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American Morning
Preparations in Jamaica for Ivan; 9/11 Reforms
Aired September 10, 2004 - 07:30 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.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Evacuations are under way as we speak there.
Also, Bill Schneider is with us again today, looking at all of the different poll numbers going around right now in this election. With so many different surveys, is there any way to truly gauge which way the voters are leaning? We'll sort of take the average and the median and figure out what Bill has to say about it all.
Let's check the stories now in the news with Daryn Kagan in Atlanta.
Good morning -- Daryn.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Miles, good morning to you.
Let's begin with the evidence used to question President Bush's National Guard service. It is now coming under fire. At issue are documents which appeared Wednesday in a report on "60 Minutes 2." Some experts are reportedly saying those documents used on the show may have been forged. That is according to several media organizations, including "The Washington Post" and the "Weekly Standard." CBS says it stands by its story.
CIA officials are analyzing what appears to be this year's first on-camera statement from al Qaeda. On the tape, Osama bin Laden's right-hand man, Ayman al-Zawahiri, says that the defeat of the Americans in Iraq and Afghanistan is just a matter of time. No official reaction yet from the Pentagon. The tape aired yesterday on the Arabic network, Al Jazeera.
The U.S. Transportation Security Administration will reportedly pay more than $1.5 million to some airline passengers. "The New York Times" is reporting that about 15,000 people will get some of that money after personal items were stolen or damaged from their checked baggage over the past 18 months. The complaints began after workers began hand searches in the increased security after 9/11.
Heidi -- back to you.
COLLINS: Daryn, thanks so much. We'll check in with you in just a few more minutes.
Meanwhile, Hurricane Ivan remains a powerful and dangerous category 4 storm this morning. It's heading for Jamaica today. It's also expected to hit Cuba and the Florida Keys. Where it goes then is anybody's guess. Some residents in Jamaica are preparing for the worst. Ivan has already caused catastrophic damage in other parts of the Caribbean, and is blamed for nearly two dozen deaths.
(WEATHER BREAK)
O'BRIEN: As we mentioned, residents in Jamaica are waiting and watching for potentially the worst. Gail Jackson owns a resort called the Negril Tree House. It is in Negril, Jamaica. She joins us on the phone right now.
Gail, can you hear me OK?
GAIL JACKSON, OWNER, NEGRIL TREE HOUSE RESORT: Yes, I can. Good morning.
O'BRIEN: Good morning to you.
I'm curious what you're doing by way of preparations right now for your staff, yourself and your guests.
JACKSON: Well, first of all, I've had my Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee, so everything is irie (ph), as we say in Jamaica. We have boarded up the hotel. We're right on the beach in Negril, Jamaica, a seven-mile strip, and taped all our windows.
We've moved our guests to safe places within the resort, rooms that have the least amount of windows. We had a very low house count now.
So, we're going to be business as normal this morning. We will be serving breakfast. We closed last night at 9:00.
It's very dark. I'm looking out my bedroom window now to the southeast. It is very dark outside, a little bit of wind. We had a burst of rain. I knew the storm was coming when my computer DSL went down.
O'BRIEN: Oh, well that would be one indication, I suppose.
JACKSON: That's right.
O'BRIEN: Tell us, you said -- I guess if there's any fortunate news in all of this, this is not the peak time of year. About how many guests do you have right now?
JACKSON: We only have 20 guests in-house in our 70-room resort.
O'BRIEN: OK.
JACKSON: So that's the good news. Some of my guests tried to leave yesterday from Montego Bay Airport. Unfortunately, they could not even buy a ticket. They were turned away, because there wasn't positive space for flights yesterday to Atlanta.
O'BRIEN: All right. And were you there during Gilbert? Did you experience that firsthand?
JACKSON: Oh, yes.
O'BRIEN: OK.
JACKSON: I was here during Gilbert, and we had prepared much more for this hurricane, because at that time we didn't have a large generator. We do have a generator that can power our facility. We do have a large water tank that you can get water, and also we do have a water company. So, we gave all of our guests our bottled water.
O'BRIEN: All right. Gail Jackson, who owns the Negril Tree House Resort in Negril, Jamaica. We wish you well as you and your staff and your guests ride out the storm.
JACKSON: Thank you very much.
O'BRIEN: You're welcome -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Switching gears now, Congress wants to put the 9/11 recommendations into law, but with just a few weeks to go before the election break, the focus seems to be not just on what to do, but when to do it.
Kelly Wallace explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KELLY WALLACE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Dueling messages on Capitol Hill. There is the go-fast crowd.
SEN. JOE LIEBERMAN (D), CONNECTICUT: Nothing else we have to do is more important.
WALLACE: Versus those saying let's not rush to judgment.
REP. TOM DELAY (R-TX), MAJORITY LEADER: So that we do the right thing, not the knee-jerk thing.
WALLACE (on camera): It's not just the debate over how quickly to pass legislation, but over how many of the September 11 Commission's 41 recommendations should become law.
(voice over): Those recommendations include broader information- sharing among government agencies, increased screening of U.S. visitors, and the most controversial: creating a national intelligence director who would have full control over the budget of 15 different agencies, something President Bush now suggests he can support.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We believe that there ought to be a national intelligence director who has full budgetary authority.
WALLACE: Now to the obstacles: Turf battles with some lawmakers unwilling to give up oversight of intelligence agencies, a shortage of time with Congress expected to recess in less than a month, and partisan politics, with both sides positioning themselves before the November elections when all 435 seats in the House and 34 seats in the Senate are in play.
REP. CHRISTOPHER SHAYS (R), CONNECTICUT: This close an election, the temptation to political mischief can be strong, but must be resisted by both parties.
WALLACE: How does the public feel? The polls might surprise you. According to a survey last month, nearly two-thirds said Congress should take as much time as it needs to consider the recommendations.
Clearly, the American public is paying attention. The September 11 Commission's report is No. 1 on "The New York Times" paperback best-seller list.
Kelly Wallace, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: The 9/11 Commission was disbanded after issuing that report 50 days ago, but it is still very influential and may be reformed with public funding.
O'BRIEN: Politics now. With a nod to the start of the football season, the latest poll suggests President Bush is getting some separation from Senator John Kerry. But how significant is it at this point?
Our senior political analyst, Bill Schneider, has pored over the recent polling. He loves doing this stuff. He joins us this morning from Washington.
Good to see you -- Bill.
WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Hi, Miles.
O'BRIEN: All right, let's talk about, we've got five big polls out there. I guess the common denominator in all of these is that Mr. Bush is opening up a gap, as we just said. What else can we say about these polls? And what threads tie them together?
SCHNEIDER: Well, let's see if they're consistent or not. Let's take a look. The "TIME" magazine poll taken just during the convention in New York shows a 10-point lead for Mr. Bush. ABC News/"Washington Post" just came out yesterday. That's an 8-point lead. CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup Poll, a 7-point lead also. And CBS News poll and Fox News is the narrowest lead for Mr. Bush, a 4-point lead.
Are these polls all over place? Well, no. Because if you look down that Bush column on the left, you'll see all of those numbers are right at about 50 percent. And the Kerry column, just next to it on the right, the numbers are all in the low 40s.
So, I think we can say things are pretty consistent. Bush has a lead. Every one of these polls shows Bush's position improving. He's doing better. And I can say for the first time all year this race has a front-runner.
O'BRIEN: All right. Well, what is driving these numbers? Is it the success of the Bush campaign coming out of the convention, or some failures on the part of the Kerry campaign or something else?
SCHNEIDER: Well, actually, Miles, both. Take a look at how people thought of Mr. Bush and Mr. Kerry before and after that Republican Convention. Mr. Kerry's favorability rating actually dropped from August to September, from 28 to 32. Mr. Bush's went up, 43 to 47.
So now Bush clearly is better liked than John Kerry. One of the points the convention got across is Bush is a good guy. People like him, and they put him out there for over an hour, and Americans liked him, just like they used to like Mr. Clinton when he was president. Kerry, I think, took a bit of a beating at the Republican Convention.
O'BRIEN: All right. Of course, as we all learned in 2000, the electoral college is very important. Swing states will swing this election, of course. Do we have some polls that have kind of augured into that aspect of it?
SCHNEIDER: Well, the poll that we're just reporting, the ABC News poll, shows that in the battleground states, the race is a little bit closer. We've still got a race in those states. There are about 17 of them.
And what we've looked at since the Republican Convention, eight states have done polls. And what do they show? The same trend as in the national polls. There are three former Bush states, the red states that are now even more solidly for Bush. Ohio, Missouri and Arizona are even stronger for Bush.
Four states that voted for Al Gore, blue states as we call them, are now in doubt: Pennsylvania, New York, Oregon and New Mexico. Some of them are tilting slightly to Bush now. There is only one Gore state, blue state, that's Washington, that now seems pretty solid for John Kerry.
So, the trend in the states looks pretty good for Mr. Bush, too.
O'BRIEN: All right. Bill Schneider in Washington, thank you for dissecting those numbers for us. We appreciate it, as always.
SCHNEIDER: Sure.
O'BRIEN: Still to come on the program, some lighter news for you. Are you ready for some football? Andy Serwer is. Heidi has got her little list on her little purple sheet there.
COLLINS: Is that your best Hank, Jr.?
O'BRIEN: That's sort of bad, isn't it? Lame. Anyway, the business-guru-turned-NFL-guru will make his picks for week one, and we'll see how we all do.
COLLINS: Yes, it's a big buzz right here on AMERICAN MORNING this morning, that's for sure.
Also ahead, "90-Second Pop" gets fired up about the "The Apprentice". How did a billionaire with bad hair end up as a successor to "Friends?" We'll talk about that on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Crucial, crucial information here on AMERICAN MORNING. So, using his business expertise, Andy is going to give us his NFL picks. He's "Minding Your Business."
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: It translates, sports, business. It's all the same.
COLLINS: It does.
SERWER: It's all numbers. It's all about making bets.
This year, what we're going to do is we're going to have anchors pick all of the games, but we're just going to highlight a few of them. I'm just going to talk about three big games. And basically it's all upsets all the time. That's the theme this week.
We have the ticker. I'm brushing it off from last year. Can you help me here? Do the honors.
The first game, Bengals versus Jets. This is Bill Hemmer versus the crew. The crew is a big Jets fan. Bill Hemmer, of course, is a Bengals fan. Carson Palmer is going to have a big day against the banged-up Jets secondary. Bengals are going to carry over from last year.
And then there's that the song, "When you're a Bengal, you're a Bengal." No, that's not it.
COLLINS: No, I don't know that one.
SERWER: That's not it. OK. Then we're going to go on the Chiefs. The Chiefs-Broncos here, another upset. I am picking the Chiefs. This is a big rivalry game, big playoff implications. I'm not a big Jake Plumber (ph) fan. I know he's the snake. I don't like that. You know, they don't have a running game anymore, those Broncos. And they're not going to throw to Champ Bailey (ph). So game over.
OK, next, final, Packers versus Panthers, another upset. I'm going with the Pack here. Here is the bad news for the Packers. It's going to be 82 degrees in Carolina. The good news is, it's going to be raining. So they like that. Brett Favre versus Jake Delone (ph). You've got to go with Brett Favre.
And then my producer, Liz, is a Cheesehead, so I kind of have to do the Packer thing. What about you, Heidi? What's your pick?
COLLINS: OK, I go against the Packers every chance I get, because I'm a Vikings fan.
SERWER: No. 1.
COLLINS: Yes, No. 1, right. And then I picked the Jets over the Bengals, because they're home.
SERWER: OK, yes.
COLLINS: You know, that's right.
SERWER: It makes sense.
COLLINS: Broncos, I mean, I lived in Denver, so I've got to go with the Broncos.
SERWER: So, you picked the...
COLLINS: So, I'm against you on the Broncos for sure.
SERWER: OK. All right. Well, we'll see what happens then.
COLLINS: We will. It's a huge wager.
SERWER: That's right.
O'BRIEN: There's a lot riding on this thing, I've got to tell you. You know, there's a whole generation of viewers out there who have no idea what this ticker thing is all about, you know?
COLLINS: Yes. Let's explain really quickly.
O'BRIEN: My son doesn't even know what a typewriter is.
SERWER: It's a ticker tape that Wall Street -- you know, they used to have (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
COLLINS: We used to have them.
SERWER: And you look and you see, and then your stock would go down.
O'BRIEN: Yes.
SERWER: And then people would jump out the window. That's what happened. That would be 1920.
O'BRIEN: Kids, did you listen up?
ANDY BOROWITZ, BOROWITZREPORT.COM: What was the cotton gin like, Andy?
SERWER: That was Eli Whitney as a matter of fact... BOROWITZ: OK.
SERWER: ... back in New Haven, Connecticut.
BOROWITZ: That's it.
COLLINS: Quick, quick, Andy, e-mails.
BOROWITZ: Yes.
SERWER: Save us, Andy!
BOROWITZ: This may be the most important question ever asked, actually. Cigarettes and hard liquor ads already been banned from TV. But political ads may be even more toxic. They turn off voters and discourage qualified people from running, which is why we end up with arguably sub-par candidates. Did you like how delicately I put that?
So, our question to you is: Should political advertising on television be banned? And we've got some awesome answers.
Weldon from New Brunswick, New York, said: "If we get rid of the political advertising, what comedy would be left?" Comedy fan, Weldon.
Jay from Seguin, Texas, writes: "No. Political advertising should not be banned, but the masterminds behind the ads who skew the truth or lie should be fined and prosecuted." Wow! Don't mess with Texas.
Mel from New York writes: "Political ads ought not to be banned, but their beneficiaries, the candidates, should be made to watch them uninterrupted for hours straight before they can be released to the public airwaves."
I love this idea. That's one way they should be able to say to their audience I share your pain.
And finally, Michael from Heron, South Dakota, writes: "These ads are like cockroaches. If you just drive them away, they'll pop out somewhere else."
So, there you go.
SERWER: Shouldn't you say, I'm Andy Borowitz and I approve of this segment?
BOROWITZ: I do. I actually did say that earlier.
COLLINS: You said that before.
O'BRIEN: He said that earlier.
BOROWITZ: Yes.
SERWER: Oh, I missed that. O'BRIEN: I think it's a blanket for the whole three hours.
SERWER: Well, doesn't he have to repeat that though?
O'BRIEN: We'd better check the election code on that just to make sure he's OK.
(CROSSTALK)
COLLINS: All right, Andy, thanks so much.
And still to come this morning, Joey leaves his friends behind for sunny L.A. But will viewers actually follow him? The mixed bag for Matt LeBlanc ahead on "90-Second Pop." Stay with us, here on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Ooh! You almost heard me singing on the air. That was frightful.
"90-Second Pop" breaks new ground this morning with a TGI-female edition. That's right. Sarah Bernard, contributing editor for "New York" magazine, Crystal McCrary Anthony, author of "Gotham Diaries," is making a pop debut. Yea, Crystal! And Jessica Shaw from "Entertainment Weekly."
Thanks, ladies, for being with us this morning.
OK, so there was a lot going on, on TV last night.
SARAH BERNARD, "NEW YORK" MAGAZINE: It was a big night, that's right.
COLLINS: One of the first shows that was on the air, "Joey."
BERNARD: Finally!
COLLINS: So it's no longer "Friends." Just "Joey." Is it going it make it? Or maybe not.
BERNARD: You know, I had such low expectations for this show that the fact that I laughed, like, four or five times made me think it was a phenomenal success.
COLLINS: I laughed, too, yes!
JESSICA SHAW, "ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY": The (UNINTELLIGIBLE) could not have been lower.
BERNARD: It couldn't. I mean, this poor guy, the future of his sitcom genre has been riding on him. You know, he's even said in interviews that Jeff Zucker -- oh, there he is. There's a little preview. Drea looks great, doesn't she?
COLLINS: Yes, from "The Sopranos," just in case people aren't regular watchers. BERNARD: Yes. Who could not know where she's from?
COLLINS: Yes.
BERNARD: But it was like as if everyone was saying, you know, the whole genre is riding on you, Matt LeBlanc. Can we count on you to save our entire must-see TV lineup?
SHAW: But the fact is the key is if this show does 60 percent as well as "Friends," it will be a hit. It will be better than any other show on TV right now.
COLLINS: Yes, Sarah, Right.
CRYSTAL MCCRARY ANTHONY, AUTHOR, "GOTHAM DIARIES": Yes.
BERNARD: The other thing is that "Joey" was always was kind of the punchline of the show, and he was good for a new show, because we didn't know much about him. But I think what's going to make or break this is really his chemistry and with Drea and with Drea's genius son, and who is kind of his foil for his dim-wittedness. He's actually living with this nephew of his who is a genius.
So, it's really going to be how will this new ensemble work? And it looked pretty promising, I have to say.
SHAW: It looks good, yes.
COLLINS: So you liked it.
ANTHONY: Even without the "Friends," is it still good?
COLLINS: We'll see. Week one, it was (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
BERNARD: There is a picture of Joey and Chandler that he has in the corner.
SHAW: I think six times is funny, not one-sixth is funny.
COLLINS: Oh, wow! I've got to figure that out.
SHAW: A little math for early in the morning?
COLLINS: OK. All right, let's talk about "The Apprentice" now. Crystal, I watched this one last night...
ANTHONY: Yes.
COLLINS: ... as long as I could before bedtime. And, you know, it's "The Apprentice." I mean, this was a huge success last year.
ANTHONY: Right.
COLLINS: Are they going to pull it off again this year?
ANTHONY: Well, I mean, "The Apprentice" is reality TV at its best. I mean, it's intelligent. You have the persona of the Don pulling it.
COLLINS: And there is already kind of a wacko person coming out.
ANTHONY: Oh, I felt bad for her.
COLLINS: You did?
ANTHONY: Yes, I mean, you know, she had some energy going. She was trying to pump them up. I mean, I think that it's sort of...
SHAW: And by energy, you mean insanity?
ANTHONY: Well you know, I mean, listen, it's an intelligent show. It's not a debasing show in terms of, you know, comparing it to the other reality shows, where it's about eating a bug in the middle of the South Pacific.
COLLINS: True.
ANTHONY: It's not, you know, a dating show, where it's schmulty (ph) in that way.
COLLINS: How much is this, though, about Donald Trump? I mean, don't you find it...
(CROSSTALK)
SHAW: I like that this season they have him on the phone. Before he goes into any meeting, he's on the phone with his secretary saying, hold that meeting. I'm going in to Mattel, right? As if they didn't do that take 17 times.
COLLINS: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) didn't do that. It's kind of (UNINTELLIGIBLE), isn't it?
SHAW: I know.
ANTHONY: I loved being able to go to his home and have a lovely dinner with he and his fiance.
COLLINS: Yes, that happened last year, I remember that.
(CROSSTALK)
ANTHONY: It was very glamorous.
COLLINS: All right. Let's move on now. Jessica, there were some words between Lauren Bacall...
SHAW: There were some words.
COLLINS: ... and Nicole Kidman there on the set of their new movie. She actually said Lauren Bacall about Nicole Kidman that she was not a legend. She's a beginner. What is a legend? She can't be a legend at whatever age she is. This is what the reporter commented about. SHAW: Yes.
COLLINS: Nicole Kidman not being a legend.
SHAW: Yes, I don't know. They were at the Venice film festival. I think Lauren Bacall had some bad pasta. She does not -- I mean, she snapped at this British journalist halfway through a sentence. She just said, "Se's too young. She's not a legend." And, I mean, she may be right. I mean, Nicole Kidman is in her mid-30s
COLLINS: Sure.
SHAW: She's not really a legend, but...
BERNARD: These days in Hollywood, your mid-30s, you know, qualifies as a legend. I mean, I think at this point...
(CROSSTALK)
BERNARD: At this point, when, you know, all of the actresses getting attention in the tabloids, they're sort of between 17 and 20.
COLLINS: But I guess coming from someone like Lauren Bacall, who has been around for a very, very long time.
ANTHONY: I mean, it's classic old Hollywood versus young Hollywood.
COLLINS: Right.
ANTHONY: I mean, you know, Lauren Bacall, she's a diva among diva. I mean, those eyes, those lips...
(CROSSTALK)
ANTHONY: But listen, she is an adjective. You know, Nicole Kidman is not. I don't know that she ever will be. I mean, she's an amazing actor, but Lauren Bacall, I mean, I don't know, maybe she's entitled to have that -- you know, to be persnickety on one day.
BERNARD: I think one of the things that people can get on Nicole Kidman about is, you know, Sharon Osbourne has been making cracks about her weight. She's too skinny and all of this stuff. But there is no one who is working harder than Nicole Kidman. She has so many movies coming up. She won an Oscar last year. So, maybe there is some little career jealousy going on. That was my theory.
(CROSSTALK)
SHAW: I think that Lauren Bacall needs to have her own "Apprentice" show. I could see that.
ANTHONY: And Lauren maybe firing someone.
COLLINS: That's right. Thanks so much to all three of you today. Sarah, Crystal and Jessica, thanks so much. ANTHONY: Thank you.
COLLINS: Miles -- back over to you.
O'BRIEN: I'm sorry, it's a no-brainer. It's Bacall all the way. I mean, really. Absolutely. All right, you know, "The View" has got nothing on you girls, all right?
Still to come, when it rains it pours. The state of Florida is once again bracing for a hurricane. We'll tell you where Ivan could be headed. Stay with AMERICAN MORNING.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Aired September 10, 2004 - 07:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Evacuations are under way as we speak there.
Also, Bill Schneider is with us again today, looking at all of the different poll numbers going around right now in this election. With so many different surveys, is there any way to truly gauge which way the voters are leaning? We'll sort of take the average and the median and figure out what Bill has to say about it all.
Let's check the stories now in the news with Daryn Kagan in Atlanta.
Good morning -- Daryn.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Miles, good morning to you.
Let's begin with the evidence used to question President Bush's National Guard service. It is now coming under fire. At issue are documents which appeared Wednesday in a report on "60 Minutes 2." Some experts are reportedly saying those documents used on the show may have been forged. That is according to several media organizations, including "The Washington Post" and the "Weekly Standard." CBS says it stands by its story.
CIA officials are analyzing what appears to be this year's first on-camera statement from al Qaeda. On the tape, Osama bin Laden's right-hand man, Ayman al-Zawahiri, says that the defeat of the Americans in Iraq and Afghanistan is just a matter of time. No official reaction yet from the Pentagon. The tape aired yesterday on the Arabic network, Al Jazeera.
The U.S. Transportation Security Administration will reportedly pay more than $1.5 million to some airline passengers. "The New York Times" is reporting that about 15,000 people will get some of that money after personal items were stolen or damaged from their checked baggage over the past 18 months. The complaints began after workers began hand searches in the increased security after 9/11.
Heidi -- back to you.
COLLINS: Daryn, thanks so much. We'll check in with you in just a few more minutes.
Meanwhile, Hurricane Ivan remains a powerful and dangerous category 4 storm this morning. It's heading for Jamaica today. It's also expected to hit Cuba and the Florida Keys. Where it goes then is anybody's guess. Some residents in Jamaica are preparing for the worst. Ivan has already caused catastrophic damage in other parts of the Caribbean, and is blamed for nearly two dozen deaths.
(WEATHER BREAK)
O'BRIEN: As we mentioned, residents in Jamaica are waiting and watching for potentially the worst. Gail Jackson owns a resort called the Negril Tree House. It is in Negril, Jamaica. She joins us on the phone right now.
Gail, can you hear me OK?
GAIL JACKSON, OWNER, NEGRIL TREE HOUSE RESORT: Yes, I can. Good morning.
O'BRIEN: Good morning to you.
I'm curious what you're doing by way of preparations right now for your staff, yourself and your guests.
JACKSON: Well, first of all, I've had my Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee, so everything is irie (ph), as we say in Jamaica. We have boarded up the hotel. We're right on the beach in Negril, Jamaica, a seven-mile strip, and taped all our windows.
We've moved our guests to safe places within the resort, rooms that have the least amount of windows. We had a very low house count now.
So, we're going to be business as normal this morning. We will be serving breakfast. We closed last night at 9:00.
It's very dark. I'm looking out my bedroom window now to the southeast. It is very dark outside, a little bit of wind. We had a burst of rain. I knew the storm was coming when my computer DSL went down.
O'BRIEN: Oh, well that would be one indication, I suppose.
JACKSON: That's right.
O'BRIEN: Tell us, you said -- I guess if there's any fortunate news in all of this, this is not the peak time of year. About how many guests do you have right now?
JACKSON: We only have 20 guests in-house in our 70-room resort.
O'BRIEN: OK.
JACKSON: So that's the good news. Some of my guests tried to leave yesterday from Montego Bay Airport. Unfortunately, they could not even buy a ticket. They were turned away, because there wasn't positive space for flights yesterday to Atlanta.
O'BRIEN: All right. And were you there during Gilbert? Did you experience that firsthand?
JACKSON: Oh, yes.
O'BRIEN: OK.
JACKSON: I was here during Gilbert, and we had prepared much more for this hurricane, because at that time we didn't have a large generator. We do have a generator that can power our facility. We do have a large water tank that you can get water, and also we do have a water company. So, we gave all of our guests our bottled water.
O'BRIEN: All right. Gail Jackson, who owns the Negril Tree House Resort in Negril, Jamaica. We wish you well as you and your staff and your guests ride out the storm.
JACKSON: Thank you very much.
O'BRIEN: You're welcome -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Switching gears now, Congress wants to put the 9/11 recommendations into law, but with just a few weeks to go before the election break, the focus seems to be not just on what to do, but when to do it.
Kelly Wallace explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KELLY WALLACE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Dueling messages on Capitol Hill. There is the go-fast crowd.
SEN. JOE LIEBERMAN (D), CONNECTICUT: Nothing else we have to do is more important.
WALLACE: Versus those saying let's not rush to judgment.
REP. TOM DELAY (R-TX), MAJORITY LEADER: So that we do the right thing, not the knee-jerk thing.
WALLACE (on camera): It's not just the debate over how quickly to pass legislation, but over how many of the September 11 Commission's 41 recommendations should become law.
(voice over): Those recommendations include broader information- sharing among government agencies, increased screening of U.S. visitors, and the most controversial: creating a national intelligence director who would have full control over the budget of 15 different agencies, something President Bush now suggests he can support.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We believe that there ought to be a national intelligence director who has full budgetary authority.
WALLACE: Now to the obstacles: Turf battles with some lawmakers unwilling to give up oversight of intelligence agencies, a shortage of time with Congress expected to recess in less than a month, and partisan politics, with both sides positioning themselves before the November elections when all 435 seats in the House and 34 seats in the Senate are in play.
REP. CHRISTOPHER SHAYS (R), CONNECTICUT: This close an election, the temptation to political mischief can be strong, but must be resisted by both parties.
WALLACE: How does the public feel? The polls might surprise you. According to a survey last month, nearly two-thirds said Congress should take as much time as it needs to consider the recommendations.
Clearly, the American public is paying attention. The September 11 Commission's report is No. 1 on "The New York Times" paperback best-seller list.
Kelly Wallace, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: The 9/11 Commission was disbanded after issuing that report 50 days ago, but it is still very influential and may be reformed with public funding.
O'BRIEN: Politics now. With a nod to the start of the football season, the latest poll suggests President Bush is getting some separation from Senator John Kerry. But how significant is it at this point?
Our senior political analyst, Bill Schneider, has pored over the recent polling. He loves doing this stuff. He joins us this morning from Washington.
Good to see you -- Bill.
WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Hi, Miles.
O'BRIEN: All right, let's talk about, we've got five big polls out there. I guess the common denominator in all of these is that Mr. Bush is opening up a gap, as we just said. What else can we say about these polls? And what threads tie them together?
SCHNEIDER: Well, let's see if they're consistent or not. Let's take a look. The "TIME" magazine poll taken just during the convention in New York shows a 10-point lead for Mr. Bush. ABC News/"Washington Post" just came out yesterday. That's an 8-point lead. CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup Poll, a 7-point lead also. And CBS News poll and Fox News is the narrowest lead for Mr. Bush, a 4-point lead.
Are these polls all over place? Well, no. Because if you look down that Bush column on the left, you'll see all of those numbers are right at about 50 percent. And the Kerry column, just next to it on the right, the numbers are all in the low 40s.
So, I think we can say things are pretty consistent. Bush has a lead. Every one of these polls shows Bush's position improving. He's doing better. And I can say for the first time all year this race has a front-runner.
O'BRIEN: All right. Well, what is driving these numbers? Is it the success of the Bush campaign coming out of the convention, or some failures on the part of the Kerry campaign or something else?
SCHNEIDER: Well, actually, Miles, both. Take a look at how people thought of Mr. Bush and Mr. Kerry before and after that Republican Convention. Mr. Kerry's favorability rating actually dropped from August to September, from 28 to 32. Mr. Bush's went up, 43 to 47.
So now Bush clearly is better liked than John Kerry. One of the points the convention got across is Bush is a good guy. People like him, and they put him out there for over an hour, and Americans liked him, just like they used to like Mr. Clinton when he was president. Kerry, I think, took a bit of a beating at the Republican Convention.
O'BRIEN: All right. Of course, as we all learned in 2000, the electoral college is very important. Swing states will swing this election, of course. Do we have some polls that have kind of augured into that aspect of it?
SCHNEIDER: Well, the poll that we're just reporting, the ABC News poll, shows that in the battleground states, the race is a little bit closer. We've still got a race in those states. There are about 17 of them.
And what we've looked at since the Republican Convention, eight states have done polls. And what do they show? The same trend as in the national polls. There are three former Bush states, the red states that are now even more solidly for Bush. Ohio, Missouri and Arizona are even stronger for Bush.
Four states that voted for Al Gore, blue states as we call them, are now in doubt: Pennsylvania, New York, Oregon and New Mexico. Some of them are tilting slightly to Bush now. There is only one Gore state, blue state, that's Washington, that now seems pretty solid for John Kerry.
So, the trend in the states looks pretty good for Mr. Bush, too.
O'BRIEN: All right. Bill Schneider in Washington, thank you for dissecting those numbers for us. We appreciate it, as always.
SCHNEIDER: Sure.
O'BRIEN: Still to come on the program, some lighter news for you. Are you ready for some football? Andy Serwer is. Heidi has got her little list on her little purple sheet there.
COLLINS: Is that your best Hank, Jr.?
O'BRIEN: That's sort of bad, isn't it? Lame. Anyway, the business-guru-turned-NFL-guru will make his picks for week one, and we'll see how we all do.
COLLINS: Yes, it's a big buzz right here on AMERICAN MORNING this morning, that's for sure.
Also ahead, "90-Second Pop" gets fired up about the "The Apprentice". How did a billionaire with bad hair end up as a successor to "Friends?" We'll talk about that on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Crucial, crucial information here on AMERICAN MORNING. So, using his business expertise, Andy is going to give us his NFL picks. He's "Minding Your Business."
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: It translates, sports, business. It's all the same.
COLLINS: It does.
SERWER: It's all numbers. It's all about making bets.
This year, what we're going to do is we're going to have anchors pick all of the games, but we're just going to highlight a few of them. I'm just going to talk about three big games. And basically it's all upsets all the time. That's the theme this week.
We have the ticker. I'm brushing it off from last year. Can you help me here? Do the honors.
The first game, Bengals versus Jets. This is Bill Hemmer versus the crew. The crew is a big Jets fan. Bill Hemmer, of course, is a Bengals fan. Carson Palmer is going to have a big day against the banged-up Jets secondary. Bengals are going to carry over from last year.
And then there's that the song, "When you're a Bengal, you're a Bengal." No, that's not it.
COLLINS: No, I don't know that one.
SERWER: That's not it. OK. Then we're going to go on the Chiefs. The Chiefs-Broncos here, another upset. I am picking the Chiefs. This is a big rivalry game, big playoff implications. I'm not a big Jake Plumber (ph) fan. I know he's the snake. I don't like that. You know, they don't have a running game anymore, those Broncos. And they're not going to throw to Champ Bailey (ph). So game over.
OK, next, final, Packers versus Panthers, another upset. I'm going with the Pack here. Here is the bad news for the Packers. It's going to be 82 degrees in Carolina. The good news is, it's going to be raining. So they like that. Brett Favre versus Jake Delone (ph). You've got to go with Brett Favre.
And then my producer, Liz, is a Cheesehead, so I kind of have to do the Packer thing. What about you, Heidi? What's your pick?
COLLINS: OK, I go against the Packers every chance I get, because I'm a Vikings fan.
SERWER: No. 1.
COLLINS: Yes, No. 1, right. And then I picked the Jets over the Bengals, because they're home.
SERWER: OK, yes.
COLLINS: You know, that's right.
SERWER: It makes sense.
COLLINS: Broncos, I mean, I lived in Denver, so I've got to go with the Broncos.
SERWER: So, you picked the...
COLLINS: So, I'm against you on the Broncos for sure.
SERWER: OK. All right. Well, we'll see what happens then.
COLLINS: We will. It's a huge wager.
SERWER: That's right.
O'BRIEN: There's a lot riding on this thing, I've got to tell you. You know, there's a whole generation of viewers out there who have no idea what this ticker thing is all about, you know?
COLLINS: Yes. Let's explain really quickly.
O'BRIEN: My son doesn't even know what a typewriter is.
SERWER: It's a ticker tape that Wall Street -- you know, they used to have (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
COLLINS: We used to have them.
SERWER: And you look and you see, and then your stock would go down.
O'BRIEN: Yes.
SERWER: And then people would jump out the window. That's what happened. That would be 1920.
O'BRIEN: Kids, did you listen up?
ANDY BOROWITZ, BOROWITZREPORT.COM: What was the cotton gin like, Andy?
SERWER: That was Eli Whitney as a matter of fact... BOROWITZ: OK.
SERWER: ... back in New Haven, Connecticut.
BOROWITZ: That's it.
COLLINS: Quick, quick, Andy, e-mails.
BOROWITZ: Yes.
SERWER: Save us, Andy!
BOROWITZ: This may be the most important question ever asked, actually. Cigarettes and hard liquor ads already been banned from TV. But political ads may be even more toxic. They turn off voters and discourage qualified people from running, which is why we end up with arguably sub-par candidates. Did you like how delicately I put that?
So, our question to you is: Should political advertising on television be banned? And we've got some awesome answers.
Weldon from New Brunswick, New York, said: "If we get rid of the political advertising, what comedy would be left?" Comedy fan, Weldon.
Jay from Seguin, Texas, writes: "No. Political advertising should not be banned, but the masterminds behind the ads who skew the truth or lie should be fined and prosecuted." Wow! Don't mess with Texas.
Mel from New York writes: "Political ads ought not to be banned, but their beneficiaries, the candidates, should be made to watch them uninterrupted for hours straight before they can be released to the public airwaves."
I love this idea. That's one way they should be able to say to their audience I share your pain.
And finally, Michael from Heron, South Dakota, writes: "These ads are like cockroaches. If you just drive them away, they'll pop out somewhere else."
So, there you go.
SERWER: Shouldn't you say, I'm Andy Borowitz and I approve of this segment?
BOROWITZ: I do. I actually did say that earlier.
COLLINS: You said that before.
O'BRIEN: He said that earlier.
BOROWITZ: Yes.
SERWER: Oh, I missed that. O'BRIEN: I think it's a blanket for the whole three hours.
SERWER: Well, doesn't he have to repeat that though?
O'BRIEN: We'd better check the election code on that just to make sure he's OK.
(CROSSTALK)
COLLINS: All right, Andy, thanks so much.
And still to come this morning, Joey leaves his friends behind for sunny L.A. But will viewers actually follow him? The mixed bag for Matt LeBlanc ahead on "90-Second Pop." Stay with us, here on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Ooh! You almost heard me singing on the air. That was frightful.
"90-Second Pop" breaks new ground this morning with a TGI-female edition. That's right. Sarah Bernard, contributing editor for "New York" magazine, Crystal McCrary Anthony, author of "Gotham Diaries," is making a pop debut. Yea, Crystal! And Jessica Shaw from "Entertainment Weekly."
Thanks, ladies, for being with us this morning.
OK, so there was a lot going on, on TV last night.
SARAH BERNARD, "NEW YORK" MAGAZINE: It was a big night, that's right.
COLLINS: One of the first shows that was on the air, "Joey."
BERNARD: Finally!
COLLINS: So it's no longer "Friends." Just "Joey." Is it going it make it? Or maybe not.
BERNARD: You know, I had such low expectations for this show that the fact that I laughed, like, four or five times made me think it was a phenomenal success.
COLLINS: I laughed, too, yes!
JESSICA SHAW, "ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY": The (UNINTELLIGIBLE) could not have been lower.
BERNARD: It couldn't. I mean, this poor guy, the future of his sitcom genre has been riding on him. You know, he's even said in interviews that Jeff Zucker -- oh, there he is. There's a little preview. Drea looks great, doesn't she?
COLLINS: Yes, from "The Sopranos," just in case people aren't regular watchers. BERNARD: Yes. Who could not know where she's from?
COLLINS: Yes.
BERNARD: But it was like as if everyone was saying, you know, the whole genre is riding on you, Matt LeBlanc. Can we count on you to save our entire must-see TV lineup?
SHAW: But the fact is the key is if this show does 60 percent as well as "Friends," it will be a hit. It will be better than any other show on TV right now.
COLLINS: Yes, Sarah, Right.
CRYSTAL MCCRARY ANTHONY, AUTHOR, "GOTHAM DIARIES": Yes.
BERNARD: The other thing is that "Joey" was always was kind of the punchline of the show, and he was good for a new show, because we didn't know much about him. But I think what's going to make or break this is really his chemistry and with Drea and with Drea's genius son, and who is kind of his foil for his dim-wittedness. He's actually living with this nephew of his who is a genius.
So, it's really going to be how will this new ensemble work? And it looked pretty promising, I have to say.
SHAW: It looks good, yes.
COLLINS: So you liked it.
ANTHONY: Even without the "Friends," is it still good?
COLLINS: We'll see. Week one, it was (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
BERNARD: There is a picture of Joey and Chandler that he has in the corner.
SHAW: I think six times is funny, not one-sixth is funny.
COLLINS: Oh, wow! I've got to figure that out.
SHAW: A little math for early in the morning?
COLLINS: OK. All right, let's talk about "The Apprentice" now. Crystal, I watched this one last night...
ANTHONY: Yes.
COLLINS: ... as long as I could before bedtime. And, you know, it's "The Apprentice." I mean, this was a huge success last year.
ANTHONY: Right.
COLLINS: Are they going to pull it off again this year?
ANTHONY: Well, I mean, "The Apprentice" is reality TV at its best. I mean, it's intelligent. You have the persona of the Don pulling it.
COLLINS: And there is already kind of a wacko person coming out.
ANTHONY: Oh, I felt bad for her.
COLLINS: You did?
ANTHONY: Yes, I mean, you know, she had some energy going. She was trying to pump them up. I mean, I think that it's sort of...
SHAW: And by energy, you mean insanity?
ANTHONY: Well you know, I mean, listen, it's an intelligent show. It's not a debasing show in terms of, you know, comparing it to the other reality shows, where it's about eating a bug in the middle of the South Pacific.
COLLINS: True.
ANTHONY: It's not, you know, a dating show, where it's schmulty (ph) in that way.
COLLINS: How much is this, though, about Donald Trump? I mean, don't you find it...
(CROSSTALK)
SHAW: I like that this season they have him on the phone. Before he goes into any meeting, he's on the phone with his secretary saying, hold that meeting. I'm going in to Mattel, right? As if they didn't do that take 17 times.
COLLINS: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) didn't do that. It's kind of (UNINTELLIGIBLE), isn't it?
SHAW: I know.
ANTHONY: I loved being able to go to his home and have a lovely dinner with he and his fiance.
COLLINS: Yes, that happened last year, I remember that.
(CROSSTALK)
ANTHONY: It was very glamorous.
COLLINS: All right. Let's move on now. Jessica, there were some words between Lauren Bacall...
SHAW: There were some words.
COLLINS: ... and Nicole Kidman there on the set of their new movie. She actually said Lauren Bacall about Nicole Kidman that she was not a legend. She's a beginner. What is a legend? She can't be a legend at whatever age she is. This is what the reporter commented about. SHAW: Yes.
COLLINS: Nicole Kidman not being a legend.
SHAW: Yes, I don't know. They were at the Venice film festival. I think Lauren Bacall had some bad pasta. She does not -- I mean, she snapped at this British journalist halfway through a sentence. She just said, "Se's too young. She's not a legend." And, I mean, she may be right. I mean, Nicole Kidman is in her mid-30s
COLLINS: Sure.
SHAW: She's not really a legend, but...
BERNARD: These days in Hollywood, your mid-30s, you know, qualifies as a legend. I mean, I think at this point...
(CROSSTALK)
BERNARD: At this point, when, you know, all of the actresses getting attention in the tabloids, they're sort of between 17 and 20.
COLLINS: But I guess coming from someone like Lauren Bacall, who has been around for a very, very long time.
ANTHONY: I mean, it's classic old Hollywood versus young Hollywood.
COLLINS: Right.
ANTHONY: I mean, you know, Lauren Bacall, she's a diva among diva. I mean, those eyes, those lips...
(CROSSTALK)
ANTHONY: But listen, she is an adjective. You know, Nicole Kidman is not. I don't know that she ever will be. I mean, she's an amazing actor, but Lauren Bacall, I mean, I don't know, maybe she's entitled to have that -- you know, to be persnickety on one day.
BERNARD: I think one of the things that people can get on Nicole Kidman about is, you know, Sharon Osbourne has been making cracks about her weight. She's too skinny and all of this stuff. But there is no one who is working harder than Nicole Kidman. She has so many movies coming up. She won an Oscar last year. So, maybe there is some little career jealousy going on. That was my theory.
(CROSSTALK)
SHAW: I think that Lauren Bacall needs to have her own "Apprentice" show. I could see that.
ANTHONY: And Lauren maybe firing someone.
COLLINS: That's right. Thanks so much to all three of you today. Sarah, Crystal and Jessica, thanks so much. ANTHONY: Thank you.
COLLINS: Miles -- back over to you.
O'BRIEN: I'm sorry, it's a no-brainer. It's Bacall all the way. I mean, really. Absolutely. All right, you know, "The View" has got nothing on you girls, all right?
Still to come, when it rains it pours. The state of Florida is once again bracing for a hurricane. We'll tell you where Ivan could be headed. Stay with AMERICAN MORNING.
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