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Bill Clinton Delivers Speech in Vintage Bill Clinton Fashion; Obama Makes His Case for Re-Election; The Democratic Party on God and Jerusalem; Interview with DNC Chariman Antonio Villaraigosa; Speechwriting for Presidents: What Makes A Speech Memorable?; Syrian Rebels Fight for Aleppo; Why Hillary Clinton Is Not at the DNC.
Aired September 06, 2012 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, ANCHOR, "CNN NEWSROOM": I'm Carol Costello. "CNN Newsroom" continues right now with Ashleigh Banfield.
ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, ANCHOR, "CNN NEWSROOM": Carol Costello, thank you very much and hi, everybody. Good to see you.
It's 11:00 on the East Coast. It's 8:00 on the West Coast. Let's get right down to business.
Whatever happens in November, whatever happens tonight in Charlotte is something that Barack Obama will never do again, accept his party's nomination for president.
You cannot turn on your television or fire up your computer without hearing what Mr. Obama must do on the closing night of the Democratic convention, but it mostly boils down to this -- top Bill, Bill Clinton, or at least live up to the set-up that was delivered in vintage Bill Clinton-fashion on actually a night that typically belongs to the running mate.
But do not fret for Mr. Joe Biden. He, too, will be on the marquee for tonight and watching it all, as she has been all week long, is CNN's Dana Bash.
Dana, you just don't sleep. I see you working until 2:00 in the morning and up again at 5:00 a.m. for the morning shows.
My quick question to you is this. So many people say these speeches mean everything. Some people say they mean nothing. Others say, it's just all about the undecided voters on the other side of the TV lens.
DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You know what, I honestly think the answer is somewhere in the middle of all that.
When you talk about undecided voters, the problem that both parties have is that pool is very, very, very small, which is why I think in both conventions, you're seeing a real attempt to -- you have seen a real attempt to galvanize the base.
But in terms of what Bill Clinton, what he absolutely did was both. He talked a lot about the idea that you can work across party lines. He talked about his work with Republicans in Congress when he was president. He talked about his work with former Republican presidents since he has left.
That is, no question, a way to appeal to independent voters who are just fed up with both parties and don't think politicians can get anything right.
But then, of course, nobody can fire up the base like Bill Clinton. He is by far the most beloved Democrat alive right now and that was absolutely a big part of the goal of his speech last night, Ashleigh.
BANFIELD: And you know, Dana, he really seemed to harness the Republican battle-cry right now that perhaps Bill Clinton is actually the Republican's secret weapon because he will outshine President Obama or he will prove to people that perhaps President Obama isn't Bill Clinton.
And, so, what did Bill do? He tackled it head-on. Have a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FORMER PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON: President Obama started with a much weaker economy than I did. Listen to me now. No president, no president, not me, not any of my predecessors, no one could have fully repaired all the damage that he found in just four years.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: Dana, that was pretty clear. There's Bill Clinton, a humble Bill, saying, Obama's better than I am.
BASH: You know, I'm so glad you played that sound bite, Ashleigh, because when you talk to Obama campaign officials, particularly before President Clinton's speech last night, that was the crux of the message that they were desperate for him to get across for President Obama on his behalf and on behalf of his campaign.
Because you listened to speech after speech after speech in Tampa last week of Republicans, you look at their ads. You looked at Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan on the campaign trail. All they say, over and over again, it's the theme, you should be better off than you were four years ago and you're not.
And that was the "validater-in-chief" in Bill Clinton saying, there's no way. Look at me, I have experience. I was there at times of record prosperity and I'm here to tell you that things were so bad when President Obama took office, there's just no way.
So, that was a really, really key moment, key sound bite for the Obama campaign for Clinton to deliver.
BANFIELD: You know, regardless of your speaking style, regardless of whether you can fire people up, there are so many different talents that come out of speakers and one of the things I noticed last night was the clarity of the message and the conciseness of the message, especially when it came to how Bill Clinton summarized what he thought the Republican case was all about. Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINTON: In Tampa, the Republican argument against the President reelection was actually pretty simple, pretty snappy. It went something like this -- we left him a total mess. He hasn't cleaned it up fast enough, so fire him and put us back in.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: So, obviously, that was just so pointed and I don't think I've heard anybody in the Democratic party put it so simply.
BASH: Absolutely not, which is why he gave that speech last night.
You know, Senator Chuck Schumer was right here in the CNN Grill this morning on with Soledad O'Brien and a few of us and he actually put it pretty well.
He said that, if you think of politicians like scientists, there are scientists and then there's Albert Einstein and that they believe and even Republicans believe that Bill Clinton is kind of in that league, the Albert Einstein of politicians.
And it really crystallized for me watching last night that Bill Clinton is really a communicator when it comes to message, but I think what we're going to see tonight is Barack Obama, the orator.
And that has been a big criticism of the President, the current president, that he can speak in soaring terms and he can get people riled up and feeling emotional, but when it comes to communicating the very important message that he has needed to communicate over the past four years about how tough the economy is and why it's been hard for him to bring people up to where they want to be, that is what Bill Clinton did like nobody else can do.
BANFIELD: Ten, 10 seconds left, the "bromance," the hug, everyone's talking about that hug at the end. I called it a cuddle, but is this a transactional reconciliation as Maureen Dowd of "The New York times" referred to or is this true love?
BASH: I think it's somewhere in the middle. I think that they're starting to get to know each other and it has been a very slow development of a relationship over the past couple of years.
Look, Bill Clinton, anybody who knows him will tell you this, he needs to be needed. He wants to be needed. He knows that he is really good at this. And President Obama and his team have been reaching out to him more and more.
That last night was kind of the culmination of wanting to be needed and you saw how much he basked in that with the kind of response he got.
BANFIELD: All right, Dana Bash, thank you so much, live in Charlotte, North Carolina, for us. Do appreciate it, ma'am.
Also, don't forget, you can watch our nonstop coverage of the DNC, gavel to gavel, just go to CNN.com/live.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BANFIELD: There have been some memorable moments and amazing speeches, but there's also been a wee bit of controversy at the Democratic National Convention. It was pretty much front and center, literally, on stage yesterday.
The contention, the confusion, the chaos over the party's platform can be summed up with two words -- "God" and "Jerusalem." The Chairman of the Democratic National Convention and the Mayor of Los Angeles, Antonio Villaraigosa, joins me live from the DNC in Charlotte.
I want to talk about the platform issues in a moment, but first, I've got to get to the news that is more proximate and that is Bill Clinton on stage. Wow, he got a lot of really high praise, really across the board.
It's a two-part question for you, as we go and we listen to a quick excerpt. As you listen to these, Mr. Mayor, I want you to answer the question afterwards. Was it so good that it might have been too good and too tough an act to follow? Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINTON: I want to nominate a man who's cool on the outside, but who burns for America on the inside.
And by the way, after last night, I want a man who had the good sense to marry Michelle Obama.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: Mayor Villaraigosa, and the crowd went wild. Look at you. You're still basking in it, as well.
So, look, it's no secret the Republicans have said that that might be their secret weapon because it might be hard to follow and it also might remind people that President Obama is not President Clinton. Your thoughts?
ANTONIO VILLARAIGOSA, CHAIRMAN, DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION: Actually, it's going to be an absolute assistance to the President.
This was a shot in the arm. It was a rocket launcher, if you will. President Clinton is not just a great orator. He's a great teacher.
And in many ways, it wasn't just a great speech. It was a very simple explanation of how we got here, the free fall that we were in as an economy, what President Obama did to put the brakes on that free fall. And I thought it was an amazing, amazing speech.
You know, the fact is, you guys have been talking a lot about enthusiasm and whether or not it was absent. We saw it on Tuesday with Michelle Obama. We saw it last night with President Clinton. We saw it when the two of them came together. Let me tell you, there's no question in my mind that President Clinton helped send this campaign over the top and I can tell you that President Obama will take it over the top.
The two of them have very similar policies. Both of them inherited a Bush failed policy of deficits. Both of them are working hard to bring back their economies. In the case of Mr. Clinton, he made it really -- something really clear.
Although he had high deficits and although he had a very poor economy, it was nothing, nothing compared to what President Obama had.
BANFIELD: And he certainly made that case on the stage last night without question.
I want to switch to another little issue leading up to -- and I'm sure you are probably sick to death of hearing about it and being asked about it, but I've got to ask you about it. It was that very unusual moment where you were all of the sudden thrust into the role of parliamentarian.
I know you are a mayor. I know you are not a parliamentarian. But it was that vote.
And, just for a little background, it was the reintroduction of the platform planks that were missing. The word "God" had not been in the platform plank and the issue of Jerusalem being the capital of Israel, all reinstated into the platform.
And then was the vote, yea or nay. I just want to replay it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VILLARAIGOSA: The matters requires a two-thirds vote in the affirmative. All those delegates in favor, say aye. All those delegates opposed, say no.
In the opinion of the -- let me do that again. All those delegates opposed, say no. I guess ...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: This was tough stuff. Let me tell you, I watched this live. I saw you trying to figure out -- this wasn't what we expected.
So, Mr. Mayor, we got this final vote with the aye and the no and it sounded to me, the viewer who wasn't in the auditorium, like it was 50/50, but you decided to adopt yes.
Two questions for you -- are you going to face trouble for that and, number two, how did we end up in this situation in the first place? How did that platform end up missing those critical elements?
VILLARAIGOSA: First of all, I'm proud that we have a president of the United States with the courage of his convictions who expects that the party platform -- he is not just the President of the United States, but the leader of our party -- to reflect his values and his policies.
He wanted to make sure that God and Jerusalem were both in our party platform and I couldn't be prouder that he did.
With respect to that vote, look, it's real simple. I wanted to make absolutely sure that we had a two-thirds vote on a voice vote.
BANFIELD: Are you absolutely sure it was two-thirds?
VILLARAIGOSA: I'm the speaker -- I used to be the speaker of the California state assembly and what I know is this -- it was my prerogative to make that decision I did.
People had ten minutes to object. Nobody did. They could have formally objected. People know the rules. Nobody objected and they didn't because, in a lot of ways what happens here, people are just having fun and when they saw that I wasn't absolutely sure, I don't think anybody was, that there was more than just a majority there, people got into the ...
BANFIELD: Well, I'm fascinated when you say no one formally objected because we saw people in the audience, you know, literally up in arms and screaming, but it's interesting that you say there's no formal objections.
But more importantly ...
VILLARAIGOSA: Nobody formally objected.
BANFIELD: Mr. Mayor, how did we end up here? Those platforms come into the room just like they were four years before. Someone has to physically take the language out.
We are not getting that information from the DNC. Who did it and, as John King says, who's about to become the deputy press secretary in Guam for doing that?
VILLARAIGOSA: Look, I don't have that information. I was just told about this a few minutes before I walked on the stage. I made a decision. I stand by that decision.
Nobody in the 6,000 delegates who had an opportunity, nobody objected to it. The notion that we wouldn't have God and Jerusalem in our platform it just boggles my mind. I can't defend that.
What I will defend is what I did. As I said, I had the job of making that decision. I made it.
BANFIELD: Well, and I just want to let people know, in case they've been wondering what the actual language is with regard to Jerusalem, as you just referenced, "Jerusalem is and will remain the capital of Israel. The parties have agreed that Jerusalem is a matter for final status negotiations. It should remain an undivided city accessible to people of all faiths."
And, clearly, that's not going to sit well with everyone in the Democratic party and nor does most platforms ...
VILLARAIGOSA: It sits well with me.
BANFIELD: Well, I guess so. So, I saw.
VILLARAIGOSA: And it sits well with the delegates. And most importantly and as importantly, it sits well with the President of the United States.
Look, in contradistinction to Mr. Romney who's run away from his party plank which talks about opposing abortion and even in the case of rape and incest, he says that's not his position.
BANFIELD: And I have to leave it there only because you and I have already talked seven minutes straight on these issues and it just means you have to come back, Mayor. Will you do that?
VILLARAIGOSA: I want to do that, Ashleigh.
BANFIELD: It's great to talk to you again, Antonio Villaraigosa, the mayor of Los Angeles, also the chair of the DNC.
VILLARAIGOSA: You did that right.
BANFIELD: Thank you, sir. I've got good practice now.
By the way, a reminder -- CNN's primetime coverage of the Democratic National Convention, 7:00 Eastern, sharp. President Obama's speech tonight at 10:00.
Back after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BANFIELD: Oh, to be a fly on the wall as President Obama is putting the final touches on the speech that he's going to deliver to us all tonight at the Democratic National Convention, the speech that's arguably the most important of his political career.
You know, any president wants his words to endure beyond his time in office and become part of the nation's consciousness, right? Like say the words of Lincoln from the Gettysburg Address.
"Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equate." Gives you chills, doesn't it?
And then there are these moments and I don't even need to introduce them. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRESIDENT FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT: Let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.
PRESIDENT JOHN KENNEDY: My fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.
PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN: Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: How do you craft a speech like those? And is that really even the mission for tonight, more importantly?
Joining me now is CNN contributor and former Chief Speechwriter for Mayor Giuliani, John Avlon. Hello, John Avlon, is the mission tonight to get into the history books is it something entirely different?
JOHN AVLON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: This speech, I don't think, is about history, but it is an important speech.
Right now, Barack Obama is meeting with his speechwriters, senior aides, crafting those lines, but this is primarily a political speech. It's about trying to finalize a sale, not just to the people in the room at the Democratic convention, but to people watching at home.
He's got to win over some of those undecideds and really make the case that he can meet this moment, that he has an agenda for a second term and deserves reelection.
This isn't about history. Tonight's about politics but it's about as high-stakes politics as exists.
BANFIELD: And probably getting through to everybody on the other side of the lens as opposed to in the auditorium.
Let me ask you this. I've always wondered -- and this is your business. This is what you have done for so long. You've written for these iconic people.
Is it about the speech? Is it the words? Or is it the circumstance that these people are in?
I'm thinking, there was Reagan at the end of the Cold War, for heaven's sake, and there's Lincoln in the Civil War. What's the issue here? The circumstance or the words?
AVLON: You know, great speeches, they motivate and they elevate. They need to do both, but a historic speech has to be about the man meeting the moment. And it really is about the circumstance. That's what compels greatness. That's what compels -- when the audience needs to hear words of leadership and reassurance. That's not about a well written speech. That's about the man meeting the moment.
BANFIELD: So, the Gettysburg Address, there's -- oftentimes misquoted. Always be careful of what you see in Wikipedia. Some people add without edit and I remember reading at one point that Lincoln had written it on a napkin on the train on the way to Gettysburg.
While there are remarkable anecdotes, that ain't one of them. AVLON: No, it's a great story and, more importantly, it's a great speech. What's miraculous about Lincoln's Gettysburg Address in my mind is that it's only 272 words.
He took 272 words to essentially rededicate the nation and take the Declaration of Independence and update it for our nation in the midst of a civil war.
It's a piece of poetry. It's a piece of civic scripture. It's an amazing document, inspired a whole book by Garry Wills. Two-hundred- seventy-two words, that's a high bar.
BANFIELD: And not only that, the napkin story was trumped by the envelope, that it was actually written on an envelope. And that's not true either, is it?
AVLON: That's right. No, it's not.
But there are so many great stories. I mean, you know, speechwriters, there's a loose collective. We love words. We love politics. That's why many of them go become journalists or columnists.
But there's one great other story I'll share with you, Ashleigh. That iconic, Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall speech that Ronald Reagan gave. There was a huge fight, actually, between Reagan's speechwriting staff led by Peter Robinson and the State Department.
The State Department wanted that line taken out of the speech. They thought it was unnecessarily provocative. Reagan ultimately overrode his State Department. That's why it stayed in the speech and that's why we have that bit of American speechwriting history today.
BANFIELD: So, if you were tasked with having to add to or craft the first draft of something for President Obama tonight, knowing that your mission -- you wrote the book about independent voters.
Knowing that your mission really has to reach independent voters, is there something in particular you would want to do? I'm not suggesting you give me your iconic line right now, live on TV, but what would you do?
AVLON: Honestly, I would go beyond making a case about the past. He's got to lay out a clear second-term agenda. It's not about feeling your pain. It's about a prescription for the future.
And he's got to offer policy specifics. Lay out a vision of the future when he leaves office after eight years, because just saying more of the same, frankly, isn't going to cut it.
He's got to lay out a specific argument about a specific agenda for a second term that can resonate with those centrists and undecideds that will ultimately decide this election.
BANFIELD: And then my advice as the TV person who likes good sound bites is, please, please, no more platitudes. They make me exhausted.
John Avlon, great to see you.
AVLON: Exactly.
BANFIELD: Thank you, sir. You've been working some long hours down there. John Avlon joining us live.
And you can also watch the President's speech right here, live on CNN. We're going to begin our final night of DNC coverage at 7:00 with the lovely and talented Wolf Blitzer and Anderson Cooper. Make sure you tune in.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BANFIELD: Well, President Clinton may have brought down the house by a lot of accounts, but the real show is tonight, President Obama, who's going to take center stage at the Time Warner Arena, right here.
There's the podium, lots of last-minute check-ups and the audio. It has to be perfect. This is where he'll accept his party's nomination for a second term and where he'll be introduced by his vice president, Joe Biden.
Our CNN political editor, Paul Steinhauser, live from outside the CNN Grill, also working some really long hours.
Listen, we just heard from John Avlon who was real clear about what he doesn't need to do. He doesn't need to get in the record books, doesn't need to make history tonight, in terms of eloquent prose, but he does need to do something very specific. What is it?
PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: That is true. And it's lay out policy. What will he do in the next four years if he's reelected, Ashleigh?
You know, this speech comes on the day -- we are September 6th. We are now two months away to the day from the election and this is by far going to be his biggest speech in his reelection bid.
I spoke to an Obama campaign adviser earlier this morning who told me the President will lay out the economic choice in this election with a heavy focus on his economic position. And the speech will include specific goals of what he would do on the economy if reelected. That's the key here.
Take a look at this, our most recent poll from a few days ago. We asked, who has the better vision for the country right now? Look at this. The numbers are split with maybe Romney having a slight advantage. That's why, Ashleigh, this speech is so important tonight for the President.
BANFIELD: It's also important for Vice President Biden to do a good job introducing. This isn't the traditional kind of introduction. He was supposed to be last night if you did the traditional kind of layout. But what is most important for the Vice President? To be an attack dog or to stay off the daily show and stay out of Republican ads for making gaffes? STEINHAUSER: Yes, I guess you could say both. You bring up a good point. Traditionally, the vice president's address is on the night before. But I guess the former president bumped him into an earlier 9:00 speech tonight, 9:00 Eastern. I think you're going to see Vice President Biden be the attack dog. That is the traditional role of a running mate. We saw Paul Ryan do it last week in Tampa. I think you'll see him do it again tonight. And maybe -- if he thinks about running in 2016, people will start talk about this speech being -- they'll listen for any kind of hints. But his mission tonight is to try to bring down the Republican ticket. Ashleigh?
MALVEAUX: Tomorrow, we're getting really important numbers, the monthly jobs report comes out. Some of the predictions are good. There have been some reports out today that look pretty good. But that can always change. If we have something terrible tomorrow, does the last week that we just had disappear?
STEINHAUSER: It doesn't help. It could really stunt whatever momentum is coming out of here because that will instantly be the story line. If it's a good number or kind of what we've seen over the last couple of months, it may not stunt it as much. That's why this report -- these jobs reports are so crucial. This one coming out tomorrow morning may be more important than all the rest. The Republicans are emphasizing that report.
Take a listen to Governor Bob McDonnell, one of Mitt Romney's top surrogates.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. BOB MCDONNELL, (R), VIRGINIA: The President is going to deliver a great speech tonight. I'm sure it'll be one of the best we've ever heard. We'll wake up with a jobs report that will show 43 consecutive months over 8 percent. So the bottom line is, speeches make you feel good for a little while but, at the end of the day, the American people don't think we're better off than we were four years ago and they're going to want a change.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STEINHAUSER: Governor McDonnell making those comments on "STARTING POINT" early this morning. Ashleigh, that's what the Republicans are going to say. Beautiful speeches here in Charlotte but the real story is the economy. We'll find out at 8:30 a.m. Eastern tomorrow what that jobs number is -- Ashleigh?
MALVEAUX: I've heard a lot of people talk about the critical essence of a bump coming out of a convention. There was a slight bump from the Republican convention. Who knows what's going to happen. I know you have your machines going for polling on this. But most importantly, Paul, is it different now? There's just so much media saturation. Is it different now? Does the bump actually not exist in the same way it did decades prior? Are we just streaming ahead in the tightest race ever? I think you always call it al knotted up. Is that just the way it's going to be right through till November? STEINHAUSER: Good points here. The bumps we used to see, in yesteryear, don't exist anymore. The last two cycles, there wasn't much of a bump coming out of the convention. And since 2008, these conventions are stacked right after each other. That negates the bump. As you said, so much media now, a lot takes away from these conventions. Yes, the bumps of yesteryear don't really exist anymore. It appears it will continue to be a very tight race, up until November 6th. But again, anything can happen -- Ashleigh?
MALVEAUX: Paul Steinhauser, thank you, live from outside the CNN Grill in Charlotte.
Also make sure you tune in tonight, 7:00 p.m. Eastern, can't tell you enough times, complete coverage begins at the DNC here at 7:00 with Wolf Blitzer and Anderson Cooper and our awesome team.
Also on Sunday, something very special for you. I will tell you this often and over and over again, a behind-the-scenes look at both of our presidential candidates. These are exhaustive looks at their record, at their families, at their lives, at their perspectives. 8:00 p.m. Eastern, we start with "Romney Revealed: Family, Faith and the Road to Power." It's followed by "Obama Revealed: The Man, The President." I urge you, watch. You will be a better voter.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: Something important to bring to your attention. In Syria, you probably know by now from all the reporting about the civil war that most of the rebels who are fighting there to overthrow their president, Bashar al Assad, are just civilians just like you. They're really ragtag. They have basically nothing, no military training. They don't have the big guns and the tanks and artillery like the government enemy they're fighting. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(GUNFIRE)
(SHOUTING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: They got what they got basically. And this is street to street. This is pretty much as brutal as it gets, folks, when it comes to war. It resembles, strangely enough, scenes from World War II. That is how brutal this has become.
And our colleague, CNN's Nick Payton Walsh, put his life in danger. He went right into the middle of this crap in Aleppo. He stayed there for several days. And he followed the rebels to see for himself whether their stories are true or not. In "The Besiege of Aleppo" now, we bring you his extraordinary report, only on CNN.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(GUNFIRE) NICK PAYTON WALSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The new dead lie next to the old. Aleppo's old city, thousands of years in the making --
(GUNFIRE)
PAYTON WALSH: We're with rebel forces as they push into vital terrain and fight in Syria's commercial capital towards a key police station.
(GUNFIRE)
PAYTON WALSH: They mass in number --
(GUNFIRE)
(SHOUTING)
PAYTON WALSH: Chaos, but also bravery.
(SHOUTING)
PAYTON WALSH: They move to retrieve an injured rebel at the front.
(SHOUTING)
(GUNFIRE)
(SHOUTING)
PAYTON WALSH: Somehow, the superior regime firepower lets them escape with their wounded.
(SHOUTING)
(GUNFIRE)
PAYTON WALSH: When we rejoin them a few days later, they have fallen back the 100 feet they gained. Civilians in uniform. They're taking pot shots at nothing in particular --
(SINGING)
PAYTON WALSH: Goading their enemy with revolutionary song.
(SHOUTING)
PAYTON WALSH: Even offering them a number to call if they want to defect.
(SHOUTING)
PAYTON WALSH: But they can't advance again.
(GUNFIRE)
PAYTON WALSH: It's not just the regime's bomber jets that hold them back. Up on the roof, we see how snipers, deadly accurate here, can freeze the front lines.
(on camera): In this historic part of the city, the rebels are trying to inch forward but so often pushed back by government forces. In this case, held back by a government sniper positioned in the buildings opposite us.
(voice-over): Even from the rebel sniper positions, the regime is close but well dug in.
Abdul Wahib (ph) was a conscript years ago but is now an electrician.
(GUNFIRE)
(SHOUTING)
(GUNFIRE)
PAYTON WALSH: A sniper is shooting at them. And he moves across the road to take him out.
(GUNFIRE)
PAYTON WALSH: But his discipline and marksmanship is the exception.
(GUNFIRE)
PAYTON WALSH: He thinks he got him. It's the older men here who are in charge. Hakeem (ph), a local commander, briefly visits and tells me his brigade has given up on outside help from the west.
"This is our final word," he says. "We don't want any help from anybody. We're no longer waiting and we have the means to topple the regime."
He outlines a plan to the men. Shortly afterwards, this bus appears. One rebel tells us they plan to fill it with explosives, then tie a prisoner's hands to the wheel and force him to die driving the bus bomb at the regime. But even though we saw the brigade take prisoners earlier, that doesn't happen here, and the bus leaves.
A garbage truck arrives instead, which they plan to place down the street as cover for their gunmen.
(GUNFIRE)
PAYTON WALSH: Preparations begin for their operation. Handmade grenades, homemade bomb, highly volatile canisters full of fertilizer explosive.
(MUSIC)
PAYTON WALSH: But the men still lack focus.
(MUSIC)
PAYTON WALSH: Shooting in the dark. (GUNFIRE)
PAYTON WALSH: Later that night, we leave, but they drive the truck down the street. At dawn, it's in place in their old position.
(on camera): Overnight, they've tried to gain the advantage by moving that truck about 10 feet down the street past their last position. But still these men who have been unable to advance over this incredibly small amount of terrain.
(voice-over): The regime fires grenades, setting it alight. The rebels decide to fight back. This is an anti-aircraft gun.
(SHOUTING)
(GUNFIRE)
PAYTON WALSH: They seem to prefer noise to accuracy. They run forwards to fire a rocket-propelled grenade.
(GUNFIRE)
(SHOUTING)
PAYTON WALSH: There's too much smoke to know what they hit. More a game here than a fight to the death.
(GUNFIRE)
PAYTON WALSH: But this is a city of millions torn apart by every pitched battle for every 100 feet.
(SHOUTING)
(GUNFIRE)
PAYTON WALSH: Nick Payton Walsh, CNN, Aleppo.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: And that is about as close to the front lines as you are likely ever to get. Our thanks to the bravery of Nick and his crew in the besieged Syrian city of Aleppo.
An important reminder for you as you watch that kind of skirmishing and fighting. In the end, we have 20,000 people dead, 20,000 killed since the Syrian civil war broke out 18 months ago.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: I want to bring you some breaking news about a very strange situation that developed in Philadelphia. A flight that was on its way to Dallas had to actually come back to Philadelphia because there was a Facebook post suggesting one of the passengers on that Airbus 319 had explosives. So off he came. They clearly were concerned about this. They questioned him. He had no clue what this was about. And then on further investigation by the FBI, it was discovered that his friends -- and with friends like these, who needs enemies? -- had played a trick on him. They had posted that stupid message as a hoax. This is not cool. I think we al know you don't joke about explosives anywhere near or about aircraft that fly with passengers. And this passenger had 69 people on board. FBI says we are probably likely to see some charges that come about because of this, but not from the passenger. He's free to go and all those passengers are cleared and that flight is cleared as well. But look out, jokesters, not a laughing matter.
Back out of the breaking news now, I don't know if you saw "Mission Impossible," Tom Cruise and Dubai, that crazy, huge tower. Fabulous. Wow. Did you know what a destination this is now? Do you know what an appeal this is for people who want a vacation? Check out the beaches. If you don't know much about this place, it is awesome.
In fact, our Amir Daftari, our CNN producer with "CNN INTERNATIONAL", is going to take us there today, just for --
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
AMIR DAFTARI, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Most people around the world look forward to the summertime. But here in the UAE, we dread it. Temperatures soar more than 110 degrees fahrenheit. I haven't been outside for five minutes and I'm sweating already. So apart from staying at home, what do most people do to cool down?
(MUSIC)
DAFTARI: Many come to air-conditioned shopping malls like this one. Retail therapy doesn't do it for me, so I head to a place where I can really chill out.
(MUSIC)
DAFTARI: In the span of around 10 minutes, I've gone from the sweltering heat to the freezing cold. This is Ski Dubai. It's a manmade winter wonderland in the middle of the desert. I think it's time I hit the slopes or rather the slope.
(MUSIC)
DAFTARI: The thing is, it's pretty expensive to get in here. It's around $50 just for a couple of hours of ski time. I can't even imagine what it costs to power a place like this.
(MUSIC)
DAFTARI: This place may not be the Alps or the Rockies, but it's a real escape from the boiling temperatures outside. It's basically a giant refrigerator and it is freezing. You have to have your gloves. You have to have your ski clothes and above all, it's just lot of fun. And I'll see you at the bottom.
So, this is where I come to beat the heat in the desert.
I'm Amir Daftari, CNN, Dubai.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: Well, the buzz is still loud and clear over Bill Clinton's rousing speech at the DNC last night, but one notable person not in the audience to hear it, and it did not go unnoticed, is his wife, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. She was 10,000 miles away in one of the furthest reaching areas of Asia that you could get, East Timor, and she did watch it. Look at that image. She has her hand collapsed to the heart watching her husband, Bill. This is thanks to a high- tech streaming device, Slingbox. I've used it.
Jill Dougherty is joining us from the State Department.
The way it happened is terrific, because she could not watch in real time, because she was in an important meeting with the head of state.
JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, she was. And just to explain how that happened, you mentioned that she was in East Timor and she had a meeting with the prime minister, and then she had a news conference. And actually, as she was talking with the prime minister, that is when Bill Clinton began his speech. And then, of course, it lasted for quite a while, so she went on over on the other side of the world to her news conference, and it ended about then. So she essentially missed it.
So she went to the embassy to the ambassador's residence where he had a computer, they had a computer, and it was hooked up to the Slingbox and hooked up to a Tivo back in the United States. One of the aides had that back in the States, 9,930 miles away. And she was able to almost without a glitch watch it there. She said it was great.
But, Ashleigh, she could not even, if she had not been in Asia, she was not supposed to be at that convention, and that is because there's federal law that doesn't allow senior executives, especially like the Secretary of State, to be at political conventions. And then also there are State Department ethics rules that prohibit that as well.
So she did have a comment about it. She actually said -- and we will play it in a second -- she said she kind of knew what Bill Clinton was going to say.
Here is how she explained that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON, SECRETARY OF STATE: This is the first convention I have missed in many, many years. But on a personal level let me also say that my husband read parts of his speech to me over the last few days. I received the as-prepared version, which I'm anxious, when I can, to compare with the as-delivered version.
(LAUGHTER)
So, it's -- it's a great honor for him to be nominating the President.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: And, Jill, one other thing that I was surprised that she didn't know that President Obama was going to come out after her husband's speech. It was a surprise to her.
DOUGHERTY: Exactly. And she really said, "Oh, my goodness, that is pretty wild." But I thought it was funny where she got into the as delivered, because as we know, and I covered President Clinton one as we call it, and he was known as the person who didn't necessarily stick to the script, and probably improv-ed it as he went on.
MALVEAUX: Oh, that is great. Just a very cool little nugget of history, learning that the law is the law. I bet she didn't like it, but that is the way it s.
Jill Dougherty, thank you very much.
You probably noticed on the bottom of the screen, this is the first convention Hillary Clinton has missed since 1968. In the history books, that took place during the height of the Vietnam War and it was marred by violent anti-war protests in the convention site in Chicago.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: Thanks for watching, everyone. Lots of big coverage coming up.
And in the meantime, I am handing the baton over to my friend and colleague, Suzanne Malveaux, who is working it from the convention site. Stay tuned.
