Harry Reid Apologizes for Racial Remarks; Africa's Lost Children; U.K. Deep Freeze
RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello once again, I'm Randi Kaye in for Don Lemon. Senate Majority Lead Harry Reid has spent his weekend apologizing -- as many of you have heard -- to the president, to civil rights leaders, to just about everybody he can think of. But news of Reid's comments about the president's skin color and lack of quote, "negro dialect" still have Washington talking and of course, many of you. Republicans are piling on, but Democrats including the president are standing by him. Our Kate Bolduan is tracking the story for us in Washington.</s>KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Randi, despite calls for him to step down it doesn't look like Senator Harry Reid plans to go anywhere any time soon. A statement from his spokesman says the Majority Leader will stay in his position and will continue to seek re- election. Reid's spokesman also firing back at Republican critics for, quote, "looking to politicize the issue." Today, though, Republicans were coming out strong; Senator John Cornyn and others calling on Reid to vacate his post. Cornyn call the Majority Leader's comments embarrassing. Republican Party Chairman Michael Steele said the comments were racist, and accused the Democratic Party in reacting to Reid's comments as following a double standard.</s>MICHAEL STEELE, RNC CHAIRMAN: Oh, yes, there's a big double standard here and the thing about it that's interesting is that when Democrats get caught saying racist things, you know, an apology is enough. If that had been Mitch McConnell saying that about an African-American candidate for President of the United States, trust me, this chairman and the DNC would be screaming for his head, very much as they were with Trent Lott.</s>BOLDUAN: Now, Trent Lott, a Republican and former Senate Majority Leader, was forced from his post in 2002 following comments he eventually apologized for that the country would be better off if pro-segregationist presidential candidate Strom Thurmond had won the presidential election decades earlier. But Governor Tim Kaine, the head of the Democratic Party argued today there's no similarity in the two situations. Kaine says the case is closed following Reid's apology and President Obama's acceptance of it.</s>GOV. TIM KAINE, DNC CHAIRMAN: Senator Reid very appropriately, immediately went out and apologized for comments that were insensitive. They were comments made in the context of him praising Senator Obama and supporting his candidacy for president. But still they kind of reflect the thinking of the day going by. The Senator was wise to immediately apologize and the president talked very specifically about how he knows who Senator Reid is and he accepted the apology.</s>BOLDUAN: While conceding Reid's comments were insensitive, Kaine and other Democrats today are really trying to pour cold water on this fire very quickly. Reid is in a very tough re-election fight and the last thing Democrats want right now is to let anything shift the focus from getting health care reform finalized -- Randi.</s>KAYE: All right, thank you, Kate Bolduan for us tonight. There is a lot on the line for Harry Reid, the Democrats and even the president in this controversy. Let's bring in CNN's political editor Mark Preston to talk about all of it and break it down for you. Mark, this certainly is embarrassing for Harry Reid but the real problem doesn't seem to be in Washington for him. It seems to be back home in Nevada with those poll numbers.</s>MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: It really is Randi. Look, this is terribly embarrassing; has been a terrible weekend for Harry Reid. I just got off the phone with his office and as Kate is reporting they are adamant he has no plans to leave his leadership post. He will stay as Majority Leader. Now, the problem is back home in Nevada a new poll has come out this weekend that shows that he has a 52 percent approval rating and he is losing right now, Randi, to three basically unknown Republicans. These are not superstars, heavyweights in Nevada but if he were to run against any three of them he would lose re-election. He is going to spend upwards of $25 million, his office tells us, to win re-election. Harry Reid right now should be very thankful that President Obama came out, Randi and immediately said he accepted his apology but he does have bigger issues back home.</s>KAYE: And a lot of people today coming out swinging against Harry Reid. One of those is Republican Party Chair Michael Steele. Let's play this sound bite from him earlier today on Fox. And we'll talk about it right after.</s>STEELE: The reality of it is this, is that there is this standard where the Democrats feel that they can say these things and they can apologize when it comes from the mouths of their own. But if it comes from anyone else it's racism. It's either racist or it's not and it's inappropriate absolutely. So if the standard is the one that we saw with Trent Lott as speaker, as the leader at the time, then I think this absolutely falls in that category. More than just an apology here, it's a reflection of an attitude. Now remember, this is the same leader who just a few weeks ago was talking about health care in the context of slavery. Clearly, he is out of touch, not only with where America and his district are but where -- how African-Americans generally feel about these issues.</s>KAYE: And Michael Steele, calling for him to step down -- for Harry Reid to step down along with Republican Senator John Cornyn. Mark, what do you make of this call for him to resign?</s>PRESTON: Well Randi, we should expect Michael Steele to go out this morning and ask Harry Reid to step down as well as John Cornyn, the Texas Senator who oversees the campaign operation for Senate Republicans. That is their job. The fact is again, he has no plans of stepping down. But I will tell you right now GOP operatives tonight are putting together quote, "from 2002 when Democratic senators said that Trent Lott should step down." I've been told that over the next couple days expect them to really hammer home and highlight these quotes from these Democratic Senators to try to pressure these senators to do the same with Harry Reid. But for now the Reid camp says he has no plans on stepping down. And quite frankly this is probably not the biggest issue for him to deal with. This is terribly embarrassing. A lot of black leaders across the country have come out and said that they accepted his apology. President Obama has accepted his apology. But going back to what we said before, his real problem is back home with these poll numbers. He needs to try to turn them around.</s>KAYE: And he's certainly wants this to be a day -- a one-day story which is certainly isn't going to be clearly.</s>PRESTON: Yes. Absolutely not.</s>KAYE: All right. Mark Preston for us. Thank you, Mark.</s>PRESTON: Thanks Randi.</s>KAYE: Aftershocks in Northern California are keeping a lot of people on edge tonight. Yesterday afternoon the area was hit by a powerful 6.5 quake just off the coast. his is what it looked like in a grocery store in the town of Arcadia and that was about 4:30 local time yesterday. People immediately headed toward the exits because this was much bigger than the smaller shakes they normally feel. The strongest of about a dozen aftershocks was 4.5. About 28,000 customers lost power, but Pacific Gas and Electric says all power is now back on. Now, the CNN "Security Watch" and the new U.S. focus on Yemen's role as an apparent safe raven for members of al Qaeda. General David Petraeus, Chief of the U.S. Central Command recently returned from face to face talks with Yemen's president. On this week's edition of "AMANPOUR," he tells our Christian Amanpour that the U.S. plans a big increase in aid to Yemen's government.</s>GEN. DAVID PETRAEUS, U.S. CENTCOM COMMANDER: The programs that we submitted that were part of the budget that has since been approved, the Appropriations Bill that's been signed by the president, would, in fact, more than double the security assistance. Last year, it was somewhere around $70 million. Over the course of this fiscal year, it should be somewhere around $150 or more. And the amount of economic aid increased as well.</s>KAYE: "AMANPOUR" airs Sundays at 2:00 p.m. Eastern. As General Petraeus pledges more U.S. help for Yemen, the father of American born Islamic cleric Anwar al Awlaki, who's been linked to the Christmas day plot as well as the Fort Hood shooting suspect tells CNN his son is not a member of al Qaeda. And he says he's not hiding out with terrorists in southern Yemen. Our Paula Newton has more from the Yemeni capital.</s>PAULA NEWTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, you can certainly sense the anguish with Dr. Nassar al-Awlaki. He wanted to make it clear that his son is not a member of al Qaeda. He claims that he does not believe that his son met with Abdulmutallab, the man accused of trying to blow up that plane on Christmas day. And further he says look, my son is a wanted man. He's cornered. He is not hiding out with al Qaeda. But once the missiles started in this village he had to chance -- he had no choice really, he had to seek protection from his own tribe in the mountains here in southern Yemen. Now, I just want to read you some of the quotes that he gave us. He says, "I am now afraid of what they will do to my son. He's not Osama bin Laden. They want to make something out of him that he is not." You know, his father saying, look, he has controversial views but that's not the same as advocating terror and inciting terrorists to commit violent acts. He says he wants to try and convince his son to try and perhaps, surrender himself, talk to the Yemeni authorities, talk to the American officials. And he says, "I will do my best to convince my son to do this to come back. But they are not giving me time. They want to kill one of their own citizens. This is a legal issue that needs to be answered." And he's speaking there both about the Yemeni government and American government. But it was extraordinary to hear this man talk about his son so completely differently than what the media certainly and the American official lying about him and the Yemeni official lying than has been. He says, look, he is a preacher. And in being a preacher, yes, he has had more controversial views over the last few years but he is definitely not a member of al Qaeda. He adds, "He has been wrongly accused, it's unbelievable. He lived his life in America. He's an all-American boy. My son would love to go back to America. He used to have a good life in America and now he's hiding in the mountains. He doesn't even have safe water to drink." And it's clear this man is quite upset about what's going on with his family. What's going on with his son and doing all he can to help. But at the same time wondering how long it is before Yemeni officials catch up with him here in this country. Paula Newton, CNN, Sanaa, Yemen.</s>KAYE: More than 50 children crammed in a shack in northern Nigeria. Their clothes are torn, their faces dirty, as they murmur lines from the Koran, in unison. They are orphans but the CNN's Christian Purefoy, discovered they are groomed to fight a very adult battle.</s>CHRISTIAN PUREFOY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The lost children of West Africa. Following an ancient tradition, these boys have been sent by their families, often hundreds of kilometers away, to learn the Koran in the big cities of northern Nigeria. One of a network of Islamic boarding schools called the al Masri (ph). Once here, they have no other education, no money and no family. (on camera): All of these children from across northern Nigeria and West Africa in these dark, cramped conditions, not only study here but must eat and sleep here as well. Al Masri boys must beg to survive. This young man from neighboring Niger spoke to us on condition we hide his identity for fear of his life. He explained to us how many of the schools use some of the children as foot soldiers in religious clashes. In 2000 he lost his arm in religious violence that killed over 1,000 people here Kaduna (ph). "I blame my Koranic teacher who sent me to fight during the riots," he tells us. He has ruined my life. The only census ever taken was in Kono State (ph) which founded in 2006, there were 1.2 million al Masri children in Kono alone. One researcher working with UNICEF estimates 60 percent of the children never return home.</s>PROF. MUHAMED LADEN, AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY: You can see the manifestations in child begging, child destitution, child trafficking. And then they really instigated for them to be involved as children in such conflicts that have largely been violent and largely (ph) or some very bloody in this part of the world.</s>PUREFOY: The government is looking into monitoring and licensing schools like this one. But one group piloting such a program complains of too little funding. They warn that the consequences of ignoring the children could be dire.</s>USMAN JIBRIN, NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR WELFARE OF THE DESTITUTE: They are real threats. They are real problems to the society unless we address this issue now. Otherwise these children one day will take over the control of this country in a very, very unpleasant way.</s>PUREFOY: A grim prediction from the agency responsible for Nigeria's poor where the government worries that some children in a generation victimized by poverty and a failed education system, will grow up to become potential threats to the country's future. Christian Purefoy, CNN, Zaria, Nigeria.</s>KAYE: The end of an era, a very short era for Jay Leno's new show.