GOP Unveils "Pledge to America"
COOPER: Well, you hear a lot about Republican chances of winning the House in November. Today, party leaders put out the blueprint they pledge to follow if they do. They're calling it a Pledge to America.</s>REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R-OH), HOUSE MINORITY LEADER: Our government is out of control in Washington, and we need to rein it in, and begin a new drive for a smaller, less costly, and more accountable government in our nation's capital.</s>COOPER: Well, at the White House, as you might expect, they're calling it nothing new.</s>ROBERT GIBBS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: You know, I think -- I think John Boehner said and I think most of the American people will see that this is very much in line with what the Republican Party has proposed for the past many years.</s>COOPER: Well, this is it, about 21 pages of content. There are calls to make President Bush's across-the-board tax cuts permanent, to repeal health care reform, end the TARP bank bailout, eliminate federal support of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, get tougher on Iran, and spend more on missile defense. It's largely the proposals, however, for cutting government spending and closing the budget deficit that have drawn the most fire from Democrats and some conservatives, saying the specifics aren't there and the numbers don't add up. Let's talk about it now with Democratic strategist Paul Begala; Erick Erickson, editor in chief of RedState.com; and J.D. Hayworth, former congressman and Republican -- former Republican candidate for U.S. Senate from Arizona. Erick, I read what you wrote about this. I think you said it was the worst thing to come out of Washington since George McClellan. You called it dreck. What's --</s>ERICK ERICKSON, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, REDSTATE.COM: Pretty much.</s>COOPER: What's the problem with it?</s>ERICKSON: You know, it's -- it's ridiculous. For starters, the very first page, it decries the self-appointed elite, the ruling class imposing mandates on American citizens and businesses. Flip over a few pages, and it imposes mandates on American businesses related to health care. Remember, back in 2008, all the conservatives upset about Republican spending and Democratic spending. Well, guess what? The compromise in this plan is, we're going to go back to that spending; the same spending that, two years ago, a lot of conservatives excitedly embracing this plan tonight were complaining about. It's very disappointing. I kind of prefer to be the party of no than the party of pretty much anything goes as long as we don't give you specifics.</s>COOPER: Mr. Hayworth, what about that?</s>J.D. HAYWORTH (R), FORMER U.S. CONGRESSMAN: Well, I don't believe that Erick's criticisms are without merit. Obviously, more can be done. Let's not forget, at the start of this country, at the Constitutional Convention, Patrick Henry, a great patriot, was very suspicious of the Constitutional Convention, saying, I smell a rat. So, when you take a look at what is transpiring here, I think, more appropriately, it's -- it's what Mark Twain said: "History doesn't repeat itself but it rhymes." Sixteen years ago, House Republicans signed a Contract With America. But I think one thing that should be embraced by all conservative candidates, the folks that joined the teaparty.US. have a Contract From America, the premise being that people want to be hired. And how many times do job applicants tell those who will employ them exactly what they will be doing? No, the people need to be in charge. So my quick and easy and free advice to every conservative candidate is to sign the Contract from America.</s>COOPER: Paul, a lot of the language in this pledge, though, does sound like language from Tea Party protests.</s>PAUL BEGALA, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, some of it. I -- some of the specifics were odd to me. First, it's fitting they had it in a hardware store, because the grassroots got screwed. They set up -- the Republicans did -- they did a very smart thing -- they set up this thing called -- what is it called, America Speaking Out, where they asked people to weigh in on a whole variety of issues. Well, guess what? The number-two issue on job creation coming into this from the American people, the grassroots, mostly conservatives, was stop subsidizing corporations that ship jobs overseas. Stop tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas. That didn't make it into this. Why? Because the Republicans support that. In fact, when it came up for a vote, it was 174-1 within the Republicans in the House in favor of protecting tax breaks for corporations that ship jobs overseas. So, this looks much more like an elite Washington lobbyist deal. In fact, the principal author of it is a lobbyist -- a former lobbyist, that is -- whose firm represented Exxon and Pfizer and AIG, one of the great grassroots organizations of America.</s>COOPER: Erick, does Paul have a point?</s>ERICKSON: Yes. You know, this is exactly why the Republicans didn't need to do this. Put this in perspective. And, by the way, I agree with Congressman Hayworth. The Contract from America, which was actually written by the grassroots, has much more substance to it than this dreck. Look at the Contract with America. It came out in 1994. After 40 years of Democratic rule, in one page, 867 words, the Republicans explained how they were going to be different from 40 years of Democrats. We have now had a four-year gap between Republican control of Congress and Democrats, and now they have got to produce a document longer than the American Constitution.</s>COOPER: Mr. Hayworth, I want to play a clip of an interview Dana Bash did earlier today with House Republican Leader John Boehner.</s>DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You talk about the rebellion out there. Part of what those rebellious voters want to know is, they want you to be specific, because, as you probably know -- as you know, they maybe aren't that enamored of the Democrats, but they don't trust you as --</s>BOEHNER: That's why we have outlined clearly in our pledge what we would and would not do. And I think, when it comes to spending, we have been very specific about commonsense steps that we can do to get government --</s>BASH: Give me one example.</s>BOEHNER: Get -- how about the unspent stimulus money? Let's stop it. Let's stop it and bring it back.</s>COOPER: Erick, do you -- Congressman Hayworth, do they believe that? Have they been really specific?</s>HAYWORTH: Well, what they have attempted to do here -- and, understand any time a proposal is offered in the hothouse of American politics 40 days before a midterm election, it will be open to predictable criticism. But I think here the -- in Washington terms, Paul and his friends talk about the party of no, N-O. I think House Republicans are trying to say we're the party of know, K-N-O-W. We know the American people want a change. We're listening to what they're saying. No document will be perfect. I think it's an important start, but again, if there is unanimity amongst the conservatives on this panel -- and how about it -- we have got Paul outnumbered 2-1 tonight -- I do believe --</s>BEGALA: I like those odds,</s>J.D. HAYWORTH: -- that candidates would do well to sign the Contract from America. That would be icing on this particular Pledge to America.</s>ERICKSON: Anderson, you know, just for perspective, I have done 24 local radio interviews across the country today, 24 in 20 states. Not one -- well, one of the 24 radio hosts, all local conservative talk radio hosts, liked this thing, which says to me the Republicans have a problem. But, for perspective, the '94 Contract with America really wasn't what got the Republicans to win. It was the Democrats in '94 that did that. Same thing is going to happen this year. Hopefully, this will be the last night I ever have to consider this document again. But, for perspective, by 2000, the 98 programs the Contract with America said would be eliminated had grown by 13 percent.</s>COOPER: Paul, are there specifics in this thing?</s>BEGALA: Not enough. I mean I think Dana did a good job of trying to pin Mr. Boehner down. Some of these grassroots Tea Party activists, though, are giving us specifics. And this is one of my sort of bugaboos -- or rather, drums that I have been banging. Let's not demonize the Tea Party. Let's not patronize them. Let's look at their issues. And they're much more specific than Mr. Boehner. Tea Party activists across the country are calling for privatizing Social Security, privatizing Medicare, privatizing Veterans benefits, and ending unemployment compensation. Now, I think that's a bad set of ideas. They think it's good ideas, but they're specific ideas. This is what this election ought to be about.</s>HAYWORTH: Now you see, when you're taking a look at politics through Paul Begala-covered glasses -- colored glasses, you get fear, instead of hope. This is what Paul is running with. And is this is why you're going to see a change in November, because the American people said --</s>BEGALA: Well, J.D., Joe Miller ran --</s>HAYWORTH: -- people -- clearly that the extreme overreach is the Obama administration spending exponentially higher than any Republican ever dreamed --</s>COOPER: Congressman Hayworth, are you saying there aren't Tea Party candidates who want that? You're saying Paul is just flat-out wrong?</s>HAYWORTH: I'm saying that what we're seeing from House Republicans is an effort to achieve a consensus. It is always a work in progress. And just one final comment, as I heard the interview with John Boehner, I thought back when Jack Kennedy announced the goal of sending men to the moon and bringing them safely back home, I don't believe reporters sat down and demanded that night that Jack Kennedy tell us specifically how that was going to be done. There are always broad concepts, and the challenge is to make it work.</s>COOPER: OK. I got to go.</s>HAYWORTH: And that will be the challenge for Election Day --</s>COOPER: Paul, I just want you to be able to respond, and then we have got to go.</s>BEGALA: Right. Senate candidate Joe Miller in Alaska, the Republican nominee, has called Social Security and Medicare and unemployment compensation unconstitutional. Sharron Angle, the Senate candidate from Nevada, has said Social Security even violates the Bible, much less the Constitution. Rand Paul in Kentucky, Ken Buck in Colorado, Christine O'Donnell in Delaware, you can go all across the country, and Republicans are campaigning to end Social Security, Medicare, and Veterans benefits. And those are important ideas.</s>ERICKSON: God bless them all.</s>BEGALA: And we should have a debate.</s>HAYWORTH: That's not true.</s>COOPER: We have got to leave it there. Paul Begala, Erick Erickson, J.D. Hayworth, appreciate all of you on.</s>HAYWORTH: That's not true.</s>COOPER: Thanks very much. Still ahead: you have seen the surveillance video of a woman withdrawing money from a bank, trying to save her family, her kids, her husband being held hostage at home. A short time later she, her two daughters were killed. Tonight, there's new video of one of the suspects from a surveillance camera at a gas station where he allegedly bought the gasoline used to ultimately set the family's house on fire and kill the two little girls. We're also learning new details about what happened that day. Also tonight: Sanjay Gupta's disease detectives special report, the final part: will 6-year-old Kylie get a diagnosis that will save her life? No one knows what's wrong with her. She's getting sicker. Her parents are desperate for answers.</s>GINA MCPEAK, KYLIE'S MOTHER: I'm scared that they might not find something in time. And the -- the reality is, yes, they might not find anything, but, if they're still looking and they haven't given up, that's telling someone is on your side.