Rahm Emanuel to Leave the White House?; Campaign Ads Distorting the Truth
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: -- President Obama's right-hand man, Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, all but certain to be stepping down. Sources say he'll be running for Mayor of Chicago. We've got two of "The Best Political Team on Television" to talk about it, what it means for the White House, Alex Castellanos and Paul Begala weigh in. Also, politicians distorting the truth in hopes of winning your vote; you're going to see which politicians are playing fast and loose with the facts, and how they selectively edit videotape in their commercials to do it. We're "Keeping Them Honest," a Democrat and Republican. And later: Eddie Bernice Johnson, remember her? She is the Democratic lawmaker who steered money that was supposed to help needy kids go to college. She steered it into the pockets of her own relatives. Well, she says she's taken responsibility, but every time she talks about it, she refuses to take the blame or even clearly explain what happened. She's spoken out about it again today. And her story this time is pretty stunning. And tonight: a picture of mayhem in Afghanistan, with civilians killed for sports, body parts kept as souvenirs and troops in fear for their lives if anyone talked. All of that in the hour ahead. But we begin with the breaking news: Rahm Emanuel leaving the White House. Joining me now are Democratic strategist Paul Begala and Republican strategist Alex Castellanos. And we should point out, Alex is currently advising GOP campaigns and Paul of course advises Democratic campaigns. Paul, what about this? Rahm Emanuel leaving, what do you make of it?</s>PAUL BEGALA, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Oh, I think it's highly likely, Anderson. He's talking to some of his close friends. I have to say, I have to disclose I'm one of them. I'm a dear friend of Rahm's. The president, when Rahm leaves -- and I think he's pretty certain to and likely to run for mayor -- the president is going to lose his right arm. The guy -- without Rahm, I don't think we would have health care. And 30 million Americans will have health care because of Rahm. I don't think we would have had the Wall Street reforms, which are going to be tough new rules of the road up there in -- in Wall Street. I don't think we would have had the -- the stimulus package, now pretty unpopular with a lot of Americans, but it saved millions of jobs and probably kept us from going into a Great Depression. This president is an able guy. He'll find more good people to serve him. But Rahm has been the indispensable man in the White House for two years.</s>COOPER: Alex was he a good chief of staff, or has he been a failure?</s>ALEX CASTELLANOS, CNN POLITICAL CONTRIBUTOR: I think he's been a good chief of staff and a moderating influence on the Obama administration. I mean, he's known as a pragmatist, a level-headed guy. And, after all, why wouldn't you want to go be Mayor of Chicago, as opposed to staying in Washington? There's so much more political longevity in Chicago. You can -- you can stay politically active and vote there even after you die. So it's -- it's a great retirement system. But, no, it's going to be interesting now to see who he is replaced with --</s>BEGALA: Yes.</s>CASTELLANOS: -- because if he's replaced with an ideologue, it'll move the administration considerably to the left. If he's replaced with a Panetta or a Podesta, then I think you will see someone of stature go in there. And that will be, again, another leveling influence. But, basically, they need another Rahm.</s>COOPER: Peter -- sorry -- Paul, what about -- I mean, what is going on behind the scenes at the White House? Is there an exodus? I mean, you have David -- David Axelrod are going to be leaving to -- to start to run campaign. We've other -- high-profile people leaving. Summers is leaving. What's going on? I mean, is this just the normal course of events?</s>BEGALA: Yes, absolutely.</s>COOPER: Or is there a cleaning of house?</s>BEGALA: The average tenure for a senior White House official is 18 months. And we're past that 18-month mark already. It's -- it's always the case that at two years, people turn around. And I think it's very good. And it's good for -- for this White House or for any White House. I think this president actually has a terrific team. But there's plenty more people. Even though I said Rahm is the indispensable man, as soon as I said that, I thought of what Charles de Gaulle said about his aides. He said, the graveyards are filled with indispensable men. So, you know, all of us who have served a president do so for just a brief time, and at his pleasure. So --</s>COOPER: I want -- I want to bring in John King, who is on the phone, who broke this story for us. John, what do we know?</s>JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We know that there will be announcements on Friday, Anderson. And we know that Rahm Emanuel has told close friends, I believe, including that guy Paul Begala, who is just being nice to his friend there, and some other senior Democrats inside the White House, obviously, that he's all but certain to run. And the calculation is you don't announce you're running for Mayor of Chicago in a press release or an event at the White House. You resign from the White House, and you go home to Chicago, and you make your announcement there. There are a few things they need to work out, but they already have the shell of a campaign team in place. And it looks like Rahm Emanuel will be gone as early as Friday. The White -- that Pete Rouse, who is a long-time Obama adviser, will step up as the interim chief of staff. And it looks like we'll have quite an interesting race for Mayor of Chicago.</s>COOPER: And any idea, John, about who may become permanent chief of staff?</s>KING: Now, there's been a lot of speculation about that inside the White House, some people who could get boosted up. There's a lot of encouragement coming -- and it would be a good question of Mr. Begala -- from Democrats outside of the White House. So that means some new blood? Maybe the former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle. This has been a relatively insular group, though, so the expectation is they will pick from within. But there's a lot pressure to maybe look outside. And some say they wish they could make this decision after the midterm elections, where the president might have a bit more of a sober view.</s>COOPER: Paul, you want to weigh in that, on who should be it?</s>BEGALA: First off, John's -- no, not who should be it. That's up to the president. John's reporting is very good. It's spot-on, so far as I can discern. And I hate to admit that, because I always like to correct him. And some of the names you hear bandied about include Tom Daschle, as he said, the former Senate majority leader; Tom Donilon, who is one of the top aides on the National Security Council and a veteran Washingtonian. And then the two that that Alex mentioned, before, John Podesta, who was chief of staff, the final chief of staff for President Clinton, and Leon Panetta, who had preceded John by a couple of chiefs of staff now the CIA director. These are able people. We talk about this a lot in Washington all the time. The truth is staff comes and staff goes. As a staffer, I always prided myself in knowing the difference between the organ grinder and the monkey, right? And I was just the monkey. And these staff monkeys come and go.</s>CASTELLANOS: And, Anderson, this is really an important moment, though, for the president, because he's had to deal with an unruly Democratic Congress. You know, it's almost there's nothing worse than success in Washington, and he's had to placate a Congress that is led by Democrats that are really a little farther to the left than the mainstream of the country. That may change in November. We'll wait and see. But, if indeed Republicans do capture the House, the president has a chance here to start over, to start fresh with a new chief of staff that can work with both sides of the aisle. And that -- that will be one of the tests, I think, that people look and see, who does he appoint?</s>COOPER: Alex, Paul, stay with us. We're going to come back to you in just a moment. John King, I appreciate the reporting. Now our "Keeping Them Honest" report: politicians distorting the truth; doing whatever it takes to get your vote. Five weeks away now from the midterm elections and two new campaign ads distort the facts through clever editing. One ad belongs to a Democrat, one to a Republican. We're calling them out tonight because anyone who wants your vote and your trust shouldn't try to get it by insulting your intelligence with trickery. The first ad is by Alan Grayson, a Democrat of Florida, running against Daniel Webster, whom he calls Taliban Dan.</s>REP. ALAN GRAYSON (D), FLORIDA: And I'm Congressman Alan Grayson, and I approve this message.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Religious fanatics try to take away our freedom in Afghanistan, in Iran, and right here in Central Florida.</s>DANIEL WEBSTER (R), FLORIDA CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: Wives, submit yourself to your own husband.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Daniel Webster wants to impose his radical fundamentalism on us.</s>WEBSTER: She should submit to me. That's in the Bible.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Webster tried to deny battered women medical care and the right to divorce their abusers.</s>WEBSTER: Submit to me.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He wants to force raped women to bear the child.</s>WEBSTER: Submit to me.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Taliban Dan Webster, hands off our bodies and our laws.</s>COOPER: Now, labeling your opponent the Taliban is obviously deeply offensive and just flat-out wrong; Taliban stone people to death and murder American troops. Is this really what passes for political discourse today? If a Republican did this to a Democrat, liberals would be outraged. It's a low blow. But what's also false about this ad is the way Congressman Grayson has edited Mr. Webster's statements, repeatedly replaying him and saying, "She should submit to me, submit to me." It sounds all very ominous. We asked the Webster campaign for the context of those statements, and they sent us this video of the full statement Mr. Webster made to a conservative religious group about keeping a journal and writing down verses from the Bible.</s>WEBSTER: Find a verse. I have a verse for my wife. I have verses for my wife. Don't pick the ones that say, "She should submit to me." That's in the Bible. But pick the ones that you're supposed to do. So, instead, that you'd love your wife, even as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it, and as opposed to, wives, submit yourself to yourself to your own husband.</s>COOPER: So, whatever you may think of Mr. Webster and his beliefs and politics, the actual statement he's making is not the ominous command to women portrayed in Grayson's commercial. The other clever editing job is on the Republican side from Ilario Pantano, a North Carolina war veteran.</s>STONE PHILLIPS, NBC ANCHOR: Ilario Pantano described by one superior as having more integrity, dedication and drive than any Marine he's ever met.</s>ANN CURRY, NBC CORRESPONDENT: You served in Gulf I. You got out. You got a big great job, a beautiful wife, and a kid. Then 9/11 happens. You came home. Your hair is shaved off. You're ready to head back into a war zone to help America.</s>ILARIO PANTANO (R), NORTH CAROLINA CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: I'm Ilario Pantano. And I'm ready to head to war a third time, except, this time, it's for the soul of our country, and I need your help to take the Congress back.</s>COOPER: Now, a few problems there. What Stone Phillips said wasn't all that he actually said. The end is cut off. The full line goes like this. "Ilario Pantano, described by one superior as having more integrity, dedication and drive than any Marine he's ever met, but now he's charged with murder." Pantano, you see, was indicted in the murder of two Iraqis. And even though the charges were dropped for lack of evidence, Stone Phillips wasn't exactly praising Lieutenant Pantano in the clip that wound up in his ad, nor was Ann Curry. Her clip was, well, clipped. What she actually said was, "You got a great job. You got a great big job at Goldman Sachs." Apparently, working at Goldman Sachs is something that Mr. Pantano would rather voters not know, for some reason. Back with me now is Paul Begala and Alex Castellanos. So Paul, what about the Democrat Grayson's ad? I mean, his mantra has been to play hardball, but this is the second time in a week Grayson's attack ads have gotten him in trouble.</s>BEGALA: Yes. Well, look, first off, you don't compare another American to the Taliban. I mean, I screamed louder than anybody when Saxby Chambliss, this dirt bag senator from Georgia, became a senator by accusing Max Cleland, who lost three limbs in Vietnam, of lacking courage. And he ran an ad that compared Cleland to Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein. I don't see where this ad is a heck of a lot better. You don't compare somebody to the Taliban. It's nuts. And then you're right. That edit job on that speech was deeply dishonest. You know, I think he can win on the issues, if those votes -- I haven't looked them up -- if the votes he cites are accurate, that's enough to run on. In other words, if the guy did oppose divorce for abused women, that's a pretty important issue. You don't need to gild the lily by misleading edits.</s>COOPER: He -- he -- by the way, there was a covenant marriage proposal that he had submitted in a state Senate that got rejected. And that's where they get that. Alex, what about Pantano's ad? I mean, obviously, the guy has served our country. Why re-edit news clips?</s>CASTELLANOS: It's the wrong thing to do. He shouldn't have done it. He -- he drew attention to the messenger and not to the message. He's got a good story to tell, but now he's brought his own integrity and credibility into question. He shouldn't have it. He can tell his story. I don't know this candidate at all. But, from what I've heard of him, here's a guy who put his life on the line for his country who made a -- you know, dozens of phone calls to parents of kids in his unit to let them know that, hey, they're not coming home. So, he's -- you know, before we condemn this fellow, we should -- we should walk in his shoes for a little bit. But this was just a political mistake. And more campaigns are lost like this by overreaching than are ever won by the people who do it.</s>COOPER: Yes and we're not -- I'm not condemning -- you know, the guy has -- has served and -- and served honorably and stuff, and the charges were -- were dropped for lack of evidence against him. It's just, in a commercial, to make it sound like Stone Phillips is saying one thing, and then he's actually saying something else, just seems kind of odd.</s>CASTELLANOS: Yes, very odd, and especially when what you're trying to sell is your integrity. And when you do have a good story to tell, tell it. Draw attention to it, not to your credibility in telling it. But, in regards to Alan Grayson, Anderson, which I think he is the only congressman legally required to wear a bright red nose when he's on the floor of the House. He is an unusual fellow. Grayson is -- is really the Howard Stern of Congress. And one of the things we're seeing this year is Democrats are running on local issues, and they're running against, you know, the specifics of their opponent, because they can't really run on national issues. They can't say: President Obama endorsed me. I voted for the health care plan. Look what I have done for the economy. Some Democrats are doing it the right way. They're drawing differences, whether on local issues or the things like that. Some Democrats are doing it the wrong way, like Alan Grayson. And, ultimately, again, it's easier to lose an election than to win one. This is a district that voted for Obama. It may swing Republican this year.</s>BEGALA: Here's what I'm looking for in this, though, Anderson. It's going to be interesting. Will these misleading edit jobs by these two candidates, one a Democrat, one a Republican, will it actually hurt them? Hey, Alex and I confidently tell you that it will because all of our vast experience tells us that. We're in a new media age right now, though, Anderson, like I need to tell you, right? Too many Americans, if you ask me, too many voters, especially, use the media like a drunk uses a lamppost, you know, more for support than illumination. They're not interested in really getting the facts or keeping people honest. They're more interested in simply confirming what they already believe.</s>COOPER: Right.</s>BEGALA: And it may be that, in this new media environment, if you're a Republican, you can say anything you want --</s>COOPER: Yes.</s>BEGALA: -- and the Republicans will like you. If you're a Democrat, say -- I hope -- this will be an interesting test case --</s>CASTELLANOS: I don't think so.</s>BEHAR: -- and I hope this -- this -- this works -- or this does not work.</s>CASTELLANOS: I think -- Paul, you know, I think the American people are -- you know, they're still pretty good on juries. There's a reason we trust them. And they're pretty good as voters. And more information, even when some of it is wrong, they still managed to sort it out.</s>COOPER: Yes.</s>CASTELLANOS: You know, what Grayson is doing, he is making a very good case here of why this election is important to Alan Grayson. He's not made a very good case why this is important -- is -- you know, voting for him is important to the voters.</s>COOPER: Guys, I got to run.</s>BEGALA: Well, same as Pantano. Same with Pantano. I mean, the -- if the editing wasn't so dishonest, I would call foul on this line that says, "I'm going to save the soul of America in Congress?" Please. Please. Mr. Pantano, the soul of America is not in Congress, not going to be saved by Congress.</s>COOPER: Paul, Alex --</s>CASTELLANOS: Begala calls Democrat-controlled Congress soulless.</s>COOPER: That's the headline?</s>CASTELLANOS: That's the headline.</s>BEGALA: -- Castellanos defends trial by jury, which is kind of a new thing for Republicans.</s>COOPER: Paul, Alex, appreciate it, guys.</s>BEGALA: Thanks, Anderson.</s>COOPER: Let us know what you think. The live chat is up and running right now at AC360.com. Are these ads just completely dishonest? Does it annoy you? Let us know. Up next: The congresswoman who turned scholarship donations into money for her relatives, we have been following her story. Well, she is speaking out again tonight, and her story keeps changing, and it just keeps making us scratch our heads. We will tell you later why ahead. And later, find out how opponents of a mosque in Tennessee are trying to stop it. They're in the courtroom today. We will find out if their legal strategy will work. Some controversial claims in court about the -- about Islam and terror. We'll talk to that. A lot more ahead. Stay with us.