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American Morning
Americans Do Not Know of Dick Cheney
Aired January 22, 2002 - 08:53 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: Time now to go to "The Flip Side" with CNN contributor and comedienne Alexandra Wentworth.
Last week, you went trolling with a camera; you went to Penn Station, and you asked people about Enron, whether they knew what Enron was.
ALEXANDRA WENTWORTH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and I had a pretty much 99.9 percent I have no idea. One guy knew it was an energy company that sells energy. And so, as we know, Dick Cheney was in the news this weekend, trying to get some influences over in India for our country. I decided to go in the streets and see what people thought or if they knew who our second in command, Dick Cheney, was.
We had some interesting...
ZAHN: They knew who Dick Cheney was, didn't they?
WENTWORTH: Paula, I wish I could say yes.
ZAHN: They had no idea Dick Cheney was our vice president?
WENTWORTH: I had to hunt for somebody that did. I got so many people that didn't know who he was it became redundant after a while.
ZAHN: I have to go out on the street with you. I want to find out where you're locating these people, Alexandra.
Let's watch what you found.
WENTWORTH: OK.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WENTWORTH: Do you know who Dick Cheney is?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dick Cheney?
WENTWORTH: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think I do.
WENTWORTH: Take a guess.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is he the governor or mayor or something like that?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I hear the important stuff. Come on now.
WENTWORTH: Do you know who Dick Cheney is?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Vaguely.
WENTWORTH: What do you think?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I vaguely know who he is.
WENTWORTH: Do you know what his title is?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.
WENTWORTH: Do you know who Johnny Neutron is?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
WENTWORTH: Do you know who Brad Pitt is?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: yes.
WENTWORTH: Do you know who the secretary of the Treasury is?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.
WENTWORTH: Do you know who Dick Cheney is?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, he is. That would be our vice president.
WENTWORTH: That's very good.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Exactly.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Security council or whatever?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dick Cheney?
WENTWORTH: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The head coach of the Knicks.
WENTWORTH: There you go.
You don't know who Dick Cheney is, right?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, he must be...
WENTWORTH: Do you know who Carmen Electra is?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Of course.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's somebody in the political game.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
WENTWORTH: Who's that?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Vice president.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Vice president.
WENTWORTH: Whoo!
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ZAHN: Whoa. What does that mean?
WENTWORTH: I don't know.
ZAHN: Whose fault is that?
WENTWORTH: It's a little scary. It's so funny how many people thought he was the coach of the Knicks.
(CROSSTALK)
ZAHN: Come on, more than two people thought he was the coach of the Knicks?
WENTWORTH: Yes. I sort of played my own little game, which was every time I asked somebody and they said they didn't know who Dick Cheney was, I'd say, do you know who Pamela Anderson is? And I'd ask do you know Carmen -- just to get an idea of what the American public focuses on. And they would look at me like I'm an idiot. What are you asking me, Carmen Electra? Dick who? What? It was pretty educational.
ZAHN: I can't imagine what the administration is thinking this morning if they viewered in on the segment. A little work to do.
WENTWORTH: Dick Cheney may want to be a little more public. He may want to come out of the hole every once in a while so people get an idea.
ZAHN: All right. We've had a little bit of a talk this morning with Jack and Anderson about this new look of Chelsea Clinton's. We want you to check out the front page of the newspaper. If you didn't know -- you might not have recognized her...
WENTWORTH: That's her in the middle, with the blonde hair, right?
ZAHN: Gwyneth to the right, and Madonna. She was in Paris, doing the little couture shows, which is where people go to buy very fancy clothes. Any thoughts on this? The gentleman on the show -- I can't say they dissed her, but they weren't so impressed with this new look.
WENTWORTH: I do recall Anderson's line of earlier, so I would say that was a dis.
ZAHN: Which line was it, Alexandra?
WENTWORTH: I think he called her Elvira?
You know what, she's grown up.
ZAHN: She has grown up.
WENTWORTH: She's showing a little cleavage, which is nice. I think it takes a very secure woman to go to a Versace show with Madonna and Gwyneth Paltrow, who are, like, the pillars of fashion and style and sexiness. God bless her, she's trying to grow up.
ZAHN: What about the studies at Oxford, Alexandra?
WENTWORTH: Hope they don't suffer.
WENTWORTH: Who cares about the studies if you've got Kevin Aucion doing your makeup and you can get a free Versace sweater?
But I think this is her. She's been in the public for so many years it's her rite of passage to come out of the cocoon and be a butterfly, as it were.
And a butterfly she was. We'll see you later in the week.
WENTWORTH: Thank you.
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