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CNN Live Today
Bush Says Economy Rebounding Despite Labor Department Figures; TV Drug Ads Changing Doctor-Patient Relationship; Political Sites Popular on Web
Aired August 06, 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, ANCHOR: Saudi authorities say that they've arrested one of the senior al Qaeda leaders in the kingdom. A ministry official says that Faris al-Zahrani was captured in the mountains southwest of Saudi Arabia near the border of Yemen. Al-Zahrani was on the Saudi's most wanted of terror suspects.
A surprising job report today. The nation payrolls grew dramatically slower than expected in July, adding just 32,000 jobs. An expert says that may cause the fed to rethink an increase in interest rates for now.
And detectives in central Florida are investigating multiple murders this morning. Six bodies were found in a home in Deltona. Authorities talked about the grizzly find just a short time ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHERIFF BEN JOHNSON, VOLUSIA COUNTY: At this time, it appears we have six victims in the house: four males, two females and a dog. All of the individuals in the house are all adults, 18 or above. We have an identity -- a tentative identity on some of them, but not all of them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAGAN: It's not known if the victims are related.
Keeping you informed. CNN is the most trusted name in news.
To our political news now. Today, President Bush told a conference of journalists in Washington, D.C., that the economy is strong and it's getting stronger. But there are new figures out from the Labor Department, showing that job growth in July was sharply below analysts' predictions.
Our Kathleen Koch is in Washington to sort all this out for us.
Kathleen, good morning.
KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn.
Yes, some bad economic news for President Bush as he heads out again on the campaign trail today. The president departing last hour for the battleground state of New Hampshire. That was a state that he lost by -- he won, I should say, by just one percentage point over Al Gore back in 2000. He'll be speaking to a rally of some 4,000 supporters in Stratham.
But before he left, Mr. Bush addressed the Unity Conference here in Washington. It's the world's largest gathering of journalists of color. Mr. Bush touted the progress that his administration has made in education, in health care, minority home ownership. He did not, though, make mention of these new and disappointing job numbers.
Greg Mankiw, the head of the president's council of economic advisors told me the administration is not satisfied with the new numbers, that they believe overall the economy is headed in the right direction, but that they know they have more to do.
President Bush insisted to the audience of journalists this morning that his policies have actually strengthened the economy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You know, when I came into office, we had a problem with our economy. It was in a recession.
In order to make sure this country is hopeful and people have a better chance to realize their dreams, we need economic growth. That's why I cut the taxes on everybody. I didn't cut them. The Congress cut them. I asked them to cut them.
It was to stimulate the economy. It was to have people have more money in their pocket so they would demand additional goods or services. And the economic growth is strong, and it's getting stronger. And that's good for everybody in America.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOCH: The president's Democratic challenger, Senator John Kerry, spoke to the Unity Conference yesterday, Senator Kerry telling the crowd that America is, in his opinion, still a house divided, separate, but unequal in many ways.
He vowed that as president he would be committed to bridging those gaps.
President Bush created a gap of his own when he refused an invitation in early July to speak to the NAACP. That made him the first president since Herbert Hoover to decline an invitation to speak to that group while in office.
But President Bush today obviously doing his best, reaching out, trying to mend those fences.
Back to you.
KAGAN: Kathleen Koch at the White House. Kathleen, thank you.
Let's check in on the Kerry campaign. That campaign is very angry over a blistering new campaign commercial that accuses the Senator of lying about his service in Vietnam. Let's take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEN. JOHN EDWARDS (D-NC), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: ... about what John Kerry is made of, just spend three minutes with the men who served with him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I served with John Kerry.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I served with John Kerry.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: John Kerry has not been honest about what happened in Vietnam.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He is lying about his record.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know John Kerry is lying about his first Purple Heart, because I treated him for that injury.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAGAN: The plan is for the spot to air in three battleground states. Bob Elder is with Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. Del Sandusky piloted John Kerry's swift boat in Vietnam and is campaigning for the Senator. They both appeared on CNN's "AMERICAN MORNING" today with Bill Hemmer.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BOB ELDER, SWIFT BOAT VETERANS FOR TRUTH: Make that claim for two reasons. One, as you could see, it was that he betrayed all of us when he came home and went in front of the Congress of the United States and I accused all of us of war crimes. That is not what a war hero is made of.
Secondly, we believe he grossly exaggerated, and even lied, about some of the circumstances under which certain awards were given to him.
DEL SANDUSKY, VIETNAM VETERAN: I was with John Kerry. I was the leading petty officer in the helmsman on PCF 94. I served with John Kerry. Those men did not serve with John Kerry.
We were all in the same war at the same time possibly, but I could say the same thing: I served with General Westmoreland. Their ad is a pack of lies.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAGAN: The ad right now is scheduled to air in Wisconsin, Ohio and West Virginia. The Kerry campaign calls it an inflammatory, outrageous lie.
What's old is new again in politics, and at the movies, the new old film about the ways of Washington caught the eye of our senior political analyst, Bill Schneider.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BILL SCHNEIDER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST (voice-over): Who is the real Manchurian candidate? That's become the big guessing game ever since a remake of the 1962 movie was released last week.
The original portrayed a communist conspiracy bent on subverting the American political system.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I served them. I fought for them. I'm on the point of winning for them the greatest foothold they will ever have in this country.
SCHNEIDER: But with a twist. The communists were using her husband, a Joe McCarthy-like politician, as a front man.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have here a list of the names of 207 persons who are known by the secretary of defense as being members of the Communist Party.
SCHNEIDER: Cut to 2004.
MERYL STREEP, ACTRESS: I think this is a very different kind of thing, concerned with different fears, different kinds of paranoia.
SCHNEIDER: In the remake, the scheme to subvert the American political system is masterminded by a powerful, shadowy, multi- national corporation.
JON VOIGT, ACTOR: Among the shareholders in Manchurian Global, were they ever to publish a list, which they won't, you would find former presidents, deposed kings, trust fund terrorists, fallen communist dictators, ayatollahs, African warlords and retired prime ministers.
SCHNEIDER: Modeled on Halliburton, the company Dick Cheney used to run? Ask the film's director.
JONATHAN DEMME, PRODUCER/DIRECTOR, "THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE": We are once again being terrified by our leaders into giving them carte blanche to conduct our affairs around the globe however they personally see fit, at great profit, by the way, to the multi-national corporations that they have so much involvement in.
SCHNEIDER: On the Web, some indignant conservatives say "The Manchurian Candidate" is John Kerry, a wholly owned and operated subsidiary of George Soros, one of his wealthy backers.
There's no end to the speculation about the villain played by Meryl Streep.
STREEP: Make no mistake, the American people are terrified. They know something is coming. They can feel it. And we can either shovel them the same old sugar, or we can arm them. We can arm them with a young, vibrant vice president. SCHNEIDER: Notice the haircut. One conservative web site asks, "A cold, diabolical, manipulative member of the U.S. Senate. Any thoughts on a real life middle-aged blonde who might fit the description?"
Bill Schneider, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KAGAN: All right. We'll leave that to you to figure that out and answer that question.
Meanwhile, we want to let you know that President and Mrs. Bush will be sitting down for our "LARRY KING LIVE." That's next Thursday for an exclusive joint interview. That will come your way 9 p.m. Eastern Thursday on CNN. It's 9 p.m. every night.
The Brits say they are doing it in the name of the war on terror, removing something important from British passports. It's a story guarantee to do make you frown. That's later.
But next, Cialis, Prilosec, Nexium, Streptera (ph)? These days, everything's a disease and can be all treated with something that's advertised on television. Our "Daily Dose" segment asks if America is overdosing on prescription meds.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAGAN: Your "Daily Dose" of health news now. There may be another good reason for low carb fans to load up on protein. A new study finds women eating a high carb diet full of sugar and starch may be at a higher risk of getting breast cancer. Fluctuating insulin levels are suspected of contributing to the risk. Of course, more research needs to be done on that.
The ads urge you to ask your doctor about medications for everything from allergies to depression to sexual dysfunction. So how are those ads affecting consumers and drug sales?
Medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is in New York City today, but we found her anyway to bring us this report.
Good morning.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn.
Daryn, the pharmaceutical industry spends billions of dollars on these ads, so you can bet that they're getting something for their money.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COHEN (voice-over): And Dot has done great things for sales of the antidepressant drug Zoloft.
VAL DIFEBO, GENERAL MANAGER, DEUTSCH INC.: What we thought was important here was to have Dot communicate to people how Dot was feeling.
COHEN (on camera): And did Dot work?
DIFEBO: Dot works. Dot works.
(MUSIC)
COHEN (voice-over): And the dancing Viagra men work, and the come-hither woman works, and the cute bellies work. One study from a healthcare policy think tank shows every $1 the pharmaceutical industry spends on drug advertising to consumers yields about $4.20 in sales.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cialis is here.
COHEN: The aim? To saturate you with tried and true marketing techniques like sex and fear, on TV, in magazines, even while you're watching car racing or the poker world series.
DIFEBO: You're going to see them when you wake up in the morning and when you go to bed at night because that's -- we know that's where you are, and we want you to see these ads.
COHEN: Val Difebo's advertising agency developed the Dot campaign and several other pharmaceutical ads.
DIFEBO: I would say drugs have become part of the fabric of our lives. They are a part of maintaining a healthy lifestyle, the same way exercise is.
COHEN: But all of this has some people worried that it's created a nation of hypochondriacs, where everyone who sneezes thinks they have allergies, where everyone who had a bad night's sleep asks their doctor for a prescription.
BILL MAHER, COMEDIAN: Tell your doctor -- tell your doctor? When you tell your doctor, isn't he just a dealer at that point?
DR. ROBERT GOODMAN, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY: It's creating illness where none previously existed.
JOSEPH CALIFANO, FORMER HEALTH SECRETARY: We're also making a lot of people think there's a pill for anything that -- there's a pill for any problem they may have and if you just get your doctor to prescribe it for you. If he won't prescribe it for you, he is the bad guy.
COHEN: The pharmaceutical industry says it's helping people.
LORI REILLY, PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY: We know that about 24 million people since 1997 have gotten diagnosed with a condition for the first time as a result of seeing a direct consumer advertising.
COHEN: So either these ads are helping sick people seek treatment.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "Would you like to try it?" "Why yes, yes I would."
COHEN: Or the ads are convincing healthy people they should take drugs they don't really need.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Think aspirin and other heart medications alone are enough?
COHEN: You decide.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COHEN: One advertising executive who we talked to said that when the ads for Viagra and drugs like that came out, that thousands of men went to their doctor and were diagnosed with underlying conditions like diabetes and heart disease -- Daryn.
KAGAN: All right. Now for the questions, Elizabeth. So we heard the joke, which was very funny about Bill Maher, you know, telling your doctor what you want to do. But really, are these ads having an effect on doctor-patient relationships?
COHEN: Doctors who we talked to said they are having an effect. They said, "We used to be the ones who would tell the patients what they need. And now the patients come to us."
And several doctors we talked to said, "You know, we have five or ten minutes with a patient. We don't have time always to explain to them in full detail why we don't want to give them what they saw advertised on TV last night. And as long as the drug isn't going to harm them, it's easier to just hand them a prescription than give them a 20-minute speech."
KAGAN: And then finally, let's talk dollars here. We hear about the rising cost of healthcare, but are these ads actually contributing to those increased costs?
COHEN: Many economists believe that they are, Daryn. And the reason is that when you see a drug advertised on television, you can bet that it is one of the most expensive drugs out there on the market. They don't tend to advertise the cheap stuff. So it creates this increased consumer demand for the most expensive drugs.
KAGAN: Elizabeth Cohen in New York City, thank you.
COHEN: Thanks.
KAGAN: And for your "Daily Dose" of health news online, you can log on to our web site. You'll find the latest medical stories, special report and a health library. The address: CNN.com/health.
Have you ever wanted to make a politician do exactly what you want him or her to do? Well, if that includes magic tricks, dancing and beating people up, well, we have just the web site for you. Our Internet guru, Regina Lewis, will have all that and the web talk, just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAGAN: It is time for our Friday feature, "Buzz on the Web," t he hot stories that you're talking about on AOL. And for that, we have our AOL online advisor, Regina Lewis, joining us in Dulles, Virginia, this morning.
Regina, good morning.
REGINA LEWIS, AOL: Thanks, Daryn.
KAGAN: First, you know, with all this politics going on, sometimes we need a little humor release. Equal opportunity. If people at home wanting to have humor and control it, let's talk about these puppet politics.
LEWIS: Yes. "Team America: The World Police" is a new movie trailer that seems to be raising pop culture threat levels. It's by the creators of "South Park," and everyone is a marionette, including Hollywood liberals and politicians.
Here is the trailer. What's most interesting is online when this started circulating, people thought this has got to be a joke. There's been so many cartoons lately. This can't really be a Paramount motion picture. Turns out it is. It's conveniently slated to be released this fall in October. They're shooting for two weeks before the general election.
And the trailer here, it says freedom. It's got all of these buzz words. And they admittedly say we live in an unparalleled dangerous time and that Sean Penn, Martin Sheen, Bush, Kerry are all going to be really, really angry when they see this.
According to Matt Drudge, the White House is already a little ticked off, so we'll see.
KAGAN: So but -- what we're hearing from the movie people that it's equal opportunity offensive?
LEWIS: There you go. As they're famous for.
KAGAN: OK, that's great.
All right. Moving on to subservient presidents?
LEWIS: Yes. This is a spoof, honest spoof. You might remember the subservient chicken, which was actually a Burger King promotion, to say, you know, have it your way with a chicken.
Now you can have it your way with Bush as a chicken, thanks to a faculty member at USC. And this technology is kind of interesting. You type in words. Here you see Michael Moore, and the president is going to give the finger there. We've digitized that for you.
KAGAN: We thank you.
LEWIS: This is my favorite. "Find WMDs." He then hunts around. He keeps hunting and hunting. Comes up a little bit short.
So this is a ton of fun. Apparently not politically motivated. They said they didn't have enough material on Kerry. They do now. So you can almost bank on that one coming up next.
"Find bin Laden," he comes up a little short here and has a photocopy.
KAGAN: So for those people who are Bush supporters who are upset about that, probably making John Kerry do what you want him to do, that's coming soon to a web site near you?
LEWIS: You got it. Absolutely.
KAGAN: Just to be clear, save me the e-mail before you write it and tell me I'm biased on that.
OK. First -- then moving on, the Olympics. What's the countdown here?
LEWIS: Well, it's really interesting. Because of the seven-hour time delay, the Internet is going to have an interesting role here. One, you're going to have to be careful where you click if you don't want to know the results before you watch things that are airing on television.
Also, there's so much talk about what -- who covered and who didn't cover the convention. Same thing is going to happen with the Olympics. If you are into, you know, judo or some of these niche sports that don't get prime time TV time, this is going to be your only way to watch it. So we're expecting big numbers there.
Also, here comes all the up close and personal feature stories. One Australian swimmer, Brooke Hanson, may have taken that personal piece a little further than most. She posed for "Black & White" magazine in Australia. Those photos -- we know this always happens -- now circulating online.
She said, "I have a fantastic body at this moment, and I thought they were tasteful." I have to give her the first of that part; the photos are pretty incredible. And so I think we'll see a lot of the athletes doing anything in this realm. They're going to get some Internet play out of it.
KAGAN: OK. Well, there we go.
LEWIS: There they are. You can see why.
KAGAN: Yes. OK. There you go. Thank you for sharing. Thank you so much, Regina Lewis. You have a great weekend.
LEWIS: Thank you.
KAGAN: Different type of fashion statement ahead. Hold the cheese. Britain is banning smiles on passport photos. Open-mouth smiles, sunglasses and hair in the eyes, it's all out. Why? Well, because it might confuse the new facial recognition technology that will go into effect in 2005.
Business is next. We'll check on that plus a lot more. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(STOCK REPORT)
KAGAN: That's going to do it for me for now, at least for now. I will be back at 10 Eastern, so hopefully you will donate your Friday night and join me then. The other hard-working woman here at CNN is Carol Lin.
CAROL LIN, ANCHOR: Donate your Friday night! Please, a pleasure to watch "NEWSNIGHT" with Daryn Kagan.
KAGAN: Absolutely. Absolutely. Aaron's off. Wolf is off. The whole world is off.
LIN: It's August.
KAGAN: You did 5 to 7 a.m. Eastern, and you're back here.
LIN: You know, I volunteered.
KAGAN: Did you?
LIN: Just kidding.
KAGAN: It's not overtime; it's an opportunity.
LIN: And a lot of news today to look forward to. Have a great weekend.
KAGAN: OK.
LIN: I'm Carol Lin at the CNN Center in Atlanta, in again today for Wolf. A busy hour ahead. But first, we've got some headlines now in the news.
Happening right now. The Democrats in the Show Me state. A farm in Missouri is the picturesque stage for Senator John Kerry to talk energy conservation and jobs creation. We're going to hear Kerry's plan in just a moment.
The American Research Group survey of likely voters shows the president trailing Kerry in all-important Florida by seven percentage points. This hour, Mr. Bush is in New Hampshire, another important state, where the poll finds him trailing, again by seven points.
And disappointing news on the jobs front. The Labor Department reports July employment dipped a tenth of one percent. The number of jobs created was the smallest monthly gain this year. The treasury secretary is joining us this hour.
And heavy smoke rises from a town in Iraq amid brutal fighting between U.S. forces and the Shiite militia. Military officials say the fighting has claimed the lives of some 300 insurgents. That story right now.
Two U.S. Marines and an American soldier are among the latest to die in fierce fighting around the southern Iraqi city of Najaf. The U.S. military says some 300 insurgents were killed.
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 August 6, 2004 - 11:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, ANCHOR: Saudi authorities say that they've arrested one of the senior al Qaeda leaders in the kingdom. A ministry official says that Faris al-Zahrani was captured in the mountains southwest of Saudi Arabia near the border of Yemen. Al-Zahrani was on the Saudi's most wanted of terror suspects.
A surprising job report today. The nation payrolls grew dramatically slower than expected in July, adding just 32,000 jobs. An expert says that may cause the fed to rethink an increase in interest rates for now.
And detectives in central Florida are investigating multiple murders this morning. Six bodies were found in a home in Deltona. Authorities talked about the grizzly find just a short time ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHERIFF BEN JOHNSON, VOLUSIA COUNTY: At this time, it appears we have six victims in the house: four males, two females and a dog. All of the individuals in the house are all adults, 18 or above. We have an identity -- a tentative identity on some of them, but not all of them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAGAN: It's not known if the victims are related.
Keeping you informed. CNN is the most trusted name in news.
To our political news now. Today, President Bush told a conference of journalists in Washington, D.C., that the economy is strong and it's getting stronger. But there are new figures out from the Labor Department, showing that job growth in July was sharply below analysts' predictions.
Our Kathleen Koch is in Washington to sort all this out for us.
Kathleen, good morning.
KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn.
Yes, some bad economic news for President Bush as he heads out again on the campaign trail today. The president departing last hour for the battleground state of New Hampshire. That was a state that he lost by -- he won, I should say, by just one percentage point over Al Gore back in 2000. He'll be speaking to a rally of some 4,000 supporters in Stratham.
But before he left, Mr. Bush addressed the Unity Conference here in Washington. It's the world's largest gathering of journalists of color. Mr. Bush touted the progress that his administration has made in education, in health care, minority home ownership. He did not, though, make mention of these new and disappointing job numbers.
Greg Mankiw, the head of the president's council of economic advisors told me the administration is not satisfied with the new numbers, that they believe overall the economy is headed in the right direction, but that they know they have more to do.
President Bush insisted to the audience of journalists this morning that his policies have actually strengthened the economy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You know, when I came into office, we had a problem with our economy. It was in a recession.
In order to make sure this country is hopeful and people have a better chance to realize their dreams, we need economic growth. That's why I cut the taxes on everybody. I didn't cut them. The Congress cut them. I asked them to cut them.
It was to stimulate the economy. It was to have people have more money in their pocket so they would demand additional goods or services. And the economic growth is strong, and it's getting stronger. And that's good for everybody in America.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOCH: The president's Democratic challenger, Senator John Kerry, spoke to the Unity Conference yesterday, Senator Kerry telling the crowd that America is, in his opinion, still a house divided, separate, but unequal in many ways.
He vowed that as president he would be committed to bridging those gaps.
President Bush created a gap of his own when he refused an invitation in early July to speak to the NAACP. That made him the first president since Herbert Hoover to decline an invitation to speak to that group while in office.
But President Bush today obviously doing his best, reaching out, trying to mend those fences.
Back to you.
KAGAN: Kathleen Koch at the White House. Kathleen, thank you.
Let's check in on the Kerry campaign. That campaign is very angry over a blistering new campaign commercial that accuses the Senator of lying about his service in Vietnam. Let's take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEN. JOHN EDWARDS (D-NC), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: ... about what John Kerry is made of, just spend three minutes with the men who served with him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I served with John Kerry.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I served with John Kerry.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: John Kerry has not been honest about what happened in Vietnam.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He is lying about his record.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know John Kerry is lying about his first Purple Heart, because I treated him for that injury.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAGAN: The plan is for the spot to air in three battleground states. Bob Elder is with Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. Del Sandusky piloted John Kerry's swift boat in Vietnam and is campaigning for the Senator. They both appeared on CNN's "AMERICAN MORNING" today with Bill Hemmer.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BOB ELDER, SWIFT BOAT VETERANS FOR TRUTH: Make that claim for two reasons. One, as you could see, it was that he betrayed all of us when he came home and went in front of the Congress of the United States and I accused all of us of war crimes. That is not what a war hero is made of.
Secondly, we believe he grossly exaggerated, and even lied, about some of the circumstances under which certain awards were given to him.
DEL SANDUSKY, VIETNAM VETERAN: I was with John Kerry. I was the leading petty officer in the helmsman on PCF 94. I served with John Kerry. Those men did not serve with John Kerry.
We were all in the same war at the same time possibly, but I could say the same thing: I served with General Westmoreland. Their ad is a pack of lies.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAGAN: The ad right now is scheduled to air in Wisconsin, Ohio and West Virginia. The Kerry campaign calls it an inflammatory, outrageous lie.
What's old is new again in politics, and at the movies, the new old film about the ways of Washington caught the eye of our senior political analyst, Bill Schneider.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BILL SCHNEIDER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST (voice-over): Who is the real Manchurian candidate? That's become the big guessing game ever since a remake of the 1962 movie was released last week.
The original portrayed a communist conspiracy bent on subverting the American political system.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I served them. I fought for them. I'm on the point of winning for them the greatest foothold they will ever have in this country.
SCHNEIDER: But with a twist. The communists were using her husband, a Joe McCarthy-like politician, as a front man.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have here a list of the names of 207 persons who are known by the secretary of defense as being members of the Communist Party.
SCHNEIDER: Cut to 2004.
MERYL STREEP, ACTRESS: I think this is a very different kind of thing, concerned with different fears, different kinds of paranoia.
SCHNEIDER: In the remake, the scheme to subvert the American political system is masterminded by a powerful, shadowy, multi- national corporation.
JON VOIGT, ACTOR: Among the shareholders in Manchurian Global, were they ever to publish a list, which they won't, you would find former presidents, deposed kings, trust fund terrorists, fallen communist dictators, ayatollahs, African warlords and retired prime ministers.
SCHNEIDER: Modeled on Halliburton, the company Dick Cheney used to run? Ask the film's director.
JONATHAN DEMME, PRODUCER/DIRECTOR, "THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE": We are once again being terrified by our leaders into giving them carte blanche to conduct our affairs around the globe however they personally see fit, at great profit, by the way, to the multi-national corporations that they have so much involvement in.
SCHNEIDER: On the Web, some indignant conservatives say "The Manchurian Candidate" is John Kerry, a wholly owned and operated subsidiary of George Soros, one of his wealthy backers.
There's no end to the speculation about the villain played by Meryl Streep.
STREEP: Make no mistake, the American people are terrified. They know something is coming. They can feel it. And we can either shovel them the same old sugar, or we can arm them. We can arm them with a young, vibrant vice president. SCHNEIDER: Notice the haircut. One conservative web site asks, "A cold, diabolical, manipulative member of the U.S. Senate. Any thoughts on a real life middle-aged blonde who might fit the description?"
Bill Schneider, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KAGAN: All right. We'll leave that to you to figure that out and answer that question.
Meanwhile, we want to let you know that President and Mrs. Bush will be sitting down for our "LARRY KING LIVE." That's next Thursday for an exclusive joint interview. That will come your way 9 p.m. Eastern Thursday on CNN. It's 9 p.m. every night.
The Brits say they are doing it in the name of the war on terror, removing something important from British passports. It's a story guarantee to do make you frown. That's later.
But next, Cialis, Prilosec, Nexium, Streptera (ph)? These days, everything's a disease and can be all treated with something that's advertised on television. Our "Daily Dose" segment asks if America is overdosing on prescription meds.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAGAN: Your "Daily Dose" of health news now. There may be another good reason for low carb fans to load up on protein. A new study finds women eating a high carb diet full of sugar and starch may be at a higher risk of getting breast cancer. Fluctuating insulin levels are suspected of contributing to the risk. Of course, more research needs to be done on that.
The ads urge you to ask your doctor about medications for everything from allergies to depression to sexual dysfunction. So how are those ads affecting consumers and drug sales?
Medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is in New York City today, but we found her anyway to bring us this report.
Good morning.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn.
Daryn, the pharmaceutical industry spends billions of dollars on these ads, so you can bet that they're getting something for their money.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COHEN (voice-over): And Dot has done great things for sales of the antidepressant drug Zoloft.
VAL DIFEBO, GENERAL MANAGER, DEUTSCH INC.: What we thought was important here was to have Dot communicate to people how Dot was feeling.
COHEN (on camera): And did Dot work?
DIFEBO: Dot works. Dot works.
(MUSIC)
COHEN (voice-over): And the dancing Viagra men work, and the come-hither woman works, and the cute bellies work. One study from a healthcare policy think tank shows every $1 the pharmaceutical industry spends on drug advertising to consumers yields about $4.20 in sales.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cialis is here.
COHEN: The aim? To saturate you with tried and true marketing techniques like sex and fear, on TV, in magazines, even while you're watching car racing or the poker world series.
DIFEBO: You're going to see them when you wake up in the morning and when you go to bed at night because that's -- we know that's where you are, and we want you to see these ads.
COHEN: Val Difebo's advertising agency developed the Dot campaign and several other pharmaceutical ads.
DIFEBO: I would say drugs have become part of the fabric of our lives. They are a part of maintaining a healthy lifestyle, the same way exercise is.
COHEN: But all of this has some people worried that it's created a nation of hypochondriacs, where everyone who sneezes thinks they have allergies, where everyone who had a bad night's sleep asks their doctor for a prescription.
BILL MAHER, COMEDIAN: Tell your doctor -- tell your doctor? When you tell your doctor, isn't he just a dealer at that point?
DR. ROBERT GOODMAN, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY: It's creating illness where none previously existed.
JOSEPH CALIFANO, FORMER HEALTH SECRETARY: We're also making a lot of people think there's a pill for anything that -- there's a pill for any problem they may have and if you just get your doctor to prescribe it for you. If he won't prescribe it for you, he is the bad guy.
COHEN: The pharmaceutical industry says it's helping people.
LORI REILLY, PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY: We know that about 24 million people since 1997 have gotten diagnosed with a condition for the first time as a result of seeing a direct consumer advertising.
COHEN: So either these ads are helping sick people seek treatment.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "Would you like to try it?" "Why yes, yes I would."
COHEN: Or the ads are convincing healthy people they should take drugs they don't really need.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Think aspirin and other heart medications alone are enough?
COHEN: You decide.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COHEN: One advertising executive who we talked to said that when the ads for Viagra and drugs like that came out, that thousands of men went to their doctor and were diagnosed with underlying conditions like diabetes and heart disease -- Daryn.
KAGAN: All right. Now for the questions, Elizabeth. So we heard the joke, which was very funny about Bill Maher, you know, telling your doctor what you want to do. But really, are these ads having an effect on doctor-patient relationships?
COHEN: Doctors who we talked to said they are having an effect. They said, "We used to be the ones who would tell the patients what they need. And now the patients come to us."
And several doctors we talked to said, "You know, we have five or ten minutes with a patient. We don't have time always to explain to them in full detail why we don't want to give them what they saw advertised on TV last night. And as long as the drug isn't going to harm them, it's easier to just hand them a prescription than give them a 20-minute speech."
KAGAN: And then finally, let's talk dollars here. We hear about the rising cost of healthcare, but are these ads actually contributing to those increased costs?
COHEN: Many economists believe that they are, Daryn. And the reason is that when you see a drug advertised on television, you can bet that it is one of the most expensive drugs out there on the market. They don't tend to advertise the cheap stuff. So it creates this increased consumer demand for the most expensive drugs.
KAGAN: Elizabeth Cohen in New York City, thank you.
COHEN: Thanks.
KAGAN: And for your "Daily Dose" of health news online, you can log on to our web site. You'll find the latest medical stories, special report and a health library. The address: CNN.com/health.
Have you ever wanted to make a politician do exactly what you want him or her to do? Well, if that includes magic tricks, dancing and beating people up, well, we have just the web site for you. Our Internet guru, Regina Lewis, will have all that and the web talk, just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAGAN: It is time for our Friday feature, "Buzz on the Web," t he hot stories that you're talking about on AOL. And for that, we have our AOL online advisor, Regina Lewis, joining us in Dulles, Virginia, this morning.
Regina, good morning.
REGINA LEWIS, AOL: Thanks, Daryn.
KAGAN: First, you know, with all this politics going on, sometimes we need a little humor release. Equal opportunity. If people at home wanting to have humor and control it, let's talk about these puppet politics.
LEWIS: Yes. "Team America: The World Police" is a new movie trailer that seems to be raising pop culture threat levels. It's by the creators of "South Park," and everyone is a marionette, including Hollywood liberals and politicians.
Here is the trailer. What's most interesting is online when this started circulating, people thought this has got to be a joke. There's been so many cartoons lately. This can't really be a Paramount motion picture. Turns out it is. It's conveniently slated to be released this fall in October. They're shooting for two weeks before the general election.
And the trailer here, it says freedom. It's got all of these buzz words. And they admittedly say we live in an unparalleled dangerous time and that Sean Penn, Martin Sheen, Bush, Kerry are all going to be really, really angry when they see this.
According to Matt Drudge, the White House is already a little ticked off, so we'll see.
KAGAN: So but -- what we're hearing from the movie people that it's equal opportunity offensive?
LEWIS: There you go. As they're famous for.
KAGAN: OK, that's great.
All right. Moving on to subservient presidents?
LEWIS: Yes. This is a spoof, honest spoof. You might remember the subservient chicken, which was actually a Burger King promotion, to say, you know, have it your way with a chicken.
Now you can have it your way with Bush as a chicken, thanks to a faculty member at USC. And this technology is kind of interesting. You type in words. Here you see Michael Moore, and the president is going to give the finger there. We've digitized that for you.
KAGAN: We thank you.
LEWIS: This is my favorite. "Find WMDs." He then hunts around. He keeps hunting and hunting. Comes up a little bit short.
So this is a ton of fun. Apparently not politically motivated. They said they didn't have enough material on Kerry. They do now. So you can almost bank on that one coming up next.
"Find bin Laden," he comes up a little short here and has a photocopy.
KAGAN: So for those people who are Bush supporters who are upset about that, probably making John Kerry do what you want him to do, that's coming soon to a web site near you?
LEWIS: You got it. Absolutely.
KAGAN: Just to be clear, save me the e-mail before you write it and tell me I'm biased on that.
OK. First -- then moving on, the Olympics. What's the countdown here?
LEWIS: Well, it's really interesting. Because of the seven-hour time delay, the Internet is going to have an interesting role here. One, you're going to have to be careful where you click if you don't want to know the results before you watch things that are airing on television.
Also, there's so much talk about what -- who covered and who didn't cover the convention. Same thing is going to happen with the Olympics. If you are into, you know, judo or some of these niche sports that don't get prime time TV time, this is going to be your only way to watch it. So we're expecting big numbers there.
Also, here comes all the up close and personal feature stories. One Australian swimmer, Brooke Hanson, may have taken that personal piece a little further than most. She posed for "Black & White" magazine in Australia. Those photos -- we know this always happens -- now circulating online.
She said, "I have a fantastic body at this moment, and I thought they were tasteful." I have to give her the first of that part; the photos are pretty incredible. And so I think we'll see a lot of the athletes doing anything in this realm. They're going to get some Internet play out of it.
KAGAN: OK. Well, there we go.
LEWIS: There they are. You can see why.
KAGAN: Yes. OK. There you go. Thank you for sharing. Thank you so much, Regina Lewis. You have a great weekend.
LEWIS: Thank you.
KAGAN: Different type of fashion statement ahead. Hold the cheese. Britain is banning smiles on passport photos. Open-mouth smiles, sunglasses and hair in the eyes, it's all out. Why? Well, because it might confuse the new facial recognition technology that will go into effect in 2005.
Business is next. We'll check on that plus a lot more. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(STOCK REPORT)
KAGAN: That's going to do it for me for now, at least for now. I will be back at 10 Eastern, so hopefully you will donate your Friday night and join me then. The other hard-working woman here at CNN is Carol Lin.
CAROL LIN, ANCHOR: Donate your Friday night! Please, a pleasure to watch "NEWSNIGHT" with Daryn Kagan.
KAGAN: Absolutely. Absolutely. Aaron's off. Wolf is off. The whole world is off.
LIN: It's August.
KAGAN: You did 5 to 7 a.m. Eastern, and you're back here.
LIN: You know, I volunteered.
KAGAN: Did you?
LIN: Just kidding.
KAGAN: It's not overtime; it's an opportunity.
LIN: And a lot of news today to look forward to. Have a great weekend.
KAGAN: OK.
LIN: I'm Carol Lin at the CNN Center in Atlanta, in again today for Wolf. A busy hour ahead. But first, we've got some headlines now in the news.
Happening right now. The Democrats in the Show Me state. A farm in Missouri is the picturesque stage for Senator John Kerry to talk energy conservation and jobs creation. We're going to hear Kerry's plan in just a moment.
The American Research Group survey of likely voters shows the president trailing Kerry in all-important Florida by seven percentage points. This hour, Mr. Bush is in New Hampshire, another important state, where the poll finds him trailing, again by seven points.
And disappointing news on the jobs front. The Labor Department reports July employment dipped a tenth of one percent. The number of jobs created was the smallest monthly gain this year. The treasury secretary is joining us this hour.
And heavy smoke rises from a town in Iraq amid brutal fighting between U.S. forces and the Shiite militia. Military officials say the fighting has claimed the lives of some 300 insurgents. That story right now.
Two U.S. Marines and an American soldier are among the latest to die in fierce fighting around the southern Iraqi city of Najaf. The U.S. military says some 300 insurgents were killed.
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