Live Blog from the Anchor Desk 09/21/09
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Tonight we have breaking developments on the rising water in Georgia. At least 5 people are killed after heavy rains and flooding. Dozens of schools are closed. When will the danger be over? Plus, former presidential candidate John Edwards' has admitted to an extramarital affair. He may soon have another bombshell admission.
Want to know what else we're covering? Read EVENING BUZZ
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Why are some politicians forgiven in sex scandals?
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Jessica Yellin
CNN National Political Correspondent
Damning new allegations about former Sen. John Edwards' extramarital affair are coming out - this time, the claims could spell the end of Edwards' political career.
While the U.S. has a tradition of forgiveness, politicians seem able to gain forgiveness from the public and come back after just about anything. As long as the offender apologizes, gets punished and seems to suffer along the way, they are forgiven.
Edwards admitted to having an affair with former 2008 presidential campaign worker Rielle Hunter. He did a mea culpa.
"In 2006, two years ago, I made a very serious mistake. A mistake that I am responsible for and no one else," he said during an interview with ABC News' "Nightline."
"I told Elizabeth about the mistake, asked her for her forgiveness, asked God for his forgiveness," he said.
But now he's getting the front page New York Times treatment.
Garrido claimed black box could speak his mind
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Program note: Watch Dan Simon's report on Philip Garrido's black box on AC360° at 10pm ET tonight.
Dan Simon
CNN
The black box sat inside a cabinet. Philip Garrido had given it to a friend for safekeeping, and that's where the friend kept it.
"He feels he can speak to you and me and everyone else using this box," said Garrido's friend and former business client, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
"He was a whack job, but he was a whack job who sounded like he had a really good heart," the friend added.
Garrido and his wife, Nancy, were arrested last month and charged on more than two dozen counts, including kidnapping and rape.
Authorities say the Garridos held Jaycee Dugard, 29, captive for nearly two decades in their backyard. Both have pleaded not guilty. Authorities have said Garrido, a registered sex offender, fathered Dugard's two children.
A few days before his arrest, Garrido delivered some documents touting the device to the FBI.
The black box is simple, with a handle, a metal switch and jacks for plugging in headphones. But it provides some insight into the mind of 58-year-old Garrido.
Evening Buzz: John Edwards' Love Child?
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Maureen Miller
AC360° Writer
John Edwards may have been caught in another lie. The former presidential candidate has already admitted to an extramarital affair. Now the New York Times reports he may soon admit he fathered a child with his former mistress, which he denied last year. The child is now 19 months old. And, his mistress is reportedly moving to North Carolina, near Edwards' beach house. That's not all. There's also the report that Edwards told his mistress he would marry her after his wife died of cancer. Joe Johns is in North Carolina working this story for us. And, we'll talk with a friend of Edwards' former lover. There's also the legal fight. A federal grand jury is looking at whether Edwards used campaign cash to pay off his mistress. That would be illegal.
Also tonight, a warning from the top commander of the war in Afghanistan. Gen. Stanley McChrystal says the mission will fail unless the strategy changes and more troops are brought in. We'll talk it over with Peter Bergen, Michael Ware and Author Rory Stewart.
We'll also take you to California where investigators are searching for bones on the property of kidnapping suspect Phillip Garrido. He's pleaded not guilty to charges he held Jaycee Dugard captive for 18 years. Police are now looking at whether he's connected to the disappearance of two other girls in the late 1980s. As for what life was like inside Garrido's home we're uncovered new, bizarre details on the suspect. Dan Simon gives you an up close look at the black box Garrido kept in his home. It's part of our weeklong series on suspects in high profile crimes.
And, on a lighter note, from runway model to talk show TV host, Tyra Banks has shown hundreds of hairstyles over the years. But nothing compares to what she sported when talking with CNN's Larry King.
Join us for these stories and much more at 10pm ET. See you then!
Employee held in slaying at posh New York hotel
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Gabriel Falcon
AC360° Writer
An employee of a luxurious New York hotel has been arrested in connection with the slaying of a woman in one of the hotel's residential condominiums, police say.
Derrick Praileau, 29, faces second-degree murder charges in connection with the death of Andree Bejjani, 44.
Police said Bejjani, who was originally from Lebanon, had moved to New York from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and had been staying in a residential condominium at the Jumeirah Essex House since August.
Bejjani's nude body was found Saturday afternoon on the 10th floor of the hotel on Central Park South. Her throat was slashed, authorities said. Police have not revealed a suspected motive for the slaying.
Is Obama overexposed?
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Editor's note: Drew Westen is a professor of psychology and psychiatry at Emory University. He has been a consultant or adviser to several candidates, nonprofit organizations and Fortune 500 companies, and informally advised Barack Obama's presidential campaign.
Drew Westen
Special to CNN
One of the themes of the Sunday talk shows this week - ironically, as they nearly all featured President Obama - was whether the president is "overexposed," particularly on health care.
In one sense, the question is a reasonable one: After months of letting himself and his yet-unformed plan for health reform get pummeled away with virtually no response until both he and the plan that didn't really exist yet had taken a battering in the polls, the president finally matched his summer of underexposure with two weeks out of the darkroom with a newly developed plan.
From a strictly psychological standpoint, an essential feature of "selling" a product, whether a newly restructured General Motors or a newly redesigned health reform plan, is repetition, and the president and his representatives need to repeat its most compelling features - particularly its ban on "pre-existing conditions" and the insurance company practice of dropping people who paid their premiums for years once they got sick - in just the way the president is now doing.
Beat 360° – 9/21/2009
Ready for today's Beat 360°? Everyday we post a picture – and you provide the caption and our staff will join in too. Tune in tonight at 10pm to see if you are our favorite! Here is the 'Beat 360°' pic:
Actress Tina Fey and singer Justin Timberlake speak onstage during the 61st Primetime Emmy Awards.
Have fun with it. We're looking forward to your captions! Make sure to include your name, city, state (or country) so we can post your comment.
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