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American Morning

Bush to Give Prime Time Speech

Aired November 08, 2001 - 09:07   ET

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


THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: And President Bush travels to the front- lines of the war on bioterrorism today when he visits the CDC in Atlanta. The administration took a major step in the financial side of the war against terrorism yesterday, cracking down on the money flow to terrorist organizations. CNN White House Correspondent Kelly Wallace joins us with the very latest on that. Plus a possible preview of the president's speech later tonight. Good morning, Kelly.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Paula. Well, why don't we start off with that possible preview of the speech, which aides are saying really will be a major address on Homeland Security. As you know, Paula, the administration definitely has faced some criticism of its handling of anthrax, even its handling of these very general FBI terrorism alerts warning of an imminent terrorist attack.

Now, Bush advisers say the speech is not in response to that criticism, they said that the -- the president felt it very important that this was the right time to go before the American people in a prime-time speech to talk about also the military campaign in Afghanistan, and again, to talk about the steps the federal government is taking to make sure Americans are safe. And, Paula, we've talked about this from time to time.

You're likely to hear the president say, again, that Americans should go about their normal business, go on with their lives, but to remain on a heightened state of alert. We heard the Homeland Security Chief Tom Ridge saying yesterday that Americans should be on alert indefinitely. Obviously, a difficult message. White House aides kind of bristle, though, when you say isn't this a mixed message. They say it is a dual message. And they believe the American people understand exactly what the president is saying. Paula.

ZAHN: How important is this address tonight?

WALLACE: Well, the White House thinks it's very, very important. I believe some of them are comparing it to the speech he gave to a joint session of Congress back in September, outlining the military campaign, outlining the challenge ahead, so they see this as very important speech, obviously going to be in prime-time. Not clear right now, Paula, if the White House is going to ask the television networks for time to present the speech, of course, the cable networks will be presenting it. So it is really the second speech following, at least, when the president addressed the American people just a month ago, talking about the military campaign underway, it's the second time he's sort of going before the American people this way to talk about what is going on.

And also, Paula, while the president's approval rating is very, very high, as we've seen in some polls, it being appears that only about 50% of Americans think the administration has a very well thought out plan for dealing with bioterrorism and other terrorism threats in the United States. So, clearly a message from the president to try and reassure and calm some anxiety in the country. Paula.

ZAHN: Pretty big challenge ahead for the president tonight. Kelly Wallace, thanks so much.

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