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American Morning
Bus Explosions; Republican Convention; Interview With Secretary Rod Paige
Aired August 31, 2004 - 9:00 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.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Strength and security: the Republican battle cries in the first night of the convention, with the 9/11 attacks now back squarely at the center of the president's reelection themes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RUDY GIULIANI (R), FMR. NEW YORK CITY MAYOR: And since September 11, President Bush has remained rock solid.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: The Republican strategy on day one and where the convention goes now, on day two, ahead on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ANNOUNCER: This is AMERICAN MORNING. From the Republican National Convention in New York, here's Bill Hemmer.
HEMMER: Good morning. And welcome back, everyone. Nine o'clock here in New York City. Our third hour of coverage on day two now live in Madison Square Garden.
The theme tonight is compassion. That after last night, when Republican speakers focused on courage. Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Senator John McCain the featured speakers last evening, again and again they came back to the war on terror and war in Iraq, portraying President Bush as a strong leader in dangerous times.
Our guest this hour, part two of my interview with Senator McCain in a few moments coming up there. Rod Paige is the Education secretary under President Bush. He'll be with us as well.
And a bit later this hour, a face you might not expect to see at this convention. How about boxing promoter Don King? He's here, too. And we'll talk to him coming up here.
Heidi Collins back outside our Time Life studios over on 6th Avenue. It's raining outside, or was earlier, anyway.
Good morning, Heidi.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: It's raining -- it's raining, it's windy, and I wonder if my hair is as bad as Don King's right now. Hopefully not.
HEMMER: We'll find out. COLLINS: Yes. All right.
HEMMER: You look great.
COLLINS: Thanks so much, Bill.
A lot of other news to get to this morning as well. A developing story in Israel we've been following all morning, two explosions on buses near Beer Sheva in southern Israel. Initial numbers now have 12 people dead, at least 50 injuries -- injured. We'll have much more on that in just a moment. We have a live report coming in from Guy Raz there.
Also this morning, the lawyers in the Kobe Bryant trial getting a chance to shake the makeup of the jury. We'll find out who fits the profile both sides are looking for as they ask these questions.
That's all coming up. But right now, we want to get over to Jack Cafferty, who is across the street inside a building.
CNN Diner, right?
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: There you go. Hi, Heidi. Thanks.
A little look behind the scenes of live television. This is a big undertaking to do a thing like this out of this diner. We've got a terrific production crew up here out of Atlanta. The camera people, the lighting people, the audio guys, cable, all of them. I mean, it's terrific.
Their boss just walked in a couple of minutes ago. And you should have seen the groveling start. "Can I cook your breakfast?" "I get off at 10:00. I'll cook your breakfast for you."
I mean, it was just disgusting. You know, they're all looking for, I guess, a first-class ticket to Atlanta when this is all over. And the boss just shook his head and walked away.
Anyway, the president has kind of changed his mind on whether or not the United States can win the war on terror, saying now he doesn't think we can. What do you think? Can the U.S. win the war on terror? Am@cnn.com. We'll read some of the e-mails later on.
I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who sucks up to the boss.
(LAUGHTER)
COLLINS: I had some good food yesterday there, though, too. They're doing a good job over there.
CAFFERTY: The food is terrific here.
COLLINS: Yes. And they serve it in a big, huge skillet.
CAFFERTY: In an iron skillet, I know.
COLLINS: Yes. Love that. All right, Jack. Thanks so much.
We want to get to the stories "Now in the News" this morning.
A group of Nepalese hostages have apparently been killed in Iraq. An Islamic Web site has posted images and video of what it said was the killing of 12 Nepalese. That would be the largest number of captives to be killed at once in Iraq. Nepal's foreign ministry says it has no official confirmation of those killings.
The U.N. Security Council will meet Thursday to discuss whether to take action against the Sudanese government. The violence in Darfur is far from over. The U.N.'s deadline for Sudan to prove it can protect the people in Darfur expired yesterday.
Here in the U.S., crews in Virginia are cleaning up this morning from Tropical Storm Gaston. A state of emergency was declared after more than 10 feet of water flooded some parts of the state, washing away cars.
And meanwhile, Hurricane Frances is taking aim at the Bahamas now. In 10 minutes, CNN's Chad Myers is going to be tracing the path of that storm.
And a preliminary hearing for reservist Lynndie England is now under way in North Carolina. England is accused of abusing prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. A judge this morning will consider a request from England's defense to call more witnesses, including some detainees from the prison.
Once again, we want to go back to Israel now, where two buses exploded in the southern Israeli city of Beer Sheva. Guy Raz is live from Jerusalem with the very latest on what's happened there.
Guy, hello once again.
GUY RAZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Heidi, hello. Good morning to you.
And we understand now that 10 people have been confirmed dead in these twin blasts that ripped through two buses in the southern Israeli city of Beer Sheva within the past two hours. At least 50 people have been wounded; many of them seriously wounded, according to Israeli military sources.
We also understand that these explosions took place at a time where commuters may have been coming home from work. Now, Beer Sheva is a town in southern Israel. It's a mixed city of both Jewish and Arab Israelis. It's quite rare for attacks, explosions to take place in this city.
And I should reiterate, Heidi, it's not clear yet whether these were suicide attacks or deliberate attacks. But based on eyewitness accounts, they bear all the hallmarks of earlier suicide attacks that have take place -- have taken place in this country. Now, if in fact they were suicide attacks, it would be the first time since March that a suicide blast took place within Israel -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Guy Raz, thanks so much for that, the very latest coming to us from Israel this morning.
Bill, want to send it back over to you now at Madison Square Garden.
HEMMER: All right, Heidi. We will not leave that story in the Middle East for long. But we do want to get back to our coverage here at the convention in Madison Square Garden.
Republicans wasting no time in taking their fight to Democrats on night one. Some of the delegates here wore Purple Heart Band-Aids yesterday, a swipe at John Kerry's Vietnam War record. But the featured speakers last night focusing on George Bush's leadership in the war on terror. Former New York mayor, Rudy Giuliani, sharing one of his thoughts as he was confronted with the events of 9/11 almost three years ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GIULIANI: At the time, we believed that we would be attacked many more times that day, and in the days that followed. Without really thinking, based on just emotion, spontaneously, I grabbed the arm of then police commissioner Bernard Kerik, and I said to him, "Bernie, thank god George Bush is our president."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: Also, Senator John McCain got the crowd fired up earlier in the evening prior to Rudy Giuliani. During his defense of the war in Iraq, McCain took a shot at the filmmaker, Michael Moore.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: Thank you. Not -- and certainly not -- and certainly not a disingenuous filmmaker who would have us believe...
(APPLAUSE)
AUDIENCE: Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!
MCCAIN: Please, please, my friends.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: That was the scene from last night. After that speech with Senator McCain, I sat down with him and asked him specifically about the Michael Moore situation. He said he did not know that Moore was in the arena last night. But still, he stands by the words spoken last night in his speech.
That was one of our topics we talked about. Here now is the rest from last evening with Senator McCain.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: Why do you think George Bush deserves a second term as president, as opposed to John Kerry in the White House?
MCCAIN: As I articulated, or tried to articulate tonight, he's led this nation with more clarity and strength through one of our most difficult and trying times. You know who Barry Goldwater -- one of Barry Goldwater's best friends in the Senate was? George McGovern. In those days, you know, it wasn't unusual for people to work together on issues and -- and be friends with one another, and yet still disagree very strongly politically.
HEMMER: Do the Republicans play a risk here of overplaying the events of three years ago?
MCCAIN: I don't know, because it's an ongoing conflict we're in. Every day we hear of cells operating and people being arrested, of al Qaeda trying to reestablish themselves in parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan.
It's not as if three years ago that we closed a book. In fact, we opened a very tough and challenging chapter in America's history.
HEMMER: Just to be clear, at the beginning of your answer you said you don't know. Meaning you don't know if...
MCCAIN: Well, I mean, I don't know how it will be received. It won't be me that makes that decision. It will be the American people. I believe that it's entirely appropriate to try to talk about the major challenge of our time.
HEMMER: There is a lot of talk today about an interview that the president did with Matt Lauer on NBC over the weekend.
MCCAIN: Yes.
HEMMER: And there was a quote from the president, who said he's not sure if the war can be won. There's been talk about it so far tonight...
MCCAIN: Sure.
HEMMER: ... about whether or not the president meant what he said. Point of fact, can the war on terrorism be won, in your estimation?
MCCAIN: Sure. And what the president was saying, there will be no Tokyo Bay peace signing. There will be no formal ending to the war as we've known the ends of conventional wars.
What the president meant to say is obvious, this is a long, hard twilight struggle. And as long as there are millions of young men standing on street corners in the Middle East with no job, no hope, no opportunity, and they're paid by the Saudis, and taken into schools, madrassas, and taught to hate and want to destroy us, that struggle is going to go on.
Can we bring it under control? Can we cope with it? Can we prevent it -- them from attacking the United States? Yes, we can, over time. And we've made some progress. But as I said tonight, it's the beginning, not the end.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: Senator McCain -- Senator McCain, again, from last night. He's now in Nashville, Tennessee, back on the campaign trail. He comes back to New York later tonight, and will be here in Madison Square Garden on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the president's Education secretary, Rod Paige, gets his chance tonight to address the convention delegates in New York. Secretary Paige my guest now here in New York City.
Good morning to you. Nice to see you here.
ROD PAIGE, EDUCATION SECRETARY: Good morning. Good morning.
HEMMER: I want to take you back to Philadelphia, a convention there in 2000. George Bush at the time, then Governor Bush, said this: "Too many American children are segregated into schools without standards, shuffled from grade to grade because of their age, regardless of their knowledge. This is discrimination, pure and simple. We should end it."
Now, four years later, what has been done to address that?
PAIGE: Courage and leadership from the president, a bipartisan bill from the Congress called the No Child Left Behind Act that addressed this issue head on. And we're beginning to get some product from that.
HEMMER: Critics may come back and say that the money has not been there for the reforms. They will come back and also point to test scores being judged and the values of the school. To that, you say what?
PAIGE: The facts won't bear that out. The facts are, the president's funding for No Child Left Behind and education in general is up 36 percent since the time he took office.
HEMMER: Your message tonight, more of the same of what you're speaking about now?
PAIGE: No. We are a great nation. And my message tonight is, in order to continue to be a great nation, we have to have a great education system. We cannot continue to lose the education battle across the world. International neighbors are moving fast in education, and we must also.
HEMMER: Do you believe that the issue of education, on a national scale, has been trumped by the war in Iraq, trumped by the war on terror, trumped by the issues that have been raised last night here in New York City?
PAIGE: By trumped, if you mean there's...
HEMMER: Overshadowed. PAIGE: ... a lot of attention to that, we're concerned about that -- overshadowed, it has been to some extent. You know, we're still fighting to get the word out. And I think that we are succeeding in large measure. People are being concerned about it. Especially the people in education.
HEMMER: If George Bush wins this on November 2, what will be different for American school children under a second term with George Bush in the White House?
PAIGE: We'll stay the course on No Child Left Behind. We'll continue to move forward to make sure that we not just educate some of our children well, but we educate all of them well.
HEMMER: Good luck tonight. Thank you, Mr. Secretary.
PAIGE: Thanks.
HEMMER: Rod Paige here in New York.
Another reminder to our viewers. Tonight's speakers also include Elizabeth Dole from North Carolina; Senate Majority Bill Frist of Tennessee; and the California governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, in primetime. So, too, is the first lady, Laura Bush, all live here in New York City. And we will be there for it.
Back across town. Heidi yet again -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Bill, thanks so much. We want to check on the weather now. Chad Myers is standing by to do just that.
Hurricane Frances still kind of kicking it up?
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: You bet. Actually, back up to a Category 4 now, Heidi. It was a Category 3 overnight.
It kind of lost a little definition. Kind of hard to see the eye for a while. But now back.
Obviously, you can see the eye right there. And a better shot out of the San Juan radar site now. We can actually pick up the eye of the hurricane right there on San Juan radar.
St. Thomas, St. Martins, St. Croix out here. Obviously moving to the north of those islands. But it will eventually make a beeline for the Turks and Caicos.
And by later on today, into tonight, 140-mile-per-hour winds. Right now 135, right through Grand Turk, right into the Bahamas.
And then I want to stop at about this point. This is already Friday.
This storm could still go to Miami, and it could still go to North Carolina. Not going to go, and not going to know where it's going for at least another two or three days. These things have minds of their own.
Remember Charley. We thought it was going one way, and it made a right-hand turn. So this is five days away. Can't make a forecast on this that far away just yet.
Warm across the Southeast. Cool across the central plains. Lots of sunshine here.
And Heidi, I know it was raining earlier, but you know what? That was part of that tropical storm that's moving out. I'll bet in 30 minutes the sun will be out.
COLLINS: Thirty minutes, huh?
MYERS: Yes.
COLLINS: I wonder if we can take the tent down. I bet you the second we take the tent down it rains again.
MYERS: You're probably right.
COLLINS: Chad, thanks so much.
MYERS: You're welcome.
COLLINS: Still to come, we'll hear from a man you might not have expected to see at the convention: boxing promoter Don King. What brings him to Madison Square Garden? We'll talk about that.
Also ahead, more on some Republicans' Band-Aid approach to poking fun at John Kerry. We'll go on the floor with our reporter roundtable to take a look at that.
And delegates loved what they heard last night from former New York mayor, Rudy Giuliani. What does the rest of the country think? Analysis from Jeff Greenfield ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Tuesday morning. It is muggy in New York City. Empire State Building going off right to the Garden. Eighth Avenue and 34th Street here in New York City.
The opening night is now behind us, putting President Bush's response to 9/11 front and center, the theme last night. In primetime addresses, both Arizona Senator John McCain and the former New York Mayor, Rudy Giuliani, citing the president's war on terror as a reason for a second Bush term. But what we want to know now is, after the speeches, what did Jeff Greenfield hear?
It's always interesting. Jeff's my guest here now.
Good morning to you. Nice to have you.
JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN SR. ANALYST: How are you doing? HEMMER: 9/11 front and center. We said that many times in the past several hours. Part of what John McCain said last night about that very event now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MCCAIN: All of us, despite the differences that enliven our politics, are united in the one big idea that freedom is our birth right. And its defense is always our first responsibility.
All other responsibilities come second. We must not lose sight of that as we debate among us who should bear the greatest responsibility for keeping us safe and free.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: Ultimately, ultimately, the question is, how does that play across the country?
GREENFIELD: This was the central message of last night, and a central message of the entire Republican Party's theme. You may disagree with the president on education, on his handling of the economy, on social issues, on stem cell research. But -- and here's John McCain, who has disagreed with the president on major issues, like stem cells, tax cuts, campaign finance reform, saying, you've got to put all that aside, the one key voting issue this year has to be the response to the war on terror.
And McCain is saying on this the president has done fine. It is a way to say to undecided voters, if you're -- if you have doubts about how the president has handled anything else, put them aside.
HEMMER: That was Senator McCain.
GREENFIELD: Yes.
HEMMER: Now Rudy Giuliani, mentioning Yasser Arafat. Listen here.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GIULIANI: Terrorist acts became like a ticket to the international bargaining table. How else to explain Yasser Arafat winning the Nobel Peace Prize...
(BOOING)
GIULIANI: ... while he was supporting a plague of terrorism in the Middle East and undermining any chance of peace.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: You were in the hall last night. What did you make of that?
GREENFIELD: This is -- this was really interesting, because there were a series of references in Mayor Giuliani's speech when he talked about the terrorist who killed Leon Klinghoffer aboard a hijacked ship simply because he was Jewish, references to Israel's security.
There was a lot of feeling within the American Jewish community that John Kerry had not said anything about Israel in his acceptance speech, and obviously, while Giuliani is not Jewish, as the mayor of New York, Israel is always a foreign policy issue in New York. It's an issue that Christian conservatives have taken for their own -- their own reasons, as well as American Jewry. And it was a way of saying to that constituency, look, you know, the war on terror is in part a war about the safety of Israel and the protection of Jewry around the world from terrorists.
HEMMER: He really brought two themes, 9/11, the war on terror, going back 35 years, mentioning the summer games in Munich, in Germany. The other issue he hit on was John Kerry.
GREENFIELD: Yes.
HEMMER: And hit on him about 11 times.
GREENFIELD: It was -- yes.
HEMMER: Flip-flopping right now from Rudy Giuliani, a comment from last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GIULIANI: My point about John Kerry being inconsistent is best described in his own words, not mine. I quote John Kerry. "I actually did vote for the $87 billion before I voted against it." Maybe this explains John Edwards' need for two Americas, one when John Kerry can vote for something, and another one where he can vote against exactly the same thing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GREENFIELD: Now, Bill, this was a case where two things happened. First, it fed the delegates' appetite for what we like to call red meat. Delegates at the convention want to hear what's wrong with the other guys.
And the Democrats, by and large, sanitized their convention. And in this score, Rudy Giuliani did the one thing that every political person knows. When you attack your opponent, if you use humor rather than anger, it's much more effective. So I thought the line about two Americas actually was a pretty effective, humorous way to make that point about inconsistency.
HEMMER: Night one is down. Night two later tonight. Thank you, Jeff.
GREENFIELD: OK.
HEMMER: To our viewers, stay tuned. Our ringside seat continues all week long here. Our coverage later tonight start at 7:00 with Anderson; 8:00, Wolf anchors our special coverage. And 9:00, Larry has his first of two editions from the Garden, 10:00 Eastern, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger addressing the convention. You will see that speech live.
Aaron comes on at 11:00. And Larry's back at midnight. All primetime later tonight here on CNN.
In a moment, CNN seeks out the voice of the voter. Jack is back over at the diner. Find out what he is hearing now from the people on the street.
Back in a moment after this, live in New York City.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: We're going to go ahead and check in with Jack now. He's over at the CNN Diner, where we're getting an inside look at the kitchen where they make all that scrumptious food.
Jack, I thought maybe we'd see you back there cooking up a few scrambled eggs or something? No?
CAFFERTY: If you want to see how fast you can empty this joint, just let me start doing the cooking. They would be running out of here through the exits as quick as they could go.
Heidi, we're doing something a little different this week. It's called "The Voice of the Voter." Yesterday, we went to Central Park, and we talked to people about what they thought about all the convention activity in the city, the security, whatever, and what they're looking forward to hearing from the Republicans this week.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm looking to see more, you know, the secure convention, and no trouble on the streets.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm interested in seeing John McCain, because I think of him as a somewhat of a liberal Republican. Of course, it would be interesting to see George Bush, how he holds up.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm looking forward to meeting some of the people. When I came up to the plane on Sunday it was all red because all the Republicans had on red blazers.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You mean besides them leaving? No, I'm a Democrat. So, no, I just -- you know, they're here. Have a good time. And then go home.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAFFERTY: Another friendly New Yorker, just do your business and get out.
The question today has to do with the president's new stance on the war on terror. Apparently, now he doesn't think the United States can win the war on terror. So we're curious what you might think about that.
The question is this: Do you think the United States can win the war on terror? The e-mail address is am@cnn.com. We'll read some of the answers in about 20 minutes or so.
COLLINS: All right, Jack. Very good. We'll look forward to that. Appreciate it.
Still to come this morning, we'll go on the floor with our reporter roundtable. Today, we're looking at a controversial jab at John Kerry by GOP delegates.
And speaking of jabs, one of the biggest names in sports enters the political ring. We're talking about that man, Don King. We'll talk to him.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Aired August 31, 2004 - 9:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Strength and security: the Republican battle cries in the first night of the convention, with the 9/11 attacks now back squarely at the center of the president's reelection themes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RUDY GIULIANI (R), FMR. NEW YORK CITY MAYOR: And since September 11, President Bush has remained rock solid.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: The Republican strategy on day one and where the convention goes now, on day two, ahead on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ANNOUNCER: This is AMERICAN MORNING. From the Republican National Convention in New York, here's Bill Hemmer.
HEMMER: Good morning. And welcome back, everyone. Nine o'clock here in New York City. Our third hour of coverage on day two now live in Madison Square Garden.
The theme tonight is compassion. That after last night, when Republican speakers focused on courage. Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Senator John McCain the featured speakers last evening, again and again they came back to the war on terror and war in Iraq, portraying President Bush as a strong leader in dangerous times.
Our guest this hour, part two of my interview with Senator McCain in a few moments coming up there. Rod Paige is the Education secretary under President Bush. He'll be with us as well.
And a bit later this hour, a face you might not expect to see at this convention. How about boxing promoter Don King? He's here, too. And we'll talk to him coming up here.
Heidi Collins back outside our Time Life studios over on 6th Avenue. It's raining outside, or was earlier, anyway.
Good morning, Heidi.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: It's raining -- it's raining, it's windy, and I wonder if my hair is as bad as Don King's right now. Hopefully not.
HEMMER: We'll find out. COLLINS: Yes. All right.
HEMMER: You look great.
COLLINS: Thanks so much, Bill.
A lot of other news to get to this morning as well. A developing story in Israel we've been following all morning, two explosions on buses near Beer Sheva in southern Israel. Initial numbers now have 12 people dead, at least 50 injuries -- injured. We'll have much more on that in just a moment. We have a live report coming in from Guy Raz there.
Also this morning, the lawyers in the Kobe Bryant trial getting a chance to shake the makeup of the jury. We'll find out who fits the profile both sides are looking for as they ask these questions.
That's all coming up. But right now, we want to get over to Jack Cafferty, who is across the street inside a building.
CNN Diner, right?
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: There you go. Hi, Heidi. Thanks.
A little look behind the scenes of live television. This is a big undertaking to do a thing like this out of this diner. We've got a terrific production crew up here out of Atlanta. The camera people, the lighting people, the audio guys, cable, all of them. I mean, it's terrific.
Their boss just walked in a couple of minutes ago. And you should have seen the groveling start. "Can I cook your breakfast?" "I get off at 10:00. I'll cook your breakfast for you."
I mean, it was just disgusting. You know, they're all looking for, I guess, a first-class ticket to Atlanta when this is all over. And the boss just shook his head and walked away.
Anyway, the president has kind of changed his mind on whether or not the United States can win the war on terror, saying now he doesn't think we can. What do you think? Can the U.S. win the war on terror? Am@cnn.com. We'll read some of the e-mails later on.
I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who sucks up to the boss.
(LAUGHTER)
COLLINS: I had some good food yesterday there, though, too. They're doing a good job over there.
CAFFERTY: The food is terrific here.
COLLINS: Yes. And they serve it in a big, huge skillet.
CAFFERTY: In an iron skillet, I know.
COLLINS: Yes. Love that. All right, Jack. Thanks so much.
We want to get to the stories "Now in the News" this morning.
A group of Nepalese hostages have apparently been killed in Iraq. An Islamic Web site has posted images and video of what it said was the killing of 12 Nepalese. That would be the largest number of captives to be killed at once in Iraq. Nepal's foreign ministry says it has no official confirmation of those killings.
The U.N. Security Council will meet Thursday to discuss whether to take action against the Sudanese government. The violence in Darfur is far from over. The U.N.'s deadline for Sudan to prove it can protect the people in Darfur expired yesterday.
Here in the U.S., crews in Virginia are cleaning up this morning from Tropical Storm Gaston. A state of emergency was declared after more than 10 feet of water flooded some parts of the state, washing away cars.
And meanwhile, Hurricane Frances is taking aim at the Bahamas now. In 10 minutes, CNN's Chad Myers is going to be tracing the path of that storm.
And a preliminary hearing for reservist Lynndie England is now under way in North Carolina. England is accused of abusing prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. A judge this morning will consider a request from England's defense to call more witnesses, including some detainees from the prison.
Once again, we want to go back to Israel now, where two buses exploded in the southern Israeli city of Beer Sheva. Guy Raz is live from Jerusalem with the very latest on what's happened there.
Guy, hello once again.
GUY RAZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Heidi, hello. Good morning to you.
And we understand now that 10 people have been confirmed dead in these twin blasts that ripped through two buses in the southern Israeli city of Beer Sheva within the past two hours. At least 50 people have been wounded; many of them seriously wounded, according to Israeli military sources.
We also understand that these explosions took place at a time where commuters may have been coming home from work. Now, Beer Sheva is a town in southern Israel. It's a mixed city of both Jewish and Arab Israelis. It's quite rare for attacks, explosions to take place in this city.
And I should reiterate, Heidi, it's not clear yet whether these were suicide attacks or deliberate attacks. But based on eyewitness accounts, they bear all the hallmarks of earlier suicide attacks that have take place -- have taken place in this country. Now, if in fact they were suicide attacks, it would be the first time since March that a suicide blast took place within Israel -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Guy Raz, thanks so much for that, the very latest coming to us from Israel this morning.
Bill, want to send it back over to you now at Madison Square Garden.
HEMMER: All right, Heidi. We will not leave that story in the Middle East for long. But we do want to get back to our coverage here at the convention in Madison Square Garden.
Republicans wasting no time in taking their fight to Democrats on night one. Some of the delegates here wore Purple Heart Band-Aids yesterday, a swipe at John Kerry's Vietnam War record. But the featured speakers last night focusing on George Bush's leadership in the war on terror. Former New York mayor, Rudy Giuliani, sharing one of his thoughts as he was confronted with the events of 9/11 almost three years ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GIULIANI: At the time, we believed that we would be attacked many more times that day, and in the days that followed. Without really thinking, based on just emotion, spontaneously, I grabbed the arm of then police commissioner Bernard Kerik, and I said to him, "Bernie, thank god George Bush is our president."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: Also, Senator John McCain got the crowd fired up earlier in the evening prior to Rudy Giuliani. During his defense of the war in Iraq, McCain took a shot at the filmmaker, Michael Moore.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: Thank you. Not -- and certainly not -- and certainly not a disingenuous filmmaker who would have us believe...
(APPLAUSE)
AUDIENCE: Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!
MCCAIN: Please, please, my friends.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: That was the scene from last night. After that speech with Senator McCain, I sat down with him and asked him specifically about the Michael Moore situation. He said he did not know that Moore was in the arena last night. But still, he stands by the words spoken last night in his speech.
That was one of our topics we talked about. Here now is the rest from last evening with Senator McCain.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: Why do you think George Bush deserves a second term as president, as opposed to John Kerry in the White House?
MCCAIN: As I articulated, or tried to articulate tonight, he's led this nation with more clarity and strength through one of our most difficult and trying times. You know who Barry Goldwater -- one of Barry Goldwater's best friends in the Senate was? George McGovern. In those days, you know, it wasn't unusual for people to work together on issues and -- and be friends with one another, and yet still disagree very strongly politically.
HEMMER: Do the Republicans play a risk here of overplaying the events of three years ago?
MCCAIN: I don't know, because it's an ongoing conflict we're in. Every day we hear of cells operating and people being arrested, of al Qaeda trying to reestablish themselves in parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan.
It's not as if three years ago that we closed a book. In fact, we opened a very tough and challenging chapter in America's history.
HEMMER: Just to be clear, at the beginning of your answer you said you don't know. Meaning you don't know if...
MCCAIN: Well, I mean, I don't know how it will be received. It won't be me that makes that decision. It will be the American people. I believe that it's entirely appropriate to try to talk about the major challenge of our time.
HEMMER: There is a lot of talk today about an interview that the president did with Matt Lauer on NBC over the weekend.
MCCAIN: Yes.
HEMMER: And there was a quote from the president, who said he's not sure if the war can be won. There's been talk about it so far tonight...
MCCAIN: Sure.
HEMMER: ... about whether or not the president meant what he said. Point of fact, can the war on terrorism be won, in your estimation?
MCCAIN: Sure. And what the president was saying, there will be no Tokyo Bay peace signing. There will be no formal ending to the war as we've known the ends of conventional wars.
What the president meant to say is obvious, this is a long, hard twilight struggle. And as long as there are millions of young men standing on street corners in the Middle East with no job, no hope, no opportunity, and they're paid by the Saudis, and taken into schools, madrassas, and taught to hate and want to destroy us, that struggle is going to go on.
Can we bring it under control? Can we cope with it? Can we prevent it -- them from attacking the United States? Yes, we can, over time. And we've made some progress. But as I said tonight, it's the beginning, not the end.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: Senator McCain -- Senator McCain, again, from last night. He's now in Nashville, Tennessee, back on the campaign trail. He comes back to New York later tonight, and will be here in Madison Square Garden on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the president's Education secretary, Rod Paige, gets his chance tonight to address the convention delegates in New York. Secretary Paige my guest now here in New York City.
Good morning to you. Nice to see you here.
ROD PAIGE, EDUCATION SECRETARY: Good morning. Good morning.
HEMMER: I want to take you back to Philadelphia, a convention there in 2000. George Bush at the time, then Governor Bush, said this: "Too many American children are segregated into schools without standards, shuffled from grade to grade because of their age, regardless of their knowledge. This is discrimination, pure and simple. We should end it."
Now, four years later, what has been done to address that?
PAIGE: Courage and leadership from the president, a bipartisan bill from the Congress called the No Child Left Behind Act that addressed this issue head on. And we're beginning to get some product from that.
HEMMER: Critics may come back and say that the money has not been there for the reforms. They will come back and also point to test scores being judged and the values of the school. To that, you say what?
PAIGE: The facts won't bear that out. The facts are, the president's funding for No Child Left Behind and education in general is up 36 percent since the time he took office.
HEMMER: Your message tonight, more of the same of what you're speaking about now?
PAIGE: No. We are a great nation. And my message tonight is, in order to continue to be a great nation, we have to have a great education system. We cannot continue to lose the education battle across the world. International neighbors are moving fast in education, and we must also.
HEMMER: Do you believe that the issue of education, on a national scale, has been trumped by the war in Iraq, trumped by the war on terror, trumped by the issues that have been raised last night here in New York City?
PAIGE: By trumped, if you mean there's...
HEMMER: Overshadowed. PAIGE: ... a lot of attention to that, we're concerned about that -- overshadowed, it has been to some extent. You know, we're still fighting to get the word out. And I think that we are succeeding in large measure. People are being concerned about it. Especially the people in education.
HEMMER: If George Bush wins this on November 2, what will be different for American school children under a second term with George Bush in the White House?
PAIGE: We'll stay the course on No Child Left Behind. We'll continue to move forward to make sure that we not just educate some of our children well, but we educate all of them well.
HEMMER: Good luck tonight. Thank you, Mr. Secretary.
PAIGE: Thanks.
HEMMER: Rod Paige here in New York.
Another reminder to our viewers. Tonight's speakers also include Elizabeth Dole from North Carolina; Senate Majority Bill Frist of Tennessee; and the California governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, in primetime. So, too, is the first lady, Laura Bush, all live here in New York City. And we will be there for it.
Back across town. Heidi yet again -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Bill, thanks so much. We want to check on the weather now. Chad Myers is standing by to do just that.
Hurricane Frances still kind of kicking it up?
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: You bet. Actually, back up to a Category 4 now, Heidi. It was a Category 3 overnight.
It kind of lost a little definition. Kind of hard to see the eye for a while. But now back.
Obviously, you can see the eye right there. And a better shot out of the San Juan radar site now. We can actually pick up the eye of the hurricane right there on San Juan radar.
St. Thomas, St. Martins, St. Croix out here. Obviously moving to the north of those islands. But it will eventually make a beeline for the Turks and Caicos.
And by later on today, into tonight, 140-mile-per-hour winds. Right now 135, right through Grand Turk, right into the Bahamas.
And then I want to stop at about this point. This is already Friday.
This storm could still go to Miami, and it could still go to North Carolina. Not going to go, and not going to know where it's going for at least another two or three days. These things have minds of their own.
Remember Charley. We thought it was going one way, and it made a right-hand turn. So this is five days away. Can't make a forecast on this that far away just yet.
Warm across the Southeast. Cool across the central plains. Lots of sunshine here.
And Heidi, I know it was raining earlier, but you know what? That was part of that tropical storm that's moving out. I'll bet in 30 minutes the sun will be out.
COLLINS: Thirty minutes, huh?
MYERS: Yes.
COLLINS: I wonder if we can take the tent down. I bet you the second we take the tent down it rains again.
MYERS: You're probably right.
COLLINS: Chad, thanks so much.
MYERS: You're welcome.
COLLINS: Still to come, we'll hear from a man you might not have expected to see at the convention: boxing promoter Don King. What brings him to Madison Square Garden? We'll talk about that.
Also ahead, more on some Republicans' Band-Aid approach to poking fun at John Kerry. We'll go on the floor with our reporter roundtable to take a look at that.
And delegates loved what they heard last night from former New York mayor, Rudy Giuliani. What does the rest of the country think? Analysis from Jeff Greenfield ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Tuesday morning. It is muggy in New York City. Empire State Building going off right to the Garden. Eighth Avenue and 34th Street here in New York City.
The opening night is now behind us, putting President Bush's response to 9/11 front and center, the theme last night. In primetime addresses, both Arizona Senator John McCain and the former New York Mayor, Rudy Giuliani, citing the president's war on terror as a reason for a second Bush term. But what we want to know now is, after the speeches, what did Jeff Greenfield hear?
It's always interesting. Jeff's my guest here now.
Good morning to you. Nice to have you.
JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN SR. ANALYST: How are you doing? HEMMER: 9/11 front and center. We said that many times in the past several hours. Part of what John McCain said last night about that very event now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MCCAIN: All of us, despite the differences that enliven our politics, are united in the one big idea that freedom is our birth right. And its defense is always our first responsibility.
All other responsibilities come second. We must not lose sight of that as we debate among us who should bear the greatest responsibility for keeping us safe and free.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: Ultimately, ultimately, the question is, how does that play across the country?
GREENFIELD: This was the central message of last night, and a central message of the entire Republican Party's theme. You may disagree with the president on education, on his handling of the economy, on social issues, on stem cell research. But -- and here's John McCain, who has disagreed with the president on major issues, like stem cells, tax cuts, campaign finance reform, saying, you've got to put all that aside, the one key voting issue this year has to be the response to the war on terror.
And McCain is saying on this the president has done fine. It is a way to say to undecided voters, if you're -- if you have doubts about how the president has handled anything else, put them aside.
HEMMER: That was Senator McCain.
GREENFIELD: Yes.
HEMMER: Now Rudy Giuliani, mentioning Yasser Arafat. Listen here.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GIULIANI: Terrorist acts became like a ticket to the international bargaining table. How else to explain Yasser Arafat winning the Nobel Peace Prize...
(BOOING)
GIULIANI: ... while he was supporting a plague of terrorism in the Middle East and undermining any chance of peace.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: You were in the hall last night. What did you make of that?
GREENFIELD: This is -- this was really interesting, because there were a series of references in Mayor Giuliani's speech when he talked about the terrorist who killed Leon Klinghoffer aboard a hijacked ship simply because he was Jewish, references to Israel's security.
There was a lot of feeling within the American Jewish community that John Kerry had not said anything about Israel in his acceptance speech, and obviously, while Giuliani is not Jewish, as the mayor of New York, Israel is always a foreign policy issue in New York. It's an issue that Christian conservatives have taken for their own -- their own reasons, as well as American Jewry. And it was a way of saying to that constituency, look, you know, the war on terror is in part a war about the safety of Israel and the protection of Jewry around the world from terrorists.
HEMMER: He really brought two themes, 9/11, the war on terror, going back 35 years, mentioning the summer games in Munich, in Germany. The other issue he hit on was John Kerry.
GREENFIELD: Yes.
HEMMER: And hit on him about 11 times.
GREENFIELD: It was -- yes.
HEMMER: Flip-flopping right now from Rudy Giuliani, a comment from last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GIULIANI: My point about John Kerry being inconsistent is best described in his own words, not mine. I quote John Kerry. "I actually did vote for the $87 billion before I voted against it." Maybe this explains John Edwards' need for two Americas, one when John Kerry can vote for something, and another one where he can vote against exactly the same thing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GREENFIELD: Now, Bill, this was a case where two things happened. First, it fed the delegates' appetite for what we like to call red meat. Delegates at the convention want to hear what's wrong with the other guys.
And the Democrats, by and large, sanitized their convention. And in this score, Rudy Giuliani did the one thing that every political person knows. When you attack your opponent, if you use humor rather than anger, it's much more effective. So I thought the line about two Americas actually was a pretty effective, humorous way to make that point about inconsistency.
HEMMER: Night one is down. Night two later tonight. Thank you, Jeff.
GREENFIELD: OK.
HEMMER: To our viewers, stay tuned. Our ringside seat continues all week long here. Our coverage later tonight start at 7:00 with Anderson; 8:00, Wolf anchors our special coverage. And 9:00, Larry has his first of two editions from the Garden, 10:00 Eastern, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger addressing the convention. You will see that speech live.
Aaron comes on at 11:00. And Larry's back at midnight. All primetime later tonight here on CNN.
In a moment, CNN seeks out the voice of the voter. Jack is back over at the diner. Find out what he is hearing now from the people on the street.
Back in a moment after this, live in New York City.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: We're going to go ahead and check in with Jack now. He's over at the CNN Diner, where we're getting an inside look at the kitchen where they make all that scrumptious food.
Jack, I thought maybe we'd see you back there cooking up a few scrambled eggs or something? No?
CAFFERTY: If you want to see how fast you can empty this joint, just let me start doing the cooking. They would be running out of here through the exits as quick as they could go.
Heidi, we're doing something a little different this week. It's called "The Voice of the Voter." Yesterday, we went to Central Park, and we talked to people about what they thought about all the convention activity in the city, the security, whatever, and what they're looking forward to hearing from the Republicans this week.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm looking to see more, you know, the secure convention, and no trouble on the streets.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm interested in seeing John McCain, because I think of him as a somewhat of a liberal Republican. Of course, it would be interesting to see George Bush, how he holds up.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm looking forward to meeting some of the people. When I came up to the plane on Sunday it was all red because all the Republicans had on red blazers.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You mean besides them leaving? No, I'm a Democrat. So, no, I just -- you know, they're here. Have a good time. And then go home.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAFFERTY: Another friendly New Yorker, just do your business and get out.
The question today has to do with the president's new stance on the war on terror. Apparently, now he doesn't think the United States can win the war on terror. So we're curious what you might think about that.
The question is this: Do you think the United States can win the war on terror? The e-mail address is am@cnn.com. We'll read some of the answers in about 20 minutes or so.
COLLINS: All right, Jack. Very good. We'll look forward to that. Appreciate it.
Still to come this morning, we'll go on the floor with our reporter roundtable. Today, we're looking at a controversial jab at John Kerry by GOP delegates.
And speaking of jabs, one of the biggest names in sports enters the political ring. We're talking about that man, Don King. We'll talk to him.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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