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Relative Calm in Basra Shattered by Well-Coordinated Suicide Bomb Attacks

Aired April 21, 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: Months of relative calm in the Iraqi city of Basra were shattered today by well-coordinated suicide bomb attacks. Sixty-eight people died in those including 18 children who were on their way to school.
Five car bombs exploded at the height of the morning rush hour. Three went off near an Iraqi police station. Attackers set off two others at a police training center in a nearby city. As many as 100 People were wounded in those bombings.

Iraqi insurgents attacked U.S. Marines in Fallujah, setting off gun battles in that volatile city. The eruption of violence underscores the dangers facing U.S. troops.

It also shows the risk taken by embedded reporters and photographers who capture the images when calm turns to chaos. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(SINGING)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) up top -- go outside, take a left, go straight up the stairs, (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

Hang on, wait, wait, wait. All right go ahead. Do it again. (UNINTELLIGIBLE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Take cover!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did I see what?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you see the chicken sleeping on the coach in the house?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, I missed it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get down!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Security, go. Hit it. Hit it. Go! Where you going?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Past the road.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, we're going on the left.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go! Keep moving!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: Those incredible images, that video, those sounds, pulled together from pool video shot in Fallujah. You can get late developments on Iraq anytime you're away from your television. Log on to cnn.com/Iraq. You also sign up for breaking news e-mail alerts on the situation.

Up next, is Senator Hillary Clinton interested in adding a new job description to her resume? Judy Woodruff will be along with and the rest of the day's political headlines.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: To the presidential race. Both Democratic and Republicans campaigns seem to be focused on defining John Kerry. Judy Woodruff has our daily voter update from Washington. Judy, good morning.

JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: Hit there, Daryn. Thank you.

Well the Kerry campaign is unveiling what it calls a significant new ad buy in the 17 states where the race for the White House is closest.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Let me tell you exactly what I would do to change the situation in Iraq. I would immediately reach out to the international community, in sharing the burden, the risk, because they also have a stake in the outcome of what is happening in Iraq.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WOODRUFF: That is one of two new ads, emphasizing what Kerry aides call the senator's plan to build a stronger and more secure America.

Meantime, on the trail today, Kerry will again criticize the president's environmental record on the eve of Earth Day. And Kerry's campaign is making public his military records in an attempt to fend off GOP suggestions that Kerry may be hiding something in the Vietnam- era documents.

The Bush campaign is putting out its own new ad which will start airing tomorrow on national cable outlets. The source suggests the spots will be another attempt to define Kerry by attack his record.

Meantime, the Kerry campaign has released its latest fund raising totals. At the end of last month, Kerry had raised $69 million since the start of the campaign. More than half of that came in during March when Kerry raised nearly $43 million. And by comparison, the Bush campaign has raised more than $185 million. A new poll suggests that President Bush -- or shows, rather, President Bush is leading John Kerry in the battleground state of Pennsylvania. Bush got 45 percent, Kerry 39 percent, and independent Ralph Nader, 8 percent, in the new survey.

Now, without Nader on the ballot Bush is leading Kerry 46 percent to 42 percent. The president lost Pennsylvania to Al Gore in the year 2000.

She has said it time and time again. And now one more no from Hillary Clinton. The Democratic senator from New York was asked last night on CNN's "LARRY KING LIVE" whether she would accept the role as John Kerry's running made if she's asked.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LARRY KING, CNN HOST: You turn him down? If he asks, you would turn him down?

SEN. HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON (D), NEW YORK: Yes. Because, you know, think I can be very helpful -- as did I last week, spending time with him, appearing with him, trying to bring people to him. In every way possible. And -- that, I think, is my appropriate role right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WOODRUFF: Hillary Clinton last night.

The Kerry campaign is now make public the senator's military service records, including those from his tour of duty in Vietnam. I'll be talking to former secretary of the Navy, John Dalton, about the campaign's decision to make all these documents public.

And we'll have all the rest of the day's political news when I go "INSIDE POLITICS" at 3:30 p.m. Eastern. But for right now, let's go back to Daryn in Atlanta.

KAGAN: All right, Judy. Thank you so much for that.

We are looking at the diet industry, looking at creative ways that people claim they can help you lose weight. Water that says that it burns fat? And shoes that say it gets rid of your cellulite? I don't know about this. But we're going to look at some other big claims coming up, just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: So you say you are tired of the treadmill or losing that low-carb battle? Why not get creative with your approach to weight loss? The Web site Daily Candy has some suggestions. They may not make you skinny, but at least it's fun to think about.

Danielle Romano from Daily Candy, joining us from New York.

Good morning.

DANIELLE ROMANO, DAILY CANDY: Good morning from New York, Daryn, how are you?

KAGAN: Well, I'm doing great.

I have to tell you, though, I'm shaking my head at some of these thing. Interesting and fun to go through. Let's get to as many as possible.

ROMANO: I hope so. Remember, dailycandy.com is about what's new, and hot and fun. It's not about what's scientific. It's all with a grain of salt.

KAGAN: Very important.

ROMANO: I know you want to start with fat. This is my pet fat. I have it here in the studio with me to keep me from eating doughnuts.

KAGAN: Nice fat.

ROMANO: You find this at mypetfat.com. It's all about making you think about, OK, if I gobble that down, it's probably going to look like this somewhere on my body, eventually.

KAGAN: Well you can...

ROMANO: So it's like a red string around your finger that reminds you, fat, not good, don't want.

KAGAN: Bad, bad fat. How many times have we gone out, done bad things, and said, well, just attach it to my thighs right now, you know.

ROMANO: Exactly, and this makes you remember that with a huge, visual reminder. There's a five-pound version that I think you here as well.

KAGAN: Yes, I have big fat here.

ROMANO: They're super sizing.

Stick that in your purse, please, and you'll never eat pizza again.

KAGAN: Yes. Well, yes, speak for yourself.

OK, how about these shoes? They look kind of clunky. But they claim that...

ROMANO: At Daily Candy, we pretend they are big in Japan. Just tell people that's the case, strap them on. They look kind of crazy and Frankenstein, but they're supposed to work muscles regular shoes don't that gets rid of cellulite.

KAGAN: Oh, please.

ROMANO: Exactly.

Come on, work with me here.

KAGAN: I'm being such a Doubting Thomas.

ROMANO: As you should.

KAGAN: These I was very interested in, butt-lifting jeans. We have a picture of those.

ROMANO: Butt-lifting jeans are from James Jeans. You can see that the pockets are set just a little bit differently. The whiskers, the kind of colors that you can see on jeans, are done just so. So it's all about tricks, and mirrors and illusions. But I'm feeling very skinny around the office in James Jeans.

KAGAN: Really? OK, that might work. Now this looks like any kind of bottle of water here. It's Evermore water, It claims it helps you burn fat. How's that supposed to work?

ROMANO: Oh, Daryn, this is my favorite. I've been chugging it here. It is filled with alkaline minerals, like chromium, so it speeds up your metabolism apparently. Hey, you have to drink water anyway. It's good for your skin. It's good for your health.

KAGAN: Does it taste just like regular water?

ROMANO: It taste like regular water, it costs the same as regular water. You can find retail outlets at evermore.com. We're addicted to this in the office. We feel it make us a little nutty, but that's kind of fun, too. We feel skinnier.

KAGAN: And then we had a boy/girl moment getting ready for this segment, because the next thing are these breast lifters?

ROMANO: Oh my goodness, are we allowed to say that on TV?

KAGAN: Well, we just did. But what was so funny is I was talking with Rob, my male producer, and he says, who even cares about those? I'm like, well, you clearly are not a girl, because the women are going to be interested in these.

ROMANO: Speak for yourself, Rob. Anyone over 20 could use a little boost in the chest area. So these have some sort of collagen firming property. It's a little messy. You don't get it on your suit or anything.

KAGAN: Yes, we're not going to have a real demonstration here, I can tell you that, so hold on. I just want to see what it looks like inside. Ew.

ROMANO: You keep it on for 30 minutes. It's derived from a German spa treatment.

KAGAN: Oh, you've got to be kidding.

ROMANO: I'm not.

KAGAN: You stick it on your...

ROMANO: People swear by this. It firms them up.

KAGAN: You leave this on?

ROMANO: You leave it on, not under your suit, not in the newsroom or anything. You stick it on, leave it on for 30 minutes. Please do this in a private place, then take it off, wash it off, just like you're at the spa.

KAGAN: It's like a facial for your, you know, a "boob-cial"

ROMANO: Yes, oh my gosh, we're stealing that phrase.

KAGAN: OK, a "boob-cial," you can coin it, but give me a little credit, OK?

ROMANO: Of course.

KAGAN: And then finally, this little number. I saw this and a though, well, people were going to steal any kind of idea. These are grease blotters that you are supposed to put on your food and get the grease, but has anybody ever heard of paper towels?

ROMANO: OK, but paper towels are not quite as absorbent, and they are not scientifically designed like these to get the grease, and not the cheese of your pizza, or the grease, but not your soup. So there's some sort of crazy, magic. Mysticmaid is where you find those. It's a magical, scientific name. It takes the grease right off, leaves all the flavor, and then you have a good lunch.

KAGAN: There you go. Well, I would open those up and look, but my hands are still so slimy from the "boob-cial" that I can't quite do that.

ROMANO: Once again, we're not endorsing any of these products. We're not saying that they are scientifically proven.

KAGAN: But you know, people are always looking for the next best thing.

ROMANO: We're endorsing the fun of thinking about them and thinking about, what are people talking about now? What are those crazy New Yorkers up to? And that's what we do at Daily Candy.

KAGAN: And wouldn't it be fun just to be able to go and try on bathing suits and not freak in the dressing room? That's a fun thought.

ROMANO: I think the "boob-cial" will help with that.

KAGAN: OK, Danielle Romano, thank you so much, from Daily Candy.

ROMANO: Thank you.

KAGAN: I appreciate it. Well, for your Daily Dose of health news online, you can log on to our Web site. You'll find the latest medical news. There's also head-to-toe health information from CNN and the Mayo Clinic. The address is CNN.com/health.

KAGAN: An American legend who has been the subject of recent debate. A new biography of baseball great Ted Williams. hear A different side of his life story.

You are watching CNN LIVE TODAY.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Barry Bonds is one game and one homer shy of matching a Major League records for home runs in consecutive games. Last night against the Padres, the Giants' slugger wrapped up his eighth roundtrip in straight game. It also gave Bonds 667 career home runs. Still, though, the giants' fell to the Pads 9-5.

Legendary Red Sox player Ted Williams said everybody gets better if they keep at it. And so he did. He was the last major leaguer to hit .400. Former "Sport Illustrated" writer Lee Montville is the author of a new book. It's called Ted Williams: The Biography of an American Hero." And we have tracked him down in Boston this morning. Lee, an old friend. Good to have you back here with us.

LEE MONTVILLE, AUTHOR, "TED WILLIAMS": Good to be back.

KAGAN: Here is one of the sad things about Ted Williams. You mention his name today, people think frozen guy with his head cut off in the Arizona desert.

MONTVILLE: Now that is the flash reaction. But I think he's going to outlast that. I think he started to outlast it already. I think the legend of what he was and who he was -- and he's kind of a Paul Bunion kind of character and I think he will outlast the sad fate of his body in the end.

KAGAN: And in fact, you write in the book -- you try to take on the task of explaining to people just how big Ted Williams was in an era when people really did have true sports heroes. And you write, "He was closer to a figure from mythology or fiction, to a comic strip character like Spider-Man, Superman, Popeye. He was just so much more."

MONTVILLE: All of those players at that time were kind of created by words rather than pictures. So you were using crazy analogies and just typing out descriptions of what they did rather than seeing the videotape 37 times of the same home run.

Barry Bonds' seventh straight home run -- yes, so what? But if you throw in the big adjectives it gets bigger and bigger.

KAGAN: And he was so celebrated, of course, for his hit hitting.

It's also is sad that today when we talk about stars like Barry Bonds there's this cloud of steroid use. How do you think Ted Williams would have done in this culture of -- the steroid culture?

MONTVILLE: I think Ted Williams probably would have jumped right on the train. If steroids were being taken, he would have taken them.

KAGAN: Really? That's a pretty brave statement on your part.

MONTVILLE: Well, it's all hypothetical. But he was a guy who was on the cutting edge of hitting and baseball when he played. He was doing things that -- that they need computers now and videotapes to catch up with what he was doing in his mind.

And I talked with him for CNN actually, right around his 80th birthday. And he said if he'd known about muscle training and working out, he would have certainly done that.

Nobody did that at that time. And now they not only do it, but I guess they've taken it over the edge.

KAGAN: Your story -- your book also talks not just about Ted Williams, the player, but his rather sad and difficult personal life. In the end do you see him as a hero or as a tragic figure?

MONTVILLE: Kind of a combination. He was ultimately the man's man, the guy that every guy wants to be while he's mowing his lawn and thinking about how he'd like to live his life, how he'd like to just tell all his bosses to go somewhere and go fishing when he wanted to fish and eat when he want to eat and just do what he wanted to do.

And Ted did that. But for sure there were some personal problem. It doesn't work in an interpersonal relationship when your wife wants to go shopping for drapes on a Saturday afternoon.

KAGAN: Hate it when that happens.

A great story, and Ted Williams. Lee Montville, thanks for stopping by. "Ted Williams: The Biography of an American Hero." Thanks for sharing the book and we'll see it in book stores. Good to see you, Lee.

MONTVILLE: Thank you, Daryn.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

KAGAN: That's going to do it for me. I'm Daryn Kagan. I'll see you right here tomorrow morning. Wolf Blitzer takes over from Washington D.C.

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 April 21, 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: Months of relative calm in the Iraqi city of Basra were shattered today by well-coordinated suicide bomb attacks. Sixty-eight people died in those including 18 children who were on their way to school.
Five car bombs exploded at the height of the morning rush hour. Three went off near an Iraqi police station. Attackers set off two others at a police training center in a nearby city. As many as 100 People were wounded in those bombings.

Iraqi insurgents attacked U.S. Marines in Fallujah, setting off gun battles in that volatile city. The eruption of violence underscores the dangers facing U.S. troops.

It also shows the risk taken by embedded reporters and photographers who capture the images when calm turns to chaos. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(SINGING)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) up top -- go outside, take a left, go straight up the stairs, (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

Hang on, wait, wait, wait. All right go ahead. Do it again. (UNINTELLIGIBLE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Take cover!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did I see what?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you see the chicken sleeping on the coach in the house?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, I missed it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get down!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Security, go. Hit it. Hit it. Go! Where you going?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Past the road.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, we're going on the left.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go! Keep moving!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: Those incredible images, that video, those sounds, pulled together from pool video shot in Fallujah. You can get late developments on Iraq anytime you're away from your television. Log on to cnn.com/Iraq. You also sign up for breaking news e-mail alerts on the situation.

Up next, is Senator Hillary Clinton interested in adding a new job description to her resume? Judy Woodruff will be along with and the rest of the day's political headlines.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: To the presidential race. Both Democratic and Republicans campaigns seem to be focused on defining John Kerry. Judy Woodruff has our daily voter update from Washington. Judy, good morning.

JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: Hit there, Daryn. Thank you.

Well the Kerry campaign is unveiling what it calls a significant new ad buy in the 17 states where the race for the White House is closest.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Let me tell you exactly what I would do to change the situation in Iraq. I would immediately reach out to the international community, in sharing the burden, the risk, because they also have a stake in the outcome of what is happening in Iraq.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WOODRUFF: That is one of two new ads, emphasizing what Kerry aides call the senator's plan to build a stronger and more secure America.

Meantime, on the trail today, Kerry will again criticize the president's environmental record on the eve of Earth Day. And Kerry's campaign is making public his military records in an attempt to fend off GOP suggestions that Kerry may be hiding something in the Vietnam- era documents.

The Bush campaign is putting out its own new ad which will start airing tomorrow on national cable outlets. The source suggests the spots will be another attempt to define Kerry by attack his record.

Meantime, the Kerry campaign has released its latest fund raising totals. At the end of last month, Kerry had raised $69 million since the start of the campaign. More than half of that came in during March when Kerry raised nearly $43 million. And by comparison, the Bush campaign has raised more than $185 million. A new poll suggests that President Bush -- or shows, rather, President Bush is leading John Kerry in the battleground state of Pennsylvania. Bush got 45 percent, Kerry 39 percent, and independent Ralph Nader, 8 percent, in the new survey.

Now, without Nader on the ballot Bush is leading Kerry 46 percent to 42 percent. The president lost Pennsylvania to Al Gore in the year 2000.

She has said it time and time again. And now one more no from Hillary Clinton. The Democratic senator from New York was asked last night on CNN's "LARRY KING LIVE" whether she would accept the role as John Kerry's running made if she's asked.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LARRY KING, CNN HOST: You turn him down? If he asks, you would turn him down?

SEN. HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON (D), NEW YORK: Yes. Because, you know, think I can be very helpful -- as did I last week, spending time with him, appearing with him, trying to bring people to him. In every way possible. And -- that, I think, is my appropriate role right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WOODRUFF: Hillary Clinton last night.

The Kerry campaign is now make public the senator's military service records, including those from his tour of duty in Vietnam. I'll be talking to former secretary of the Navy, John Dalton, about the campaign's decision to make all these documents public.

And we'll have all the rest of the day's political news when I go "INSIDE POLITICS" at 3:30 p.m. Eastern. But for right now, let's go back to Daryn in Atlanta.

KAGAN: All right, Judy. Thank you so much for that.

We are looking at the diet industry, looking at creative ways that people claim they can help you lose weight. Water that says that it burns fat? And shoes that say it gets rid of your cellulite? I don't know about this. But we're going to look at some other big claims coming up, just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: So you say you are tired of the treadmill or losing that low-carb battle? Why not get creative with your approach to weight loss? The Web site Daily Candy has some suggestions. They may not make you skinny, but at least it's fun to think about.

Danielle Romano from Daily Candy, joining us from New York.

Good morning.

DANIELLE ROMANO, DAILY CANDY: Good morning from New York, Daryn, how are you?

KAGAN: Well, I'm doing great.

I have to tell you, though, I'm shaking my head at some of these thing. Interesting and fun to go through. Let's get to as many as possible.

ROMANO: I hope so. Remember, dailycandy.com is about what's new, and hot and fun. It's not about what's scientific. It's all with a grain of salt.

KAGAN: Very important.

ROMANO: I know you want to start with fat. This is my pet fat. I have it here in the studio with me to keep me from eating doughnuts.

KAGAN: Nice fat.

ROMANO: You find this at mypetfat.com. It's all about making you think about, OK, if I gobble that down, it's probably going to look like this somewhere on my body, eventually.

KAGAN: Well you can...

ROMANO: So it's like a red string around your finger that reminds you, fat, not good, don't want.

KAGAN: Bad, bad fat. How many times have we gone out, done bad things, and said, well, just attach it to my thighs right now, you know.

ROMANO: Exactly, and this makes you remember that with a huge, visual reminder. There's a five-pound version that I think you here as well.

KAGAN: Yes, I have big fat here.

ROMANO: They're super sizing.

Stick that in your purse, please, and you'll never eat pizza again.

KAGAN: Yes. Well, yes, speak for yourself.

OK, how about these shoes? They look kind of clunky. But they claim that...

ROMANO: At Daily Candy, we pretend they are big in Japan. Just tell people that's the case, strap them on. They look kind of crazy and Frankenstein, but they're supposed to work muscles regular shoes don't that gets rid of cellulite.

KAGAN: Oh, please.

ROMANO: Exactly.

Come on, work with me here.

KAGAN: I'm being such a Doubting Thomas.

ROMANO: As you should.

KAGAN: These I was very interested in, butt-lifting jeans. We have a picture of those.

ROMANO: Butt-lifting jeans are from James Jeans. You can see that the pockets are set just a little bit differently. The whiskers, the kind of colors that you can see on jeans, are done just so. So it's all about tricks, and mirrors and illusions. But I'm feeling very skinny around the office in James Jeans.

KAGAN: Really? OK, that might work. Now this looks like any kind of bottle of water here. It's Evermore water, It claims it helps you burn fat. How's that supposed to work?

ROMANO: Oh, Daryn, this is my favorite. I've been chugging it here. It is filled with alkaline minerals, like chromium, so it speeds up your metabolism apparently. Hey, you have to drink water anyway. It's good for your skin. It's good for your health.

KAGAN: Does it taste just like regular water?

ROMANO: It taste like regular water, it costs the same as regular water. You can find retail outlets at evermore.com. We're addicted to this in the office. We feel it make us a little nutty, but that's kind of fun, too. We feel skinnier.

KAGAN: And then we had a boy/girl moment getting ready for this segment, because the next thing are these breast lifters?

ROMANO: Oh my goodness, are we allowed to say that on TV?

KAGAN: Well, we just did. But what was so funny is I was talking with Rob, my male producer, and he says, who even cares about those? I'm like, well, you clearly are not a girl, because the women are going to be interested in these.

ROMANO: Speak for yourself, Rob. Anyone over 20 could use a little boost in the chest area. So these have some sort of collagen firming property. It's a little messy. You don't get it on your suit or anything.

KAGAN: Yes, we're not going to have a real demonstration here, I can tell you that, so hold on. I just want to see what it looks like inside. Ew.

ROMANO: You keep it on for 30 minutes. It's derived from a German spa treatment.

KAGAN: Oh, you've got to be kidding.

ROMANO: I'm not.

KAGAN: You stick it on your...

ROMANO: People swear by this. It firms them up.

KAGAN: You leave this on?

ROMANO: You leave it on, not under your suit, not in the newsroom or anything. You stick it on, leave it on for 30 minutes. Please do this in a private place, then take it off, wash it off, just like you're at the spa.

KAGAN: It's like a facial for your, you know, a "boob-cial"

ROMANO: Yes, oh my gosh, we're stealing that phrase.

KAGAN: OK, a "boob-cial," you can coin it, but give me a little credit, OK?

ROMANO: Of course.

KAGAN: And then finally, this little number. I saw this and a though, well, people were going to steal any kind of idea. These are grease blotters that you are supposed to put on your food and get the grease, but has anybody ever heard of paper towels?

ROMANO: OK, but paper towels are not quite as absorbent, and they are not scientifically designed like these to get the grease, and not the cheese of your pizza, or the grease, but not your soup. So there's some sort of crazy, magic. Mysticmaid is where you find those. It's a magical, scientific name. It takes the grease right off, leaves all the flavor, and then you have a good lunch.

KAGAN: There you go. Well, I would open those up and look, but my hands are still so slimy from the "boob-cial" that I can't quite do that.

ROMANO: Once again, we're not endorsing any of these products. We're not saying that they are scientifically proven.

KAGAN: But you know, people are always looking for the next best thing.

ROMANO: We're endorsing the fun of thinking about them and thinking about, what are people talking about now? What are those crazy New Yorkers up to? And that's what we do at Daily Candy.

KAGAN: And wouldn't it be fun just to be able to go and try on bathing suits and not freak in the dressing room? That's a fun thought.

ROMANO: I think the "boob-cial" will help with that.

KAGAN: OK, Danielle Romano, thank you so much, from Daily Candy.

ROMANO: Thank you.

KAGAN: I appreciate it. Well, for your Daily Dose of health news online, you can log on to our Web site. You'll find the latest medical news. There's also head-to-toe health information from CNN and the Mayo Clinic. The address is CNN.com/health.

KAGAN: An American legend who has been the subject of recent debate. A new biography of baseball great Ted Williams. hear A different side of his life story.

You are watching CNN LIVE TODAY.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Barry Bonds is one game and one homer shy of matching a Major League records for home runs in consecutive games. Last night against the Padres, the Giants' slugger wrapped up his eighth roundtrip in straight game. It also gave Bonds 667 career home runs. Still, though, the giants' fell to the Pads 9-5.

Legendary Red Sox player Ted Williams said everybody gets better if they keep at it. And so he did. He was the last major leaguer to hit .400. Former "Sport Illustrated" writer Lee Montville is the author of a new book. It's called Ted Williams: The Biography of an American Hero." And we have tracked him down in Boston this morning. Lee, an old friend. Good to have you back here with us.

LEE MONTVILLE, AUTHOR, "TED WILLIAMS": Good to be back.

KAGAN: Here is one of the sad things about Ted Williams. You mention his name today, people think frozen guy with his head cut off in the Arizona desert.

MONTVILLE: Now that is the flash reaction. But I think he's going to outlast that. I think he started to outlast it already. I think the legend of what he was and who he was -- and he's kind of a Paul Bunion kind of character and I think he will outlast the sad fate of his body in the end.

KAGAN: And in fact, you write in the book -- you try to take on the task of explaining to people just how big Ted Williams was in an era when people really did have true sports heroes. And you write, "He was closer to a figure from mythology or fiction, to a comic strip character like Spider-Man, Superman, Popeye. He was just so much more."

MONTVILLE: All of those players at that time were kind of created by words rather than pictures. So you were using crazy analogies and just typing out descriptions of what they did rather than seeing the videotape 37 times of the same home run.

Barry Bonds' seventh straight home run -- yes, so what? But if you throw in the big adjectives it gets bigger and bigger.

KAGAN: And he was so celebrated, of course, for his hit hitting.

It's also is sad that today when we talk about stars like Barry Bonds there's this cloud of steroid use. How do you think Ted Williams would have done in this culture of -- the steroid culture?

MONTVILLE: I think Ted Williams probably would have jumped right on the train. If steroids were being taken, he would have taken them.

KAGAN: Really? That's a pretty brave statement on your part.

MONTVILLE: Well, it's all hypothetical. But he was a guy who was on the cutting edge of hitting and baseball when he played. He was doing things that -- that they need computers now and videotapes to catch up with what he was doing in his mind.

And I talked with him for CNN actually, right around his 80th birthday. And he said if he'd known about muscle training and working out, he would have certainly done that.

Nobody did that at that time. And now they not only do it, but I guess they've taken it over the edge.

KAGAN: Your story -- your book also talks not just about Ted Williams, the player, but his rather sad and difficult personal life. In the end do you see him as a hero or as a tragic figure?

MONTVILLE: Kind of a combination. He was ultimately the man's man, the guy that every guy wants to be while he's mowing his lawn and thinking about how he'd like to live his life, how he'd like to just tell all his bosses to go somewhere and go fishing when he wanted to fish and eat when he want to eat and just do what he wanted to do.

And Ted did that. But for sure there were some personal problem. It doesn't work in an interpersonal relationship when your wife wants to go shopping for drapes on a Saturday afternoon.

KAGAN: Hate it when that happens.

A great story, and Ted Williams. Lee Montville, thanks for stopping by. "Ted Williams: The Biography of an American Hero." Thanks for sharing the book and we'll see it in book stores. Good to see you, Lee.

MONTVILLE: Thank you, Daryn.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

KAGAN: That's going to do it for me. I'm Daryn Kagan. I'll see you right here tomorrow morning. Wolf Blitzer takes over from Washington D.C.

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