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American Morning
More Military Personnel Could be Caught Up in Iraq Prison Scandal When New Report Released Later Today; Latest in Swift Boat Ads Controversy
Aired August 25, 2004 - 08:30 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.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Important day in the Abu Ghraib Prison abuse investigation. We expect the details of a report headed by Major General George Fay. We will get a report on what could be in it and find out what came about from it yesterday.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Plus, the one story that's got us talking the most today. The story we've been talking about -- psychopaths in the workplace.
COLLINS: No joking matter.
HEMMER: People you work with -- correct. People you work with who exhibit dangerous behavior. Who are they? How do you recognize them? How bad can they be? On a much serious topic. We'll get to that in a moment here.
We've been joking around a little bit here, but...
COLLINS: We have.
HEMMER: We shall not joke much longer.
COLLINS: No we won't.
HEMMER: Guilty as charged, by the way.
COLLINS: Not saying a word. But we are going to talk things over with Carol Costello now, who's standing by at the CNN Center and find out what's happening in the news at this moment. Hi Carol.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, Heidi, thank you.
Russian officials say they found the flight data recorders at the crash sight of the two Russian jet liners. The two planes crashed nearly simultaneously with 89 people aboard.
President Vladimir Putin has authorized Russia's top intelligence agency to look into the cause of the crashes.
Thirty minutes from now the latest on the investigation from CNN's Ryan Chilcote. He's in Moscow this morning.
Within the half hour the House Select Intelligence Committee will meet to discuss recommendations from the 9/11 report. Commission co- chair Thomas Kean and Lee Hamilton will be in attendance. The Transportation and Infrastructure Committee is expected to meet later this morning.
On the campaign trail, President Bush is in Texas today. He's been spending the last several days at his Crawford ranch preparing for next week's Republican convention in New York City.
Senator John Kerry is in Philadelphia, and within the half hour, he'll attend a breakfast with African-American leaders. Kerry then heads to Greenbay, Wisconsin this afternoon.
And in Athens, U.S. women's beach volleyball team brushing off the sand and putting on the gold. Misty May and Kerri Walsh spiked their way to a gold medal by defeating the girls from Brazil in straight sets, and Holly McPeak and teammate Elaine Young take the stand to celebrate the bronze after a two-one win over the Australian team -- back to you guys.
HEMMER: I'm looking at that medal count, Carol, and I'm thinking the U.S. might get to 100.
COSTELLO: Maybe so.
HEMMER: That would be sensational.
COSTELLO: China was close there for a while, but not any more.
HEMMER: That's right, but five days and counting -- about four days and counting, so we'll see. Thank you Carol.
More military personnel could be caught up in the Iraq prison scandal when a new report is released later today. That's on top of the report put out yesterday.
Barbara Starr has more now from the Pentagon this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: The Army's so-called Fay investigation into questionable intelligence practices at Abu Ghraib Prison is now expected to name some two dozen personnel who could face further disciplinary or legal action.
This follows an advisory panel report yesterday from former Defense Secretary James Schlesinger, a devastating indictment of what he calls the chaos that raged at the prison.
JAMES SCHLESINGER, INDEPENDENT PANEL CHAIRMAN: That it was sadism on the night shift at Abu Ghraib, sadism that was certainly not authorized. It was kind of animal house on the night shift.
STARR: The pictures that stunned the world were not part of any effort to interrogate prisoners. At the end of the day, undisciplined soldiers with commanders not paying attention.
TILLIE FOWLER, INDEPENDENT PANEL MEMBER: The Pentagon failed to properly adapt to the situation on the ground and to provide sufficient number of adequately organized and trained personnel needed to conduct detention operations in Iraq.
STARR: In Baghdad, as Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez struggled to fight the insurgency, the report notes that senior leaders should have moved to meet the need for additional military police forces.
Sanchez and other top leaders criticized for not making clear who was running the prison and for allowing confusing interrogation policies to emerge.
But the panel said at the top it was mistakes, not legal culpability, and neither defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld or General Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, should resign.
Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: Now to the latest in the Swift Boat ads controversy. A Kerry campaign adviser tells CNN Vietnam veteran and former senator Max Cleland will attempt to personally deliver a letter to President Bush at his ranch in Crawford Texas today.
The letter asks the president to publicly condemn the ads attacking Kerry's war service. Meanwhile, an attorney for the Bush campaign now acknowledges he was an advisor to the Swift Boat Veterans behind the anti-Kerry ads. Here now to discuss this issue and more from Chicago Democratic consultant Victor Kamber.
VICTOR KAMBER, THE KAMBER GROUP: Morning, Heidi.
COLLINS: Good morning. And here in New York Republican strategist Joe Watkins. Joe, good morning to you as well.
JOE WATKINS, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Good morning.
COLLINS: So let's get back to this. Victor, I want to start with you. As we have just said this attorney also served as an adviser for this Swift Boat Veterans, but there's another important point to make and that is that a lawyer for the DNC is also an adviser to moveon.org. What does all of this mean? Is it OK to serve on both of those channels?
KAMBER: Well, I think the issue really is you can serve in a number of capacities. You can serve in a number of ways. The one ad in question is a pack of lies. The people who put the ad out have basically dishonored themselves, and dishonored the military. John Kerry is an American hero.
He served in Vietnam two tours, he has five medals, don't lie about it. If you don't like his voting record, if you don't like things he did after the war, hey that's fair game and that's honest and that's debatable but to take and lie about his record and who he is is deplorable and for the president of the United States not to denounce that is equally deplorable. WATKINS: Well, the great thing that the president has denounced Vic, the president has already denounced that he said the other day that he was against all 527s and that we need to do away with all of them...
KAMBER: Sure...
WATKINS: And the great thing about it is that the president is not a complainer. He hasn't complained about what the Democrats have done to him. The Democrats have spent between $40 and $60 million on attack ads...
KAMBER: The Republicans have...
WATKINS: ... on smear ads against him.
KAMBER: Republicans...
WATKINS: ... no. ...
KAMBER: The Republicans have...
WATKINS: ... on smear ads against him.
KAMBER: Republicans...
WATKINS: ... no. You have...
(CROSSTALK)
COLLINS: Guys, nobody will be able to hear you if you talk at the same time.
KAMBER: Two-hundred million dollars in the campaign. All the 527s did was level the playing field. Let's not play games with the American public. You had $200 million that Bush had raised. The Democrats had raised about $75 million and most of it in primaries were spent.
WATKINS: Well, let's not even mention the fact that -- that the Democrats have Michael Moore who did a smear movie on the president and marketed that around the -- not only around the country but around the world.
This president has not complained. He has come out strongly and has denounced all 527s and I think he's done the right thing.
COLLINS: Gentlemen, it's obvious that we could go round and round about different things that have happened in the campaign even so far -- 70 more days to go as we've determined here today but let me ask this. This is our question of the day here on AMERICAN MORNING. We've been talking about it all morning.
Is this swift boat issue something that the media is perpetuating or is it something that voters really care about? Joe? WATKINS: Well, I think that the Kerry campaign is really kept it alive. I mean they've been the ones that have made so much noise about it. As I said earlier President Bush to his credit is a strong leader. He has not complained.
He knows that people are going to attack him and try to smear him and that has happened in big numbers. As I said earlier the Democrats have spent with these 527s between $40 and $60 million in just the last couple of months to attack the president to really smear his name. And he has not complained about it.
I think that the president has demonstrated that he has a strong character and I admire him for that.
KAMBER: How can -- when -- how can Joe with a straight face sit there and say the Democrats -- the president hasn't complained? What can he complain about? He's running on his record, which is a lousy record?
WATKINS: Well, Michael Moore did a movie...
KAMBER: He has a -- Michael Moore is an independent filmmaker -- Michael Moore is an independent...
WATKINS: A smear on the president and that was unfair.
KAMBER: Because the president...
(CROSSTALK)
COLLINS: Joe, let Victor finish real quick. Victor, go ahead.
KAMBER: The president has a record to run on; we're running against the president of the United States three years of failure. We're running against the President of the United States record for this country and that's what the issues are.
WATKINS: He has a (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
KAMBER: Well, that's debatable when you talk about the economy, when you talk about all the issues.
COLLINS: All right guys, we're going to have to leave it there. Let's talk about something else and that is Dick Cheney. We've all heard about how he was campaigning in Davenport, Iowa and had this to say about the issue of gay marriage. Let's go ahead and listen in for a moment.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DICK CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The question that comes up with respect to the issue of marriage is what kind of official sanction or approval is going to be granted by government if you will to particular relationships.
Historically, that's been a relationship that's been handled by the states. States have made that basic fundamental decision in terms of defining what constitutes a marriage.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Victor, as you know, the president is proposing a federal amendment on the issue of gay marriage. Does that mean though that Dick Cheney is flip-flopping?
KAMBER: No, I think what it means is they're trying to have it both ways. The President of the United States obviously called for a constitutional amendment.
When he saw the poll numbers that people in this country may agree with his position on marriage, they don't agree that it should be in the Constitution of the United States, Dick Cheney and his wife Lynn to their credit have a different opinion, have long held a different opinion that it is a states issue.
And the president is trying to have it now both ways and can -- you know and try to win back some of those moderate Republicans that just think they've gone too far to the right.
COLLINS: Joe, is it a mistake though for the president to be pushing this amendment on gay marriage?
WATKINS: I think the president has been very consistent with his stand as has Dick Cheney. Dick Cheney of course said the same thing that he said the other day in his debate with Joe Lieberman back in the year 2000. He's been very, very consistent. I think the president is doing the right thing.
What he really cares about are strong families. That's the real crux of the issue is how do we make American families strong? And when you consider what family means, especially in inner cities like where I live, where I come from, the destruction, the breakdown of the family unit in black communities has really been devastating for us.
Has really lead to a spike up in crime and in drug use and this president know that if we can make American families strong we can really do something to prevent that.
KAMBER: You don't put it in the Constitution of the United States. That's the problem.
COLLINS: Gentlemen, we're going to have to leave it there. Thanks so much to the both of you.
WATKINS: Thanks.
COLLINS: Joe Watkins and Victor Kamber, thanks again -- Bill.
HEMMER: Twenty minutes before the hour.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COLLINS: Still to come on AMERICAN MORNING Andy Serwer is "Minding Your Business" this morning. More news today on how it's going to cost you if you want to talk to a real person.
HEMMER: Also health news in a moment. We already knew that too much soda is bad for you. Now there is word of another serious health risk. Women need to listen to this report. Sanjay is back in a moment after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Women who drink non-diet soft drinks are more likely to develop diabetes than those who do not. There's a major medical study out and the strength of the risk surprising.
Here's Dr. Sanjay Gupta with more on this. Good morning.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning Bill. It's no surprise that the sugary sodas are going to be bad for you to some extent in terms of weight gain and things like that but interesting study coming out looking at the risk of diabetes specifically.
A big study: 50,000 women over eight years. You know, we spend $64 billion a year on sugary sodas -- with a B -- $64 billion. And the average American consumes about 54 gallons of this stuff a year.
I thought those were pretty remarkable numbers. And it's starting to take its toll. Big study coming out of JAMA, Journal of the American Medical Association. Found the greatest risk for people were those who increased their soft drink consumption; they went from being a casual drinker to at least one drink per day.
The lowest risk was decreased consumption, no increased risk if you were just stably consuming your soft drinks. What I'm talking about here specifically is weight gain on average these women. Again, 50,000 women over eight years on average gained 2 1/2 pounds a year and they had an 83 percent increased risk of getting diabetes as well.
So we're starting to see again some of the effects of this chronic soft drink consumption, Bill.
HEMMER: So we knew about the sugar, we knew about the calories, we knew about the weight gain. Why are women more likely to develop diabetes?
GUPTA: Yes, you know one thing is that it's probably -- this is going to be a study that actually applicable to men as well. This is a big study going on. It's called the Nurses Health Study. And they're getting all sorts of data on things like this from women specifically but you probably could apply this to men as well.
Diabetes in particular when you think about these sugary soft drinks you're getting a huge dose of sugar, of rapidly absorbable carbohydrates. Really increases something known as the glycemic index, which puts you at risk for developing diabetes.
That's why these sugary sodas which you can drink and not feel full often can be such a high-risk item, Bill for that. HEMMER: I am a big proponent of water, as you well know. Strong proponent actually. If you're going to keep drinking the soda, though, does the diet soda help? Do the low carb drinks help?
GUPTA: Yes they do. You know in spite in some ways the lesser of two things that are neither one of them are particularly great for you. But diet soda, especially in terms of weight gain and this glycemic index, diabetes that we're talking about, it's going to be better. Better alternatives, as you say, water, Bill, for sure. 100 percent fruit juice as well.
Here's a little tip. If you're going to go buy drinks. If you're buying for yourself or your children avoid having fructose as the first ingredient -- that usually means what you're buying is just chock full of sugars. It's going to raise that glycemic index, Bill.
HEMMER: Warnings out there again. Sanjay thanks for that.
GUPTA: Thank you.
HEMMER: In a moment here, how well do you know the person in the cubicle next to you at work?
You'll find out why in our next topic after this on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: So then just how well do you know the person sitting next to you at your office?
There's a new study in London suggesting...
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: The answer is as well as you're going to.
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: You don't want to know is the other answer.
HEMMER: And that's a good thing. There's a new study in London suggesting in some cases you might need to check them out. Here's Paula Hancock with this story today.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let me come in.
PAULA HANCOCK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Meet the Hollywood psychopath. The horror film, "The Shining" may not be coming to a cinema near you, but Jack Nicholson's business equivalent could be sitting at a desk near you.
Recent scientific research suggests so-called corporate psychopaths are far more common than your basic sadistic killer, but that they're also more difficult to detect. PAUL FARMER, RETHINK MENTAL HEALTH CHARITY: The things to look out for are obsessive behavior, being very single minded, being quite aggressive about achieving those aims and being quite personally aggressive, almost with a kind of lack of understanding for people's feelings.
HANCOCK: The key characteristic of a psychopath is having no conscience, like Anthony Hopkins portrayal of Hannibal. And it's similar in the office, a worker without conscience and with obsessive focus is quite likely to succeed in the short term and possibly land in a management role.
NIGEL NICHOLSON, "MANAGING THE HUMAN ANIMAL": The danger is that they build a power base and then they turn everybody in your organization paranoid.
HANCOCK: Workers who show these psychopathic traits often thrive at the expense of others, with a tendency to bully.
ANDI TAYLOR, OFFICE BULLYING VICTIM: The lack of conscience is that they do not see that they have done anything wrong.
HANCOCK: Experts say you're more likely to find these social predators where there is power, prestige or money. Professions such as politics and law and the media.
NICHOLSON: They're the kind of people with mild pathological tendencies all over the place and most of them I may say are men I'm afraid.
HANCOCK: A concept not lost on Hollywood.
Paula Hancock, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: See now no more questions. They've all been answered.
I love my co-workers by the way.
SERWER: All psychos.
COLLINS: Love you too.
CAFFERTY: The airline industry -- let's break this thing up here.
The airline industry having a huge financial problem. Another carrier now charging us to talk to a real live person. I don't quite understand this but Andy's "Minding Your Business" -- he'll sort it out for us. This is...
SERWER: This goes on and on and on. Delta had the thing, then United had the thing and now today Northwest Airlines we learned at the end of the week is going to start charging money if you want to buy a ticket from a human being, OK? This is the latest. Ten dollars to buy a ticket at the airline counter. You buy it over the phone where you will be talking to a human being. That will cost you five. Buy it through a human being travel agent, $3.75.
CAFFERTY: What do they want you to do?
SERWER: They want you to buy it on the Internet. Here -- so what we do is we came up with a couple of new fees for airlines that I came up with. Boarding fee to get on the plane. That'll cost you $3.00. To use the overhead bin, $5.00. Sit down -- to sit down will cost you $10.00.
The safety announcement $2.50. Using the bathroom, $15.00. That's going to cost you. Hitting the call button: $25.00. A cutlery fee, a dollar an implement. I'm thinking these are good ideas.
Now here's my big one. The deplaning fee because they got you, right? What are you going to do? $50.
CAFFERTY: To get off.
SERWER: Fifty bucks to get off the plane.
CAFFERTY: You'd be happy to do that.
SERWER: Don't think they won't do these things. I mean they -- the -- every month they're adding more and more things.
CAFFERTY: Got a durable goods report out this morning.
SERWER: Yes, that was actually pretty good. The goods that last a long time. Better than expected. That's good. The price of oil is down. Tokyo at a three week high. Speculators getting out of oil, that was what was driving it up anyway and futures were up.
This is what happened yesterday. We're looking for a higher open this morning on Wall Street Jack.
CAFFERTY: All right, thanks Andy. Time for the "Cafferty File" and it's Wednesday time to take a look at things people have said in the last week that got our attention.
Starting with this: "They never stop thinking of new ways to harm our country and our people, neither do we." That would be President Bush in reference to terrorist enemies.
It takes a minute, but...
"My theory on action movies is that they are like porn movies." This is for Carol Costello, who didn't understand this earlier. We're going to sort it out for her now.
"A porn movie has got really bad writing, really bad acting and really thinly drawn characters and you know what's going to happen." This is Matt Damon, who starred in that action movie, "The Bourne Supremacy."
"Men suck except for Nick. I got one of the few good ones." This is the MENSA member, Jessica Simpson talking about her husband, Nick.
SERWER: Yes, she's smart, actually.
CAFFERTY: Yes -- huh?
SERWER: Yes, never mind. That's what they say. Never mind.
CAFFERTY: "I wouldn't run for president. I wouldn't want to move to a smaller house." That's Bono, the lead singer of U2 when asked who he would choose as his running mate if he ran for president.
And this one is kind of touchy. "We're going home." Convicted robber Robert Coney, 76-years-old, he's shown in this picture with his common-law wife, Angelina. He was thrown in jail in Texas forty years ago for a 1962 robbery that it turns out had been obtained when sheriff's deputies crushed his fingers between the cell bars.
Forty years in the joint.
SERWER: Wow.
CAFFERTY: I wonder what they're going to do to try to compensate him?
SERWER: I bet a million dollars a year. A million dollars a year he should sue them for.
CAFFERTY: Here's another little piece of government news that tickles my fancy on a daily basis. The scorecard. Number of days since the 9/11 Commission made recommendations on how to protect this country against terrorists: 34.
Number of recommendations adopted by Congress: zero. Nada, nothing.
Congress is on vacation, have been for several weeks. Hope they're having a great time.
SERWER: AT the beach.
COLLINS: All right, still to come now the latest on those near simultaneous plane crashes in Russia. Officials are trying to piece together a deadly mystery there. We're going to have a live update coming to us from Moscow here on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Good morning officials rushing to try and find the cause for two simultaneous plane crashes in Russia.
Does the evidence there point to terrorism?
The woman considered the star witness in the Scott Peterson trial -- how did Amber Frey's testimony impact that case?
And the controversy over those Swift Boat ads denouncing John Kerry -- will it bring a campaign confrontation between former senator Max Cleland and the president today? All ahead this hour here on AMERICAN MORNING.
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Aired August 25, 2004 - 08:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Important day in the Abu Ghraib Prison abuse investigation. We expect the details of a report headed by Major General George Fay. We will get a report on what could be in it and find out what came about from it yesterday.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Plus, the one story that's got us talking the most today. The story we've been talking about -- psychopaths in the workplace.
COLLINS: No joking matter.
HEMMER: People you work with -- correct. People you work with who exhibit dangerous behavior. Who are they? How do you recognize them? How bad can they be? On a much serious topic. We'll get to that in a moment here.
We've been joking around a little bit here, but...
COLLINS: We have.
HEMMER: We shall not joke much longer.
COLLINS: No we won't.
HEMMER: Guilty as charged, by the way.
COLLINS: Not saying a word. But we are going to talk things over with Carol Costello now, who's standing by at the CNN Center and find out what's happening in the news at this moment. Hi Carol.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, Heidi, thank you.
Russian officials say they found the flight data recorders at the crash sight of the two Russian jet liners. The two planes crashed nearly simultaneously with 89 people aboard.
President Vladimir Putin has authorized Russia's top intelligence agency to look into the cause of the crashes.
Thirty minutes from now the latest on the investigation from CNN's Ryan Chilcote. He's in Moscow this morning.
Within the half hour the House Select Intelligence Committee will meet to discuss recommendations from the 9/11 report. Commission co- chair Thomas Kean and Lee Hamilton will be in attendance. The Transportation and Infrastructure Committee is expected to meet later this morning.
On the campaign trail, President Bush is in Texas today. He's been spending the last several days at his Crawford ranch preparing for next week's Republican convention in New York City.
Senator John Kerry is in Philadelphia, and within the half hour, he'll attend a breakfast with African-American leaders. Kerry then heads to Greenbay, Wisconsin this afternoon.
And in Athens, U.S. women's beach volleyball team brushing off the sand and putting on the gold. Misty May and Kerri Walsh spiked their way to a gold medal by defeating the girls from Brazil in straight sets, and Holly McPeak and teammate Elaine Young take the stand to celebrate the bronze after a two-one win over the Australian team -- back to you guys.
HEMMER: I'm looking at that medal count, Carol, and I'm thinking the U.S. might get to 100.
COSTELLO: Maybe so.
HEMMER: That would be sensational.
COSTELLO: China was close there for a while, but not any more.
HEMMER: That's right, but five days and counting -- about four days and counting, so we'll see. Thank you Carol.
More military personnel could be caught up in the Iraq prison scandal when a new report is released later today. That's on top of the report put out yesterday.
Barbara Starr has more now from the Pentagon this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: The Army's so-called Fay investigation into questionable intelligence practices at Abu Ghraib Prison is now expected to name some two dozen personnel who could face further disciplinary or legal action.
This follows an advisory panel report yesterday from former Defense Secretary James Schlesinger, a devastating indictment of what he calls the chaos that raged at the prison.
JAMES SCHLESINGER, INDEPENDENT PANEL CHAIRMAN: That it was sadism on the night shift at Abu Ghraib, sadism that was certainly not authorized. It was kind of animal house on the night shift.
STARR: The pictures that stunned the world were not part of any effort to interrogate prisoners. At the end of the day, undisciplined soldiers with commanders not paying attention.
TILLIE FOWLER, INDEPENDENT PANEL MEMBER: The Pentagon failed to properly adapt to the situation on the ground and to provide sufficient number of adequately organized and trained personnel needed to conduct detention operations in Iraq.
STARR: In Baghdad, as Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez struggled to fight the insurgency, the report notes that senior leaders should have moved to meet the need for additional military police forces.
Sanchez and other top leaders criticized for not making clear who was running the prison and for allowing confusing interrogation policies to emerge.
But the panel said at the top it was mistakes, not legal culpability, and neither defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld or General Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, should resign.
Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: Now to the latest in the Swift Boat ads controversy. A Kerry campaign adviser tells CNN Vietnam veteran and former senator Max Cleland will attempt to personally deliver a letter to President Bush at his ranch in Crawford Texas today.
The letter asks the president to publicly condemn the ads attacking Kerry's war service. Meanwhile, an attorney for the Bush campaign now acknowledges he was an advisor to the Swift Boat Veterans behind the anti-Kerry ads. Here now to discuss this issue and more from Chicago Democratic consultant Victor Kamber.
VICTOR KAMBER, THE KAMBER GROUP: Morning, Heidi.
COLLINS: Good morning. And here in New York Republican strategist Joe Watkins. Joe, good morning to you as well.
JOE WATKINS, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Good morning.
COLLINS: So let's get back to this. Victor, I want to start with you. As we have just said this attorney also served as an adviser for this Swift Boat Veterans, but there's another important point to make and that is that a lawyer for the DNC is also an adviser to moveon.org. What does all of this mean? Is it OK to serve on both of those channels?
KAMBER: Well, I think the issue really is you can serve in a number of capacities. You can serve in a number of ways. The one ad in question is a pack of lies. The people who put the ad out have basically dishonored themselves, and dishonored the military. John Kerry is an American hero.
He served in Vietnam two tours, he has five medals, don't lie about it. If you don't like his voting record, if you don't like things he did after the war, hey that's fair game and that's honest and that's debatable but to take and lie about his record and who he is is deplorable and for the president of the United States not to denounce that is equally deplorable. WATKINS: Well, the great thing that the president has denounced Vic, the president has already denounced that he said the other day that he was against all 527s and that we need to do away with all of them...
KAMBER: Sure...
WATKINS: And the great thing about it is that the president is not a complainer. He hasn't complained about what the Democrats have done to him. The Democrats have spent between $40 and $60 million on attack ads...
KAMBER: The Republicans have...
WATKINS: ... on smear ads against him.
KAMBER: Republicans...
WATKINS: ... no. ...
KAMBER: The Republicans have...
WATKINS: ... on smear ads against him.
KAMBER: Republicans...
WATKINS: ... no. You have...
(CROSSTALK)
COLLINS: Guys, nobody will be able to hear you if you talk at the same time.
KAMBER: Two-hundred million dollars in the campaign. All the 527s did was level the playing field. Let's not play games with the American public. You had $200 million that Bush had raised. The Democrats had raised about $75 million and most of it in primaries were spent.
WATKINS: Well, let's not even mention the fact that -- that the Democrats have Michael Moore who did a smear movie on the president and marketed that around the -- not only around the country but around the world.
This president has not complained. He has come out strongly and has denounced all 527s and I think he's done the right thing.
COLLINS: Gentlemen, it's obvious that we could go round and round about different things that have happened in the campaign even so far -- 70 more days to go as we've determined here today but let me ask this. This is our question of the day here on AMERICAN MORNING. We've been talking about it all morning.
Is this swift boat issue something that the media is perpetuating or is it something that voters really care about? Joe? WATKINS: Well, I think that the Kerry campaign is really kept it alive. I mean they've been the ones that have made so much noise about it. As I said earlier President Bush to his credit is a strong leader. He has not complained.
He knows that people are going to attack him and try to smear him and that has happened in big numbers. As I said earlier the Democrats have spent with these 527s between $40 and $60 million in just the last couple of months to attack the president to really smear his name. And he has not complained about it.
I think that the president has demonstrated that he has a strong character and I admire him for that.
KAMBER: How can -- when -- how can Joe with a straight face sit there and say the Democrats -- the president hasn't complained? What can he complain about? He's running on his record, which is a lousy record?
WATKINS: Well, Michael Moore did a movie...
KAMBER: He has a -- Michael Moore is an independent filmmaker -- Michael Moore is an independent...
WATKINS: A smear on the president and that was unfair.
KAMBER: Because the president...
(CROSSTALK)
COLLINS: Joe, let Victor finish real quick. Victor, go ahead.
KAMBER: The president has a record to run on; we're running against the president of the United States three years of failure. We're running against the President of the United States record for this country and that's what the issues are.
WATKINS: He has a (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
KAMBER: Well, that's debatable when you talk about the economy, when you talk about all the issues.
COLLINS: All right guys, we're going to have to leave it there. Let's talk about something else and that is Dick Cheney. We've all heard about how he was campaigning in Davenport, Iowa and had this to say about the issue of gay marriage. Let's go ahead and listen in for a moment.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DICK CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The question that comes up with respect to the issue of marriage is what kind of official sanction or approval is going to be granted by government if you will to particular relationships.
Historically, that's been a relationship that's been handled by the states. States have made that basic fundamental decision in terms of defining what constitutes a marriage.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Victor, as you know, the president is proposing a federal amendment on the issue of gay marriage. Does that mean though that Dick Cheney is flip-flopping?
KAMBER: No, I think what it means is they're trying to have it both ways. The President of the United States obviously called for a constitutional amendment.
When he saw the poll numbers that people in this country may agree with his position on marriage, they don't agree that it should be in the Constitution of the United States, Dick Cheney and his wife Lynn to their credit have a different opinion, have long held a different opinion that it is a states issue.
And the president is trying to have it now both ways and can -- you know and try to win back some of those moderate Republicans that just think they've gone too far to the right.
COLLINS: Joe, is it a mistake though for the president to be pushing this amendment on gay marriage?
WATKINS: I think the president has been very consistent with his stand as has Dick Cheney. Dick Cheney of course said the same thing that he said the other day in his debate with Joe Lieberman back in the year 2000. He's been very, very consistent. I think the president is doing the right thing.
What he really cares about are strong families. That's the real crux of the issue is how do we make American families strong? And when you consider what family means, especially in inner cities like where I live, where I come from, the destruction, the breakdown of the family unit in black communities has really been devastating for us.
Has really lead to a spike up in crime and in drug use and this president know that if we can make American families strong we can really do something to prevent that.
KAMBER: You don't put it in the Constitution of the United States. That's the problem.
COLLINS: Gentlemen, we're going to have to leave it there. Thanks so much to the both of you.
WATKINS: Thanks.
COLLINS: Joe Watkins and Victor Kamber, thanks again -- Bill.
HEMMER: Twenty minutes before the hour.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COLLINS: Still to come on AMERICAN MORNING Andy Serwer is "Minding Your Business" this morning. More news today on how it's going to cost you if you want to talk to a real person.
HEMMER: Also health news in a moment. We already knew that too much soda is bad for you. Now there is word of another serious health risk. Women need to listen to this report. Sanjay is back in a moment after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Women who drink non-diet soft drinks are more likely to develop diabetes than those who do not. There's a major medical study out and the strength of the risk surprising.
Here's Dr. Sanjay Gupta with more on this. Good morning.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning Bill. It's no surprise that the sugary sodas are going to be bad for you to some extent in terms of weight gain and things like that but interesting study coming out looking at the risk of diabetes specifically.
A big study: 50,000 women over eight years. You know, we spend $64 billion a year on sugary sodas -- with a B -- $64 billion. And the average American consumes about 54 gallons of this stuff a year.
I thought those were pretty remarkable numbers. And it's starting to take its toll. Big study coming out of JAMA, Journal of the American Medical Association. Found the greatest risk for people were those who increased their soft drink consumption; they went from being a casual drinker to at least one drink per day.
The lowest risk was decreased consumption, no increased risk if you were just stably consuming your soft drinks. What I'm talking about here specifically is weight gain on average these women. Again, 50,000 women over eight years on average gained 2 1/2 pounds a year and they had an 83 percent increased risk of getting diabetes as well.
So we're starting to see again some of the effects of this chronic soft drink consumption, Bill.
HEMMER: So we knew about the sugar, we knew about the calories, we knew about the weight gain. Why are women more likely to develop diabetes?
GUPTA: Yes, you know one thing is that it's probably -- this is going to be a study that actually applicable to men as well. This is a big study going on. It's called the Nurses Health Study. And they're getting all sorts of data on things like this from women specifically but you probably could apply this to men as well.
Diabetes in particular when you think about these sugary soft drinks you're getting a huge dose of sugar, of rapidly absorbable carbohydrates. Really increases something known as the glycemic index, which puts you at risk for developing diabetes.
That's why these sugary sodas which you can drink and not feel full often can be such a high-risk item, Bill for that. HEMMER: I am a big proponent of water, as you well know. Strong proponent actually. If you're going to keep drinking the soda, though, does the diet soda help? Do the low carb drinks help?
GUPTA: Yes they do. You know in spite in some ways the lesser of two things that are neither one of them are particularly great for you. But diet soda, especially in terms of weight gain and this glycemic index, diabetes that we're talking about, it's going to be better. Better alternatives, as you say, water, Bill, for sure. 100 percent fruit juice as well.
Here's a little tip. If you're going to go buy drinks. If you're buying for yourself or your children avoid having fructose as the first ingredient -- that usually means what you're buying is just chock full of sugars. It's going to raise that glycemic index, Bill.
HEMMER: Warnings out there again. Sanjay thanks for that.
GUPTA: Thank you.
HEMMER: In a moment here, how well do you know the person in the cubicle next to you at work?
You'll find out why in our next topic after this on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: So then just how well do you know the person sitting next to you at your office?
There's a new study in London suggesting...
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: The answer is as well as you're going to.
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: You don't want to know is the other answer.
HEMMER: And that's a good thing. There's a new study in London suggesting in some cases you might need to check them out. Here's Paula Hancock with this story today.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let me come in.
PAULA HANCOCK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Meet the Hollywood psychopath. The horror film, "The Shining" may not be coming to a cinema near you, but Jack Nicholson's business equivalent could be sitting at a desk near you.
Recent scientific research suggests so-called corporate psychopaths are far more common than your basic sadistic killer, but that they're also more difficult to detect. PAUL FARMER, RETHINK MENTAL HEALTH CHARITY: The things to look out for are obsessive behavior, being very single minded, being quite aggressive about achieving those aims and being quite personally aggressive, almost with a kind of lack of understanding for people's feelings.
HANCOCK: The key characteristic of a psychopath is having no conscience, like Anthony Hopkins portrayal of Hannibal. And it's similar in the office, a worker without conscience and with obsessive focus is quite likely to succeed in the short term and possibly land in a management role.
NIGEL NICHOLSON, "MANAGING THE HUMAN ANIMAL": The danger is that they build a power base and then they turn everybody in your organization paranoid.
HANCOCK: Workers who show these psychopathic traits often thrive at the expense of others, with a tendency to bully.
ANDI TAYLOR, OFFICE BULLYING VICTIM: The lack of conscience is that they do not see that they have done anything wrong.
HANCOCK: Experts say you're more likely to find these social predators where there is power, prestige or money. Professions such as politics and law and the media.
NICHOLSON: They're the kind of people with mild pathological tendencies all over the place and most of them I may say are men I'm afraid.
HANCOCK: A concept not lost on Hollywood.
Paula Hancock, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: See now no more questions. They've all been answered.
I love my co-workers by the way.
SERWER: All psychos.
COLLINS: Love you too.
CAFFERTY: The airline industry -- let's break this thing up here.
The airline industry having a huge financial problem. Another carrier now charging us to talk to a real live person. I don't quite understand this but Andy's "Minding Your Business" -- he'll sort it out for us. This is...
SERWER: This goes on and on and on. Delta had the thing, then United had the thing and now today Northwest Airlines we learned at the end of the week is going to start charging money if you want to buy a ticket from a human being, OK? This is the latest. Ten dollars to buy a ticket at the airline counter. You buy it over the phone where you will be talking to a human being. That will cost you five. Buy it through a human being travel agent, $3.75.
CAFFERTY: What do they want you to do?
SERWER: They want you to buy it on the Internet. Here -- so what we do is we came up with a couple of new fees for airlines that I came up with. Boarding fee to get on the plane. That'll cost you $3.00. To use the overhead bin, $5.00. Sit down -- to sit down will cost you $10.00.
The safety announcement $2.50. Using the bathroom, $15.00. That's going to cost you. Hitting the call button: $25.00. A cutlery fee, a dollar an implement. I'm thinking these are good ideas.
Now here's my big one. The deplaning fee because they got you, right? What are you going to do? $50.
CAFFERTY: To get off.
SERWER: Fifty bucks to get off the plane.
CAFFERTY: You'd be happy to do that.
SERWER: Don't think they won't do these things. I mean they -- the -- every month they're adding more and more things.
CAFFERTY: Got a durable goods report out this morning.
SERWER: Yes, that was actually pretty good. The goods that last a long time. Better than expected. That's good. The price of oil is down. Tokyo at a three week high. Speculators getting out of oil, that was what was driving it up anyway and futures were up.
This is what happened yesterday. We're looking for a higher open this morning on Wall Street Jack.
CAFFERTY: All right, thanks Andy. Time for the "Cafferty File" and it's Wednesday time to take a look at things people have said in the last week that got our attention.
Starting with this: "They never stop thinking of new ways to harm our country and our people, neither do we." That would be President Bush in reference to terrorist enemies.
It takes a minute, but...
"My theory on action movies is that they are like porn movies." This is for Carol Costello, who didn't understand this earlier. We're going to sort it out for her now.
"A porn movie has got really bad writing, really bad acting and really thinly drawn characters and you know what's going to happen." This is Matt Damon, who starred in that action movie, "The Bourne Supremacy."
"Men suck except for Nick. I got one of the few good ones." This is the MENSA member, Jessica Simpson talking about her husband, Nick.
SERWER: Yes, she's smart, actually.
CAFFERTY: Yes -- huh?
SERWER: Yes, never mind. That's what they say. Never mind.
CAFFERTY: "I wouldn't run for president. I wouldn't want to move to a smaller house." That's Bono, the lead singer of U2 when asked who he would choose as his running mate if he ran for president.
And this one is kind of touchy. "We're going home." Convicted robber Robert Coney, 76-years-old, he's shown in this picture with his common-law wife, Angelina. He was thrown in jail in Texas forty years ago for a 1962 robbery that it turns out had been obtained when sheriff's deputies crushed his fingers between the cell bars.
Forty years in the joint.
SERWER: Wow.
CAFFERTY: I wonder what they're going to do to try to compensate him?
SERWER: I bet a million dollars a year. A million dollars a year he should sue them for.
CAFFERTY: Here's another little piece of government news that tickles my fancy on a daily basis. The scorecard. Number of days since the 9/11 Commission made recommendations on how to protect this country against terrorists: 34.
Number of recommendations adopted by Congress: zero. Nada, nothing.
Congress is on vacation, have been for several weeks. Hope they're having a great time.
SERWER: AT the beach.
COLLINS: All right, still to come now the latest on those near simultaneous plane crashes in Russia. Officials are trying to piece together a deadly mystery there. We're going to have a live update coming to us from Moscow here on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Good morning officials rushing to try and find the cause for two simultaneous plane crashes in Russia.
Does the evidence there point to terrorism?
The woman considered the star witness in the Scott Peterson trial -- how did Amber Frey's testimony impact that case?
And the controversy over those Swift Boat ads denouncing John Kerry -- will it bring a campaign confrontation between former senator Max Cleland and the president today? All ahead this hour here on AMERICAN MORNING.
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