California Residents Clean Up After Moderate Quake; Reid Apologizes for 'Negro' Remark
NGUYEN: A little old school for you this morning, with Run DMC. Hard times is what they are talking about and a lot of people are feeling it right now. We want to talk about budget cuts on a mass scale. And it can get kind of abstract, but it is a different story when you start putting faces on those affected.</s>HOLMES: Our Kate Bolduan takes us to Frederick County, Maryland where state budget cuts are hitting the most vulnerable.</s>KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Four-year-old Carson Brewster has a rare chromosomal disorder. Her mother, Michelle, left a contracting job four years ago to care for Carson full time.</s>MICHELLE BREWSTER, MOTHER: She can't care for herself. You know, we have to change her clothes, she gets food -- fed through a tube. She's got over 22 doctors, so -</s>BOLDUAN (On camera): 22 doctors?</s>BREWSTER: Yeah.</s>BOLDUAN (voice over): With $13,000 in out-of-pocket medical expenses last year alone, Brewster says supplemental funds from the State of Maryland have been essential to her family's financial survival for years. But the economy has struck even this vulnerable segment of the population, faced with a $700-million budget shortfall, Maryland cut nearly $30 million from the state's Development Disabilities Administration.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's OK.</s>BOLDUAN: For the Brewster's that means painful decisions. The extra help for things like diapers, medication and physical therapy dropped from $2,500 to just $300. (</s>On camera): What does that really mean for you guys?</s>BREWSTER: A struggle. A struggle to figure out how we are going to help our - you know, how to help our daughter, and make sure we have the money to make sure our other children get it, too. Me and my husband, we can wait. Our kids can't. And that's what it is all about.</s>BOLDUAN (voice over): Outraged by the state' action, advocates for the developmentally disabled launched a statewide campaign, holding town halls to fight the budget cut.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't think people realize how this can totally devastate your family.</s>BOLDUAN: State officials say they understand, especially in this sluggish economy. Every cut hurts someone, but they defend the governor's budget decision.</s>CATHERIN RAGGIO, SECRETARY, MARYLAND DEPT. OF DISABILITIES: He was able to protect services for people with disabilities throughout most of the budget cutting rounds. But the choices are getting much more difficult to make. It is not easy anymore.</s>BOLDUAN: And not easy for states across the country. A recent report by the Pew Center suggests states' budget troubles are having far reaching impact on residents.</s>SUSAN URAHN, PEW CENTER ON THE STATES: As the states face increasingly severe budget troubles, the public is definitely going to feel it. They will pay more taxes, they will pay higher fees.</s>BOLDUAN: With the $2-billion budget shortfall projected in Maryland for 2011, Brewster says she has no idea what is in store for her family's financial future. She only hopes more cuts aren't on the horizon for her daughter, and so many others.</s>BREWSTER: They didn't ask to be disabled. We are not asking for hands out, we are just asking for a little bit of help, that's it.</s>BOLDUAN: Kate Bolduan, CNN, Frederick County, Maryland.</s>HOLMES: And the president is talking health care reform in his weekly message to the nation.</s>NGUYEN: Yes, he is emphasizing the changes to insurance plans. And here's part of that message.</s>BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Insurance plans will be required to offer free preventive care to their customers, so that we can start catching preventable illnesses and diseases on the front end. They will no longer be allowed to impose restrictive annual limits on the amount of coverage you receive, or lifetime limits on the amount of benefits you receive. They will be prohibited from dropping your coverage when you get sick and need it most. And there will be a new independent appeals process for anyone who feels they were unfairly denied a claim by their insurance company. In short, once I sign health insurance reform into law, doctors and patients will have more control over their health care decisions. And insurance company bureaucrats will have less. All told, these changes represent the most sweeping reforms and toughest restrictions on insurance companies that this country has ever known. That's how we'll make 2010 a healthier and more secure year for every American, for those who have health insurance, and those who don't.</s>NGUYEN: President Obama says reform will mean the cost for health care will come down for families, businesses and government.</s>HOLMES: Hello, there everybody. From the CNN Center in Atlanta, Georgia, this is CNN SUNDAY MORNING for January 10th. I'm T.J. Holmes.</s>NGUYEN: Good morning everybody. I'm Betty Nguyen. Thanks so much for joining us. It is 7:00 a.m. here in the East, 4:00 a.m. in Eureka, California, where there are rattled nerves, broken glass and power outages. After what you are seeing right there, the result of a 6.5 earthquake that hit last night. We'll have an update as people start taking stock of all the damage.</s>HOLMES: Well, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is in the middle of a big mess this morning. And we're not talking about health care reform. He is apologizing to the president after a new book revealed Reid's -- some would say -- stunning comments about then-candidate Obama. Among the quotes, he says that the president lacked, and I'm quoting here, "a Negro dialect unless he wanted to have one." His point here was that candidate Obama was more electable because of that and some other things that we'll be getting into. We'll get reactions with both sides of the political aisle -- coming up. And we do want to talk more about that earthquake. First, crews are working right now to restore power to thousands of people near Eureka. There were no serious injuries reported from the 6.5 magnitude quake. A lot of people were understandably shaken, though. The quake was followed by several aftershocks, the biggest was 4.5. So, these are fairly some significant shaking going on here. One of our iReporters sent some pictures of what happened. We're hearing also some -- reports of isolated water line breaks and some downed power lines and broken windows. Now, of course, that's a lot of stuff -- it takes a lot to get the stuff off the shelves, but there was some serious shaking going on there. Again, tens of thousands of people are without power and they're working to get that back on right now.</s>NGUYEN: Well, the CIA is vowing not to let the brutal murders of seven of its agents in Afghanistan derail them from their mission, and that is stopping al Qaeda. A video released yesterday shows the double-agent believed to be behind the attack vowing revenge for the killing of a Taliban leader. Hammam al-Balawi said his faith was not for sale, which raises questions as to how well the CIA can penetrate militant groups. In an editorial in "The Washington Post," CIA director, Leon Panetta, said, quote, "The CIA cannot speak publicly about its major victories -- the plots foiled, the terrorists neutralized. In the past year, we have done exceptionally heavy damage to al Qaeda and its associates. That is why the extremists hit back. And it is all the more reason why we intend to stay on the offensive."</s>HOLMES: And a whole new story of Vermont this morning, where a man, his daughter who's in her 20s and granddaughter, who was 3-years- old, were all killed when their snowmobiles broke through frozen ice. Well, this is a lake essentially and you can never really tell how thick this stuff is. But there were six people riding altogether on three snowmobiles. All the snowmobiles apparently broke through the ice, but three were killed. The other three survived. Now, officials say here that it is not clear exactly how thick that ice was at the time. Also, other snowmobiles had actually traveled over that same area near Salisbury before that accident. On a similar note, here in Georgia, two teens dead after they fell through the ice into a semi-frozen pond. The third boy had to be hospitalized. Rescuers said he was able to pull himself from the water. His friends, though, got trapped under the ice for nearly an hour. We turn to a story that is going to be another political football here, another political controversy. Democrats, their top guy in the Senate, Harry Reid of Nevada, he is now in a bit of trouble over some comments he made.</s>NGUYEN: Yes, the Senate majority leader is apologizing for making racially insensitive remarks about Barack Obama during the presidential campaign. Authors of the book "Game Change" are coming out -- or at least that book is coming out on Tuesday and its authors have quoted Reid as saying privately that Obama could be successful, thanks in part to his, quote, "light skin appearance and speaking patterns with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one," end quote. Now, in a statement to CNN, Reid said, quote, "I deeply regret using such a poor choice of words. I sincerely apologize for offending any and all Americans, especially African-Americans for my improper comments." As you would expect, Reid is getting criticism for a lot of folks these days in regards to that, and some, in fact, who want to replace him in the Senate.</s>SUE LOWDEN (R), NEVADA SENATE CANDIDATE: It's a pattern of bad judgment. Remarks that Senator Reid has made over the years, including the war is lost when our sons and daughters were over in Iraq fighting the war, including saying if you don't like the health care bill, then you must be a proponent of slavery. These are a series of remarks that the senator has made, not just one or two times, but many times. And it's just bad judgment on his part.</s>NGUYEN: Well, President Obama responded issuing this statement: "Harry Reid called me today and apologized for an unfortunate comment reported today. I accepted Harry's apology without question because I've known him for years. I've seen the passionate leadership he's shown on issues of social justice and I know what is in his heart. As far as I'm concerned, the book is closed." What has been a week of damage control on Capitol Hill, but this morning, the headlines belong, as you can expect, to Majority Leader Harry Reid. And that is the first topic, but not the only one that I'm about to speak with our guests this morning. Maria Cardona, a prominent Democratic strategist who served as the senior adviser to the Hillary Clinton campaign for president. And she joins us from Washington -- as does Leslie Sanchez, a Republican strategist and former adviser to President George W. Bush. Leslie, let me start with you. How damaging is this, Harry Reid's comments?</s>LESLIE SANCHEZ, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: It's tremendously impactful, more so because he's in a very competitive race in Nevada. He really is unpopular because of his support of the health care plan. You have a lot of Nevada voters who don't want that to pass. But on top of that, it's really tired, old rhetoric that has come from the left. And it's a -- it's going to be interesting to see if the Democrats push back as severely as they should. If this were on the Republican side, I think there would be a lot of hypocrisy, calling for resignation and to step down, especially in terms of leadership. But it's critical -- I think the president's response is very good. But will it ease the pain? It's tremendously hurtful to many in the ethnic communities.</s>NGUYEN: Yes. And you call it tired, old rhetoric. But, Maria, a lot of people are saying, "Look, in this day and time, very surprised that Reid would make such comment."</s>MARIA CARDONA, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Yes, absolutely. And I think it is a completely unacceptable comment, completely idiotic and unfortunate. And I think it goes to show you that even the smartest people, sometimes their brains take leaves of absence. And this is what happened in this case. He did apologize very quick, very directly, very aggressively. He called all the leaders in the African-American community, which was the right thing to do. The president accepted his apology without question. I think you have to take a look at his records to really take a look at what is in his heart to the president's comments. And I think, in terms of his election, sure, it doesn't help. He's got a tough re-election, but I think that the voters are going to ultimately look at his record and what he has been able to deliver for Nevada, which, frankly, has been a good record. And I think, if he delivers health care reform, that is going to be an absolute plus for the voters of Nevada.</s>NGUYEN: Yes, I want you to weigh in, Leslie, because...</s>SANCHEZ: Yes, I was going to say, it would be a nail in the coffin.</s>NGUYEN: That's exactly my question. It was just a nail in the coffin because he's already in an uphill battle.</s>SANCHEZ: Yes, he's so unpopular in the state. I think if you read his internal polling, he would know that Nevada voters are very skeptical about this health care plan. They don't know what's in it. It's being passed in secrecy and it's really affected his popularity and his ability to look like a strong candidate, a strong incumbent in his state. It's the sentiment of the American public. Republican, Democrat, independent are very frustrated especially with this bill. But this does not help his case at all. It was very hurtful what he said. And people will think of it and will look at it in the context of his career and past statements that he's made.</s>NGUYEN: But how much weight does the president's comment -- and all of them have come out very quickly ahead of the book's release to try to do some damage control -- how much weight does the president's comments weigh into all of this?</s>CARDONA: I think -- I think a lot because, clearly, that -- the comments -- the comments that Harry Reid made were about the president. So, everyone will look to the president to see how he handles this. That's why I think that the president -- the president's statement will do a great deal to close the book as he said in his own statement. And then it will allow Harry Reid to focus on his re-election in terms of issues. He has delivered a lot for Nevada in the years of service that he has been senator. And to back -- going back to health care reform, what the voters of Nevada and I think the voters of the whole country are sick of is how political this has become, the political back and forth. When they look at what health care reform will give them, which is accountability to health insurance companies which is health coverage to the 30 million Americans who don't have it and security to those Americans who do have it, who, tomorrow, the health insurance companies could drop their coverage and they will not be able to do that now with this. That's a plus.</s>NGUYEN: All right. Very quickly, Leslie, I see you're shaking your head. I got to give you the last word on this. Go ahead.</s>SANCHEZ: No very quickly. You know, this is not a slam dunk in terms of passing this health care reform because there are a lot of unanswered questions. You know, first off, why don't we -- didn't we have the transparency with C-SPAN showing and revealing what these negotiations look like. There's issues of verifying citizenship, issues of raising health care premiums, issues of why did Nebraska get certain benefits that other states didn't. There's a long road to go in terms of getting a compromise, bringing Republicans to the table who are anxious to work with Democrats on this. We do need health care reform, but we need the right health care reform.</s>CARDONA: And we're closer than ever before to getting it.</s>NGUYEN: Well, ladies, I do appreciate you joining us today, and hashing out some of this, whether it would be health care reform or the future for Senator Harry Reid. Thank you both. We appreciate it.</s>SANCHEZ: Thank you.</s>CARDONA: Thank you, Betty.</s>HOLMES: And I have been fascinated by some of the comments. We've been asking you for your comments and your thoughts about what Harry Reid said. And our director,</s>NGUYEN: Yes.</s>HOLMES: Bu a couple I wanted to share which some people say it's idiotic, stupid, I can't believe he did that and so on and so forth. But there are a couple who are taking this a little bit deeper in a different direction. And Douglas Manty (ph) is one of them. And he says, "Can you overcome racism if you can't talk about it? If it was the truth, why shouldn't he say it? And why should he apologize later for having said it? I guess some people think we should just keep pretending." Along those same lines, another from Brick Terry (ph) who says, "Reid's observations were true. I'm sure political strategists thought the same thing but dare not say it. His comments are indicative of what's obvious to most black people -- racism, stereotyping is still prevalent in America." What they are saying with some of the conversations you heard behind the scenes, but nobody wanted to come out and talk about.</s>NGUYEN: Say it publicly.</s>HOLMES: And that is, yes, Obama in a lot of ways, people would say, was non-threatening in a lot of ways. He was a light-skinned, a clean guy. You heard those comments from Joe Biden.</s>NGUYEN: Joe Biden.</s>HOLMES: But nobody wants to come out and say that and be honest about it. And that's what some people here have tapped into.</s>NGUYEN: Those are really good points. But you're also hearing a lot of people saying, you know, I cannot believe in this date and time he would say this. So, quickly, Cass (ph), on my Twitter site, says, "It's pretty amazing America's illness, racism, it is so deeply rooted." And more thing very quickly on my Facebook page that really gets to your point from C. Henry Brown (ph). He says, "You know, it's interesting. We always want people to be open and honest with their thoughts and comments."</s>HOLMES: Yes.</s>NGUYEN: "But the minute you do it and it's something considered to be not politically correct, they come under fire. Believe me, Harry Reid is not alone in his thoughts. If we get offended every time somebody speaks off the cuff, then we need to be honest with our self about our own comments and thoughts." So, a lot of people taking a look at this, stepping back from it and trying to see the root of it, perhaps.</s>HOLMES: Truly offensive to a lot of people, but maybe a conversation that does need to have been had. But, again, it's just a sensitive topic.</s>NGUYEN: It really is and a lot of people are still offended by those comments. So, we still want to hear what you have to say this morning. Send in your comments to us. We'll be reading them on the air. You can go to our Facebook and Twitter sites. Also, to our blog.</s>HOLMES: All right. We're going to turn to our Bonnie Schneider now, keeping an eye -- when we talked about how cold it is, Bonnie, we're not used to talk about Florida.</s>BONNIE SCHNEIDER, CNN METEOROLOGIST: No. We're not used to talking about snow and fleet in Florida. You know, back in 1977, there was snow and sleet across the state. That made the news. Well, it's also going to make the news in 2010, because tonight, temperatures are going to get even colder than where they've been. So, Florida freeze is ahead for tonight, but a warm up is ahead for the country this week. I'll have more coming up.</s>HOLMES: All right. Bonnie, thank you. We'll see you in a second. And what do you get when you add your son with a home-made balloon? You get jail time. You also get to go on "LARRY KING" and explain yourself. We'll tell you what the father is saying now. Is he finally admitting this was a hoax?