial information that he had traveled to west africa and that he had a lowgrade fever and abdominal pain. As more information about this becomes forthcoming it gets a bit more confusing. The hospital said he was sent home because they thought he had a lowgrade viral disease. But he was sent home with antibiotics. So that doesnt totally make sense. Were starting to get more information there. Cdc is now here working with local public Health Officials. They said about 18 people had contact with him while he was infectious and theyre closely watching those people for any fever or other signs of ebola. We are hearing officially as we said there, that the chances of a fullfledged outbreak here in the United States are very, very low, that we are equipped to handle this. At the same time, senator rand paul from kentucky made some news today. Basically saying that he thinks this might be a lot more transmisable than officials are saying. And a little bit more worry might be called for. I wonder what you make of that question, how worried we should be about this. I understand the case being made here about why we are equipped to handle this. At the same time, i was under the impression ebola wasnt going to get here and now it is here. Well, actually, experts ive been talking to for a few months as this outbreak became bigger and bigger in west africa, they just said its a matter of probabilities. Its inevitable given the scale of the outbreak, given how much we travel internationally, there will probably be a few cases here, maybe in the united kingdom, other parts of the world. This isnt necessarily a surprise of those on frontlines of this epidemic. And what were thinking and what public Health Officials are saying is that theres unlikely to be much spread from this one case because the situation here is so different from west africa. We have a robust Health Care System. We have a Public Health system thats trained to deal with incidents like this. All right, seema yasmin in dallas, thanks for your time tonight. Appreciate that. The best new thing in the world. Its been a long time coming. All right, best new thing in the world. Its a celebration for a long suffering sports fan base. Today is october 1. Anybody who grew up watching or listening to baseball know what is that means. It means playoff baseball. Rachel isnt here so we cant commiserate about the, just add water instant sadness thats been the Boston Red Sox season, but that doesnt matter tonight because tonight is not about the red sox, the yankees, the dodger, the pirates, not about any of them. Tonight, its all about the Kansas City Royals who have not made the baseball playoffs since the year 1985. This past july, they were eight games back in their division. They were limping towards the end of what looked like another disappointing season. And then something happened. The warriors went on a tear to finish the summer. At one point they won 14 out of 16 games. That streak propelled them into the playoffs. But only a onegame playoff. A doordie playoff game last night against the oakland as with the winner moving on to the main event. Kansas city took an early lead. They went up 32. Then they blew that lead in the sixth inning and oakland stormed ahead 73. But the royals rallied back, tying it up in the bottom of the ninth. The two teams stay deadlocked into the 12th inning when oakland took the lead again it was looking grim for kansas city. But in home half of that inning, kansas citys catcher stepped up to the plate and just watch. Now looking for a twoout hit. Thats through, into left field the Kansas City Royals are west baltimoring off into the nlds listen to that crowd. A gamewinning walkoff hit for a catcher who went 05 before that. In the bottom of the 12th inning after being down 73. After being eight games behind in the middle of the summer. After missing the playoffs for nearly 30 straight year, you couldnt write a better storybook finish for a fan base thats had to watch one of the worst teams in baseball since 1985. In fact, since 1990, the royals have finished dead last in their division 11 times. Even mlb. Com was caught offguard last night. Accidently posting this ted headline during the game. The royals left feeling blue after rally comes up short. This is baseballs version of dewey defeats truman. To be a Kansas City Sports fan right now is sort of like living in an alternate reality. On monday night, the Kansas City Chiefs Football Team absolutely destroyed the new england patriots. 4114. Its only week four. A long nfl season. Its a crazy nfl, but it was still an epic beatdown. Today the men of sporting kansas city. Thats the mls soccer team, today they were honored at the white house for their mls cup victory this past season. And then theres the Kansas City Royals. The royals who made an entire city leap for joy in the wee hours of this morning to cheer on a team that hasnt played october baseball in 29 years. Being a Kansas City Sports fan is truly the best new thing in the world today. And its been a long time since anybody could say that. That does it for us tonight. Rachel should be back tomorrow. Ill see you this weekend on my show. Ill see you this weekend on my show up. Up next, first look. Good thursday morning. Right now on first look, parents are removing kids from schools, and the cdc has a tenperson task force investigating ebola in texas as concerns mount. Another major health concern, enter row virus, now in 42 states and the district of columbia. Leaks coming from the ferguson grand jury in the Michael Brown case. A couple of bungling beer bandits. A new baby for ashton and mila of. Good morning frngs im angie goff, ebola emergency, the rac