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American Morning

Road Outrage

Aired January 09, 2003 - 08:32   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: We're going to turn our attention now to an in-your-face ad campaign that targets SUVs and the people who drive them. The new TV commercial suggests that if you buy one of the gas guzzling vehicles, you are supporting terrorists.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I helped hijack an airplane.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I helped blow up a nightclub.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So what if it gets 11 miles to the gallon.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I gave money to a terrorist training camp in a foreign country.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It helps me feel safe.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I helped our enemies develop weapons of mass destruction.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What if I need to go off road?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everyone has one.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I helped teach kids around the world to hate America.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I like to sit up high.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I sent our soldiers off to war.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everyone has one.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My life, my SUV.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZAHN: Well, a group calling itself the Detroit Project is behind those provocative ads. SUVs have already come under fire from environmentalists as well. Just last weekend, you might remember a radical group made a statement of its own by torching SUVs at a Pennsylvania car dealership.

So why are the sport utility vehicles that were once so popular so despised by some now? Joining us now from Los Angeles, Arianna Huffington, cofounder of The Detroit Project, and joining us from Washington this morning Pat Michaels of the Cato Institute.

Welcome to both of you. Good morning.

Arianna, I want to start with you. As I understand it, you drove a Lincoln navigator, an SUV, until a year ago. You really believe in the process of driving that SUV, you were bankrolling terrorists? How could you prove that?

ARIANNA HUFFINGTON, COFOUNDER, THE DETROIT PROJECT: You know, Paula, after September 11th, as I was driving my kids to school in my Lincoln Navigator, I saw the SUVs sporting American flags, and I saw one of them with five American flags. And it begun to dawn on me that much more patriotic it would be to dump our SUVs. This is what I did. I am now driving a hybrid car that gets 52 miles to the gallon.

But this campaign was started as a result of a column I wrote, asking whether people would be willing to support an ad campaign parodying the administration Jaguar ads. That's what you showed your viewers was, the parody of those ads, and the response was overwhelming. Over 5,000 e-mails saying, where do I send my money? And these ads were produced entirely by contributions from ordinary citizens.

So the public is way ahead from the leadership in Washington, which has provided absolutely no call to action to the American public to do anything for the war effort.

ZAHN: But, Arianna, when you go to the gas pump, you really don't know where the oil comes from or where the fuel comes from.

HUFFINGTON: We do know that oil is tangible in the international market. On the front page today of the business section of "The New York Times," you have the American government basically lobbying, begging the oil exporting countries to increase production because of the interruption of supplies from Venezuela, because of the possibility of a war in Iraq. We are in a very vulnerable position, and all they're hoping for, at most, is Vienna, next weekend, the OPEC countries will increase countries by two million barrels a day. We could achieve the same result by increasing fuel efficiency by two miles to the gallon.

Why isn't anybody in Washington, Democrat or Republican, issuing this call to action to the American people?

ZAHN: All right, let's ask Pat Michaels about that. Pat, if everybody in America driving an SUV today dumped it went to a hybrid car, what kind of difference would that make in our oil consumption, particularly the oil coming from Persian Gulf states?

PAT MICHAELS, CATO INST.: Well, first of all, they wouldn't dump them to drive hybrid cars, they'd dump them to probably drive a van, to drive their families around, and you'd find that the gas mileage difference wouldn't be all that much.

But what's more, I really object to this ad that I just saw. You should have put on there, Arianna, "I chose to my buy my SUV to feed the world." I have an SUV, a 4x4, on my farm. Down in the Shenandoah Valley, we need those vehicles. A lot of people need those vehicles. Mothers and fathers need them to drive their children in ice in Wisconsin and New England. I really think it's very, very unfair of you to take people who are using these vehicles to serve their country and their families and make them feel guilty. That is pretty bad.

ZAHN: Do you know what the percentage of people using their vehicles using their SUVs to go off road is or using them for business purposes is? Infinitesimal. Even among light trucks, it's only 28 percent of light tracks that are used for anything approaching business. You should really get your facts straight, and you should...

MICHAELS: Arianna, I drive an SUV and I drive a hybrid car.

HUFFINGTON: That's fine.

MICHAELS: I cannot drive the hybrid car in rainy weather, because it cannot see above the wash from the big trucks going down the interstate highway. It is dangerous at that point in time. I chose to buy a safer car for me and my family.

HUFFINGTON: You should stop disseminating false information. SUVs are four times as likely to roll over as regular cars, and three times as likely to kill their passengers.

The point we're making here is that Detroit has the opportunity right now to produce hybrid SUVs. The technology has existed since 1905. It we truly are at war, if we truly need to do something patriotic, why isn't Detroit stepping up to the plate?

ZAHN: Let me ask you this, so, Pat, you would argue that the oil that you save from if everybody made that transition to a hybrid, isn't that consequential? What percentage would you say would be saved?

MICHAELS: Of course not. If we got out of all of the SUVs that she wants to get us out of, the amount of oil that we would use would be 2 percent less than the amount of oil that we use now.

Now, we're going to make up that 2 percent over the course of about one or two years simply by immigration, people coming into this country and buying cars that tend to not be all that fuel efficient. You know, so what you're doing is you're saving this very, very small drop out of a very, very large barrel. This does not make any sense whatsoever.

ZAHN: I want to give you both opportunities to make closing statements.

Arianna, take about 20 seconds here.

HUFFINGTON: Let me question these numbers, because the truth is when I moved from a 13 mile per gallon Navigator to a 52-mile per gallon hybrid, I made a huge difference to the oil we need. Because as I said earlier, just a one mile per gallon improvement in the fuel efficiency standards gets us a saving of one million barrels a day. That is a phenomenal saving. And right now, there is a bill that is going to be introduced by Senators McCain and Kerry that would increase fuel efficiency standards, and I hope it will pass.

ZAHN: Pat Michaels, you get the last word this morning.

MICHAELS: You know what,if you had a large family, you couldn't carry them all in that hybrid car. If Jesus were traveling around with his apostles, for example, it would take him seven Honda Insights. He could put all of them in a very, very large SUV, and he would, by the way, save gasoline. It's a matter of choice. People make rational choices. They are not buying very many of the hybrid cars, by the way, because they don't recoup their cost in energy savings. You say yours is going to get 52 miles to the gallon. It will not over the lifetime of the car. I bet you will be less than 45.

The conventional car that is built on the Toyota Echo will get 39. It's a minimal difference once the cars get big. In the light cars, yes, you save a lot of gasoline.

ZAHN: All right, you two, I'd love to go on, but we've got to take a break here and talk about weather. Arianna Huffington, Pat Michaels, thank you for your perspective today.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired January 9, 2003 - 08:32   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to turn our attention now to an in-your-face ad campaign that targets SUVs and the people who drive them. The new TV commercial suggests that if you buy one of the gas guzzling vehicles, you are supporting terrorists.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I helped hijack an airplane.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I helped blow up a nightclub.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So what if it gets 11 miles to the gallon.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I gave money to a terrorist training camp in a foreign country.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It helps me feel safe.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I helped our enemies develop weapons of mass destruction.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What if I need to go off road?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everyone has one.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I helped teach kids around the world to hate America.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I like to sit up high.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I sent our soldiers off to war.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everyone has one.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My life, my SUV.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZAHN: Well, a group calling itself the Detroit Project is behind those provocative ads. SUVs have already come under fire from environmentalists as well. Just last weekend, you might remember a radical group made a statement of its own by torching SUVs at a Pennsylvania car dealership.

So why are the sport utility vehicles that were once so popular so despised by some now? Joining us now from Los Angeles, Arianna Huffington, cofounder of The Detroit Project, and joining us from Washington this morning Pat Michaels of the Cato Institute.

Welcome to both of you. Good morning.

Arianna, I want to start with you. As I understand it, you drove a Lincoln navigator, an SUV, until a year ago. You really believe in the process of driving that SUV, you were bankrolling terrorists? How could you prove that?

ARIANNA HUFFINGTON, COFOUNDER, THE DETROIT PROJECT: You know, Paula, after September 11th, as I was driving my kids to school in my Lincoln Navigator, I saw the SUVs sporting American flags, and I saw one of them with five American flags. And it begun to dawn on me that much more patriotic it would be to dump our SUVs. This is what I did. I am now driving a hybrid car that gets 52 miles to the gallon.

But this campaign was started as a result of a column I wrote, asking whether people would be willing to support an ad campaign parodying the administration Jaguar ads. That's what you showed your viewers was, the parody of those ads, and the response was overwhelming. Over 5,000 e-mails saying, where do I send my money? And these ads were produced entirely by contributions from ordinary citizens.

So the public is way ahead from the leadership in Washington, which has provided absolutely no call to action to the American public to do anything for the war effort.

ZAHN: But, Arianna, when you go to the gas pump, you really don't know where the oil comes from or where the fuel comes from.

HUFFINGTON: We do know that oil is tangible in the international market. On the front page today of the business section of "The New York Times," you have the American government basically lobbying, begging the oil exporting countries to increase production because of the interruption of supplies from Venezuela, because of the possibility of a war in Iraq. We are in a very vulnerable position, and all they're hoping for, at most, is Vienna, next weekend, the OPEC countries will increase countries by two million barrels a day. We could achieve the same result by increasing fuel efficiency by two miles to the gallon.

Why isn't anybody in Washington, Democrat or Republican, issuing this call to action to the American people?

ZAHN: All right, let's ask Pat Michaels about that. Pat, if everybody in America driving an SUV today dumped it went to a hybrid car, what kind of difference would that make in our oil consumption, particularly the oil coming from Persian Gulf states?

PAT MICHAELS, CATO INST.: Well, first of all, they wouldn't dump them to drive hybrid cars, they'd dump them to probably drive a van, to drive their families around, and you'd find that the gas mileage difference wouldn't be all that much.

But what's more, I really object to this ad that I just saw. You should have put on there, Arianna, "I chose to my buy my SUV to feed the world." I have an SUV, a 4x4, on my farm. Down in the Shenandoah Valley, we need those vehicles. A lot of people need those vehicles. Mothers and fathers need them to drive their children in ice in Wisconsin and New England. I really think it's very, very unfair of you to take people who are using these vehicles to serve their country and their families and make them feel guilty. That is pretty bad.

ZAHN: Do you know what the percentage of people using their vehicles using their SUVs to go off road is or using them for business purposes is? Infinitesimal. Even among light trucks, it's only 28 percent of light tracks that are used for anything approaching business. You should really get your facts straight, and you should...

MICHAELS: Arianna, I drive an SUV and I drive a hybrid car.

HUFFINGTON: That's fine.

MICHAELS: I cannot drive the hybrid car in rainy weather, because it cannot see above the wash from the big trucks going down the interstate highway. It is dangerous at that point in time. I chose to buy a safer car for me and my family.

HUFFINGTON: You should stop disseminating false information. SUVs are four times as likely to roll over as regular cars, and three times as likely to kill their passengers.

The point we're making here is that Detroit has the opportunity right now to produce hybrid SUVs. The technology has existed since 1905. It we truly are at war, if we truly need to do something patriotic, why isn't Detroit stepping up to the plate?

ZAHN: Let me ask you this, so, Pat, you would argue that the oil that you save from if everybody made that transition to a hybrid, isn't that consequential? What percentage would you say would be saved?

MICHAELS: Of course not. If we got out of all of the SUVs that she wants to get us out of, the amount of oil that we would use would be 2 percent less than the amount of oil that we use now.

Now, we're going to make up that 2 percent over the course of about one or two years simply by immigration, people coming into this country and buying cars that tend to not be all that fuel efficient. You know, so what you're doing is you're saving this very, very small drop out of a very, very large barrel. This does not make any sense whatsoever.

ZAHN: I want to give you both opportunities to make closing statements.

Arianna, take about 20 seconds here.

HUFFINGTON: Let me question these numbers, because the truth is when I moved from a 13 mile per gallon Navigator to a 52-mile per gallon hybrid, I made a huge difference to the oil we need. Because as I said earlier, just a one mile per gallon improvement in the fuel efficiency standards gets us a saving of one million barrels a day. That is a phenomenal saving. And right now, there is a bill that is going to be introduced by Senators McCain and Kerry that would increase fuel efficiency standards, and I hope it will pass.

ZAHN: Pat Michaels, you get the last word this morning.

MICHAELS: You know what,if you had a large family, you couldn't carry them all in that hybrid car. If Jesus were traveling around with his apostles, for example, it would take him seven Honda Insights. He could put all of them in a very, very large SUV, and he would, by the way, save gasoline. It's a matter of choice. People make rational choices. They are not buying very many of the hybrid cars, by the way, because they don't recoup their cost in energy savings. You say yours is going to get 52 miles to the gallon. It will not over the lifetime of the car. I bet you will be less than 45.

The conventional car that is built on the Toyota Echo will get 39. It's a minimal difference once the cars get big. In the light cars, yes, you save a lot of gasoline.

ZAHN: All right, you two, I'd love to go on, but we've got to take a break here and talk about weather. Arianna Huffington, Pat Michaels, thank you for your perspective today.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com