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CNN Live At Daybreak
What's on Tap in Washington?
Aired August 07, 2002 - 06:11 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.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: You know, Chad, our Washington deputy bureau chief Steve Redisch is on vacation?
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes.
COSTELLO: So you would think that we would have no one to bother this morning in the Washington bureau, oh but we do.
MYERS: Of course.
COSTELLO: He is Paul Courson, the morning producer in our Washington bureau, and we have him on the phone right now at home.
Do you have your pajamas on?
PAUL COURSON, CNN WASHINGTON BUREAU MORNING PRODUCER: No, Carol, actually I'm in the bureau already slaving away here this morning. How are you?
COSTELLO: Oh that's awesome. I'm fine.
So what's going on in Washington, because I know everybody leaves in August?
COURSON: Well you're right, just about everybody important is out of town here. Bush left the White House yesterday. He won't be back until sometime around Labor Day.
He does have some events planned. You know you asked Steve just yesterday whether he's -- the president is getting some criticism for taking six weeks off. Well the White House might have heard you, Carol, because they've scheduled visits to 15 cities during this vacation. He'll be helping some Republican candidates at fund raisers and he'll also be...
COSTELLO: Yes, but they're fund raisers.
COURSON: Well, but it's not F-U-N, it's F-U-N-D and that's a lot of work, you know. But he'll also be promoting his agenda on education, trade and the economy.
COSTELLO: So...
COURSON: Before he left Washington yesterday, you probably remember he visited Bethesda Naval Hospital for his annual checkup. Everything's fine. And he signed legislation giving him more negotiating power on matters of international trade. He spent the night last night at home in Crawford, Texas, but this morning makes a day trip to Mississippi visiting a high school. He'll be talking with kids about the economy, jobs and pensions.
Later still today in Mississippi, he helps with a political fund raiser, F-U-N-D, for Congressman Chip Pickering. That's the redistricting runoff against Congressman Ronnie Snows. By the way, the event's not far from bankrupt WorldCom's headquarters, and Democrat Snows has made a thing out of the fact Pickering has gotten the most in WorldCom campaign donations of any member of Congress the past few years.
COSTELLO: Well you got to do what you got to do.
Does this mean Vice President Dick Cheney is sitting in the seat at the White House?
COURSON: Well he's out of town, too. Vice President Cheney's in California. He's planning an economic speech this morning to the Commonwealth Club. Vice president is going to take some questions this time, likely asking about the stock market, corporate accounting policies.
COSTELLO: That's pretty brave of him. Doesn't he think people will ask him about his days as a CEO?
COURSON: Well you've watched him, he's pretty clever in answering saying a lot but saying nothing, you know?
COSTELLO: That's true. He is very wily, isn't he?
Hey, I've heard that the nation's Capitol will have the flags lower today, why?
COURSON: Well I'm looking out the window of the bureau here at the Capitol and one of the flags is lowered to half-staff. It's marking four years today since terrorist bombings against two U.S. embassies in Africa. The Kenya blast killed 219 people, including a dozen Americans. Another blast hit the American Embassy in Tanzania. That killed 12 people there. Four men linked with al Qaeda, Osama bin Laden's group, they're serving life without parole on convictions in U.S. court. Flags at half-staff over most embassies and consulates here in Washington today as well as over federal buildings like the State Department and the Pentagon.
COSTELLO: You know I'm just wondering about something, we hear what's going to go on on the anniversary of September 11 in New York, but we haven't heard much about what's going to go on in Washington.
COURSON: Well the Pentagon has already kind of commemorated its rebuilding. One of the planes that were hijacked and used as flying bombs struck the Pentagon on September 11, and they've rebuilt, reconstructed and reopened the section, I believe it's the Navy's part of the Pentagon, that was restored after the attack. There also has been a number of ceremonies in the Pentagon courtyard honoring the people who helped get people out of the Pentagon and such like that.
COSTELLO: OK. One more question, because I know that everyone who owns a Nissan Altima will want to hear what you're going to say.
COURSON: Well if you own an older Nissan Altima, there's a consumer activist group worried about the airbags, Carol. Public Citizen holds a news conference today citing statistics they believe show an unusually high number of injuries related to airbag deployment.
COSTELLO: And is Nissan responding to this in any way?
COURSON: Well Nissan doesn't believe it's a life-threatening situation. But what Joan Claybrook, the head of Public Citizen, is going to point out today is that these airbags on the passenger side of 1994 and 1995 model Altimas deploys in such a way to cause eye injuries and possible blindness. Nissan for this -- for their part are saying they're working with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to check whether there's really a problem.
COSTELLO: OK, Paul Courson, thanks for joining us this morning. We'll let you get back to work.
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