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Kerry, Bush to Deliver Speeches on the Stump Today

Aired March 26, 2004 - 11:30   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.


DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Daryn Kagan at CNN Center in Atlanta. Let's check the headlines at this hour.
A Chicago commuter train carrying passengers bumped an empty railcar just after the morning rush today. At least 12 people were taken to hospitals. Several ambulances were called to the scene.

The U.S. has vetoed a U.N. resolution that would have condemned the Israeli assassination of Hamas' spiritual leader. The U.S. said it's deeply troubled by the killing of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin but it wanted a resolution condemning attacks by Hamas.

Kobe Bryant's accuser is asking the judge to hurry things up so she can get on with her life. The 19-year-old woman says she has received hundreds of calls and e-mails containing death threats. Pretrial proceedings are scheduled through the spring.

President Bush is expected to sign a new law passed by Congress that makes it illegal to harm a fetus during the commission of a federal crime. Though it specifically excludes abortion, critics say the bill's a way to undermine a woman's right to choose.

Both President Bush and his democratic rival John Kerry are on the road today. They are presenting dueling takes on the economy. "INSIDE POLITICS" editor Judy Woodruff joins us from Washington with the campaign headlines. Judy, good morning.

JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you, Daryn, good morning.

President Bush plans to remind voters that the housing market remains strong when he appears in New Mexico, a little over an hour from now. And in Arizona, later today. By touting home ownership, the president says he's hoping to offset democratic criticism about lackluster job creation in America. You can watch the president's speech live on CNN, beginning around 12:35 p.m. Eastern.

John Kerry also is headed to a battleground state, Michigan, to deliver his first major policy address since clinching the Democratic nomination. Kerry is expected to offer a plan to create 10 million jobs by 2009 and hit back at new Bush ads that claim Kerry backed 350 tax hikes in the Senate. CNN will carry Kerry's address live at 12:45 p.m. Eastern.

The Democrats raked in a record setting amount of money and generated some very interesting pictures at last night's party unity dinner. The nominee-to-be John Kerry shared the spotlight with former Presidents Clinton and Carter, and former Vice President Gore, as well as most of his primary season opponents.

The talk was unabashedly partisan, including swipes at the Republicans and even at Ralph Nader.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIMMY CARTER, FRM. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Ralph, go back to umpiring softball games or examining the rear end of automobiles. And don't risk costing the Democrats the White House this year, as you did four years ago.

BILL CLINTON, FRM. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: These people talk about how disciplined they are. When we were there, Gore and I, we let people drink out of Styrofoam cups, they let people drink out of china. We let people come to work late at night and on the weekends in jeans and flannel shirts. They always have white shirts and tie. They're the mature daddy party.

They remind me of teenagers who got their inheritance too soon and couldn't wait to blow it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WOODRUFF: The Democratic Party took in $11 million at last night's event. Separately, the Kerry campaign announced it raised $10 million over the past ten days. Another $1.3 million goes into president Bush's campaign war chest thanks to a Boston fund-raiser. Mr. Bush swept into Kerry's hometown. The $2,000 a plate event last night. He slammed his democratic challenger as a tax and spend liberal.

This afternoon on "INSIDE POLITICS," we'll look at the battle for growing and ever more important Latino vote. Plus, Bill Schneider bestows his political play of the week. Join me at 3:30 Eastern when I go "INSIDE POLITICS."

Now back to Daryn Kagan at the CNN Center in Atlanta.

KAGAN: All right, Judy. For someone who travels as much as you, you'll be interested in the next story. How about going from New York to Paris in just under an hour? Still a dream today. But tomorrow, NASA plans to test an aircraft that could reach 5,000 miles an hour, that's seven times the speed of sound. Daniel Sieberg is here with a preview. Daniel, good morning.

DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN TECHNOLOGY CORRESPONDENT: It's called the X- 43-A. The operative part of that moniker being the "X," meaning experimental. The technology is still a long ways off in terms of helping people to commute much faster but this aircraft is being tested tomorrow, and what you're seeing now is how they'll launch this.

This is a B-52 that will be taking off tomorrow from Edwards Air Force Base in California. Underneath it will be a modified Pegasus rocket. The B-52 has to get up very high about 43,000 feet. It will release the Pegasus rocket. The Pegasus rocket will then need to get to about 100,000 feet. Once it's at that altitude it will release the actual vehicle, the actual aircraft, just on the very front of it. It's on the very front wedge piece. It looks like a flying surf board, only about 12 feet long, weighs about 2,800 pounds.

The whole design the reason it has to get so high and go so fast it's going to release at about Mach 5, it's called an air breathing vehicle. It brings in the oxygen. Has no oxygen tanks on board. It has to bring in the oxygen in order to have the engine combust combine it with a bit of hydrogen then creates this enormous thrust so it can try and reach this speed. They've been working on this design many years. Mainly working on it in wind tunnels back in the laboratory. They tried it a couple years ago and it failed. They had to abort the mission and it plunged into the Pacific Ocean. They're hoping the slightly modified design will allow it to work. It has to get to the super high speed, hyper sonic speed, at least Mach 5. Brings in the oxygen at this rate of speed. It really does look like a flying surf board.

Brings in this oxygen, able to convert that into thrust and continue it forward. Now, tomorrow, when it actually launches we have a satellite image. It will take off from Edwards's Air Force base in California, runway four, as a matter of fact. We can zoom in here to the runway. Once it takes off, this B-52 will take off on the runway, heading out toward the Pacific Ocean. The drop point is about 400 miles away. It's going to get up over California, heading out over the ocean. Once it gets to the ocean it will then release the Pegasus rocket, which will get up to this 100,000 feet point.

No matter what, it's going to be performing these -- they hope if it works; it will be performing these aerial maneuvers, to test out the aerodynamics of it. That's if everything goes according to plan. It is preprogrammed to do these maneuvers.

We're talking about milliseconds or seconds that is crucial to this working. All this takes place at such a high rate of speed, from time it release the wedge piece off the front the rocket, they just have a very small window of time in order to test the engine, see if it works. If it does work, they've got maneuvers to perform for six minutes. Regardless it will then plunge into the ocean, whether it works or it doesn't. They're trying to have a sense of humor about this over at NASA Unlike the mars mission, they know that they will find water with the X-43-A, no matter what, it's going to go into the ocean regardless. Again experimental here a long way off in terms of being used by commuters, but the possibility is there.

KAGAN: Thank you, Daniel Sieberg.

Daniel is someone who I know can enjoy a glass of beer, or bottle of beer, whatever, but is he counting carbs? Beer companies now falling all over themselves to make sure you know they can do both. Carb, beer, and calories, and what does it take to burn it off? And why count the carbs in what you eat when you can count the legs on it? Jeanne Moos with a feast you won't soon forget.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) KAGAN: Health news for you now. The FDA has approved an oral test for HIV that gives results in about 20 minutes. The test uses saliva to check for the virus that causes AIDS. It's the second rapid test for AIDS on the market, the other was approved in 2002, that one requires pricking a persons finger to test their blood.

The debate over beer it used to be whether it was less filling or tasted great. Now a controversy is brewing over the carbs in beer. Lisa Dreyer is a registered dietitian, right here with us talking about our "Daily Dose" of health news. Good morning. Good to have you here with us.

LISA DREYER, REGISTERED DIETITIAN: Great to be here.

KAGAN: The whole big deal about carbs anyway, it's because of diets like the Atkins diet.

DREYER: Carbs is all the rage now. Now, Anheuser bush, they're really upset. Saying a lot of popular, low carb diets like Suzanne Summers are providing incorrect information about carbohydrates in beer. They're sending this brochure out

KAGAN: They're fighting back.

DREYER: Exactly. Sending that out to over 600 wholesalers this week to get the real story on beer.

KAGAN: Let's get to the part people really care about. Beer bellies. Are beer bellies caused by beer?

DREYER: I interviewed a lot of experts on this. As a nutritionist, I know this is not necessarily the case. Many experts agreed. Beer bellies come from excess calorie. Although certainly if your consuming a lot of excess carbs you will gain weight. It's also determined, that is the beer belly, at least in part by genetics. So where you actually deposit fat on your body is genetically determined. I spoke with the Eric Rim (ph) from Harvard, he had a lot of the alcohol research

KAGAN: Fun research to do

DREYER: Exactly, he said if you had excess pizza, you'd have a pizza belly. So calories are what we're talking about. Alcohol does contain a lot of calories.

KAGAN: The beer industry fighting back hard. There's a new commercial out. Let's go ahead and take a look at what they're talking about.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AD ANNOUNCER: The Bud Light institute, we're proud our beer is made with all natural ingredients and is low in carbs. So few, in fact, it's easy to burn the carbs in one bud light that's why we created the mini treadmill 2010. Use your treadmill at home, on the town, even in the gym. (END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: So very cute, little mini treadmill. Poking some fun at themselves and about exercise obsessed America. But you have the real deal, Lisa about what it takes to burn off beer.

DREYER: I found out it takes 25 minutes on a real treadmill to burn off the 110 calories and 6.6 grams of carbohydrates in one 12- ounce bottle of bud light. And also Michelob Ultra, the low carb beer, And 21 minutes for Michelob Ultra Low Carb Beer. Miller Lite, also 21 calories. This is interesting, a lot of people say lite beer is similar to low carb. It is essentially the same.

Lite beer has always been low in carbs, so it would take about the same amount of time because the two have similar calorie count. Coors original, 31 minute to burn off the calories in a can of regular beer. So that's the biggest bang for your bottle, calorie wise.

KAGAN: The sooner you get off the treadmill, the sooner you can get another bottle of beer. Appreciate it, Lisa, nutritionist, helping us understand beer bellies, beer and carbohydrates. Log on to our Web site. You'll find the latest medical news and breakthroughs, health library, and information on diet and fitness, cnn.com/health.

On the big screen, he is the punisher. But here at CNN, he just seems like a pretty nice guy. Thomas Jane, the actor. He's giving us an insightful interview. Coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're supposed to be dead.

THOMAS JANE, ACTOR: Get up. Wheel the money out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: He is not dead, he's on fire. Thomas Jane "The Punisher" the new film based on the marvel comic book series. He plays undercover agent Frank Castle, a man whose family is murdered as payback for one of his cases. "The Punisher" opens April 16. Thomas Jane, "The Punisher" right here to talk about that and some other big project he has come up. Good morning, thank you for being with us.

JANE: It's great to be here. You have a great studio.

KAGAN: Thank you so much. You have a great film coming out. And you purposely wanted to go into the comic book world. You have a great film coming out "The Punisher." You love comic books.

JANE: I grew up with comic books. It's all I could read I was a slow learner so I read comics and you know, I'm still reading them, as a matter of fact. Can't read anything else.

KAGAN: Convenient for the new role. I just met you, but in person, you look like a pretty nice guy.

JANE: Thanks.

KAGAN: What's happening for you, the bad guy roles are coming through.

JANE: I like to think of them as kind of anti-heroes.

KAGAN: Okay, one guy's bad guy, another person's anti-hero.

JANE: You're right.

KAGAN: But are you looking to fill that niche of kind of like the Clint Eastwood, the kind of "Dirty Harry."

JANE: wow. He's definitely a hero of mine. Lee Marvin, McQueen, Bronson all those guys. I grew up with loving those guys, in those movies. You're right. I just I haven't seen those movies in a long time. To get the chance to play something like that, back on the screen, is the best thing in the world for me, is a dream come true. If this one's successful, we'll make sure to bring a lot more of them.

KAGAN: "The Punisher," not the best known of all the comic book heroes. Tell me a little bit more about his kind of

JANE: You're right, in the comic book world, he's very well known. The world at large, he's a lesser known superhero. He's not a superhero, he's Marvel's only for mature audience comic book. Doesn't have any superpowers. Can't climb walls. Spikes can't come out of his knuckles

KAGAN: No bat cave.

JANE: Got no cave.

KAGAN: What do you got?

JANE: Drinking problem.

KAGAN: OK.

JANE: A lot of bad karma, and a lot of time on his hands to think of really interesting ways to kill a bunch of people.

KAGAN: Wow. A lot of violence in "The Punisher"

JANE: he carries around a lot of anger, yeah. He's what they call socially maladjusted.

JANE: So it's perfect, really perfect for me. I've been waiting for this role all my life.

KAGAN: You have this coming out, you have "Stander," also coming out later. You're kind of an overnight success but you have to laugh at that because you're a guy did you wait table force seven years?

JANE: I waited tables for seven days and I got fired. I'm the kind of guy who can't seem to hold a real job.

KAGAN: It's a good thing this acting thing.

JANE: Is sort of working out for me yeah.

KAGAN: You've been at this since '89. So why now is everything kind of come to the, do you think?

JANE: I've been learning the tools my craft being you know, working with guys like Gene Hackman, Morgan Freeman, picking up you know, stuff that I would want to do when I got the chance at-bat, so to speak, and it's you know, been a long time coming.

KAGAN: Well, now is your time. Understand you've got some advice from Billy Bob Thornton.

JANE: Yeah.

KAGAN: What is his advice to you?

JANE: I read it. I wish he was speaking to me.

KAGAN: Said it to you in print media.

JANE: Speaking to me. And he said, find out what kind of animal you are, and then be that animal.

KAGAN: At the risk of sound like Barbara Walters, if you were a tree if you are an animal what animal would you be? Or what kind of animal are you, Thomas Jane?

JANE: I like let's talk about what kind of animal Frank Castle is. I think he's a panther. You know. He stalks through life and nothing gets in his way. Incredibly graceful, sleek way of killing people. And I like that in a panther.

KAGAN: All right. Well, hopefully "The Panther" and...

JANE: "The Panther"?

KAGAN: "The Panther," "The Punisher" and all of that, will do great when it comes out. Thomas Jane. We'll look for you around the different comic book stores around the country.

JANE: That's right; I'm going to go around to all of the different comic book stores I can hit.

KAGAN: A break right now. And we'll be back right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

KAGAN: Quite a few of our news anchors here at CNN have spring fever. I'll be back here at 10:00 p.m. Eastern filling in for Aaron Brown. 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 March 26, 2004 - 11:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Daryn Kagan at CNN Center in Atlanta. Let's check the headlines at this hour.
A Chicago commuter train carrying passengers bumped an empty railcar just after the morning rush today. At least 12 people were taken to hospitals. Several ambulances were called to the scene.

The U.S. has vetoed a U.N. resolution that would have condemned the Israeli assassination of Hamas' spiritual leader. The U.S. said it's deeply troubled by the killing of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin but it wanted a resolution condemning attacks by Hamas.

Kobe Bryant's accuser is asking the judge to hurry things up so she can get on with her life. The 19-year-old woman says she has received hundreds of calls and e-mails containing death threats. Pretrial proceedings are scheduled through the spring.

President Bush is expected to sign a new law passed by Congress that makes it illegal to harm a fetus during the commission of a federal crime. Though it specifically excludes abortion, critics say the bill's a way to undermine a woman's right to choose.

Both President Bush and his democratic rival John Kerry are on the road today. They are presenting dueling takes on the economy. "INSIDE POLITICS" editor Judy Woodruff joins us from Washington with the campaign headlines. Judy, good morning.

JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you, Daryn, good morning.

President Bush plans to remind voters that the housing market remains strong when he appears in New Mexico, a little over an hour from now. And in Arizona, later today. By touting home ownership, the president says he's hoping to offset democratic criticism about lackluster job creation in America. You can watch the president's speech live on CNN, beginning around 12:35 p.m. Eastern.

John Kerry also is headed to a battleground state, Michigan, to deliver his first major policy address since clinching the Democratic nomination. Kerry is expected to offer a plan to create 10 million jobs by 2009 and hit back at new Bush ads that claim Kerry backed 350 tax hikes in the Senate. CNN will carry Kerry's address live at 12:45 p.m. Eastern.

The Democrats raked in a record setting amount of money and generated some very interesting pictures at last night's party unity dinner. The nominee-to-be John Kerry shared the spotlight with former Presidents Clinton and Carter, and former Vice President Gore, as well as most of his primary season opponents.

The talk was unabashedly partisan, including swipes at the Republicans and even at Ralph Nader.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIMMY CARTER, FRM. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Ralph, go back to umpiring softball games or examining the rear end of automobiles. And don't risk costing the Democrats the White House this year, as you did four years ago.

BILL CLINTON, FRM. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: These people talk about how disciplined they are. When we were there, Gore and I, we let people drink out of Styrofoam cups, they let people drink out of china. We let people come to work late at night and on the weekends in jeans and flannel shirts. They always have white shirts and tie. They're the mature daddy party.

They remind me of teenagers who got their inheritance too soon and couldn't wait to blow it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WOODRUFF: The Democratic Party took in $11 million at last night's event. Separately, the Kerry campaign announced it raised $10 million over the past ten days. Another $1.3 million goes into president Bush's campaign war chest thanks to a Boston fund-raiser. Mr. Bush swept into Kerry's hometown. The $2,000 a plate event last night. He slammed his democratic challenger as a tax and spend liberal.

This afternoon on "INSIDE POLITICS," we'll look at the battle for growing and ever more important Latino vote. Plus, Bill Schneider bestows his political play of the week. Join me at 3:30 Eastern when I go "INSIDE POLITICS."

Now back to Daryn Kagan at the CNN Center in Atlanta.

KAGAN: All right, Judy. For someone who travels as much as you, you'll be interested in the next story. How about going from New York to Paris in just under an hour? Still a dream today. But tomorrow, NASA plans to test an aircraft that could reach 5,000 miles an hour, that's seven times the speed of sound. Daniel Sieberg is here with a preview. Daniel, good morning.

DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN TECHNOLOGY CORRESPONDENT: It's called the X- 43-A. The operative part of that moniker being the "X," meaning experimental. The technology is still a long ways off in terms of helping people to commute much faster but this aircraft is being tested tomorrow, and what you're seeing now is how they'll launch this.

This is a B-52 that will be taking off tomorrow from Edwards Air Force Base in California. Underneath it will be a modified Pegasus rocket. The B-52 has to get up very high about 43,000 feet. It will release the Pegasus rocket. The Pegasus rocket will then need to get to about 100,000 feet. Once it's at that altitude it will release the actual vehicle, the actual aircraft, just on the very front of it. It's on the very front wedge piece. It looks like a flying surf board, only about 12 feet long, weighs about 2,800 pounds.

The whole design the reason it has to get so high and go so fast it's going to release at about Mach 5, it's called an air breathing vehicle. It brings in the oxygen. Has no oxygen tanks on board. It has to bring in the oxygen in order to have the engine combust combine it with a bit of hydrogen then creates this enormous thrust so it can try and reach this speed. They've been working on this design many years. Mainly working on it in wind tunnels back in the laboratory. They tried it a couple years ago and it failed. They had to abort the mission and it plunged into the Pacific Ocean. They're hoping the slightly modified design will allow it to work. It has to get to the super high speed, hyper sonic speed, at least Mach 5. Brings in the oxygen at this rate of speed. It really does look like a flying surf board.

Brings in this oxygen, able to convert that into thrust and continue it forward. Now, tomorrow, when it actually launches we have a satellite image. It will take off from Edwards's Air Force base in California, runway four, as a matter of fact. We can zoom in here to the runway. Once it takes off, this B-52 will take off on the runway, heading out toward the Pacific Ocean. The drop point is about 400 miles away. It's going to get up over California, heading out over the ocean. Once it gets to the ocean it will then release the Pegasus rocket, which will get up to this 100,000 feet point.

No matter what, it's going to be performing these -- they hope if it works; it will be performing these aerial maneuvers, to test out the aerodynamics of it. That's if everything goes according to plan. It is preprogrammed to do these maneuvers.

We're talking about milliseconds or seconds that is crucial to this working. All this takes place at such a high rate of speed, from time it release the wedge piece off the front the rocket, they just have a very small window of time in order to test the engine, see if it works. If it does work, they've got maneuvers to perform for six minutes. Regardless it will then plunge into the ocean, whether it works or it doesn't. They're trying to have a sense of humor about this over at NASA Unlike the mars mission, they know that they will find water with the X-43-A, no matter what, it's going to go into the ocean regardless. Again experimental here a long way off in terms of being used by commuters, but the possibility is there.

KAGAN: Thank you, Daniel Sieberg.

Daniel is someone who I know can enjoy a glass of beer, or bottle of beer, whatever, but is he counting carbs? Beer companies now falling all over themselves to make sure you know they can do both. Carb, beer, and calories, and what does it take to burn it off? And why count the carbs in what you eat when you can count the legs on it? Jeanne Moos with a feast you won't soon forget.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) KAGAN: Health news for you now. The FDA has approved an oral test for HIV that gives results in about 20 minutes. The test uses saliva to check for the virus that causes AIDS. It's the second rapid test for AIDS on the market, the other was approved in 2002, that one requires pricking a persons finger to test their blood.

The debate over beer it used to be whether it was less filling or tasted great. Now a controversy is brewing over the carbs in beer. Lisa Dreyer is a registered dietitian, right here with us talking about our "Daily Dose" of health news. Good morning. Good to have you here with us.

LISA DREYER, REGISTERED DIETITIAN: Great to be here.

KAGAN: The whole big deal about carbs anyway, it's because of diets like the Atkins diet.

DREYER: Carbs is all the rage now. Now, Anheuser bush, they're really upset. Saying a lot of popular, low carb diets like Suzanne Summers are providing incorrect information about carbohydrates in beer. They're sending this brochure out

KAGAN: They're fighting back.

DREYER: Exactly. Sending that out to over 600 wholesalers this week to get the real story on beer.

KAGAN: Let's get to the part people really care about. Beer bellies. Are beer bellies caused by beer?

DREYER: I interviewed a lot of experts on this. As a nutritionist, I know this is not necessarily the case. Many experts agreed. Beer bellies come from excess calorie. Although certainly if your consuming a lot of excess carbs you will gain weight. It's also determined, that is the beer belly, at least in part by genetics. So where you actually deposit fat on your body is genetically determined. I spoke with the Eric Rim (ph) from Harvard, he had a lot of the alcohol research

KAGAN: Fun research to do

DREYER: Exactly, he said if you had excess pizza, you'd have a pizza belly. So calories are what we're talking about. Alcohol does contain a lot of calories.

KAGAN: The beer industry fighting back hard. There's a new commercial out. Let's go ahead and take a look at what they're talking about.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AD ANNOUNCER: The Bud Light institute, we're proud our beer is made with all natural ingredients and is low in carbs. So few, in fact, it's easy to burn the carbs in one bud light that's why we created the mini treadmill 2010. Use your treadmill at home, on the town, even in the gym. (END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: So very cute, little mini treadmill. Poking some fun at themselves and about exercise obsessed America. But you have the real deal, Lisa about what it takes to burn off beer.

DREYER: I found out it takes 25 minutes on a real treadmill to burn off the 110 calories and 6.6 grams of carbohydrates in one 12- ounce bottle of bud light. And also Michelob Ultra, the low carb beer, And 21 minutes for Michelob Ultra Low Carb Beer. Miller Lite, also 21 calories. This is interesting, a lot of people say lite beer is similar to low carb. It is essentially the same.

Lite beer has always been low in carbs, so it would take about the same amount of time because the two have similar calorie count. Coors original, 31 minute to burn off the calories in a can of regular beer. So that's the biggest bang for your bottle, calorie wise.

KAGAN: The sooner you get off the treadmill, the sooner you can get another bottle of beer. Appreciate it, Lisa, nutritionist, helping us understand beer bellies, beer and carbohydrates. Log on to our Web site. You'll find the latest medical news and breakthroughs, health library, and information on diet and fitness, cnn.com/health.

On the big screen, he is the punisher. But here at CNN, he just seems like a pretty nice guy. Thomas Jane, the actor. He's giving us an insightful interview. Coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're supposed to be dead.

THOMAS JANE, ACTOR: Get up. Wheel the money out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: He is not dead, he's on fire. Thomas Jane "The Punisher" the new film based on the marvel comic book series. He plays undercover agent Frank Castle, a man whose family is murdered as payback for one of his cases. "The Punisher" opens April 16. Thomas Jane, "The Punisher" right here to talk about that and some other big project he has come up. Good morning, thank you for being with us.

JANE: It's great to be here. You have a great studio.

KAGAN: Thank you so much. You have a great film coming out. And you purposely wanted to go into the comic book world. You have a great film coming out "The Punisher." You love comic books.

JANE: I grew up with comic books. It's all I could read I was a slow learner so I read comics and you know, I'm still reading them, as a matter of fact. Can't read anything else.

KAGAN: Convenient for the new role. I just met you, but in person, you look like a pretty nice guy.

JANE: Thanks.

KAGAN: What's happening for you, the bad guy roles are coming through.

JANE: I like to think of them as kind of anti-heroes.

KAGAN: Okay, one guy's bad guy, another person's anti-hero.

JANE: You're right.

KAGAN: But are you looking to fill that niche of kind of like the Clint Eastwood, the kind of "Dirty Harry."

JANE: wow. He's definitely a hero of mine. Lee Marvin, McQueen, Bronson all those guys. I grew up with loving those guys, in those movies. You're right. I just I haven't seen those movies in a long time. To get the chance to play something like that, back on the screen, is the best thing in the world for me, is a dream come true. If this one's successful, we'll make sure to bring a lot more of them.

KAGAN: "The Punisher," not the best known of all the comic book heroes. Tell me a little bit more about his kind of

JANE: You're right, in the comic book world, he's very well known. The world at large, he's a lesser known superhero. He's not a superhero, he's Marvel's only for mature audience comic book. Doesn't have any superpowers. Can't climb walls. Spikes can't come out of his knuckles

KAGAN: No bat cave.

JANE: Got no cave.

KAGAN: What do you got?

JANE: Drinking problem.

KAGAN: OK.

JANE: A lot of bad karma, and a lot of time on his hands to think of really interesting ways to kill a bunch of people.

KAGAN: Wow. A lot of violence in "The Punisher"

JANE: he carries around a lot of anger, yeah. He's what they call socially maladjusted.

JANE: So it's perfect, really perfect for me. I've been waiting for this role all my life.

KAGAN: You have this coming out, you have "Stander," also coming out later. You're kind of an overnight success but you have to laugh at that because you're a guy did you wait table force seven years?

JANE: I waited tables for seven days and I got fired. I'm the kind of guy who can't seem to hold a real job.

KAGAN: It's a good thing this acting thing.

JANE: Is sort of working out for me yeah.

KAGAN: You've been at this since '89. So why now is everything kind of come to the, do you think?

JANE: I've been learning the tools my craft being you know, working with guys like Gene Hackman, Morgan Freeman, picking up you know, stuff that I would want to do when I got the chance at-bat, so to speak, and it's you know, been a long time coming.

KAGAN: Well, now is your time. Understand you've got some advice from Billy Bob Thornton.

JANE: Yeah.

KAGAN: What is his advice to you?

JANE: I read it. I wish he was speaking to me.

KAGAN: Said it to you in print media.

JANE: Speaking to me. And he said, find out what kind of animal you are, and then be that animal.

KAGAN: At the risk of sound like Barbara Walters, if you were a tree if you are an animal what animal would you be? Or what kind of animal are you, Thomas Jane?

JANE: I like let's talk about what kind of animal Frank Castle is. I think he's a panther. You know. He stalks through life and nothing gets in his way. Incredibly graceful, sleek way of killing people. And I like that in a panther.

KAGAN: All right. Well, hopefully "The Panther" and...

JANE: "The Panther"?

KAGAN: "The Panther," "The Punisher" and all of that, will do great when it comes out. Thomas Jane. We'll look for you around the different comic book stores around the country.

JANE: That's right; I'm going to go around to all of the different comic book stores I can hit.

KAGAN: A break right now. And we'll be back right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

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