John McCain Doing Damage Control; Freed American Hostages Speak Out
CAMPBELL BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Tonight after six straight months of job losses, tanking auto sales and millions behind in their mortgages, John McCain's top man on the economy has an answer: Stop whining. America, he says, is turning into a nation of whiners, and the recession, well, it's all in your head.So how is Senator McCain handling the damage? We'll talk about that tonight. Also tonight with Jesse Jackson talking trash when he said Barack Obama is talking down to African-Americans about personal responsibility. We'll look at that as well. And then later, a CNN exclusive: Three Americans back home after years held hostage in Colombia. They are speaking out. Hear what got them through it all. And using the building blocks of life to free the Ramsey family from years of suspicion in JonBenet's death. Well now, John Ramsey wants every violent criminal in America tested in the hopes of catching her killer. "Crime and Punishment" tonight. We begin though, with John McCain doing damage control. Fast and furious, backing away from a trusted adviser, a man he's known for decades.</s>SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, (R) PRESUMPTIVE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I don't agree with Senator Gramm. Phil Gramm does not speak for me. I speak for me.</s>BROWN: Now, Gramm is Phil Gramm, his campaign co-chair and chief economic adviser. Well, today, "The Washington Times" published his views on the economy and posted the interview on their Website.</s>PHIL GRAMM, MCCAIN CHIEF ECONOMIC ADVISER: This is a mental recession. We just hear this constant whining, complaining about our loss of our competitiveness, America in decline. We've never been more dominant. We've never been more master of advantages than we have today. We have sort of become a nation of whiners.</s>BROWN: And it didn't take long for Barack Obama to pounce.</s>SEN. BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESUMPTIVE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I want all of you to know that America already has one Dr. Phil. We don't need another one when it comes to the economy.</s>BROWN: And that left John McCain, who was ironically in Michigan telling voters he feels their pain on the defensive, when someone asked if he was still considering Gramm for Secretary of Treasury, here's how he answered.</s>MCCAIN: I think Senator Gramm would be in serious consideration for Ambassador to Belarus, although I'm not sure the citizens of Minsk would welcome that.</s>BROWN: Well, as for Gramm late today he told CNN's Dana Bash that he stands by his remarks and says he was talking about whining leaders, not whining voters. So as for Senator McCain's claim that Gramm does not speak for him, well, Gramm spent part of the day at "The Wall Street Journal" speaking for Senator McCain. Joining us now for a "Strategy Session" on all of this: CNN senior political analyst, David Gergen; GOP strategist and CNN contributor, Ed Rollins; and CNN contributor and Democratic superdelegate, Robert Zimmerman. Welcome to everybody. David, all week McCain has been focusing on the economy, trying to connect with voters on the issue. How much does this undermine his efforts?</s>DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, you know, if you look at the campaigns overall yesterday, Jesse Jackson made a major contribution to the Barack Obama campaign. And today it was a McCain campaign's turn to make a couple of contributions. This was one of them. And Senator Gramm is a major surrogate for John McCain, long-time friends, widely rumored to be the next Treasury Secretary if John McCain were elected. And of course John McCain didn't say this; he didn't mean to have it said. But it's one of those kinds of things that Barack Obama has faced this problem, too. Your surrogates can get you in more trouble sometimes than the candidate himself. Does it go away soon? Yes. But what it also did today for Senator Obama, it covered up a couple things on his own campaign. That he didn't want to be leading the program tonight. Michelle Obama out today talking about these rebates don't amount to much, $600. Well, you just go out there and spend that on a pair of earrings. A lot of people don't buy a $600 pair of earrings. So this story smothered those kind of things. And I think was a real gift to Barack Obama.</s>BROWN: Ed, David made this point that McCain has long relied on Gramm for his expertise. He frequently mentions that Gramm has endorsed his economic policies. How does McCain effectively distance himself?</s>ED ROLLINS, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Well, first of all, I want to remind people that Phil Gramm ran for president in 1996. With $100 million, he was the first one to drop out. He came in fifth in New Hampshire. He didn't have a great appeal at that point in time. The bigger problem that John McCain has --</s>BROWN: That's more of a political appeal. On the economy, though, he's always had a pretty good reputation in Republican circles, right?</s>ROLLINS: There's a supply side group led by Jack Kemp and some others that obviously John McCain has some of that. And then there's the Phil Gramm, which is the austerity, balance the budget, whatever -- and they're in conflict. You can't make tax cuts, you can't make enough budget cuts to balance the budget and I think, to a certain extent, that's a lot of the conflict. The important thing as David knows so well and Robert knows from his side, is you put surrogates out there, you give them talking points. You don't let them be free. John McCain was truthful today, when he said I speak for my campaign. Well, the truth of the matter is, he needs to speak for his campaign and not have his surrogates off the sheets.</s>BROWN: And Robert, the McCain camp is e-mailing reporters a YouTube clip of McCain denouncing Gramm's comments. I mean it's not every day that you get something like that. Them, talking about one of their own advisers, how do you assess their damage control?</s>ROBERT ZIMMERMAN, DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE MEMBER: It's also important historically to note that John McCain was in fact the national co-chair when Phil Gramm ran for president. That's how far back they go, how close they are. But I think what's important here to understand strategically is that while the Democrats have to meet the national security strategic test, Republicans, in particular John McCain has got to meet the strategic test that shows he can connect with people and their suffering in this really dreadful economy that we're facing, and this severe economic plight we're in. And in fact, when his top economic adviser makes those obnoxious comments, one of his closest aides Carly Fiorina makes the comment that outsourcing really should be defined as right-sourcing; regarding sending jobs overseas. And then John McCain on a CNN debate back in January said that we're better off under this economy, despite all the warning signs earlier this year. It shows that he's not connecting and it's not just his surrogates that are the problem, it's the fact that he is demonstrating personally that he's not connecting.</s>BROWN: All right guys, stand by because we want to move on to another issue. If John McCain was caught today between loyalty to a trusted adviser and the voters he had insulted, it wasn't the only such problem. He's also dealing with a political side effect, if you will, of Viagra. And no, it's not what you're thinking. But it does involve another close adviser; former CEO Carly Fiorina and millions of women voters. CNN's Joe Johns now with the "Raw Politics."</s>JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The Straight Talk Express started sputtering a little when a reporter asked John McCain whether it was fair that many insurance companies that don't cover birth control pills for women do cover Viagra for men.</s>MCCAIN: I certainly do not want to discuss that issue.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think you voted against --</s>MCCAIN: I don't know what</s>I --  UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You voted against coverage of birth control forcing all insurance companies to cover birth control in the past. Is that still your position?</s>MCCAIN: Look at my voting record on it. But I have -- I don't recall the vote right now. But I'll be glad to look at it.</s>JOHNS: What triggered that uncomfortable exchange? Comments from McCain's campaign co-chairwoman, Carly Fiorina, the high profile CEO who is helping McCain win over women voters. Earlier this week, Fiorina blasted insurance companies saying, "There are many health insurance plans that will cover Viagra but won't cover birth control medication. Those women would like a choice." McCain later faced a grilling about Fiorina's charge.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just thought it was unfair that health insurance companies cover Viagra but not birth control. Do you have an opinion on that?</s>MCCAIN: I don't know enough about it to give you an informed answer, because I don't recall the vote.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you.</s>JOHNS: For the record in 2003, McCain voted "No" on legislation requiring insurance coverage of birth control. His campaign says contraception is a personal matter; best left up to individuals, not government. Joe Johns, CNN, Washington.</s>BROWN: Back now with our panel. David Gergen, Ed Rollins and Robert Zimmerman. David, McCain couldn't have looked more uncomfortable, frankly, wishing that question would have just gone away. What did you make of his response?</s>GERGEN: It's another gift to Barack Obama, on two levels. One is on the substance of it. There's a good argument for why some men should be covered for Viagra, especially say men who suffer from impotence because of diabetes. But there's an even more compelling argument why women should have coverage for birth control. And on that argument, I think that it's a loser for John McCain. But the second thing, Campbell, is that the way he responded saying, you know I haven't really thought about the issue, suggests a man -- and I feel sympathetic to him -- but I also sense with a lot of voters, especially women, it looks like a man who is out of touch with their daily concerns. The very thing we were just talking about on the economy. And people, the voters want a president who is in touch with their concerns and with the way -- what they face in life. And you remember it was only a few weeks ago that he said he really didn't spend any time on computers, didn't really understand a PC. He's a very -- a man of great virtue, a man with heroic status. But when he appears out of touch with things, I think it's clearly a drag on his campaign.</s>BROWN: And that may be the real issue here, Ed. It was an uncomfortable moment clearly, but the fact that he didn't treat it as a legitimate question to a lot of women it's going to be cause for concern.</s>ROLLINS: That was probably as uncomfortable a piece as I have seen in my 40 years in politics.</s>BROWN: That bad?</s>ROLLINS: And I've watched a lot -- this is about the fourth time I watched it. And every time I watch it, I sort of suffer for the man. And part of it once again, is you've got these surrogates who are out there who shouldn't be out there giving their opinions. The bottom line is they're out there carrying his record, defending his record, talking about his agenda. And nobody cares what Carly thinks about this particular issue. She wants to go and run for governor in California, until a year she can spout that. And the same way with Phil Gramm. Phil Gramm is not doing interviews because people want to hear his opinion on the economy. He's supposed to be a surrogate. And it's very important they get back to that. But the bottom line is John McCain has got to know his own record and he's got to know what he wants to say. They have fixed the campaign a little bit, but the candidate ultimately is what matters.</s>BROWN: Robert?</s>ZIMMERMAN: Well, if any consolation to my Republican friends, I'm sure we Democrats will give them some material during the course of this campaign.</s>BROWN: Without a doubt.</s>ZIMMERMAN: So don't be discouraged. But the point here is, watching John McCain, you can just hear the wheels spinning in his head when he was confronted with that question. They should have given out Dramamine to go with the answer. The point simply here is that John McCain missed a moment where he just could show, just speak to the issue of fairness and speak to disaffected women. That was supposed to be a target of his campaign strategically. These women are looking at both candidates and making very important decisions and clearly he showed he was not prepared to be the maverick he wants to portray himself as.</s>BROWN: All right, we're going to end it there. But to Robert, to Ed, and to David, many thanks, guys. Coming up next, Jesse Jackson got it started with his rude and crude talk. Well, he says Barack Obama is talking down to African-Americans about being good parents and raising good kids. We wanted to know do blacks think the man who could be the president is talking down to them or is Jackson's ego getting in the way here? We'll have some answers ahead. Also tonight, remarkable stories of survival from the Americans held hostage in the Colombian jungle. You'll only see it here. They only talked to CNN. Then later, the science that cleared JonBenet's family. See how it works, how her dad wants it used to catch her killer. We've got that and more tonight on "360."