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Fifty Days From The Election; Romney on Middle Income; Chicago Teachers Continue Strike; Marine Killed By Men He Trained. Big Cuts In Federal Programs Looming; Weather Delays Endeavour's Last Trip; Returning To Earth After 123 Days; More Pictures Of Duchess Wearing Less; Hezbollah Pushes For Anti-U.S. Protests; Anti-American Rage Spreads

Aired September 17, 2012 - 14:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Here's a quick look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE (voice-over): My plan is to help the middle class. Trade has to work for America. That means crackdown on cheaters like China. It means open up new markets.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Team Romney says the Republican nominee will address a set of themes, beyond the sour economy, in greater detail than he has really up to now. You heard him talking there about China. And an hour or so from now, he will be speaking on immigration. We'll take part of that for you live from Los Angeles. The question is, can Romney turn it around? Barack Obama blitzing crucial Ohio where a statewide poll shows him seven points up on Romney. Seizing advantage of his office, the president is unveiling a legal challenge to China's auto parts industry right there in America's manufacturing belt. And he took a shot at Romney too on China.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He's been running around Ohio claiming he's going to roll up his sleeves and he's going to take the fight to China. Now here's the thing. His experience has been owning companies that were called pioneers in the business of outsourcing jobs to countries like China.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: That is the president. Two speeches today in crucial Ohio. Keep in mind as we're watching the electoral votes, 18 electoral votes up for grab there. Mitt Romney making some changes on the fly. And with me now from New York, John Avlon of "Newsweek" and "The Daily Beast," aka "the news beast."

Mr. Avlon, it's nice to see you here.

Let's talk specifically about the changes of Romney's messaging, which, if you think about it, that suggested something is then broken. What is it that's broken?

JOHN AVLON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Yes. Well, there was an article out last night detailing a lot of the discord inside the Romney campaign that Politico put out. And this release sent out ripples. A lot of finger pointing, a lot of leaking to the media, and that's never a good thing, even 50 days out.

Look, full stop first. A week is a long time in politics. So, of course, this is a tight, tight race being fought in nine, ten, 12 battleground states and the Romney team has time to turn around. But what they've been doing hasn't been working. All the trends have been moving away from the Romney campaign with the president gain some points in these crucial battleground states. So there, right now, is an attempt to kind of reorient the campaign, make it a case of change versus the status quo. Focus on national messages, like the economy, but even playing to the base in some swing states. It does indicate a kind of recalibration because the Romney camp knows that the old way they were approaching things isn't working to date with 50 days out.

BALDWIN: So, let's get back to that finger pointing because you -- you point out this political article getting huge, huge buzz. All kinds of aids and friends within, you know, Camp Romney being sourced here in this article. And a lot of finger pointing specifically at this guy. Take a look. This is Romney's senior strategist. This is Stuart Stevens. My question to you, John, is, what is the Republican rap on this guy? What has he done wrong?

AVLON: Well, Stuart Stevens is famously described as the most interesting man in politics. He's not just a political consultant, he's an author, he's an extreme sports advocate. The problem is, he's really taken --

BALDWIN: Eclectic.

AVLON: Yes. But he has taken extreme amount of power with -- inside the Romney campaign. And that, of course, is an unforgivable sin in politics. Everyone's always looking for their own piece of the pie. Stuart Stevens has positioned himself as sort of the key -- the key figure inside the Romney campaign. And so when things don't go well, people start pointing their fingers at him. And they say that Stevens doesn't have the record of being able to connect with the base. Theoretically, Stevens is someone who should be in perfect position to lead a general election campaign, pitching not to the base, but to the vast center of the electorate. But the conversion hasn't been working and so you saw today Ed Gillespie, former RNC chair, be brought in, him trying to make that case. It's a sense of the camp reorienting. But the finger pointing never good in a campaign at this stage.

BALDWIN: It's pretty fascinating because part of the piece they talk about how, you know, these really a-team Republican speech writers, brought in to write this Romney speech for the RNC --

AVLON: Yes.

BALDWIN: Eight days before, they chuck the speech. Only one story remains. And basically Stu Stevens and Mitt Romney sort of helped work this thing together with a few days remaining.

AVLON: Yes.

BALDWIN: So I'll be talking to the editor in chief of Politico a little later on that. To you then is this. Then with all the hand- wringing and the finger pointing on the Romney side, we looked at a poll today. We looked at the Gallup tracking poll and it shows actually Obama's lead is shrinking from that, you know, big post convention high that we've all been talking about. It's now down three points. So with a downward trend, I'm wondering, it's hard to see a reason for Republicans to panic or am I missing something?

AVLON: Well, look, there's no question that that post convention bounce, it's a bounce because eventually you revert to the main. But the problem with the Romney campaign is, despite historic levels of unemployment that normally should bring down an incumbent president, they have been neck and neck, they have been tight, but they really haven't been ahead this cycle. And President Obama got a much bigger bounce coming out of Charlotte than Mitt Romney did out of Tampa. So they realize it's, you know, it's later than you think and they need to start recalibrating. No room for panic, but the status quo for their campaign, that clearly isn't working either.

So that's the real contest they're having inside the campaign. You can't reinvent your candidate. That famous Etch-A-Sketch, it's a little late for it. But you've got to make some clear decisions about how to reorient your message in a way that can connect. Again, 50 days out, it's tight. We are in the final stretch. But they still have a shot to pull this out and they've got to do everything they can, because there are no do-overs.

BALDWIN: There are no do-overs in politics when you're looking at seven weeks and one day.

AVLON: None.

BALDWIN: John Avalon, thank you so much, for us from New York.

AVLON: Thank you.

BALDWIN: "Newsweek," "Daily Beast."

So what do you think about this? Here's a number for you, $200,000. Is 200 grand a year, is that considered middle income? I want you to watch what Mitt Romney says when he is asked to define middle income.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROMNEY: Taxpayers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is $100,000 middle income?

ROMNEY: No, middle income is $200,000, $250,000 and less.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BALDWIN: So you heard him, $200,000, $250,000 or less. Let's talk about this with Alison Kosik. She is live at the New York Stock Exchange for me.

And first we should mention that the median income in the U.S. is just over $50,000. But back to Mitt Romney, is he technically correct?

ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: OK, here's the thing with this, Brooke. There is no textbook definition of what the middle class is. You know what it is, it's more of a feeling. And that's why there's so much wiggle room with this. There's so much debate over this question. But if you look at households sitting in the middle of income distribution, meaning those in the 40th to 60th percentile, they're making between $38,000 and $62,000. That is one way you can define the middle class. Now, the upper income, that starts above $101,000 and only 5 percent of households make $186,000 or more.

But, you know what, however you define the middle class, Brooke, it is getting smaller. There's a recent Pew study that found that just one third of Americans now consider themselves part of the lower class -- of the middle class, rather. Four years ago, it was bigger, a quarter of the population.

Brooke.

BALDWIN: It needs to be pointed out, though, this number, $250,000, we certainly heard it before because President Obama is calling for extending the current tax cuts, the so-called Bush tax cut, right, for income below that $250,000 mark for families.

KOSIK: Right.

BALDWIN: And $200,000 for individuals. By making those figures, Alison, his, you know, dividing lines, is the president then also saying middle income tops out in the same ballpark?

KOSIK: You know what, he kind of is, right? I mean, and you're right, that Romney, he's not -- Romney's not far off from what President Obama has been saying himself. You know, President Obama says he wants to keep tax cuts for the middle class and he's been using the exact same cutoff, individuals making $200,000, families making $250,000. But the difference is, is he hasn't actually labeled people. President Obama has not labeled people. Meaning people who are just below that line as middle income. He hasn't put that label on them. So what you have here is that President Obama is not saying it outright, so that may be why we're seeing Romney take more heat on this because he was -- he more so spelled it out, Brooke.

BALDWIN: I want to ask you about the heat he is taking because, you know, when you talk about dollars and cents and Mitt Romney's total wealth, it's not actually really known. I mean some estimate it to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars. And critics say, you know, statements like this, talking to ABC News, you know, puts him once again out of touch with your quote/unquote regular working Joe.

But when it comes down to who would handle the economy better, and we've seen the polls, we see the numbers, virtually neck and neck here, it doesn't look like, you know, President Obama really has a superior edge. So when it comes back to the heat that Mitt Romney could be taking on this, do we really think that would be substantial?

KOSIK: You know what, Democrats are certainly going to try to make most of this because it's all about perception, and he has that perception, meaning Romney does, of seeming out of touch with the average Joe. But, you know, there are policy implications for what Romney has been saying. You know, Romney has promised to not raise taxes on middle income people and he wants to cut taxes. He wants to cut tax rates by 20 percent for everybody. And to pay for that, he's going to have to limit deductions, mainly on high income earners. And that's really why we really want to know where he draws the line. But at least with Romney, we are getting some specifics in a surprising way if you ask me.

Brooke.

BALDWIN: Alison Kosik, thank you.

Just curious as to what you watching think about what is middle income. Tweet me @BrookeBCNN.

And we are just getting started here on this Monday. A whole lot else coming at you in the next two hours, including this.

The leader of the terrorist group Hezbollah says America must pay for that film attacking Islam. And now he's calling on Muslims all around the world to unite.

I'm Brooke Baldwin. The news is now.

An American soldier killed by the men he was training in Afghanistan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He had had a pillow over his face, 4:30 in the morning, screaming at the top of his lungs. Heart wrenching.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: The pain of an insider attack in war comes home.

Plus, as one magazine threatens to publish more revealing pictures, the royal couple gears up to fight.

And, when it comes to Iran, where is the red line? CNN's look at what each presidential candidate promises in the nuclear standoff.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: All right, let's talk Chicago, because school officials there, they are going to court looking to get Cook County judge to issue basically a court order to end the city's teacher strike. We are now on school day six of the strike in the nation's third largest school district. More than 26,000 teachers, 350,000 kids are out of class. And many parents scrambling just for daycare day in and day out. CNN's Chris Welch is live for us in Chicago.

And, Chris, I thought the strike was so close to ending. What, even into late last night. And now school district attorneys showed up in court? What happened?

CHRIS WELCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. You know, we were talking Thursday, Friday, things took sort of a more optimistic tone. Folks on both sides really of this issue, the teachers and the city, sounding much more optimistic. But then Saturday and Sunday rolled around and that's when the union -- the teachers union, house of delegates had a meeting. They got together. We thought, OK, this might actually end. They were going to decide whether or not to lift the strike. That did not happen. Instead, folks got together and said, we need more time to take this contract, this deal that's been presented to us, back to the entire union and then make a decision. So they're now saying they'll meet Tuesday night.

But in the meantime, as you mentioned, the Chicago -- city of Chicago, the public school system, now suing the teachers union saying the strike is illegal. But, the union firing back with a pretty strongly worded statement. I want to read that for you now. "CPS, (the Chicago Public School system), spur of the moment decision to seek injunctive relief some six days later appears to be a vindictive act instigated by the mayor. This attempt to thwart our democratic process is consistent with Mayor Emanuel's bullying behavior toward public school teachers."

So, there you have it, a pretty fiery statement towards Mayor Emanuel.

BALDWIN: So, Chris, let's just roll back for a second because, you know, maybe people are sitting there thinking, you know, why injunction, why sue? So let me just read what the school district says. Quote, "state law expressly prohibits the CTU, (the Chicago Teachers Union), from striking over non-economic issues, such as layoff and recall policies, teacher evaluations, class sizes and the length of the school day and year." So not only is this school district saying, you know what, this is illegal, but it's also saying the strike is actually, you know, endangering the health, the well- being of these children. How is that so?

WELCH: That's right. You know, the public school system is saying, you know, these kids are out of the school. Some of them who, you know, go to -- rely on school essentially for lunches, for nutritional value. A lot of them now going to be out on the streets. It's a safety issue, they're saying. But more than anything, they're saying this is not legal because they're arguing over things that are non-economic.

Now, if you were to talk to the teachers union, they'd say, look, wages, salaries and, you know, working conditions, these all have to do with our economic struggles. So they would say, you know, this is completely nonsense. They also say, if this was really, truly illegal, why didn't you sue a week ago when this strike began. So, they're sort of saying, you know, we don't really believe they've got a case here. And we've also heard word, just about an hour ago, that the judge would not even take this case up until as early as Wednesday.

BALDWIN: Oh, wow.

WELCH: And so we know -- we know the union's going to be meeting Tuesday night. So that may be a moot point by then.

BALDWIN: In the meantime, Chris, what about the parents? What are they saying to you?

WELCH: You know, a lot of parents said, look, we thought this would be over by now. We didn't think we'd be here a week later. Now here it is Monday, still talking about this. And a lot of parents are kind of split. You know, they try -- they're trying to take the argument that, you know, we see the sides, the points the teachers are making, but we also want our kids back in school. So you've kind of got a 50/50 kind of situation going on. We talked to one parent who was dropping his kid off at one of the Children First locations the city set up for kids to go to. Here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What was your reaction when you heard what happened?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A little bit of a disappointment. But, you know, I mean, I understand why they're holding out. So, you know, I definitely still support the teachers in holding out. So, daycare--

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are a lot of parents in the city, you think, still supporting the teachers?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think a fair number are. I mean, you know, it seems to be kind of split between, you know, people that I talk to, maybe 50/50.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WELCH: So parents saying, you know, it's really been a struggle. We've had to find babysitters, we've had to take days off work. We can't do this for very much longer.

Brooke.

BALDWIN: You can hear the frustration in the parents' voices for sure. We'll see where this goes on day seven. Chris Welch for us in Chicago. Chris, thank you.

Now this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GREG BUCKLEY SR., FATHER OF FALLEN MARINE: He goes, I'm going to -- you got to be able to tell my mom and Justin and Shane, you know, that I'm going to be killed over here. I said, out in the field, you know, or whatever? He goes, no, in our base.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BALDWIN: This is one of the most compelling interviews I have watched in quite some time. And I hope you join me next because the chilling words from that man's son, an American Marine who was killed during a green on blue insider attack in Afghanistan. Please stay with me. Don't miss this CNN interview next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: They wore U.S. Army uniforms, destroyed six military jets and toted automatic rifles, grenade launchers and suicide vests. These new details, they are coming into us from NATO on that brazen insurgent attack at a joint U.S. and British base in Afghanistan Friday. That attack is being called well planned and well rehearsed. And although the use of U.S. uniforms is quite rare, attacks on coalition troops by their supposed allies sadly are not.

Over straight days, three separate, deadly attacks on NATO forces in Afghanistan, not by obvious Taliban fighters or by al Qaeda, but by infiltrators acting alone or in groups, oftentimes wearing the uniform of NATO allies. In fact, just this year, 50 people have been killed in these types of attacks, including Lance Corporal Gregory Buckley. He was killed last month by the very Afghan forces he was there to train. In an incredibly emotional interview, his father spoke with CNN's David Ariosto. He says his son just had this feeling he wouldn't die in battle, but on base.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID ARIOSTO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This was the game Greg Buckley Jr. was supposed to see back home on leave from Afghanistan where he helped train Afghan forces. The 21-year-old Marine had only two days left before heading home to see his brother play varsity high school football for the first time. But before getting word that he was to go home early, he phoned his dad.

G. BUCKLEY: He told me that he doesn't -- if I have to stay here until November, he says, I'm not going to come home. And I was -- well, I don't understand. He goes, I'm going to -- you got to be able to tell my mom and Justin and Shane, you know, that I'm going to be killed over here. I said, out in the field, you know, or whatever? He goes, no, in our base.

ARIOSTO: Then it happened. Greg was gunned down August 10th by the very forces he was training. Like he said, it happened inside the base. And by his phone calls and letters, he knew it was coming. And on one particular night on guard duty, he had a run-in with a trainee.

G. BUCKLEY: The guy turned around and said to Greg, you know, we don't want you here and we don't need you here. And Greg said, what did you say? And he said it again. And Greg turned around and said to him, you know, why would you say that? You know, I'm here, you know, giving my life for you guys to help you, you know, to make better -- do better for yourselves. And the guy just started tormenting him all night.

ARIOSTO: His dad says Greg spent the rest of the night with the trainee. G. BUCKLEY: Pitch black out and all he kept on saying over and over again is, we don't want you, we don't need you, we don't want you, we don't need you.

ARIOSTO: Building up local security is considered the linchpin of NATO strategy for withdraw. But attacks by trainees have become disturbingly more frequent. Families like the Buckleys say it's a sign America's longest war has gone on long enough.

G. BUCKLEY: I basically collapsed and -- his mother collapsed and we were both on the floor, bawling.

ARIOSTO: But Greg's two brothers refused to cry, at least during the day.

G. BUCKLEY: One night I went into Shane's room and he was on the end of the bed and his head was hanging over the end of the bed. I thought he dropped water on the floor. And he was just bawling. My heart broke for him. And later on that night, I heard noises from Justin's room. And I went inside and he had a pillow over his face, 4:30 in the morning, screaming at the top of his lungs. Heart-wrenching. And I (INAUDIBLE) to Justin, you know, why don't you guys cry during the day? And they both turned around at the same time and said, we can't. We have to take care of you and mom.

ARIOSTO: With the community behind them, the Buckley family is now coping as best they can. And Justin, Oceanside's star running back wearing cameo with his team to honor Greg, makes sure to salute his fallen brother each time he scores.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah, baby. Yeah, baby.

ARIOSTO (on camera): Greg was supposed to be home for this game. What would you tell him right now?

JUSTIN BUCKLEY, BROTHER OF FALLEN MARINE: I would tell him I love him and I miss him. That's about it.

ARIOSTO: Thank you.

ARIOSTO (voice-over): David Ariosto, CNN, Oceanside, Long Island, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: There are no words.

Just a heads up. I'll be speaking with Greg Buckley Sr. this coming Wednesday and I'll ask his father what he thinks should be done about these insider attacks.

Just ahead, Mitt Romney expected to speak live as the president hits Ohio hard. You're going to see where each stands in the very important swing state.

Plus, both men fighting over how to cut America's debt. And if Congress does nothing, the White House is revealing what exactly gets cut and who gets saved. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Count them with me now, 50 days. Fifty days until Election Day. And here is what you need to know this hour about the presidential race. A little less than -- a little less than an hour from now, Mitt Romney will be speaking in Los Angeles to the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. And aides say he will be offering up some new specifics on the policies he would pursue if and when elected to the White House.

President Obama, meantime, is back in that all-important swing state of Ohio. Here he is at a campaign stop this morning. This was Cincinnati. He has another event just about two hours from now in Columbus.

Now, these two campaigns, they are, of course, battling it out for the state of Ohio. And it's really tough to tell who has an edge there. You see the numbers with me. This recent NBC/"Wall Street Journal"/Marist poll gives Obama -- he does have a seven-point advantage. But then look at this. The American Research Group Ohio poll shows the race is basically a tie. Obama you see at 48 percent, Romney at 47 percent.

Now, there is a word you are going to be hearing and we have talked about this, but you're going to be hearing this word more over the course in the next couple of months, that word being sequestration.

It is really an "inside the Beltway" word. It's a bureaucrat word, what does it mean? It basically means if Congress doesn't find a way to agree on how to reduce the debt, those automatic cuts, they kick in, in January. It sounds simple enough.

It is anything, but because the debt is $16 trillion. So the cuts would be deep, and the cuts would be brutal. So to help us understand and looking ahead here, with sequestration, how it would work, we asked Bob Cusack to join us once again. He is the managing editor of "The Hill." So Bob, welcome back.

BOB CUSACK, MANAGING EDITOR, "THE HILL": Thanks for having me on.

BALDWIN: The White House released some projections late last week. This is sort of the new nugget if you will in the whole story. So this is really the first time we're seeing specifics of these automatic spending cuts if Congress doesn't agree on, you know, how to reduce the debt.

I want to begin with the top of the list, that being the military. The military cuts, the dollar figure $7 billion. Can we be more specific? Who exactly would be pinched?

CUSACK: Well, it is about 10 percent of defense discretionary spending and it wouldn't affect some things. It would affect war funding, but it will not affect the pay that military personnel get or their benefits. But both to defense and on the social side doctors, hospitals, Medicare spending, food safety also would be cut, as well as security for embassies. So both sides agree that these cuts would be destructive. That's a word the White House used in this report on Friday.

The House headed by Republicans has passed a bill that would replace those cuts. So, you know, both sides want to avoid the sequestration, but they have different ideas of what to replace the cuts with this $1.2 trillion.

And, remember, you know, if we don't cut, if we say let's add to the deficit. Well, then the credit rating agencies might say we're going to downgrade the nation's credit. So this is a major problem. Both sides want to get rid of it, but they don't agree on the solution.

BALDWIN: We'll get to the back and forth here in just a minute and also the White House. But I just want to continue down the list here because we have a couple of examples, $140 million cut from federal student aid, $285 million cut from heating assistance to low income families, $104 million cut from the agricultural disaster relief fund at a time of extreme drought.

I mean, you know, look, anyone realizes these are tough, tough cuts. I thought the idea of forcing these cuts was to maybe, you know, this tactic of scaring lawmakers into striking a deal, but so far, that isn't happening.

CUSACK: No, and this is because of the failure of the so-called "Super Committee," both sides thought that was going to yield a deal, but there was no grand bargain.

At some point, there's going to have to be cuts, whether it's to defense spending or tax increases. That's what Democrats are pushing for. There going to have to be some cuts that are going to hurt some people.

They just can't reach a deal, a grand deal that will both satisfy the credit rating agencies and also not -- have enough votes to pass in Congress. It is very hard when you're cutting something. It is hard to get members to vote for that.

BALDWIN: No one likes to cut, it is a painful process, but the deadline, into the year, right? So far the White House, they have held off in supporting the Democrats' plan. I know a lot of jobs will be lost. Is that part of the reason why?

CUSACK: It is. I think the White House is -- it may have to change tactics here because the House Democrats have offered a plan like the House Republicans. The White House has not officially endorsed that bill, but Republicans are going after the president on this, calling it his defense cuts.

You know, not noting that the Paul Ryan also backed the bill that set this up, set up the "Super Committee" and set up sequestration. So I think this could come up in the debates. And I wouldn't be surprised if the White House backs some type of detailed plan that would say, we're not for this to make it crystal clear that they don't want these cuts to go into effect.

BALDWIN: So then the question is when. When would the White House change tactics? Are we talking post election?

CUSACK: No, I think could be before. It depends how much pressure and how successful Republicans are in their messaging that these are Obama's defense cuts, even though it was a bipartisan vote on this. I think that will depend on the timing of it.

BALDWIN: Managing editor of "The Hill," Bob Cusack, good to see you. Thank you.

CUSACK: Thanks for having me on.

BALDWIN: Ahead, boy, a royal scandal, more revealing photos of Kate Middleton are published. The royal couple looks to press criminal charges against those responsible.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: It is the much anticipated last flight for the space shuttle "Endeavor." The road has been cleared. We talked about those trees in Los Angeles. The festivities planned and the shuttle is loaded on to the back of the 747 jet liner.

But here is the but, it is going to have to wait because nature apparently has plans of its own. Chad Myers is here with this. We talked about the trees being cleared in L.A. so that's not the problem anymore. The problem is the weather.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Simply too wet.

BALDWIN: Oy.

MYERS: In between Cape Canaveral and Houston, it is a mess. There is just rain everywhere. They wanted to take a couple of low passes over NASA facilities, kind of in honor of the NASA facilities in Louisiana and Mississippi.

There is not a chance that you're not going to get that shuttle wet when you look at that radar now if you go through Mississippi. They could have taken a big long route around the Gulf of Mexico. But that wouldn't have been cool. People wouldn't have been able to see it. They want people to see it.

BALDWIN: Piggy backing on the 747.

MYERS: They have to strip the entire 747 to the gas tanks. There is nothing inside. There is not a seat inside. There is no heating exchanger. Nothing in there, except the big, big hole and then this thing sits on top.

BALDWIN: Those pictures are incredible. So hopefully some day this week you and I will be talking about that.

MYERS: It doesn't look like tomorrow either. It looks pretty bad.

BALDWIN: Eventually this week. In a different form of astronaut ability, Soyuz, three astronauts are home after, what, four months?

MYERS: They land on dirt. I just don't get that. You think about how hard it is if you do a belly flop on water, I'm not sure the Apollo was that much softer.

BALDWIN: Is this the landing?

MYERS: Yes, that, boom, big cloud of dust and still had to hurt.

BALDWIN: And welcome home from the ISS.

MYERS: And then the parachute blew over and tipped the thing on its side and they had to dig them out.

BALDWIN: That's the only way they get home now.

MYERS: Yes.

BALDWIN: Thanks to Russia and the Soyuz, hopefully with private enterprises that will soon change. Thank you, Chad Myers.

MYERS: You're welcome.

BALDWIN: Good to see you.

MYERS: Welcome back.

BALDWIN: Thank you. Good to be back in my home spot.

Moving on, let's talk about something that I know has a lot of you, maybe he was well talking about Roland Martin is weighing in on this one, the whole topless fiasco involving the royal couple.

And, you know what, he doesn't feel sorry for the duchess. He's going to explain. He'll join us live. It will be interesting.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Today, more photos of the Duchess of Cambridge wearing less than the palace ever wanted you to see. The Italian magazine called "Chi" means who in Italian, released this 26-page spread showing new images of Kate topless on the balcony in the private chateau in the South of France owned by William's uncle.

Also today, lawyers for the royals filed legal action against key sister publication in France, which first showed Kate half naked last week. The palace is seeking damages and a court order stopping further publication of these photos.

Since the story broke, we in the NEWSROOM, let me tell you this, shall we say, some very loud discussions over who is at fault, the paparazzi, the future queen of England. Catherine received no sympathy in this cnn.com article written by Roland Martin.

Our CNN analyst, host and managing editor of "Washington Watch" with Roland Martin on TV 1, Roland is joining me now. Roland Martin, let me just be totally transparent to our viewers, you and I normally talk politics.

We were on set last week talking foreign policy. Why, my friend, do you care about the Duchess of Cambridge in this story?

ROLAND MARTIN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Actually, I don't. I think what it speaks to is this whole issue in terms of the decisions you make and how it impacts you later on.

When I saw the story, the first thing that came to my mind was obviously paparazzi are atrocious, I can't stand these folks. I hate all the celebrity magazines where they take photos of people walking down the street getting coffee.

But let's be honest, if you don't take your top off in public, there are no photos. There is no controversy and so I immediately thought about Michael Jordan, other --

BALDWIN: Michael Jordan, why?

MARTIN: When Michael Jordan played in the NBA, Michael Jordan never got dressed in the locker room. He always got dressed in a side room. You go into the NBA or NFL locker rooms, guys are walking around butt naked.

Coming out of the shower, literally changing clothes right in front of the media, and so Jordan never wanted to be seen any way he could not control and so I understand being on a private 640-acre chateau.

BALDWIN: Let me play devil's advocate. This is private villa. She is on a balcony. I would imagine the land is pretty dense where she is. I'm not sure how far away the photographic lens was. I can't help. Let me just say, I personally felt sympathy for her. Can this woman not have a single private moment in her life?

MARTIN: The moment you -- here's the deal. When you walk outside of a door, that is now outdoors, the reality is you might be photographed. There are people with literally lenses that can shoot photos from a mile or two miles away.

Look, I totally agree on the whole notion of privacy. What I'm saying is you have to protect yourself. In boxing, there is a phrase protect yourself at all times. You talk to any number of celebrities, they will tell you.

They have to think about this beforehand and protect themselves beforehand. I get French law. I get the laws are on the books, but the reality is here. When you walk outside of that door, you are in the open space. Unfortunately, that's the world we live in.

BALDWIN: If you are -- if it were to be a Michael Jordan, if it were to be a Lady Gaga, if it were to be a Lindsay Lohan, if it were to be now, you know, the Duchess of Cambridge, it doesn't matter.

You always have to be mindful of where you are, what you're wearing, what you're not wearing, what you're tweeting, et cetera. Let me point this out, she's also married to the son of, you know, the late Princess Diana who was the most photographed woman in the world.

MARTIN: That's my point and also, look, I know any number of celebrities they're very careful about the people who are they are even around with privately in terms of are you recording photo or videos.

I went to the house of one of the biggest musical artists of all time. And in his bathroom there are photos all around saying, no photos, no videos, put this in your memory bank. So what I'm saying is, it is about protecting yourself and, again --

BALDWIN: Is that not so sad that person has to go to that length?

MARTIN: It sad that Halle Berry has to go off on paparazzi and she's literally trying to move to France because they're following her when she's picking her daughter up from school.

But with that said, celebrities will tell you, they have to protect themselves and all I'm saying is if you want to -- if you want to get your full tan on with no clothes, guess what, it might have to be inside in a tanning booth.

It might have to be with a special machine, but the moment you step outside and open air, you risk the paparazzi invading your private space and that's what we have here.

BALDWIN: Here is something else you point out. You say not only really is she a celebrity, you know, to blame, you point to some Americans. Let me read part of this, our culture has not only accepted it being part of -- our interest in these kinds of photos, we revel in it.

Seriously, do you think all the celebrity magazines and websites with photos of stars working to the star to get coffee lose money? No. You go on. We live in the age of voyeurism and long lenses of the paparazzi satisfy our desire for the garbage.

So in essence, Roland Martin, are we as a society and this demand to look in to blame?

MARTIN: Yes, if somebody is paying a photographer seven figures or high six figures of a nude Kate Middleton --

BALDWIN: We don't know how much they paid, do we?

MARTIN: We don't know. But we do know that other paparazzi have gotten significant amounts of money for these kinds of photos. Guess what, they know if I spend this amount of money, we're going to make that money back in terms of newsstands sales.

So you're absolutely right. I sit on airplanes and I see women, men, mothers, sitting there looking through the magazines and nothing, but photo magazines of just stars just doing their everyday life, we drive this.

And it is our voyeurism and that's the problem. So we can say, the paparazzi is bad. Well, stop buying the magazine.

BALDWIN: We could go off on that, but I have to stop, Roland Martin. Thank you. You can read Roland's article, just go to cnn.com. And to you watching, tell me what you think. Send me a tweet. I read all the tweets.

MARTIN: Keep it real.

BALDWIN: Keep it real, Roland Martin, tweet me @brookbcnn. Thanks, Roland.

MARTIN: Thanks a lot.

BALDWIN: Coming up next, the leader of the terrorist group Hezbollah makes a rare public appearance and uses it to call on Muslims to unite against America. You'll hear his direct orders next.

(COMMERIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: I want to show you video taken in the streets of Beirut, Lebanon just a couple of hours ago. See the protesters there, clearly filling some of these streets after the leader of Hezbollah called for more anti-American demonstrations.

The comments come days after violence erupted outside the U.S. embassies after that anti-Islam video went viral. I want to bring in CNN's Mohammed Jamjoom live for us in Beirut.

Mohammed, the leader of Hezbollah, you know, rarely makes public appearances. The crowd looked pretty huge. Do we know how many turned out, A and, B, was there any violence?

MOHAMMED JAMJOOM, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Brooke, you're right. It is rare that he would show up in public. It is the first time he made a public appearance since last year, since 2011. That was a very brief one.

Today, he spoke for around 20 minutes in front of tens of thousands of his supporters. There was no violence at all, no injuries reported. It was significant because you have Nasrallah and Hezbollah entering the fray on this film now.

But we also must remember that even though Hassan Nasrallah is coming out and calling for more demonstrations in the days to come saying this is the beginning of a serious movement in the Muslim world to defend the dignity of the prophet, also, this only happened in the southern suburbs of Beirut.

This was very well organized. This was called into play yesterday. It took place in a Shiite stronghold, a Hezbollah stronghold in the southern suburbs of Beirut and was very orderly. So that is quite significant. This is not close to any embassies, western embassies or any symbols of America. And yesterday when this rally was called for, Hezbollah was insisting that this need to be peaceful -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: I want to just play, Mohammed, a little bit of his speech. Not translated, just a heads up to all of you watching. We want to hear the force behind his words and the crowd's reaction. So take a listen.

JAMJOOM: Well, Brooke, this is Nasrallah rallying the crowd. He is saying, if I may paraphrase, prophet of God, he's having the crowd repeat after him, that we will gladly sacrifice ourselves for you, our parents, our children, and our blood.

He's saying we will do everything we can to defend the dignity of the prophet. This is not rhetoric that you would -- that would be unexpected at a rally like this, where they're trying to defend the prophet and the dignity of the prophet.

It just goes to show how serious an offense this film has taken as by these communities, these Muslim communities. They consider this sack religious. They consider this blasphemous and that's why you have this kind of reaction and outpouring of emotion -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: He's calling on all the Muslims around the world to unite because of that film. We'll wait and see if this continues in the coming days. Mohammed Jamjoom for us in Beirut. Mohammed, thank you.

The man responsible for that film, the man really at the center of all of this has remained a mystery until now. CNN did some digging. Wait until you see what we found.

Plus, Mitt Romney expected to speak live in a couple of minutes from now as his opponent to the president hits a very important swing state today.

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BALDWIN: Now to flare-ups of anti-American violence fueled by this low budget cartoonish movie trailer that mocks the Prophet Muhammad. In Afghanistan, protesters turn on police to try to block their march to the U.S. Embassy in Kabul. At least 15 officers are hurt. Their vehicles set on fire.

Once again, more photos coming in to us here from Beirut, crowds chanting death to America as the leader of Hezbollah calls for a week of protests.

In Indonesia, you saw the flames. Protesters burned the American flag and bombard police outside the U.S. embassy in Jakarta. This is day four of protests there.

Now to that film, we are learning more about the man behind that anti- Muslim film. CNN's Miguel Garquez uncovers the first photo of the filmmaker we have seen. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You like Hollywood?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, I do.

MARQUEZ (voice-over): Lily Dionne had been in Hollywood a week when she answered an ad on Craigslist for an action adventure film called "Desert Warrior."

LILY DIONNE, ACTRESS: First job, first week in L.A., just moved out here.

MARQUEZ: She met this man, Sam Bacile, seen here for first time on U.S. television. She says he was in charge of everything.

(on camera): Was it your sense he was the writer and producer?

DIONNE: Yes. Yes. I really believe he was the writer. He definitely was the producer. He was the one writing the checks, handing out the money. He was running the show.

MARQUEZ: Under the name Sam Bacile?

DIONNE: Yes.

MARQUEZ (voice-over): The shoot a little weird, but never heard any talk of politics or religion. The actors thought they were making a low budget cheesy film with little plot.

DIONNE: We did wonder what it was about. He kept saying -- they kept saying George and we're like this is the Middle East 2,000 years ago. Who's George? But --