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Senate Committee Holds First Hearing on 9/11 Panel's Recommendations Tomorrow; Florida Hopes to Get It Right This Election
Aired July 29, 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: Well, speaking of Congress, a Senate committee holds its first hearing on the 9/11 panel's recommendations tomorrow. Our Congressional correspondent Ed Henry is in Washington with more on what we can expect from that.
Good morning, Ed.
ED HENRY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn. Congressional leaders initially suggested a go-slow approach to the commission's findings. But with the commission lobbying hard for reform, it was announced yesterday that no less than six House committees are going to start holding hearings next week. And as you mentioned, the Senate will kick off its own hearings tomorrow.
All this activity has led experts to question whether Congress is starting to give in to political pressure?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(voice-over): Unlike most blue-ribbon panels, the 9/11 Commission is not going quietly into the night.
ALLAN LITCHMAN, PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: Usually with these kinds of commissions, they drop their report from an airplane and take off. Now these commissioners have made the report their own. They've not only become reporters, they have become lobbyists.
HENRY: John Kerry has endorsed their blueprint to radically change the nation's intelligence structure. President Bush is considering changes by executive order. At least half a dozen Congressional panels are gearing up for hearings and vowing swift legislative action.
SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R), KENTUCKY: The job is now for the president and for the Congress to look at the recommendations and to implement them as rapidly as possible.
HENRY: But some experts warn everyone may be moving too fast because of pressure from the commission. The former chairman of a presidential commission on terror says hasty reform could create new problems.
JAMES GILMORE, PRESIDENTIAL TERROR COMMITTEE: They've created a frazzling, jangling of nerves in the political system. And the result of that is that we may be rushing to some of their proposals that maybe shouldn't be supported. LITCHMAN: We cannot afford to rush into scrambling our entire intelligence operation.
HENRY: But 9/11 Commissioners point out that many of these changes, such as creating a National Director of Intelligence, have been studied for years.
RICHARD BEN-VENISTE, 9/11 COMMISSION MEMBER: Congress, with all deliberate speed, must look at our recommendations. And we don't have the luxury of waiting. Some of these recommendations are long overdue.
HENRY: Commissioners also note the government is warning there could be terror attacks before the election. So, they say, there's no time for delay.
BEN-VENISTE: The Islamists terrorist movement -- be it al Qaeda or others -- have been known to be patient, entrepreneurial, clever, and are willing to study our system to exploit our weaknesses.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HENRY (on camera): Daryn, it may be difficult to slow down the momentum of this commission. Its final report is so popular in book form that it's sold about 350,000 copies. In this past weekend, the commission's Web site got 50 million hits -- Daryn.
KAGAN: All right. There's not one, there are two Ed Henry questions today. So, get ready to work hard.
HENRY: I'm ready. All right. Let me get my notebook.
KAGAN: OK. The first one -- OK, you won't even need your notebook, because you know these things right off the top of your head.
So, you're getting Congress together mid-August, probably just about the most miserable time to be in Washington, D.C. How unusual to have this type of gathering?
HENRY: Extremely unusual. In fact, Congressional staffers have canceled vacations. They've been pouring through the legal issues here. There are a lot of concerns about civil liberties, questions that may pop up with creating a new Director of National Intelligence who is actually going to be in charge of all this private information of individuals all around the country.
So, it is extremely unusual, Daryn.
KAGAN: And my other question, we're hearing about President Bush coming out with these executive orders, Congress getting together. Do you expect any kind of controversy over what should be formed through executive order and what Congress should have to have approval over?
HENRY: Oh, definitely. You can expect that Congress will try to flex its legislative muscles a bit. And they're -- I was, in fact, speaking to a lot of senior staffers on Capitol Hill yesterday who were saying that even if the president were to move forward on an executive order, for example, to create some sort of a Director of National Intelligence at the executive level, he would still have to come back to Congress down the road to get a budget for that official.
And if he wanted to elevate it to cabinet status, of course, he would have to go to Congress. You can remember the example of Tom Ridge. He initially was the Homeland Security Director, but when they wanted to give him more authority, give him more budget, power, they had to come back to Congress, create a cabinet department, and have the Senate actually formally approve Ridge as the cabinet secretary -- Daryn.
KAGAN: So, it looks like you're going to have plenty to cover. Two for two on the Ed Henry questions, by the way, today. Thanks so much.
HENRY: Thank you.
KAGAN: Appreciate it.
Well, several thousand people filled a football field in Crawford, Texas. They were there to watch Michael Moore's anti-Bush film, "Fahrenheit 9/11." President Bush stayed home at his ranch about 12 miles away.
Moore also wasn't there, choosing to remain at the Democratic convention in Boston. The screening drew about 300 protesters who held a pro-Bush rally along Main Street.
Another high-profile fixture at the convention has been Jon Stewart of Comedy Central's "Daily Show." As you'll see in this conversation earlier with Bill Hemmer, Stewart is always ready with an interesting observation or two.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: What are you looking for this week? You come up to Boston and...
JON STEWART, HOST, "THE DAILY SHOW": I'm sorry -- I'm sorry, I'm getting a call. Yes, "TIME/LIFE Books" -- can I help you?
That'd be great. We'll place the order. I'm sorry.
HEMMER: Get one for my family, too, will you?
STEWART: Yes, exactly. I really like this.
HEMMER: Yes?
STEWART: Yes. We don't have this kind of technology. We have actually Dixie Cups with string. We just roll it across.
HEMMER: What are you chasing this week? STEWART: We're chasing the hard news; we're chasing the stories. I'm out there every day. I'm in a tank, I'm wearing a helmet, making it happen.
HEMMER: Do you fine the satire here? Do you find the irony at this convention? Because the headline to this point has been Democrats are unified.
STEWART: Well, this is -- of course they're unified. This is their sales convention. This is, you know, when Amway holds its annual convention, their salespeople are unified, as well.
This is their product launch. They are coming out with John Kerry, now with lemon. So, it's -- that is what they're doing to portray, and as well they should. This is their four-day convince their base to get excited, get out the message they want to get out. This is their event.
And to expect that it could be anything different, I can't imagine that people thought, you know, Howard Dean would go up on stage and go, "I was robbed. I'm not crazy. I'm very pleasant."
HEMMER: Do you think, in that then, there's a risk that they're taking to come off as too boring that do not attract people to what they're trying to do here in Boston? And does that ultimately detract from the Democratic process?
STEWART: This isn't what it was. I think everybody seems to long for the day when a bunch of guys would go back, you know, in a room with stogies and go, "It's got to be Humphrey. If it's Stevenson, I'm walking out." You know, I don't think they do that anymore, and probably because they know you guys are here.
HEMMER: You're suggesting then if we don't come here and take the spoon-fed message from the party, be it Democrat or...
STEWART: No, it's not too much that if you don't take the spoon- fed message, it's that if they know you're here, they know that, "Oh, man, we should shower and maybe put some pants on." You know, no one wants to get caught naked in the house, you know, vacuuming.
And that's what I think is here. They know you're here. They've prepared meticulously. The guy who's producing it is the guy who produced the Emmys. So, they've prepared a show knowing that 15,000 people are here waiting for Teresa Heinz Kerry to say "shove it."
HEMMER: The networks this year on the broadcast side have cut back tremendously.
STEWART: Yes.
HEMMER: On Tuesday night, not a single minute in primetime.
STEWART: Tuesday night was pot-luck goulash. It was -- Monday night was the entrees. You're bringing in Clinton, you're bringing in -- last night it was, "Let's throw the kid from "OC" on with Maya Angelou. They didn't even know what they were doing.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KAGAN: How do you follow that?
All right, Florida: A land of sunshine, retirees, and hanging chads hopes to get it right this election. We sent our Richard Quest to Boca Raton to talk with experienced voters. Here's Richard.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROSE SIMBORG-MELLOW, FLORIDA RETIREE: I am paying a great deal of attention. I am very concerned. I'm worried not because for myself alone, but for my children, my grandchildren, and my great- grandchildren and the future of this country.
RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Rose Simborg- Mellow is 93 years young. She's seen it all. She took up painting when she was 70. Her apartment at the retirement home is overflowing with her efforts. She knows why she's voting for the Democrats.
SIMBORG-MELLOW: George Bush is to blame because he didn't go after the terrorists. Going into Iraq was a mistake, and he knew it. He had his mind made up to go there, and he didn't have the facts. He wanted to go in for mass destruction.
QUEST: As we eat lunch at this predominantly Jewish retirement home, the war is a theme that comes up again and again.
MURRAY WEINSTEIN, FLORIDA RETIREE: This country has gone to war without a real cause for our getting involved. And it's left us with a deficit of about $6 trillion.
QUEST: Murray and Adele have been married for more than 60 years. They're also worried about how they will manage. After all, it's expensive to live in this home, at least $40,000 a year for comfort in old age.
M. WEINSTEIN: I think the economy is the most important thing, because the economy affects everybody -- and all these other things derived from the economy.
ADELE WEINSTEIN, FLORIDA RETIREE: We do not have as much money today as we did before George W. Bush.
QUEST: In this community, Republicans are something of an endangered species -- few and far between.
ABE FOREMAN, FLORIDA RETIREE: They are so much against my president -- hat's right -- as they become so embittered about it that they're slandering him. And that upsets to me to no end, because I don't mind if they have factual things so say, but to say he's a bad man, he's an evil man, he's an uneducated man, he doesn't know anything, that to me is slurred.
QUEST (on camera): Now, the thing to remember is that the views here at the Casa del Mar, they belong to people who've held life-long convictions. So, nobody is going to change their views over the next couple of months.
But what's interesting, in that in an era where the story is voter apathy, here they are determined to take part.
Richard Quest, CNN, Boca Raton, Florida.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KAGAN: Well, a tragedy brought them together. Up next, for the first time, a mother meets the man whose life was saved by the death of her own son. You're going to meet both of them, and their incredible story coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAGAN: Now to our daily dose of health news, how one family's tragedy has given life and hope to others. When 17-year-old Allen Janohosky was killed in a car accident two years ago, his family donated five of his organs. Two of them when the to a man named Jimmy Lynch. Lynch and Allen's mother met for the first time at the Organ Transplant Games being held in Minneapolis this week.
Earlier, I had a chance to talk with both of them.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KAGAN: I believe this story begins, Jeanne, with your son's story.
Allen, tell us a little bit about him and how you came to the point of where you needed to make the very difficult decision of donating his organs.
JEAN JANOHOSKY, ORGAN DONOR'S MOTHER: Allen had gone on a vacation visiting some family friends in Alabama. And last day of the vacation, they went on a white water rafting trip. On the way home, five minutes from their home destination, there was a terrible accident, and Allen was the only one that didn't walk away that day. Had he a horrible head injury.
When he first got his driver's license, we talked about organ donation, and he had stated to me that there's no reason why a person should not donate. So -- and actually at the time, I forgot that, but it just seemed the right thing for us to do, it seemed like the right thing for Allen to do.
KAGAN: Jimmy, that's where you come into the story. Two years ago, just how sick were you, and how badly did you need, ultimately, the kidney and the pancreas?
JIMMY LYNCH, ORGAN TRANSPLANT RECIPIENT: Well, I was on dialysis three times a week, and Just about every day, I was sick.
KAGAN: Tell us about getting that phone call, that there might be hope for you.
LYNCH: I received that call on a Sunday morning. And it was around 10:00 in the morning. It's something that I don't know it just -- it's like a different world now. I'm doing a lot better. I'm able to do a lot of things that I hadn't been able to do. It's been great.
KAGAN: I thought that donors and donees don't get to know each other, yet you two, you've been in touch for a while.
LYNCH: I actually wrote my first letter about 3 1/2 months after I had the transplant. I have friends that work for an organ procurement agency, and they told me to start writing whenever I wanted to.
And it changed my life a lot. So right away, I knew I wanted to start writing. I wanted to get to know the donor's family and about his life.
JANOHOSKY: I anticipated that letter every day, and it was so beautiful. When I received it, I read it over and over, and cried, cried, many tears, and shared it with everybody I knew, even anybody I saw on the street or in the grocery store, I couldn't help but share, because it was so beautiful.
KAGAN: So you two have been in touch for the last two years, but you're just meeting for the first time this week at the transplant games. Jeanne, to see in person, to see Jimmy living and doing well with Allen's gift, that must be incredible.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JANOHOSKY: Nice to hold you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JANOHOSKY: It is. And to begin with, it didn't really sink in. Actually it was last night. And I couldn't wait to meet him. It was wonderful to hug him. All of a sudden, I saw him standing there, I thought oh, my goodness, Allen and Jimmy are really one. And it's incredibly beautiful to see Jimmy, to listen to him, and to know that he and Allen are really a part of each other.
KAGAN: Literally. And, Jimmy, on kind of a lighter note, you got some young parts beating away at you there. You've a teenager's kidney and a teenager's pancreas.
JANOHOSKY: Yes, as some of my friends told me, I've been totally rebuilt.
KAGAN: Yes, you have.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KAGAN: Well, thank you to both of them for sharing their story. For your "Daily Dose" of health news online, you can log on to our Web site to find the latest headlines, and their is medical information from CNN and the Mayo Clinic. The address is CNN.com/health.
We are getting word that Senator John Kerry getting ready for probably one of the most important dress rehearsals of his life. He is in the FleetCenter in Boston, getting ready to check out the facilities.
Our Bob Franken standing by at the FleetCenter -- Bob.
BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Daryn, we are told, as I said, that he's coming. He's going to go through what has amounted to a ritual here. He's going to be going up to the podium, doing his audio check, checking the house. Of course he's very familiar with this house, but it's arranged now for the seating for the adoring delegates, 4,000-plus, and there hangers-on, and Lord knows how many of the news media who are going to be here this evening covering this, too. And of course that's really what's important here as he makes his speech.
It's going to be a speech that is aimed at convincing the people out there. I mean, this is going to be a room full of the convinced. But to the people out there, that he is not, as portrayed by the Republicans, a stiff, a flip-flopper. He is somebody who has such an interesting life story that they're going to try and present tonight, both on that 9 1/2-minute video that we've been talking about, and in his speech, that people all over the nation will be inspired to immediately go out and join his march to the presidency. That would be the ideal.
There is a concern among Democrats that he sometimes has the ability to go too long. He sometimes has the ability to be drab. In other words, he's spent an awful lot of time in the United States Senate. So he's going to have to overcome that this evening, and that is what the plan has been. He's going to be working very hard at that speech.
Of course about this time yesterday, if I recall, he was going across the Boston Harbor in a boat, heading to his place on Beacon Hill where he's been working on his speech pretty much since then, and it's a speech that most people are characterizing as all that important.
But this is his little audio check, this is something he probably doesn't need to do, but it also provides everybody a little bit of a photo-op. We call that feeding the beast. And it's going to be feeding our little beast, until he makes his speech this evening, which will be the grand finale of a convention that the Democrats have been able to very tightly control, something that's highly unusual for Democrats.
But they've been able to, with some exceptions, keep the tone positive sunny, chirpy, whatever you want to call it, and it's a convention that featured a tumultuous welcome for former President Bill Clinton. Remember that on Monday night. There have been many people that said that was by design, that it would be a few days away from John Kerry, so there were no comparisons, which might not work in Kerry's favor. But he is the point of this convention. He and his running mate, John Edwards, who spoke last night. The nomination isn't over. This is the big event. It's going to be the one that really closes things this evening, when John Kerry makes the speech, and I said, this is part of the ritual that comes along with this, Daryn, this coming out and doing the audio check, which of course isn't really that, it's a photo-op.
KAGAN: And, Bob, we can drop the word presumptive from in front of John Kerry's name. After the roll call last night, he is the Democratic nominee for president in 2004.
FRANKEN: Absolutely. And, of course, presumptive is a word we so many times use in normal conversation. But we won't get this chance anymore. He is the official nominee now, yes.
KAGAN: And as you said, so much of this convention has been scripted, has been on message, on point, by Kerry's and Democratic handlers.
One thing that was off-script last night, the Reverend Al Sharpton went 15 minutes past his allotted time, and pretty much spoke his mind.
FRANKEN: Of course, that's such a surprise.
KAGAN: One thing that was a surprise about Al Sharpton last night is that he's been funny when he was on the campaign trail. There wasn't a lot of funny in that speech. There were a lot of pointed and some would say angry comments.
FRANKEN: Well, I ran into him in the hall, and he said he was beginning to hear the amens from the floor, and it kind of got him wound up. But yet, that was vintage Al Sharpton, minus the humor. But you know, everybody has to have a Dr. No. Everybody -- let's use a sports term again. We haven't used one for a while. Every hockey team has to have an enforcer. And, well, they play hockey here, and it looks like that Al Sharpton took that role on and took it on with quite a bit of relish, yes he did.
KAGAN: All right, we're going to let you keep you eyes out for Senator Kerry as he makes his way on the floor.
Meanwhile, I want to bring in a man with an interesting name, Kerry Edwards.
KERRY EDWARDS, KERRYEDWARDS.COM: Hello.
KAGAN: Meet the real guy.
Hi, Kerry.
EDWARDS: Hi.
KAGAN: All right, now you really are Kerry Edwards, and that's your real name, I assume, yes? EDWARDS: Yes, it is.
KAGAN: A few years ago you took out -- well, a lot of people do -- you took out your own domain name, kerryedwards.com. And now is kind of the chance for you to cash in.
EDWARDS: Yes, interesting when Senator Kerry announced that he was going to have Senator Edwards as his running mate, people started getting interested in my domain name, because of it being kerryedwards.com, and when you go to Google and enter "Kerry Edwards," my Web site comes up.
KAGAN: And what do we see on that Web site as of now?
EDWARDS: Right now it's actually parked, what they call parked. There's a domain broker who is actually doing the sale for us, and it's in auction right now, and giving everybody a fair chance to buy it, if they're interested in it.
KAGAN: So who really is more interested, the Democrats or perhaps the Republicans? Wouldn't they love to kind of hijack anybody who's interesting in coming up with and trying to get information on Kerry Edwards?
EDWARDS: That would be interesting.
KAGAN: Maybe "hijack is not the proper word here, but redirect some of the attention, like we will give you information about Kerry and Edwards.
EDWARDS: I guess that would be possible, if they are the ones that are willing to pay for the site. That would be their prerogative to do that, if that's what they want to utilize it for.
KAGAN: So how much, Kerry? How much are we talking here?
EDWARDS: I believe the current bid is at $150,000.
KAGAN: $150,000?
EDWARDS: Yes.
KAGAN: And do you have any political affiliation? Do you really care who gets it?
EDWARDS: I tell you, before this process started, I was really kind of neutral. Since having my Web site for sale, I've been getting -- originally it was just my site, and I had my e-mail address up on there, and I received a lot of e-mails from people both pro Kerry and pro Bush, with a lot of opinions on both sides. And it's going to be tough for me to make my mind up, because I've heard so much negative from both sides that it's kind of choose your evil, I guess.
KAGAN: Well, you are actually one of those deciders out there that each of these conventions is trying to reach. EDWARDS: Yes, I think so. And listening to your potential president, I believe is important, to get a feel for the person and the man.
KAGAN: So $150,000; may the best bidder win is pretty much what you're saying?
EDWARDS: Yes.
KAGAN: Very good. And how does the auction work? Where do people bid?
EDWARDS: Actually if you just go to kerryedwards.com, the information is there. It shows you how to go about bidding, and the process and what you need to do to submit your bid.
KAGAN: All right, well, Kerry, thanks for stopping by. Kerry Edwards, the real Kerry Edwards.
EDWARDS: Thank you.
KAGAN: Good luck with the auction, kerryedwards.com.
Well, there is the Kerry of the Kerry/Edwards ticket, Senator John Kerry arriving at the FleetCenter, get a chance to look around at where he will give his speech tonight.
Let's go back to Bob Franken -- Bob.
FRANKEN: A chance to be on television. A whole lot of cameras here right now as John Kerry, worst-kept secret in town, was going to be coming to the FleetCenter this evening and, as you can see, going up to the podium. Let's listen to, breathlessly, the audio check.
KAGAN: Do we expect we'll be able to hear him over the audio system of the FleetCenter right now?
FRANKEN: Well, we just heard him from here saying he couldn't hear a word anybody else was saying, before we started to shout our questions.
Are you not hearing him, Daryn?
KAGAN: No, not really. We can kind of hear him in the background.
FRANKEN: Well, this is heavy stuff. I think he said, "This is great." Yes, this is really big stuff. Too bad you can't hear it.
Wait a minute, we don't want to miss a word of this. He isn't even talking now. Posing, I believe, would be the better term. Again, remember, this is going to carry us through the afternoon.
KAGAN: Right. Well, and it's also -- I mean, on a real point here, Bob -- getting used to the teleprompter there, which is -- perhaps people at home don't appreciate, because when they're looking at the person, the podium, it looks like clear glass.
But when the person looks out, you showed us in a previous hour, they see the script of what they're trying to read.
FRANKEN: Absolutely. And as we can all attest, teleprompter problems are a big problem. You really have to have that down. And there have been stories about that, how Bill Clinton -- President Clinton's teleprompter had a glitch during the State of the Union message and all that, and all the untold stories about how Daryn Kagan has had teleprompter problems.
KAGAN: No.
FRANKEN: No, no, no, of course not. But at any rate, you're right. That is a big deal. And obviously he's checking out where they're located. What they do is they set up several of them with the same message. And now he is going through the, you know, "Let's see now, if I walk over here, do I trip on anything?" That kind of thing.
I have to tell you that most of this isn't contrivance, to be honest with you. I don't know if it is in this case. But most of the time when the people come out to check out the hall, they are really checking out the cameras that are there. That's the name of the game. It's political...
KAGAN: Just to say that. But needless to say, he does want everything to be in the right place because, as so many people have said, this -- up to this point in his life -- will be the most important political speech: when he presents himself to the American people.
FRANKEN: Right, the everything being in the right place. What has to be in the right place is the speech. That's going to be -- look at him now, he's giving us some idea of the gestures and that type of thing.
I know you're taking this very seriously, Daryn.
KAGAN: Well, no, we're watching. I mean, it's interesting to see behind the scenes of how people get ready. It's part of what's interesting about having live television and the 24/7 news cycle.
FRANKEN: Well, and it's also -- it's interesting. I mean, the speech itself, if we can get serious for just a moment, really matters. This is a man who, as we've been talking about, has a reputation for being aloof; somebody who finds it tough to be warm and fuzzy.
Well, the reality is, in this day, warm and fuzzy is part of what makes a successful politician. So, he's going to have to give some people some idea of the human side of John Kerry. And we're told that that is where the emphasis is going to be, the feeling being that the issues have been widely discussed.
Also, as you've noted in this whole convention, there has been a relative minimum of Bush bashing. That, of course, is going to come later. But he's not going to leave the impression that he's soft on the Republicans.
What he wants to try and do is to show some warmth, show some humor, tell his story, say that it's a story that individually qualifies him to be the president of the United States.
He's going to be helped by that nine-and-a-half minute video. And of course, the Republicans have seen to it that even that is controversial, trying to make the point that some of the video in it is eight-millimeter film that he had shot himself -- or had shot when he was in Vietnam.
They're claiming that it was for him to get into a position that he could use it when he ran for public office, which is something that is adamantly denied by the Kerry side. But it's going to be that kind of campaign. It's going to be pretty brutal.
KAGAN: For the next 98 days exactly.
FRANKEN: That's right, 98 days. OK, are you hearing this, Daryn?
KAGAN: A little bit. We can just hear an echo.
And actually, going to take this opportunity, Bob, to say that I think they're going to want you to stand by and be part of this. It is my signal to exit, however.
My colleague, Wolf Blitzer, right there in Boston with you. Wolf, I'll hand it off to you.
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Aired July 29, 2004 - 11:30 ET
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DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, speaking of Congress, a Senate committee holds its first hearing on the 9/11 panel's recommendations tomorrow. Our Congressional correspondent Ed Henry is in Washington with more on what we can expect from that.
Good morning, Ed.
ED HENRY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn. Congressional leaders initially suggested a go-slow approach to the commission's findings. But with the commission lobbying hard for reform, it was announced yesterday that no less than six House committees are going to start holding hearings next week. And as you mentioned, the Senate will kick off its own hearings tomorrow.
All this activity has led experts to question whether Congress is starting to give in to political pressure?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(voice-over): Unlike most blue-ribbon panels, the 9/11 Commission is not going quietly into the night.
ALLAN LITCHMAN, PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: Usually with these kinds of commissions, they drop their report from an airplane and take off. Now these commissioners have made the report their own. They've not only become reporters, they have become lobbyists.
HENRY: John Kerry has endorsed their blueprint to radically change the nation's intelligence structure. President Bush is considering changes by executive order. At least half a dozen Congressional panels are gearing up for hearings and vowing swift legislative action.
SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R), KENTUCKY: The job is now for the president and for the Congress to look at the recommendations and to implement them as rapidly as possible.
HENRY: But some experts warn everyone may be moving too fast because of pressure from the commission. The former chairman of a presidential commission on terror says hasty reform could create new problems.
JAMES GILMORE, PRESIDENTIAL TERROR COMMITTEE: They've created a frazzling, jangling of nerves in the political system. And the result of that is that we may be rushing to some of their proposals that maybe shouldn't be supported. LITCHMAN: We cannot afford to rush into scrambling our entire intelligence operation.
HENRY: But 9/11 Commissioners point out that many of these changes, such as creating a National Director of Intelligence, have been studied for years.
RICHARD BEN-VENISTE, 9/11 COMMISSION MEMBER: Congress, with all deliberate speed, must look at our recommendations. And we don't have the luxury of waiting. Some of these recommendations are long overdue.
HENRY: Commissioners also note the government is warning there could be terror attacks before the election. So, they say, there's no time for delay.
BEN-VENISTE: The Islamists terrorist movement -- be it al Qaeda or others -- have been known to be patient, entrepreneurial, clever, and are willing to study our system to exploit our weaknesses.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HENRY (on camera): Daryn, it may be difficult to slow down the momentum of this commission. Its final report is so popular in book form that it's sold about 350,000 copies. In this past weekend, the commission's Web site got 50 million hits -- Daryn.
KAGAN: All right. There's not one, there are two Ed Henry questions today. So, get ready to work hard.
HENRY: I'm ready. All right. Let me get my notebook.
KAGAN: OK. The first one -- OK, you won't even need your notebook, because you know these things right off the top of your head.
So, you're getting Congress together mid-August, probably just about the most miserable time to be in Washington, D.C. How unusual to have this type of gathering?
HENRY: Extremely unusual. In fact, Congressional staffers have canceled vacations. They've been pouring through the legal issues here. There are a lot of concerns about civil liberties, questions that may pop up with creating a new Director of National Intelligence who is actually going to be in charge of all this private information of individuals all around the country.
So, it is extremely unusual, Daryn.
KAGAN: And my other question, we're hearing about President Bush coming out with these executive orders, Congress getting together. Do you expect any kind of controversy over what should be formed through executive order and what Congress should have to have approval over?
HENRY: Oh, definitely. You can expect that Congress will try to flex its legislative muscles a bit. And they're -- I was, in fact, speaking to a lot of senior staffers on Capitol Hill yesterday who were saying that even if the president were to move forward on an executive order, for example, to create some sort of a Director of National Intelligence at the executive level, he would still have to come back to Congress down the road to get a budget for that official.
And if he wanted to elevate it to cabinet status, of course, he would have to go to Congress. You can remember the example of Tom Ridge. He initially was the Homeland Security Director, but when they wanted to give him more authority, give him more budget, power, they had to come back to Congress, create a cabinet department, and have the Senate actually formally approve Ridge as the cabinet secretary -- Daryn.
KAGAN: So, it looks like you're going to have plenty to cover. Two for two on the Ed Henry questions, by the way, today. Thanks so much.
HENRY: Thank you.
KAGAN: Appreciate it.
Well, several thousand people filled a football field in Crawford, Texas. They were there to watch Michael Moore's anti-Bush film, "Fahrenheit 9/11." President Bush stayed home at his ranch about 12 miles away.
Moore also wasn't there, choosing to remain at the Democratic convention in Boston. The screening drew about 300 protesters who held a pro-Bush rally along Main Street.
Another high-profile fixture at the convention has been Jon Stewart of Comedy Central's "Daily Show." As you'll see in this conversation earlier with Bill Hemmer, Stewart is always ready with an interesting observation or two.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: What are you looking for this week? You come up to Boston and...
JON STEWART, HOST, "THE DAILY SHOW": I'm sorry -- I'm sorry, I'm getting a call. Yes, "TIME/LIFE Books" -- can I help you?
That'd be great. We'll place the order. I'm sorry.
HEMMER: Get one for my family, too, will you?
STEWART: Yes, exactly. I really like this.
HEMMER: Yes?
STEWART: Yes. We don't have this kind of technology. We have actually Dixie Cups with string. We just roll it across.
HEMMER: What are you chasing this week? STEWART: We're chasing the hard news; we're chasing the stories. I'm out there every day. I'm in a tank, I'm wearing a helmet, making it happen.
HEMMER: Do you fine the satire here? Do you find the irony at this convention? Because the headline to this point has been Democrats are unified.
STEWART: Well, this is -- of course they're unified. This is their sales convention. This is, you know, when Amway holds its annual convention, their salespeople are unified, as well.
This is their product launch. They are coming out with John Kerry, now with lemon. So, it's -- that is what they're doing to portray, and as well they should. This is their four-day convince their base to get excited, get out the message they want to get out. This is their event.
And to expect that it could be anything different, I can't imagine that people thought, you know, Howard Dean would go up on stage and go, "I was robbed. I'm not crazy. I'm very pleasant."
HEMMER: Do you think, in that then, there's a risk that they're taking to come off as too boring that do not attract people to what they're trying to do here in Boston? And does that ultimately detract from the Democratic process?
STEWART: This isn't what it was. I think everybody seems to long for the day when a bunch of guys would go back, you know, in a room with stogies and go, "It's got to be Humphrey. If it's Stevenson, I'm walking out." You know, I don't think they do that anymore, and probably because they know you guys are here.
HEMMER: You're suggesting then if we don't come here and take the spoon-fed message from the party, be it Democrat or...
STEWART: No, it's not too much that if you don't take the spoon- fed message, it's that if they know you're here, they know that, "Oh, man, we should shower and maybe put some pants on." You know, no one wants to get caught naked in the house, you know, vacuuming.
And that's what I think is here. They know you're here. They've prepared meticulously. The guy who's producing it is the guy who produced the Emmys. So, they've prepared a show knowing that 15,000 people are here waiting for Teresa Heinz Kerry to say "shove it."
HEMMER: The networks this year on the broadcast side have cut back tremendously.
STEWART: Yes.
HEMMER: On Tuesday night, not a single minute in primetime.
STEWART: Tuesday night was pot-luck goulash. It was -- Monday night was the entrees. You're bringing in Clinton, you're bringing in -- last night it was, "Let's throw the kid from "OC" on with Maya Angelou. They didn't even know what they were doing.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KAGAN: How do you follow that?
All right, Florida: A land of sunshine, retirees, and hanging chads hopes to get it right this election. We sent our Richard Quest to Boca Raton to talk with experienced voters. Here's Richard.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROSE SIMBORG-MELLOW, FLORIDA RETIREE: I am paying a great deal of attention. I am very concerned. I'm worried not because for myself alone, but for my children, my grandchildren, and my great- grandchildren and the future of this country.
RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Rose Simborg- Mellow is 93 years young. She's seen it all. She took up painting when she was 70. Her apartment at the retirement home is overflowing with her efforts. She knows why she's voting for the Democrats.
SIMBORG-MELLOW: George Bush is to blame because he didn't go after the terrorists. Going into Iraq was a mistake, and he knew it. He had his mind made up to go there, and he didn't have the facts. He wanted to go in for mass destruction.
QUEST: As we eat lunch at this predominantly Jewish retirement home, the war is a theme that comes up again and again.
MURRAY WEINSTEIN, FLORIDA RETIREE: This country has gone to war without a real cause for our getting involved. And it's left us with a deficit of about $6 trillion.
QUEST: Murray and Adele have been married for more than 60 years. They're also worried about how they will manage. After all, it's expensive to live in this home, at least $40,000 a year for comfort in old age.
M. WEINSTEIN: I think the economy is the most important thing, because the economy affects everybody -- and all these other things derived from the economy.
ADELE WEINSTEIN, FLORIDA RETIREE: We do not have as much money today as we did before George W. Bush.
QUEST: In this community, Republicans are something of an endangered species -- few and far between.
ABE FOREMAN, FLORIDA RETIREE: They are so much against my president -- hat's right -- as they become so embittered about it that they're slandering him. And that upsets to me to no end, because I don't mind if they have factual things so say, but to say he's a bad man, he's an evil man, he's an uneducated man, he doesn't know anything, that to me is slurred.
QUEST (on camera): Now, the thing to remember is that the views here at the Casa del Mar, they belong to people who've held life-long convictions. So, nobody is going to change their views over the next couple of months.
But what's interesting, in that in an era where the story is voter apathy, here they are determined to take part.
Richard Quest, CNN, Boca Raton, Florida.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KAGAN: Well, a tragedy brought them together. Up next, for the first time, a mother meets the man whose life was saved by the death of her own son. You're going to meet both of them, and their incredible story coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAGAN: Now to our daily dose of health news, how one family's tragedy has given life and hope to others. When 17-year-old Allen Janohosky was killed in a car accident two years ago, his family donated five of his organs. Two of them when the to a man named Jimmy Lynch. Lynch and Allen's mother met for the first time at the Organ Transplant Games being held in Minneapolis this week.
Earlier, I had a chance to talk with both of them.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KAGAN: I believe this story begins, Jeanne, with your son's story.
Allen, tell us a little bit about him and how you came to the point of where you needed to make the very difficult decision of donating his organs.
JEAN JANOHOSKY, ORGAN DONOR'S MOTHER: Allen had gone on a vacation visiting some family friends in Alabama. And last day of the vacation, they went on a white water rafting trip. On the way home, five minutes from their home destination, there was a terrible accident, and Allen was the only one that didn't walk away that day. Had he a horrible head injury.
When he first got his driver's license, we talked about organ donation, and he had stated to me that there's no reason why a person should not donate. So -- and actually at the time, I forgot that, but it just seemed the right thing for us to do, it seemed like the right thing for Allen to do.
KAGAN: Jimmy, that's where you come into the story. Two years ago, just how sick were you, and how badly did you need, ultimately, the kidney and the pancreas?
JIMMY LYNCH, ORGAN TRANSPLANT RECIPIENT: Well, I was on dialysis three times a week, and Just about every day, I was sick.
KAGAN: Tell us about getting that phone call, that there might be hope for you.
LYNCH: I received that call on a Sunday morning. And it was around 10:00 in the morning. It's something that I don't know it just -- it's like a different world now. I'm doing a lot better. I'm able to do a lot of things that I hadn't been able to do. It's been great.
KAGAN: I thought that donors and donees don't get to know each other, yet you two, you've been in touch for a while.
LYNCH: I actually wrote my first letter about 3 1/2 months after I had the transplant. I have friends that work for an organ procurement agency, and they told me to start writing whenever I wanted to.
And it changed my life a lot. So right away, I knew I wanted to start writing. I wanted to get to know the donor's family and about his life.
JANOHOSKY: I anticipated that letter every day, and it was so beautiful. When I received it, I read it over and over, and cried, cried, many tears, and shared it with everybody I knew, even anybody I saw on the street or in the grocery store, I couldn't help but share, because it was so beautiful.
KAGAN: So you two have been in touch for the last two years, but you're just meeting for the first time this week at the transplant games. Jeanne, to see in person, to see Jimmy living and doing well with Allen's gift, that must be incredible.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JANOHOSKY: Nice to hold you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JANOHOSKY: It is. And to begin with, it didn't really sink in. Actually it was last night. And I couldn't wait to meet him. It was wonderful to hug him. All of a sudden, I saw him standing there, I thought oh, my goodness, Allen and Jimmy are really one. And it's incredibly beautiful to see Jimmy, to listen to him, and to know that he and Allen are really a part of each other.
KAGAN: Literally. And, Jimmy, on kind of a lighter note, you got some young parts beating away at you there. You've a teenager's kidney and a teenager's pancreas.
JANOHOSKY: Yes, as some of my friends told me, I've been totally rebuilt.
KAGAN: Yes, you have.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KAGAN: Well, thank you to both of them for sharing their story. For your "Daily Dose" of health news online, you can log on to our Web site to find the latest headlines, and their is medical information from CNN and the Mayo Clinic. The address is CNN.com/health.
We are getting word that Senator John Kerry getting ready for probably one of the most important dress rehearsals of his life. He is in the FleetCenter in Boston, getting ready to check out the facilities.
Our Bob Franken standing by at the FleetCenter -- Bob.
BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Daryn, we are told, as I said, that he's coming. He's going to go through what has amounted to a ritual here. He's going to be going up to the podium, doing his audio check, checking the house. Of course he's very familiar with this house, but it's arranged now for the seating for the adoring delegates, 4,000-plus, and there hangers-on, and Lord knows how many of the news media who are going to be here this evening covering this, too. And of course that's really what's important here as he makes his speech.
It's going to be a speech that is aimed at convincing the people out there. I mean, this is going to be a room full of the convinced. But to the people out there, that he is not, as portrayed by the Republicans, a stiff, a flip-flopper. He is somebody who has such an interesting life story that they're going to try and present tonight, both on that 9 1/2-minute video that we've been talking about, and in his speech, that people all over the nation will be inspired to immediately go out and join his march to the presidency. That would be the ideal.
There is a concern among Democrats that he sometimes has the ability to go too long. He sometimes has the ability to be drab. In other words, he's spent an awful lot of time in the United States Senate. So he's going to have to overcome that this evening, and that is what the plan has been. He's going to be working very hard at that speech.
Of course about this time yesterday, if I recall, he was going across the Boston Harbor in a boat, heading to his place on Beacon Hill where he's been working on his speech pretty much since then, and it's a speech that most people are characterizing as all that important.
But this is his little audio check, this is something he probably doesn't need to do, but it also provides everybody a little bit of a photo-op. We call that feeding the beast. And it's going to be feeding our little beast, until he makes his speech this evening, which will be the grand finale of a convention that the Democrats have been able to very tightly control, something that's highly unusual for Democrats.
But they've been able to, with some exceptions, keep the tone positive sunny, chirpy, whatever you want to call it, and it's a convention that featured a tumultuous welcome for former President Bill Clinton. Remember that on Monday night. There have been many people that said that was by design, that it would be a few days away from John Kerry, so there were no comparisons, which might not work in Kerry's favor. But he is the point of this convention. He and his running mate, John Edwards, who spoke last night. The nomination isn't over. This is the big event. It's going to be the one that really closes things this evening, when John Kerry makes the speech, and I said, this is part of the ritual that comes along with this, Daryn, this coming out and doing the audio check, which of course isn't really that, it's a photo-op.
KAGAN: And, Bob, we can drop the word presumptive from in front of John Kerry's name. After the roll call last night, he is the Democratic nominee for president in 2004.
FRANKEN: Absolutely. And, of course, presumptive is a word we so many times use in normal conversation. But we won't get this chance anymore. He is the official nominee now, yes.
KAGAN: And as you said, so much of this convention has been scripted, has been on message, on point, by Kerry's and Democratic handlers.
One thing that was off-script last night, the Reverend Al Sharpton went 15 minutes past his allotted time, and pretty much spoke his mind.
FRANKEN: Of course, that's such a surprise.
KAGAN: One thing that was a surprise about Al Sharpton last night is that he's been funny when he was on the campaign trail. There wasn't a lot of funny in that speech. There were a lot of pointed and some would say angry comments.
FRANKEN: Well, I ran into him in the hall, and he said he was beginning to hear the amens from the floor, and it kind of got him wound up. But yet, that was vintage Al Sharpton, minus the humor. But you know, everybody has to have a Dr. No. Everybody -- let's use a sports term again. We haven't used one for a while. Every hockey team has to have an enforcer. And, well, they play hockey here, and it looks like that Al Sharpton took that role on and took it on with quite a bit of relish, yes he did.
KAGAN: All right, we're going to let you keep you eyes out for Senator Kerry as he makes his way on the floor.
Meanwhile, I want to bring in a man with an interesting name, Kerry Edwards.
KERRY EDWARDS, KERRYEDWARDS.COM: Hello.
KAGAN: Meet the real guy.
Hi, Kerry.
EDWARDS: Hi.
KAGAN: All right, now you really are Kerry Edwards, and that's your real name, I assume, yes? EDWARDS: Yes, it is.
KAGAN: A few years ago you took out -- well, a lot of people do -- you took out your own domain name, kerryedwards.com. And now is kind of the chance for you to cash in.
EDWARDS: Yes, interesting when Senator Kerry announced that he was going to have Senator Edwards as his running mate, people started getting interested in my domain name, because of it being kerryedwards.com, and when you go to Google and enter "Kerry Edwards," my Web site comes up.
KAGAN: And what do we see on that Web site as of now?
EDWARDS: Right now it's actually parked, what they call parked. There's a domain broker who is actually doing the sale for us, and it's in auction right now, and giving everybody a fair chance to buy it, if they're interested in it.
KAGAN: So who really is more interested, the Democrats or perhaps the Republicans? Wouldn't they love to kind of hijack anybody who's interesting in coming up with and trying to get information on Kerry Edwards?
EDWARDS: That would be interesting.
KAGAN: Maybe "hijack is not the proper word here, but redirect some of the attention, like we will give you information about Kerry and Edwards.
EDWARDS: I guess that would be possible, if they are the ones that are willing to pay for the site. That would be their prerogative to do that, if that's what they want to utilize it for.
KAGAN: So how much, Kerry? How much are we talking here?
EDWARDS: I believe the current bid is at $150,000.
KAGAN: $150,000?
EDWARDS: Yes.
KAGAN: And do you have any political affiliation? Do you really care who gets it?
EDWARDS: I tell you, before this process started, I was really kind of neutral. Since having my Web site for sale, I've been getting -- originally it was just my site, and I had my e-mail address up on there, and I received a lot of e-mails from people both pro Kerry and pro Bush, with a lot of opinions on both sides. And it's going to be tough for me to make my mind up, because I've heard so much negative from both sides that it's kind of choose your evil, I guess.
KAGAN: Well, you are actually one of those deciders out there that each of these conventions is trying to reach. EDWARDS: Yes, I think so. And listening to your potential president, I believe is important, to get a feel for the person and the man.
KAGAN: So $150,000; may the best bidder win is pretty much what you're saying?
EDWARDS: Yes.
KAGAN: Very good. And how does the auction work? Where do people bid?
EDWARDS: Actually if you just go to kerryedwards.com, the information is there. It shows you how to go about bidding, and the process and what you need to do to submit your bid.
KAGAN: All right, well, Kerry, thanks for stopping by. Kerry Edwards, the real Kerry Edwards.
EDWARDS: Thank you.
KAGAN: Good luck with the auction, kerryedwards.com.
Well, there is the Kerry of the Kerry/Edwards ticket, Senator John Kerry arriving at the FleetCenter, get a chance to look around at where he will give his speech tonight.
Let's go back to Bob Franken -- Bob.
FRANKEN: A chance to be on television. A whole lot of cameras here right now as John Kerry, worst-kept secret in town, was going to be coming to the FleetCenter this evening and, as you can see, going up to the podium. Let's listen to, breathlessly, the audio check.
KAGAN: Do we expect we'll be able to hear him over the audio system of the FleetCenter right now?
FRANKEN: Well, we just heard him from here saying he couldn't hear a word anybody else was saying, before we started to shout our questions.
Are you not hearing him, Daryn?
KAGAN: No, not really. We can kind of hear him in the background.
FRANKEN: Well, this is heavy stuff. I think he said, "This is great." Yes, this is really big stuff. Too bad you can't hear it.
Wait a minute, we don't want to miss a word of this. He isn't even talking now. Posing, I believe, would be the better term. Again, remember, this is going to carry us through the afternoon.
KAGAN: Right. Well, and it's also -- I mean, on a real point here, Bob -- getting used to the teleprompter there, which is -- perhaps people at home don't appreciate, because when they're looking at the person, the podium, it looks like clear glass.
But when the person looks out, you showed us in a previous hour, they see the script of what they're trying to read.
FRANKEN: Absolutely. And as we can all attest, teleprompter problems are a big problem. You really have to have that down. And there have been stories about that, how Bill Clinton -- President Clinton's teleprompter had a glitch during the State of the Union message and all that, and all the untold stories about how Daryn Kagan has had teleprompter problems.
KAGAN: No.
FRANKEN: No, no, no, of course not. But at any rate, you're right. That is a big deal. And obviously he's checking out where they're located. What they do is they set up several of them with the same message. And now he is going through the, you know, "Let's see now, if I walk over here, do I trip on anything?" That kind of thing.
I have to tell you that most of this isn't contrivance, to be honest with you. I don't know if it is in this case. But most of the time when the people come out to check out the hall, they are really checking out the cameras that are there. That's the name of the game. It's political...
KAGAN: Just to say that. But needless to say, he does want everything to be in the right place because, as so many people have said, this -- up to this point in his life -- will be the most important political speech: when he presents himself to the American people.
FRANKEN: Right, the everything being in the right place. What has to be in the right place is the speech. That's going to be -- look at him now, he's giving us some idea of the gestures and that type of thing.
I know you're taking this very seriously, Daryn.
KAGAN: Well, no, we're watching. I mean, it's interesting to see behind the scenes of how people get ready. It's part of what's interesting about having live television and the 24/7 news cycle.
FRANKEN: Well, and it's also -- it's interesting. I mean, the speech itself, if we can get serious for just a moment, really matters. This is a man who, as we've been talking about, has a reputation for being aloof; somebody who finds it tough to be warm and fuzzy.
Well, the reality is, in this day, warm and fuzzy is part of what makes a successful politician. So, he's going to have to give some people some idea of the human side of John Kerry. And we're told that that is where the emphasis is going to be, the feeling being that the issues have been widely discussed.
Also, as you've noted in this whole convention, there has been a relative minimum of Bush bashing. That, of course, is going to come later. But he's not going to leave the impression that he's soft on the Republicans.
What he wants to try and do is to show some warmth, show some humor, tell his story, say that it's a story that individually qualifies him to be the president of the United States.
He's going to be helped by that nine-and-a-half minute video. And of course, the Republicans have seen to it that even that is controversial, trying to make the point that some of the video in it is eight-millimeter film that he had shot himself -- or had shot when he was in Vietnam.
They're claiming that it was for him to get into a position that he could use it when he ran for public office, which is something that is adamantly denied by the Kerry side. But it's going to be that kind of campaign. It's going to be pretty brutal.
KAGAN: For the next 98 days exactly.
FRANKEN: That's right, 98 days. OK, are you hearing this, Daryn?
KAGAN: A little bit. We can just hear an echo.
And actually, going to take this opportunity, Bob, to say that I think they're going to want you to stand by and be part of this. It is my signal to exit, however.
My colleague, Wolf Blitzer, right there in Boston with you. Wolf, I'll hand it off to you.
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