Republican Congressman Under Fire For Outburst Against President Obama; President Obama Presses Democrats on Health Care Reform
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: The action is definitely here in Afghanistan. We're at Marine Forward Operating Base Geronimo. It's now morning. The date is 9/11, eight years since it all began, the attacks on America, then the war here. The war, of course, continues here. But it's a very different kind of war which is being fought, which leaves with -- Americans with a much more difficult battle on their hands. We saw that firsthand today, Marines, with members of the fledgling Afghan national army, torn away during a visit to a nearby village by reports some sort of an attack, a flare thrown. They weren't sure what was going on. We gave chase, never found the bad guys. They melted away, it seems, a tough war to fight, as I said, and back home growing tougher to sell -- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi today, the top Democrat, for the first time doubting congressional support for the war, even though, to our eyes, the troops already here are making the best of a very challenging mission. So, tonight, all the angles, Michael Ware on the original enemy, al Qaeda. Where are they? I will out be on patrol as the Marines try to turn the Afghan army into force that Afghans can trust to protect them. And 360 M.D. Sanjay Gupta following the amazing progress of a very lucky little Afghan boy saved by American doctors now on his way home. Back home in Washington, though, that's where we begin tonight. President Obama, who now owns this war, trying to consolidate ownership of health care reform. The day after his landmark speech to Congress, he had Democrats over at the White House for some arm- twisting. But that is not what everyone is talking about. As you know, they're talking about the GOP congressmen who shouted out two words about the president, "You lie," South Carolina Republican Congressman Joe Wilson, who quickly apologized -- President Obama quickly accepting his apology.</s>BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The reforms -- the reforms I'm proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally.</s>REP. JOE WILSON (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: You lie.</s>OBAMA: It's not true.</s>OBAMA: I'm a big believer that we all make mistakes. He apologized quickly and without equivocation. And I'm appreciative of that. I do think that, as I said last night, we have to get to the point where we can have a conversation about big, important issues that matter to the American people without vitriol, without name- calling, without the assumption of the worst in other people's motives.</s>COOPER: The president saying apology accepted, but the controversy still growing. Who is Congressman Wilson? Who thinks he went too far? And who actually agrees with him? The "Raw Politics" from Joe Johns.</s>JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is Republican Congressman Joe Wilson. After last night, he's the man everyone wanted to hear from today.</s>WILSON: Last night, I heard from the leadership that they wanted me to contact the White House and state that my statements were inappropriate. I did.</s>JOHNS: Inappropriate? Not everyone agrees. In his health care speech last night, President Obama made a debatable claim that illegal immigrants would not be insured in his health care reform plan. It was more than Wilson could stand.</s>WILSON: You lie!</s>JOHNS: "You lie," that's what he yelled.</s>OBAMA: It's not true.</s>JOHNS: Democrats up in arms charging Wilson had disrespected the office of president of the United States. And, suddenly, Wilson's own office became the center of a storm. The phone lines in his office, Twitter and Facebook pages all flooded. His office Web site crashed because so many people offered opinions. So, what were people saying? Wilson's staff said calls were 3-1 in support of Wilson, but not so much public support from leaders of his own party, even though he may have articulated some Republican anger. (on camera): What about the sentiment, though? There's anger. There's frustration. What about the sentiment?</s>MICHAEL STEELE, CHAIRMAN, REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE: I don't know about -- I don't know what -- what sentiment are you talking about?</s>JOHNS: The sentiment that the -- that the Democrats are shoving health care down the throats of Republicans.</s>STEELE: I think everybody's concerned right now about what the next steps are in health care. The congressman apologized for his outburst. I think we have all moved past that. Let's focus on getting a good bill.</s>REP. JOHN SHADEGG (R), ARIZONA: I'm not trying to excuse it. There is a frustration in America right now. And I think that frustration stems from the fact that president is pursuing policies quite different from what he campaigned on.</s>JOHNS: So, who is this guy anyway? Joe Wilson is not the kind of congressman you see sticking his face in front of a camera here at the United States Capitol Complex, kind of keeps to himself, comes from a very conservative district in South Carolina. Known for handling defense issues, he's also the type of congressman who worked here on Capitol Hill before he actually ran for Congress. He's an attorney as well, and a lot of people were surprised at this outburst. (voice-over): But not shocked. He once lit into a Democrat on C-SPAN for claiming the U.S. gave weapons of mass destruction to Iraq. (</s>BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, C-SPAN) WILSON: That is absurd. And, you know, this hatred of America by some people is just outrageous. And we need to get over that.</s>WILSON: It is a hatred of America to say something like that.</s>JOHNS: And today, after Wilson went after the president, some folks back in his home state of South Carolina said they didn't like it. A Democrat running against Wilson even said he got $200,000 in donations overnight. But in a conservative state where Wilson is a fixture, he has still got support. And to cash in on those feelings, Wilson just this evening with a fund-raising video explaining what happened and asking for money. So, did the president lie about illegal immigrants being insured under the Democratic reform efforts? The answer, technically, illegal immigrants would not be prohibited from receiving insurance under three of the plans passed by committees in the House, but they would have to pay for it on their own. And the most important issue is who pays. The bills that have passed the three committees say the illegal immigrants cannot receive any government money, tax credits and the like, to pay for health care. So, several fact-checking organizations have said the president was not lying -- Anderson.</s>COOPER: Joe Johns reporting. Joe, thanks. A lot more to talk about, though, in Washington and across the country. For that, let's send it over to Wolf Blitzer with a "Strategy Session" -- Wolf.</s>WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Anderson, thanks very much. With President Obama working on Democrats, Republican leaders were trying to get past the job of the Joe Wilson flap. And they were trying to fire up their own troops, they and the conservative group FreedomWorks rallying on Capitol Hill. Joe Wilson, by the way, was not in attendance. The House minority whip, Eric Cantor, speaking and hearing from Wilson supporters. Listen to this.</s>REP. ERIC CANTOR (R-VA), HOUSE MINORITY WHIP: Last night, we heard our president address this country.</s>CANTOR: We -- we were listening -- we were listening for specifics. We were listening to hear something new. And we did not hear that.</s>BLITZER: All right, let's get some more now with CNN's Candy Crowley -- she's joining us -- political contributor Roland Martin, and Obama opponent Mark Williams, an organizer of the Tea Party Express tour and co-director of the political action committee Our Country Deserves Better. Mark, let me start with you. Do you share the opinion expressed by Congressman Joe Wilson?</s>MARK WILLIAMS, ORGANIZER, TEA PARTY EXPRESS: Oh, absolutely. And so many people do. They also share his frustration and his anger. If he did anything wrong, it was the venue. That -- that, I have to give him a slap on the wrist for. But he absolutely spoke the truth. Everybody seems to be leaving one very important thing out of this. And that is, the federal courts have spoken with regard to illegal immigrants or illegal aliens getting benefits, especially health benefits. We tried to bar them from doing that in California back in the '90s, and the federal courts slapped us down. Even language specifically excluding them is not going to stand a court battle. So, whatever Obama believes -- and, for that matter, I don't even know what bill he was talking about. Does he have a proposal? Does he have a plan? What's he even talking about?</s>BLITZER: Well, let me bring Roland Martin into this conversation. Congressman Wilson's heckling certainly does underscore the bitterness toward President Obama right now on this and other issues. Is this simply politics as usual here, Roland, or is there more to play?</s>ROLAND MARTIN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Yes. What you have here is, you have people who have absolute disdain for this president. And the attitude of Congressman Wilson was unbecoming of a member of Congress, and even his own party members recognize that. Now, it's interesting that Mark would talk about, he didn't know what he was talking about. Well, I will ask Mark this. Will he say on national television that Senator John McCain is a liar, who said today that there is no provision and the president was absolutely right? Well, he even called members of his -- members of the Republican Party liars. The fact of the matter is, Joe Wilson was lying about this provision. And so it is ridiculous for a member of Congress to behave in this manner. And he should apologize to the House, because he brought the kind of negative reaction on them from his actions, and should not only apologize to the president, but also to his fellow House members.</s>BLITZER: All right, I'm going to let Mark respond in a moment. But, Candy, before that happens, the fallout from what happened last night, does it help or hurt President Obama's chances of getting health care reform passed?</s>CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: I don't know what it does to his chances of getting it passed. I do know that, in these past, what, 24 hours, certainly, it has helped the president, because one of his aims last night -- you know, Wolf, going into this speech last night, there were Democrats thinking, boy, where is he on this? Why hasn't he really taken leadership of it? Why hasn't he hit back against his critics? The polls were beginning to show an increase in people who thought the president was not reaching out to Republicans. And then along comes this. And what -- what it has done is really let the president be above all of this. He talked last night about petty partisan politics. And now, you know, today, he can sort of magnanimously say, yes, I accept his apology. So, it has made the president look good. And that can't help but help the president.</s>BLITZER: All right, we're going to let Mark respond to Roland, in a moment. Stand by, everyone. We will be back with the panel shortly. First, let's send it back to Anderson for a look ahead at the rest of the hour from Afghanistan -- Anderson.</s>COOPER: That's right, Wolf. Yes, that's right, Wolf. Let us know what you think online. Join the live chat right now at AC360.com. We will go back to Wolf and that conversation. Also just ahead, we're out on patrol with U.S. Marines and members of the Afghan national army. Remember, that's what the politicians are saying. It's all about training the Afghan national army. Well, we will show you how it's going. We will show you the mission and what happened today, chasing shadows, as somebody made some sort of an attack on the Marines, then melted away. And, later, Michael Ware and Peter Bergen on the original mission, finding bin Laden. What's become of that mission and where is Osama bin Laden? We will be right back.