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CNN Newsnight Aaron Brown

Bush Gives Terrorism Speech, Puts out New Ad; Pentagon: Insurgency in Iraq Bigger, Better Funded Than Anticipated

Aired October 22, 2004 - 22:00   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.


AARON BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening again everyone.
I suppose at first blush the idea of doing a segment on Miss America doesn't sound much like NEWSNIGHT. In fact, I think the opposite is true. Granted the decision of ABC to drop the telecast of the pageant and perhaps put a nail in its coffin isn't exactly Iraq or the presidential campaign but it does say something about who we are and who we were and how we got from there to here.

Just looking at the old tapes in preparing a story for later in the program said much about the culture and how it's changed. So, along with the stuff of life and death and war and peace we'll look at how all we've changed so much that Miss America, the sort of thing little girls dreamed of back in 1948, lost her luster. I have a funny feeling it will be the piece tonight you remember most.

But the whip begins with the campaign and campaign messages growing sharper today, so we begin the whip with our Senior White House Correspondent John King reporting tonight from Florida, John, a headline.

JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Aaron, a tough new speech from the president today, and even new ad, trying to convince the American people as they weigh their vote to put terrorism first -- Aaron.

BROWN: John, thank you.

Next to the Pentagon, another sobering assessment of what American forces are truly up against, our Senior Pentagon Correspondent Jamie McIntyre has the duty on this Friday so, Jamie, a headline.

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Aaron, this new assessment from the Pentagon basically concedes what a lot of experts have been saying that the insurgency in Iraq is bigger and better funded that anyone expected.

BROWN: Jamie, thank you.

And finally, Jane Arraf, who knows a fair amount about the insurgency, she's embedded with troops in northern Iraq, Jane, from there a headline.

JANE ARRAF, CNN BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF: Aaron, it's the most ethnically diverse city in Iraq but Kurds expelled from Kirkuk years ago by Saddam Hussein's regime are finding it isn't so easy to go home again.

BROWN: Jane, thank you. We'll get back to you and the rest shortly.

Also on the program on this Friday, now he wants to be a spoiler, Ralph Nader and why after two failed presidential runs he's still running, still has a following along with a large crowd that wants him out of the race.

Plus, we mentioned at the top, there she is and perhaps there she goes. ABC passes on Miss America. Is this the beginning of the end of a beautiful story?

And who really needs Miss America when (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Martha Stewart, yes, the tabloids will make our morning papers because it is Friday, all that and more in the hour ahead.

We begin tonight with an observation about television and politics. When you see your first animal in a campaign ad the election can't be too far off and whether it's a bear or an eagle, an ostrich or an aardvark, the campaign animals are carrier pigeons in the end. They all have a message, in the president's case that it's a scary world out there, a message delivered today by wolves and by the president himself.

Here again, CNN's John King.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KING (voice-over): Pennsylvania was stop one on a day targeting three big prizes, the president's retooled stump speech designed to put his view of the race in sharper focus.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The security and prosperity of our country, the health and education of our citizens, the retirement of our seniors and the direction of our culture are all at stake.

KING: Winning Pennsylvania requires support from conservative Democrats and Mr. Bush took note of Senator Kerry's vote against a law signed by President Clinton that defined marriage as between a man and a woman.

BUSH: Senator Kerry was a part of the far left bank, far left minority that voted against that piece of legislation.

KING: Health care was the major focus in Ohio and another issue on which Mr. Bush wants to label Senator Kerry a big government liberal.

BUSH: My opponent's plan would increase the scope and the size of the federal government.

KING: But at this and every other stop he leaves no doubt about what he considers most important.

BUSH: My opponent and I have a different vision about how to keep America secure.

KING: A dramatic new ad showing a pack of wolves reinforces a message the Bush campaign calls critical and Democrats call desperate fear mongering.

ANNOUNCER: And weakness attracts those who are waiting to do America harm.

KING: This week's travel underscores the shrinking battlefield in the search for 270 electoral votes. Mr. Bush campaigned in just seven states, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa and Florida.

Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Florida also drew increased Bush TV ad spending in recent days, along with Colorado, Oregon and West Virginia. Florida was Friday's final stop and where Mr. Bush campaigns Saturday, all signs once again suggesting a fierce fight to the end.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KING: And, as the president framed the choices today, whether the issue be health care, taxes or values, he said progress in those areas and everything else depends first on making the American people safe from terrorism and, Aaron, his campaign theme says if the American people, at least a majority accept that argument, then they believe the president's reelection will be a safe bet -- Aaron.

BROWN: OK. Let's start with that idea. Do they -- look most of the -- let me try it this way. Most of the polls show the president with, you know, a couple point lead minimum I think pretty much these days. Where are they worried? What do they think can happen in the next week? Would they like the election today?

KING: They would like the election today but this is what they're worried about. History tells you that in an election the undecided tend to break by two-thirds maybe against the incumbent. If that happens, this president loses the election.

So, what they are trying to do is get back to their greatest strength and essentially say trust this president on the war on terrorism. Put aside history. You may be mad at this president about the economy. You may even be mad at this president about the war in Iraq but you trust him more than Senator Kerry to deal with the war on terrorism. That is their closing argument.

BROWN: Do they really believe there are many undecideds out there?

KING: They believe there are enough in small places, like right here in Florida. The fight here will be quite fierce, Iowa another place where they think a small state but a very close state. They think there are enough to tip a state or two and they think a state or two will decide who wins.

BROWN: John, thank you very much. Have a good weekend out on the trail, John King our White House Correspondent.

Barely a beat after the wolves hit the air the Democratic Party came out with a commercial featuring an ostrich and an eagle. Given the choice, it asked, shouldn't we be an eagle again? Message here the president just doesn't get it on national security. And, in Wisconsin today, Senator Kerry extended the metaphor to domestic issues too.

So reporting the Kerry side of the day here's CNN's Candy Crowley.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SR. POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): What do women want? For starters a guy who gets it.

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: After they punch out at work many of them punch right back in at home for the next shift as the caregiver, the meal cooker, the financial planner, the house cleaner and all the other jobs that they have to do to support their families.

CROWLEY: More women vote than men. Sixty percent of the undecideds are female, talk about girl power. It was a female fest in Milwaukee and John Kerry, no natural in feel-your-pain politics, wooed late-breaking women voters, particularly of the single working mom sort.

KERRY: They have to pay the rent, buy the groceries, clothes for their children but in terms of purchasing power the minimum wage is at the lowest that it's been in 50 years. How dare this administration tell Americans this is the best economy of our lifetime?

CROWLEY: Message, I get it. George Bush does not. Traditionally, Democrats had the edge among women voters but the president has cut into it.

BUSH: If America shows uncertainty or weakness in this decade, the world will drift toward tragedy. This will not happen on my watch.

CROWLEY: His anti-terrorism policy has picked up points among suburban moms which is why as John Kerry focuses on offense on economic turf, his number two plays defense on terrorism.

SEN. JOHN EDWARDS (D), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This president is continuing to try to scare America in his speeches and ads in a despicable and contemptible way. The American people are smarter than they think.

CROWLEY: John Kerry is still up seven points over Bush among female voters but Al Gore scored an 11-point advantage in 2000. (on camera): Kerry strategists say they are not so concerned that Kerry is not doing as well as other Democrats have among women because their polling at least shows he's doing better among men.

Candy Crowley, CNN, Milwaukee.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: On to the war in Iraq and a reality check for whoever wins the election. It comes by way of the Pentagon and paints a picture of a growing insurgency funded in part through Syria with lots of money coming from Saudi Arabia. You know the Saudis, our friends and allies in the war on terror.

Again, here's our Senior Pentagon Correspondent Jamie McIntyre.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MCINTYRE (voice-over): A new internal Pentagon analysis offers a sobering assessment of what the U.S. is up against in Iraq, an insurgency that is growing fueled by an almost unlimited pool of money funneled through Syria.

A U.S. intelligence official tells CNN the insurgency, thought to number between 5,000 and 7,000 months ago, is now estimated to include 12,000 fighters from 50 different cells. The result has been a sharp increase in attacks, as many as 90 a day at times, and more high profile kidnappings, such as the director of CARE International's Iraq office.

MICHAEL O'HANLON, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: We are not winning the war right now. We may turn things around. We may be preparing the Iraqi security forces thoroughly so they can take up the war effort and allow us to gradually withdraw in a year or two but right now we're not winning.

MCINTYRE: The Pentagon continues to insist the increase in violence is to be expected as Iraqi elections draw near and rejects any suggestion Iraq is becoming a quagmire.

DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: And there are some very bad people who want to take that country back to a dark place and I don't call that a quagmire.

MCINTYRE: The Pentagon has said the insurgents were getting money from both Syria and Iran but a new DIA report estimates that roughly half of the $1 billion Saddam Hussein stashed in Syrian banks before the war, some $500 million, is a prime funding source for the militants.

And, it believes millions more are coming from wealthy Saudis and Islamic charities who also funnel money through Syria, a charge the Saudi government called irresponsible and factually incorrect, insisting it has tightened financial controls to ensure no money goes to terrorism.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCINTYRE: Just six months ago, Aaron, officials here were downplaying the idea some of their own intelligence, in fact, that the Iraqi insurgency was gaining more popular support than the Pentagon was acknowledging. These days no one is disputing the fact that the insurgency is bigger and better funded than anyone anticipated -- Aaron.

BROWN: The money part is relatively easy to understand. The allure of the insurgency perhaps a little more complicated. Do they try and even explain what is drawing people to the idea that killing Americans is a good thing to do?

MCINTYRE: Well, the longer that the United States is seen as an occupation force the more disaffected Iraqis seem to be attracted to either helping with the cause or participating directly in it and that's why the U.S. strategy is to get the Iraqis in charge.

They hoped that when there was a transition to Iraqi sovereignty that would begin to make a change. It hasn't really happened. In fact, the attacks have escalated. Now, they're hoping that after the elections that it will be seen more as an Iraqi government in charge. But, again, if the past is any guide, it's not necessarily the case that that will take any of the wind out of the insurgency.

BROWN: Jamie, thank you. It's sobering stuff tonight. Thank you, Jamie McIntyre at the Pentagon.

For some insurgents in Iraq, videotapes of terrified hostages have become a calling card. As you saw just a moment ago, today another one arrived. It aired on the Arab television network Al- Jazeera and it shows the kidnapped humanitarian aide worker Margaret Hassan pleading for her life and urging Prime Minister Tony Blair to pull British troops from Iraq.

Ms. Hassan, the director of CARE International in Baghdad, holds dual citizenship, British and Iraqi. She was abducted on Tuesday after arriving at work. Her captors have made no demands and given no explanation for her kidnapping.

Mostly when we talk of Iraq we talk of Sunnis and Shiites, the former had the power in the old days. The latter has the majority of the people in the country. Left out of the conversation all too often is a third group, the Kurds. In the far north of the country they are the majority and for a decade they have lived mostly free of the terror of Saddam.

In some respects they are the most complicated piece of the Iraqi puzzle for they are the most well-to-do, the most established society and the least likely to make concessions to be part of a greater Iraq, which may offer them less than what they had and what they want.

Here's CNN's Jane Arraf.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) ARRAF (voice-over): This is the most precious thing Mustafa Ahmed Mustafa (ph) owns these documents in a plastic bag. They're 40 years old, blackened and shredding but they say his Kurdish grandfather owned land near Kirkuk.

"They arrested my father and put him in jail. They broke four of his fingers. After that they forced us to leave Kirkuk" he said.

That was 1987. He came back from Kurdish-controlled Iraq two months ago and found that his house had been destroyed and Arab families had been resettled on his land.

Mustafa and his wife (UNINTELLIGIBLE) are better off than most of the 3,000 families who live in this sprawling camp. He works as a laborer and has started building a house illegally on this city property. There's no running water though and although they have a new fridge there's no electricity. When the kids get sick there's no doctor here.

(UNINTELLIGIBLE) who's 26 and expecting a fourth child says although conditions were a lot better in the camp in Kurdish- controlled (UNINTELLIGIBLE) they were in, she considers this city home.

To help entrench the Kurdish identity of oil-rich Kirkuk, U.S. officials say Kurdish parties encourage displaced Kurds to return here before a planned census now canceled.

More than 2,000 families live in this abandoned army camp. They say they want better living conditions but they also say Kirkuk is their home and they're not planning to leave.

The U.S. military, working through the Iraqi government, has taken on bringing in electrical lines and trying to provide water. These Kurds say they trust only the United States to keep them safe.

Nabat Mohammed (ph) named her baby girl (UNINTELLIGIBLE) which means homeland for Kirkuk. If she had had a boy she would have named him George Bush she tells us.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): We're worried that if the Americans leave here, Saddam and his regime will come back, so if the Americans leave they need to take us with them.

ARRAF: In the same way the coalition forces rid them of Saddam, the coalition has to help establish a real Iraqi government that can help them finally go back to their homes they say.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ARRAF: The city is often seen as a test case of whether Iraq's ethnic groups can actually live together. So far it's working but no one is touching that volatile issue of the hundreds of thousands of people of all ethnic groups resettled by Saddam Hussein -- Aaron.

BROWN: Jane, among other things the Kurds have their own army. They have the largest militia in Iraq.

ARRAF: They do and interesting that was one of the things that the former coalition authorities under Paul Bremer wanted to disband. They wanted to disband the Peshmerga. The Peshmerga is still there. It is still protecting northern Iraq and the Kurds say they won't give it up.

BROWN: Jane, thank you, good week for you, Jane Arraf in northern Iraq tonight.

Ahead on the program, Republicans love him, Democrats hate him, voters seem so-so, a look at the other candidate in this election Ralph Nader.

Also tonight, Sinclair Broadcasting's big night with the airing of portions of an anti-Kerry film, a boom or bust for the broadcasting company? Howard Kurtz joins us tonight.

From New York this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: You can make a pretty fair case that but for Ralph Nader we'd all be covering the Gore reelection campaign right about now. Mr. Nader, of course, would disagree. He has on many occasions but numbers are numbers and tonight they leave room for a repeat performance, different states, fewer states.

The Supreme Court of Ohio today rejected his bid to get on the ballot there but in enough states he's still drawing enough support to affect the outcome and in 2004, as in the year 2000, people are asking the same question, why?

In a moment we'll talk to a former protege who's now begging Mr. Nader to get out, first a couple of reports beginning with CNN's Tom Foreman.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Ralph Nader is perpetually called a spoiler but he could give the title to himself. His is dead set on spoiling the two-party party.

RALPH NADER (I), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The two-party system is rigged. It's rigged from the ballot access barriers, from the dirty tricks the Democrats are using to keep us off the ballot, all the way to the exclusion from the debate.

FOREMAN: Nader briefly stood by John Kerry early on but now Nader supporters say the Senator shows little respect for their issues and a lot of similarities to the incumbent.

KEVIN ZEESE, CAMPAIGN SPOKESPERSON: John Kerry voted for the war, voted for the Patriot Act, blindly supports Israel against Palestine, supported No Child Left Behind, is even weak on the environment. So, on all those key issues, John Kerry's wrong. FOREMAN: Even in battleground states, Nader voters openly say both major parties are consumed with big money and ignoring issues of fairness, equality, not their man.

CHE GADISON, OHIO NADER SUPPORTER: He does want to help not just our community but basically the underdog.

FOREMAN: Kerry supporters complain Nader will take votes and still be a joke.

JAY LENO, COMEDIAN: And Ralph Nader said he's not getting a flu shot either, although in his case he doesn't really need one because he doesn't come in contact with any large crowds. He's OK.

FOREMAN: But Nader fans say even if they help George Bush win their votes will not be wasted.

STEVE SHAFARMAN, NADER SUPPORTER: I'm investing my vote in creating a stronger democracy.

FOREMAN (on camera): What does that mean?

SHAFARMAN: It's about creating a stronger democracy in the future when other voices can be heard when we will have more choices.

FOREMAN (voice-over): With enough votes to bolster their legal challenges of the election process they believe third parties may become less of a laughing matter.

Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) obviously Mr. Nader is in it, not to win it but to make a point that he's a man of conviction, a man of principle, now the numbers in all of this from CNN's Bill Schneider.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BILL SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST (voice-over): In 2000, Ralph Nader got more than 97,000 votes in Florida. Bush carried the state by 537. How worried should Democrats be this year with Nader averaging less than two percent in the polls?

Not all of Nader's votes come at the Democrats' expense. If forced to choose between John Kerry and Bush about half of Nader's current supporters say they would vote for Kerry. A quarter would vote for Bush. The rest wouldn't vote for either one. Nader's running mate says Kerry and Bush are nearly one and the same.

PETER CAMEJO (I), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Kerry gave George Bush 18 standing ovations in January. That's hard to do with somebody you don't like.

SCHNEIDER: Nader's running mate in 1996 and 2000 doesn't agree. She recently endorsed Kerry saying: "He is a rational alternative to the most destructive administration in recent memory."

Right now, Nader is on the ballot in 34 states and the District of Columbia. How many states look like potential Floridas? Those are states where Nader is on the ballot. Kerry is not leading in the post debate polls and Bush's lead is smaller than Nader's vote. Those conditions hold in four states right now, Arkansas, Wisconsin, New Hampshire and Florida.

In 2000, New Hampshire and Florida were the two states where Nader got enough votes to put Bush over the top. In a race this close even a diminished Nader could cost the Democrats victory again. Nader's response, "If the race is that close, it's not my fault."

NADER: The Democrats should be land sliding George W. Bush. He stands for everything that represents greed, power, domination and autocracy by giant corporations.

SCHNEIDER: A historian once said third parties are like bees. They sting and then they die. Ralph Nader is haunting this race like the undead.

Bill Schneider, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Coming up next a man who was Ralph Nader's protege. Mark Green joins us here in New York.

And later, say it ain't so, no more baton twirlers, no more world peace? Oh, my goodness. The American Broadcasting Company bids farewell to Miss America and we say hello to Phyllis George but we take a break first.

This is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Well, if anyone can call himself the heir to Ralph Nader, Mark Green is the man. For ten years he was one of Mr. Nader's closest associates, former public advocate, sort of the city's ombudsman here in New York. Currently he works for the Kerry campaign though that is not the capacity he's in tonight. We're glad to have him with us, good to see you, Mark. Welcome.

MARK GREEN: Thank you, Aaron. By the way, I don't work for the -- I'm his co-chair but no money has changed hands.

BROWN: Work in a different sense.

GREEN: All right.

BROWN: Anyway, let's talk about Mr. Nader. People I think in their worst moments will say, look, it's just all about Ralph. It's all about ego. Is it that simple?

GREEN: No, if it were, he wouldn't run. He's a smart man who understands that if, God forbid, he twice elects George W. Bush it's ruinous. Now, he's extremely messianically willful so that if 24 or 25 friends say don't do this, like Lincoln's (UNINTELLIGIBLE). He says 24 nay one aye, the ayes have it.

BROWN: Yes.

GREEN: Second, he has high-minded reasons for running. I don't agree with them but he would argue he's going to pull out more voters. He's going to make more radical critiques of Bush than the Democratic nominee could make on Iraq, on living wage.

BROWN: Nobody, I mean -- I don't want to say no one's listening to him. Someone surely is but by and large no one's listening to him, so it's a tree fallen in the forest that no one hears.

GREEN: Well, he is on television these couple of weeks for the reason of Bill Schneider's lead-in.

BROWN: Yes.

GREEN: He could make the margin of difference. So, you're right in that Democrats have thrown him into the brier patch of ballot access fights, so 90 percent of what you hear about him is he's on, he's off the Ohio, the Pennsylvania ballot.

So, he hasn't really gotten out his critique. Now a lot of Democrats I know agree with his critique, agree that he has technically of course the right to run but it's not right that he runs because he risks reelecting the least progressive president of the century.

BROWN: When did you last talk to him?

GREEN: Sunday.

BROWN: Does he give any ground at all? Does he worry, for example, that the rather extraordinary career that he had before this one, before the Harold Stassen phase of his career, is going to be forgotten, lost?

GREEN: You know, when I worked with him, he was very famous and very popular. He never said, as big politicians do, hey, did you see me on AARON BROWN, did you see me on the "TIME" magazine cover?

It was all about the issue, not him. And so right now, he never talks about, oh, this is going to hurt me. He still talks about the issues that he thinks are underdeveloped. Aaron, he has $1 billion in political capital and goodwill created over 40 years of life-saving efforts.

GREEN: To bet all your chips on a sure shot, that is rational. To bet all your chips on a long shot is either heroic or insane or a combination of both. So you're right. It is hard to understand. In his mind, he's doing it for idealistic reasons.

BROWN: Do you think it does in fact have an effect on that other movement, on the consumer advocate movement? I wonder if people send money anymore to it.

GREEN: He created a hundred groups, successfully challenged Congress, ended nuclear power.

BROWN: Yes.

GREEN: But his major institution is Public citizen, with Common Cause and the environment groups, the leading citizen groups in Washington. They're hurting. Fewer people are giving and donating, because, even though he left the group some 20 years ago, having created it, they're blaming it for his run.

And almost all his friends didn't want him to do. The people who supported him in 2000, from Michael Moore, Susan Sarandon, Phil Donahue, are not having a run. So we're dealing with a level of willfulness that -- I never met Teddy Roosevelt or Lenin, but it has to be of that level, where you accomplish great things or you have great failures.

BROWN: It's good to see you.

GREEN: Thank you, Aaron.

BROWN: Thanks for coming in.

He's an interesting guy. He's been an interesting guy for 40 years. And he'll go out that way, I guess. Thank you, Mark. Nice to see you.

GREEN: Thank you.

BROWN: Still to come tonight, "Stolen Honor" or stolen airtime. Sinclair Broadcasting airs portions of a very controversial, very anti-John Kerry film tonight.

And while the Sinclair story might be seen by some as sort of tabloidy, we actually have tabloids because it's Friday. So we'll get to that in morning papers, Miss America, lots more.

This is NEWSNIGHT on a Friday in New York.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: The saga of Sinclair Broadcasting, the owner of more than 60 TV stations, and its decision to air all or parts of a harshly anti-John Kerry film on its stations so near the election has been a drama of its own.

The company said it never intended to air the whole anti-Kerry film, though some of its station managers said otherwise. It became the target of complaints to the FCC, the target the lawsuits by shareholders. It fired its Washington reporter and tonight finally aired on its stations a program featuring Senator Kerry's remarks about Vietnam more than a generation ago.

So what did it turn out to be after all this fuss? We're joined now from Washington by the host of CNN's "RELIABLE SOURCES," media critic for "The Washington Post," Howard Kurtz.

Good evening, Howie. What did they do?

HOWARD KURTZ, "RELIABLE SOURCES": Well, Aaron, it was a more balanced program than a lot of critics had been led to expect. There were several attempts to show the other side.

But at the top, the first 10 minutes or so, you would have to say that it was pretty loaded against John Kerry. For example, Carlton Sherwood, who is the producer of that anti-Kerry film, "Stolen Honor," began the program by saying, what is John Kerry's campaign afraid of? There was one former POW from Vietnam who accused Kerry of having made false charges in 1971, another who compared him to Benedict Arnold.

But then later, we heard from a couple of pro-Kerry veterans and they showed about four minutes a pro-Kerry Vietnam film, "Going Upriver" by George Butler. And there was an interview with Butler as well.

BROWN: As you look at how the last I guess three weeks or so has played out, is there any doubt in your mind that what Sinclair put on the air today is different from what it intended to put on the air three weeks ago?

KURTZ: I think Sinclair would dispute that.

However, about 10 days ago, one of is executives told me they planned to air the whole 42-minute "Stolen Honor" and then have some sort of panel discussion and perhaps provide more time if Senator Kerry agreed to come on, which he did not. The Kerry campaign, by the way, spokesman, Chad Clanton telling me that this was a premeditated smear. So they didn't find it very fair and balanced.

But, yes, look, Sinclair was clearly just rocked by the complaints with the FCC and the FEC and the Democrats saying this was a partisan pro-Bush organization and the flap with the Washington reporter which you mention and the stock going down. Clearly, Sinclair wanted to at least make some stab at showing that it could produce a documentary that had more than just charges against John Kerry.

BROWN: Well, at some point in the next -- I guess probably Monday, we'll see how many -- we'll understand how many people actually watched it. It was on a lot of stations, some of them big stations, some not.

Is there any evidence that the coverage of it itself became bigger than what it is that they did?

KURTZ: I wouldn't be surprised, Aaron, if this draws a pretty big number in the 40 markets where it was shown where Sinclair has stations, many of them swing states.

After all, it is has gotten an avalanche of free publicity. A lot of people had never heard of Sinclair Broadcast Group before this flap. So, you can either subscribe to the view that all publicity is good publicity or you can say that this is a company that has been painted by critics as having a partisan agenda.

One thing that might have made this program a little fairer would be to spend more than one segment out of about six or seven on President Bush's National Guard record and the controversy over his military service. But they did spend time on that, but most of the program devoted to Kerry, his testimony after coming back as an anti- war veteran from Vietnam.

And so even when pro-Kerry witnesses or friends or guests were heard from, they were on the defensive pretty much for the entire show.

BROWN: Howie, thank you. And I know it has been a long day for you, Howard Kurtz in Washington and the host of "RELIABLE SOURCES" this weekend on CNN.

Ahead on the program tonight, a depressing sign of the times, the Miss America story. And a Miss America herself, Phyllis George, joins us.

And I wonder what the rooster will look like in an evening gown. Well, I don't even want to think about that. Do you?

Around the world, this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: The Yankees gave it up to the Sox and Miss America, it turns out, was jilted by ABC. It hasn't been a good week for giants.

It struck us that at least one of those losses says something larger about who we are. Truth be told, former giant is more accurate in the case of Miss America. It's not the kind of thing you necessarily talk about in polite company, but eight decades is a long time, the last 50 unfolding in front of the camera. And now for the first time since she was beamed into our living rooms, Miss America is without a date.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (singing): There she is, Miss America. There she is, your ideal.

BROWN (voice-over): For decades, she was the epitome of American womanhood, a fairy tale come true for anyone who believed that goodness would always be crowned in glory.

It's always been a fall ritual, like the World Series for girls, in days when they didn't mind being called girls, the days when father knew best and Bert Parks knew the rest. He presided over the pageant 1955 until 1980.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And she has championship form. BROWN: The pageant began in 1951, a way to lure more tourists to Atlanta City. For decades, most Miss America contestants were white, which was no accident. In 1937, the pageant decreed that only white women need apply.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And Miss New York looks like the winner.

BROWN: Bess Myerson was the first Jewish woman ever to wear the crown. That happened in '45, but not on television. Americans couldn't tune in until 1954. And, when they could, they did in droves; 47 percent of the nation's TVs were watching when Lee Meriwether won the title 50 years ago.

But as times changed, so did our thoughts about the pageant. In the '60s, as the anti-war movement gave birth to feminism, women began to challenge the pageant as sexist and bras were burned on the boardwalk. Feminists asked serious questions which were usually quickly dismissed. Those who believed in the pageant did so with a fervor.

Despite the parade of beautiful women in bathing suits and high heels, it was never sexist to its ardent fans, who insist it is about scholarship and talent and opportunity. Cynics always implied, that was like saying you read "Playboy" for the fiction.

Contestants could look sexy, just not be sexual. Vanessa Williams dazzled audiences in 1983, when she was crowned as the first black Miss America. But she gave up her crown after a spread in "Penthouse" ignited a firestorm of outrage. Our puritan hearts couldn't deal with it. But we were never quite as innocent as we pretended to be.

Miss America summed up an era, but "Sex and the City" defined another. He's just not that into you anymore was what the announcement from ABC seemed to say to the pageant, a network currently obsessed with a different sort of woman, the "Desperate Housewives."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Phyllis George was crowned Miss America in 1971, the year "The Washington Post" published the Pentagon Papers and President Nixon ended the trade embargo against Cuba, the year the voting age was lowered to 18.

In '71, Pittsburgh beat Baltimore in the World Series. "All in the Family" debuted on CBS. And Simon & Garfunkel's "Bridge Over Troubled Waters" was the album of the year, song of the year, too. And, oh, they were burning bras on the boardwalk in Atlantic City.

Ms. George joins us now.

(CROSSTALK)

BROWN: ... sound old.

(CROSSTALK)

PHYLLIS GEORGE, FORMER MISS AMERICA: Hi, Aaron.

BROWN: Nice to see you.

GEORGE: Thank you for having me.

BROWN: You said an interesting thing, I thought, when we talked to you early. You said, they need to modernize it. And I wonder if you can modernize somehow the concept, that the concept itself was something wonderful and wholesome and of a time, and the culture has changed.

GEORGE: Well, everything has changed.

And as the culture changed and society changed, women's roles changed. And we had to change along with that. And then, when I grew up, the Miss America Pageant was the hottest ticket on television on Saturday night.

BROWN: Yes.

GEORGE: And now we have 100 cable channels and do very good programming. We have TiVo. We have a lot of reasons not to...

BROWN: And you have sort of oddly -- you have other -- you have "The Swan" and you have these sort of reality shows that are...

(CROSSTALK)

GEORGE: We were the first reality show.

(CROSSTALK)

BROWN: Exactly.

And what is it that -- see, I actually think somehow you have got to go back. You can't go back and get Bert Parks, because he passed away.

GEORGE: No. Miss him.

BROWN: I always thought that was a terribly stupid thing to do.

(CROSSTALK)

GEORGE: I agree with you on that.

BROWN: Yes.

GEORGE: He made that program what it was for so many years. And people still to this day come up to me and say, what was Bert Parks really like? You know, what was he like?

BROWN: Honestly, I mean, maybe there are -- of course there are people who can, but I can't tell you who did it after Bert Parks. GEORGE: We had several hosts. And not one has really stuck more than a year or two.

We need another Bert Parks, is what we need. But this program is not ending. And I have had so many phone calls since ABC made the announcement that they weren't picking up our option.

BROWN: Yes.

GEORGE: In television land, that's not a big deal. This is not an ending. This is a beginning for us. And there are tremendous opportunities for us now.

BROWN: Well, like any good Miss America, you are the epitome of optimism.

GEORGE: Of course I am. I believe in this program. It's part of my legacy.

BROWN: It changed your life?

GEORGE: Absolutely. I'm from Denton, Texas.

BROWN: Yes.

GEORGE: And I have gone on to a lot of things, you know, in broadcasting and politics and I've written books and I've been in business. I've done so many things.

And that truly was a springboard for me, as it was for many other Miss Americas, and not only Miss America, those of us that won, but how about on the local level and the state level?

BROWN: Do you have a daughter?

GEORGE: I do, Pamela (ph).

BROWN: Would you be uncomfortable if she was a pageant girl?

GEORGE: Well, I was never a pageant girl, by the way. I didn't enter them...

(CROSSTALK)

BROWN: Well, somehow, you got into the big one.

(CROSSTALK)

GEORGE: ... said, Phyllis, you can play the piano and you've got a big smile. So why don't you come enter this thing? And I did.

BROWN: Yes.

GEORGE: It would be Pamela's choice. She's a broadcast journalism major at UNC Chapel Hill. She's proud of me. But I'm not sure that's the direction she'll go. And for a small-town girl like me, it was a great opportunity to launch my career.

BROWN: Did you ever think this is a little bit demeaning?

GEORGE: Never. I never did.

BROWN: Do you think any of the women think that at all?

GEORGE: No.

But I will tell that you I'm not sure I would enter today in those little teeny-weeny bikinis.

BROWN: Yes.

GEORGE: I won swimsuit in my year. And it was not a pretty swimsuit.

BROWN: If that's what it has to be, maybe it shouldn't be. If what you have to do is tart up Miss America to get people to watch it, maybe it's better to exist in our memory.

GEORGE: Well, no.

I think it is their choice whether they want to do it. Well, this year, it wasn't. Speedo was the sponsor. And they wore it. But, look, you have got the Miss USA Pageant, the Miss Universe, the Miss World. We're the tiffany of pageants. We're 84 years old. We're the largest scholarship program in the world for young women. Last year, we gave out $45 million. But the networks, they feel like they have to do certain things and tweak it here and there in order to make a good television show.

BROWN: They need to get people to watch it.

GEORGE: But we're a 52-year program. We're not on just that one night. We go 52 years.

BROWN: I know, but if you don't have the TV money...

GEORGE: I know. Well, do you watch?

BROWN: You know, when I was in the service in 1969 and came into New Jersey, I snuck up there and snuck in to watch it. Yes, I did.

GEORGE: You did. You admit you did. Did you like the swimsuit?

BROWN: I was sitting so far back, I was hoping, honestly, that I might find a girl. And I was in the service. That's all.

GEORGE: Aww. That's so sweet.

(LAUGHTER)

GEORGE: You have learned something about Aaron Brown, because you're blushing.

BROWN: Probably. Nice to see you.

(LAUGHTER)

GEORGE: Thank you so much.

BROWN: I hope you will come back. We'll find a reason.

GEORGE: Oh, we have got all kinds of new possibilities. They are limitless. We're going to be back strong.

BROWN: You've got a deal. I don't sing, but I would do that if it was asked.

Morning papers after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(ROOSTER CROWING)

BROWN: OK, time to check morning papers from around the country and around the world. It's been a little disruptive in here the last couple of minutes.

OK. "The Des Moines Register." "Des Moines Nurse Sues Over Pacemaker." I don't know why it's a front-page story, but it is, because it's a big story there. "Lawsuit Claims Doctors" -- that's why -- "Would Get Kickbacks For Using Certain Brands." I hate it when my doctor is getting a kickback. Yikes.

"San Antonio Express News." "Grieving Leads to Grief." I'm not sure what the story -- "Mom's Funeral Plea Sparks Firestorm in Mason" -- Texas, I gather. "Man Admits Guilt In" -- this is a really depressing front page in the San Antonio paper for a Saturday. Not doing that.

Here's a story. This is interesting to me how little coverage overall. I'm involved in making coverage decisions. I shouldn't be weirded out by it. "Kyoto Wins Key Vote in Russian Parliament. Global Warming Pact Will Take Effect After Moscow Ratification." The United States won't participate in it, OK, so I don't know how much an effect it will actually have on global warming. I hope some.

How much time we got here? That's one. That's the key. OK. That's OK. It's all the same to me.

Go to the tabloids. Here are some of the stories we missed covering, along with Kyoto, perhaps this one almost as big as Kyoto. "Archaeologists Find Fossil of Real Life Barney the Dinosaur." And this sounds preposterous, I suppose. But the fossil is approximately six feet tall, about the same size as Barney, had big feet meant for dancing, a large, flat nose and a wide grin. In addition, six human fossils believed to be children were found nearby, and one parent who appeared to be screaming.

I hadn't heard this. This I guess came out during former President Clinton's surgery. "Docs finds Monica's Thong in Clinton's Clogged Arteries."

(LAUGHTER)

BROWN: Speaking of politics, "Alien Caught in Hot Tub with Laura Bush and Teresa Heinz Kerry." So what does that say? Now, who's got to apologize for that?

Speaking of politics, and I was, "Donald Rumsfeld Sleeps with G.I. Joe Doll. Secretary of Defense Would Be Singing Soprano If Not For G.I. Joe Doll."

I'm sure there is weather tomorrow in Chicago, but I don't know what it is.

We'll wrap it up in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: A couple of quick things before we say good night.

A lot of you asked if we plan to re-air the piece we did the other night on rescuing the Jews of Iraq. It will re-air in the 4:00 hour and the 10:00 hour tomorrow night, tomorrow afternoon and tomorrow night.

For those of you who plan your weekend around the weather in Chicago, "dicey" is the answer.

Have a great weekend. We'll see you all next week. Good night for all of us at NEWSNIGHT.

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 October 22, 2004 - 22:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
AARON BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening again everyone.
I suppose at first blush the idea of doing a segment on Miss America doesn't sound much like NEWSNIGHT. In fact, I think the opposite is true. Granted the decision of ABC to drop the telecast of the pageant and perhaps put a nail in its coffin isn't exactly Iraq or the presidential campaign but it does say something about who we are and who we were and how we got from there to here.

Just looking at the old tapes in preparing a story for later in the program said much about the culture and how it's changed. So, along with the stuff of life and death and war and peace we'll look at how all we've changed so much that Miss America, the sort of thing little girls dreamed of back in 1948, lost her luster. I have a funny feeling it will be the piece tonight you remember most.

But the whip begins with the campaign and campaign messages growing sharper today, so we begin the whip with our Senior White House Correspondent John King reporting tonight from Florida, John, a headline.

JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Aaron, a tough new speech from the president today, and even new ad, trying to convince the American people as they weigh their vote to put terrorism first -- Aaron.

BROWN: John, thank you.

Next to the Pentagon, another sobering assessment of what American forces are truly up against, our Senior Pentagon Correspondent Jamie McIntyre has the duty on this Friday so, Jamie, a headline.

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Aaron, this new assessment from the Pentagon basically concedes what a lot of experts have been saying that the insurgency in Iraq is bigger and better funded that anyone expected.

BROWN: Jamie, thank you.

And finally, Jane Arraf, who knows a fair amount about the insurgency, she's embedded with troops in northern Iraq, Jane, from there a headline.

JANE ARRAF, CNN BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF: Aaron, it's the most ethnically diverse city in Iraq but Kurds expelled from Kirkuk years ago by Saddam Hussein's regime are finding it isn't so easy to go home again.

BROWN: Jane, thank you. We'll get back to you and the rest shortly.

Also on the program on this Friday, now he wants to be a spoiler, Ralph Nader and why after two failed presidential runs he's still running, still has a following along with a large crowd that wants him out of the race.

Plus, we mentioned at the top, there she is and perhaps there she goes. ABC passes on Miss America. Is this the beginning of the end of a beautiful story?

And who really needs Miss America when (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Martha Stewart, yes, the tabloids will make our morning papers because it is Friday, all that and more in the hour ahead.

We begin tonight with an observation about television and politics. When you see your first animal in a campaign ad the election can't be too far off and whether it's a bear or an eagle, an ostrich or an aardvark, the campaign animals are carrier pigeons in the end. They all have a message, in the president's case that it's a scary world out there, a message delivered today by wolves and by the president himself.

Here again, CNN's John King.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KING (voice-over): Pennsylvania was stop one on a day targeting three big prizes, the president's retooled stump speech designed to put his view of the race in sharper focus.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The security and prosperity of our country, the health and education of our citizens, the retirement of our seniors and the direction of our culture are all at stake.

KING: Winning Pennsylvania requires support from conservative Democrats and Mr. Bush took note of Senator Kerry's vote against a law signed by President Clinton that defined marriage as between a man and a woman.

BUSH: Senator Kerry was a part of the far left bank, far left minority that voted against that piece of legislation.

KING: Health care was the major focus in Ohio and another issue on which Mr. Bush wants to label Senator Kerry a big government liberal.

BUSH: My opponent's plan would increase the scope and the size of the federal government.

KING: But at this and every other stop he leaves no doubt about what he considers most important.

BUSH: My opponent and I have a different vision about how to keep America secure.

KING: A dramatic new ad showing a pack of wolves reinforces a message the Bush campaign calls critical and Democrats call desperate fear mongering.

ANNOUNCER: And weakness attracts those who are waiting to do America harm.

KING: This week's travel underscores the shrinking battlefield in the search for 270 electoral votes. Mr. Bush campaigned in just seven states, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa and Florida.

Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Florida also drew increased Bush TV ad spending in recent days, along with Colorado, Oregon and West Virginia. Florida was Friday's final stop and where Mr. Bush campaigns Saturday, all signs once again suggesting a fierce fight to the end.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KING: And, as the president framed the choices today, whether the issue be health care, taxes or values, he said progress in those areas and everything else depends first on making the American people safe from terrorism and, Aaron, his campaign theme says if the American people, at least a majority accept that argument, then they believe the president's reelection will be a safe bet -- Aaron.

BROWN: OK. Let's start with that idea. Do they -- look most of the -- let me try it this way. Most of the polls show the president with, you know, a couple point lead minimum I think pretty much these days. Where are they worried? What do they think can happen in the next week? Would they like the election today?

KING: They would like the election today but this is what they're worried about. History tells you that in an election the undecided tend to break by two-thirds maybe against the incumbent. If that happens, this president loses the election.

So, what they are trying to do is get back to their greatest strength and essentially say trust this president on the war on terrorism. Put aside history. You may be mad at this president about the economy. You may even be mad at this president about the war in Iraq but you trust him more than Senator Kerry to deal with the war on terrorism. That is their closing argument.

BROWN: Do they really believe there are many undecideds out there?

KING: They believe there are enough in small places, like right here in Florida. The fight here will be quite fierce, Iowa another place where they think a small state but a very close state. They think there are enough to tip a state or two and they think a state or two will decide who wins.

BROWN: John, thank you very much. Have a good weekend out on the trail, John King our White House Correspondent.

Barely a beat after the wolves hit the air the Democratic Party came out with a commercial featuring an ostrich and an eagle. Given the choice, it asked, shouldn't we be an eagle again? Message here the president just doesn't get it on national security. And, in Wisconsin today, Senator Kerry extended the metaphor to domestic issues too.

So reporting the Kerry side of the day here's CNN's Candy Crowley.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SR. POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): What do women want? For starters a guy who gets it.

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: After they punch out at work many of them punch right back in at home for the next shift as the caregiver, the meal cooker, the financial planner, the house cleaner and all the other jobs that they have to do to support their families.

CROWLEY: More women vote than men. Sixty percent of the undecideds are female, talk about girl power. It was a female fest in Milwaukee and John Kerry, no natural in feel-your-pain politics, wooed late-breaking women voters, particularly of the single working mom sort.

KERRY: They have to pay the rent, buy the groceries, clothes for their children but in terms of purchasing power the minimum wage is at the lowest that it's been in 50 years. How dare this administration tell Americans this is the best economy of our lifetime?

CROWLEY: Message, I get it. George Bush does not. Traditionally, Democrats had the edge among women voters but the president has cut into it.

BUSH: If America shows uncertainty or weakness in this decade, the world will drift toward tragedy. This will not happen on my watch.

CROWLEY: His anti-terrorism policy has picked up points among suburban moms which is why as John Kerry focuses on offense on economic turf, his number two plays defense on terrorism.

SEN. JOHN EDWARDS (D), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This president is continuing to try to scare America in his speeches and ads in a despicable and contemptible way. The American people are smarter than they think.

CROWLEY: John Kerry is still up seven points over Bush among female voters but Al Gore scored an 11-point advantage in 2000. (on camera): Kerry strategists say they are not so concerned that Kerry is not doing as well as other Democrats have among women because their polling at least shows he's doing better among men.

Candy Crowley, CNN, Milwaukee.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: On to the war in Iraq and a reality check for whoever wins the election. It comes by way of the Pentagon and paints a picture of a growing insurgency funded in part through Syria with lots of money coming from Saudi Arabia. You know the Saudis, our friends and allies in the war on terror.

Again, here's our Senior Pentagon Correspondent Jamie McIntyre.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MCINTYRE (voice-over): A new internal Pentagon analysis offers a sobering assessment of what the U.S. is up against in Iraq, an insurgency that is growing fueled by an almost unlimited pool of money funneled through Syria.

A U.S. intelligence official tells CNN the insurgency, thought to number between 5,000 and 7,000 months ago, is now estimated to include 12,000 fighters from 50 different cells. The result has been a sharp increase in attacks, as many as 90 a day at times, and more high profile kidnappings, such as the director of CARE International's Iraq office.

MICHAEL O'HANLON, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: We are not winning the war right now. We may turn things around. We may be preparing the Iraqi security forces thoroughly so they can take up the war effort and allow us to gradually withdraw in a year or two but right now we're not winning.

MCINTYRE: The Pentagon continues to insist the increase in violence is to be expected as Iraqi elections draw near and rejects any suggestion Iraq is becoming a quagmire.

DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: And there are some very bad people who want to take that country back to a dark place and I don't call that a quagmire.

MCINTYRE: The Pentagon has said the insurgents were getting money from both Syria and Iran but a new DIA report estimates that roughly half of the $1 billion Saddam Hussein stashed in Syrian banks before the war, some $500 million, is a prime funding source for the militants.

And, it believes millions more are coming from wealthy Saudis and Islamic charities who also funnel money through Syria, a charge the Saudi government called irresponsible and factually incorrect, insisting it has tightened financial controls to ensure no money goes to terrorism.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCINTYRE: Just six months ago, Aaron, officials here were downplaying the idea some of their own intelligence, in fact, that the Iraqi insurgency was gaining more popular support than the Pentagon was acknowledging. These days no one is disputing the fact that the insurgency is bigger and better funded than anyone anticipated -- Aaron.

BROWN: The money part is relatively easy to understand. The allure of the insurgency perhaps a little more complicated. Do they try and even explain what is drawing people to the idea that killing Americans is a good thing to do?

MCINTYRE: Well, the longer that the United States is seen as an occupation force the more disaffected Iraqis seem to be attracted to either helping with the cause or participating directly in it and that's why the U.S. strategy is to get the Iraqis in charge.

They hoped that when there was a transition to Iraqi sovereignty that would begin to make a change. It hasn't really happened. In fact, the attacks have escalated. Now, they're hoping that after the elections that it will be seen more as an Iraqi government in charge. But, again, if the past is any guide, it's not necessarily the case that that will take any of the wind out of the insurgency.

BROWN: Jamie, thank you. It's sobering stuff tonight. Thank you, Jamie McIntyre at the Pentagon.

For some insurgents in Iraq, videotapes of terrified hostages have become a calling card. As you saw just a moment ago, today another one arrived. It aired on the Arab television network Al- Jazeera and it shows the kidnapped humanitarian aide worker Margaret Hassan pleading for her life and urging Prime Minister Tony Blair to pull British troops from Iraq.

Ms. Hassan, the director of CARE International in Baghdad, holds dual citizenship, British and Iraqi. She was abducted on Tuesday after arriving at work. Her captors have made no demands and given no explanation for her kidnapping.

Mostly when we talk of Iraq we talk of Sunnis and Shiites, the former had the power in the old days. The latter has the majority of the people in the country. Left out of the conversation all too often is a third group, the Kurds. In the far north of the country they are the majority and for a decade they have lived mostly free of the terror of Saddam.

In some respects they are the most complicated piece of the Iraqi puzzle for they are the most well-to-do, the most established society and the least likely to make concessions to be part of a greater Iraq, which may offer them less than what they had and what they want.

Here's CNN's Jane Arraf.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) ARRAF (voice-over): This is the most precious thing Mustafa Ahmed Mustafa (ph) owns these documents in a plastic bag. They're 40 years old, blackened and shredding but they say his Kurdish grandfather owned land near Kirkuk.

"They arrested my father and put him in jail. They broke four of his fingers. After that they forced us to leave Kirkuk" he said.

That was 1987. He came back from Kurdish-controlled Iraq two months ago and found that his house had been destroyed and Arab families had been resettled on his land.

Mustafa and his wife (UNINTELLIGIBLE) are better off than most of the 3,000 families who live in this sprawling camp. He works as a laborer and has started building a house illegally on this city property. There's no running water though and although they have a new fridge there's no electricity. When the kids get sick there's no doctor here.

(UNINTELLIGIBLE) who's 26 and expecting a fourth child says although conditions were a lot better in the camp in Kurdish- controlled (UNINTELLIGIBLE) they were in, she considers this city home.

To help entrench the Kurdish identity of oil-rich Kirkuk, U.S. officials say Kurdish parties encourage displaced Kurds to return here before a planned census now canceled.

More than 2,000 families live in this abandoned army camp. They say they want better living conditions but they also say Kirkuk is their home and they're not planning to leave.

The U.S. military, working through the Iraqi government, has taken on bringing in electrical lines and trying to provide water. These Kurds say they trust only the United States to keep them safe.

Nabat Mohammed (ph) named her baby girl (UNINTELLIGIBLE) which means homeland for Kirkuk. If she had had a boy she would have named him George Bush she tells us.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): We're worried that if the Americans leave here, Saddam and his regime will come back, so if the Americans leave they need to take us with them.

ARRAF: In the same way the coalition forces rid them of Saddam, the coalition has to help establish a real Iraqi government that can help them finally go back to their homes they say.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ARRAF: The city is often seen as a test case of whether Iraq's ethnic groups can actually live together. So far it's working but no one is touching that volatile issue of the hundreds of thousands of people of all ethnic groups resettled by Saddam Hussein -- Aaron.

BROWN: Jane, among other things the Kurds have their own army. They have the largest militia in Iraq.

ARRAF: They do and interesting that was one of the things that the former coalition authorities under Paul Bremer wanted to disband. They wanted to disband the Peshmerga. The Peshmerga is still there. It is still protecting northern Iraq and the Kurds say they won't give it up.

BROWN: Jane, thank you, good week for you, Jane Arraf in northern Iraq tonight.

Ahead on the program, Republicans love him, Democrats hate him, voters seem so-so, a look at the other candidate in this election Ralph Nader.

Also tonight, Sinclair Broadcasting's big night with the airing of portions of an anti-Kerry film, a boom or bust for the broadcasting company? Howard Kurtz joins us tonight.

From New York this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: You can make a pretty fair case that but for Ralph Nader we'd all be covering the Gore reelection campaign right about now. Mr. Nader, of course, would disagree. He has on many occasions but numbers are numbers and tonight they leave room for a repeat performance, different states, fewer states.

The Supreme Court of Ohio today rejected his bid to get on the ballot there but in enough states he's still drawing enough support to affect the outcome and in 2004, as in the year 2000, people are asking the same question, why?

In a moment we'll talk to a former protege who's now begging Mr. Nader to get out, first a couple of reports beginning with CNN's Tom Foreman.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Ralph Nader is perpetually called a spoiler but he could give the title to himself. His is dead set on spoiling the two-party party.

RALPH NADER (I), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The two-party system is rigged. It's rigged from the ballot access barriers, from the dirty tricks the Democrats are using to keep us off the ballot, all the way to the exclusion from the debate.

FOREMAN: Nader briefly stood by John Kerry early on but now Nader supporters say the Senator shows little respect for their issues and a lot of similarities to the incumbent.

KEVIN ZEESE, CAMPAIGN SPOKESPERSON: John Kerry voted for the war, voted for the Patriot Act, blindly supports Israel against Palestine, supported No Child Left Behind, is even weak on the environment. So, on all those key issues, John Kerry's wrong. FOREMAN: Even in battleground states, Nader voters openly say both major parties are consumed with big money and ignoring issues of fairness, equality, not their man.

CHE GADISON, OHIO NADER SUPPORTER: He does want to help not just our community but basically the underdog.

FOREMAN: Kerry supporters complain Nader will take votes and still be a joke.

JAY LENO, COMEDIAN: And Ralph Nader said he's not getting a flu shot either, although in his case he doesn't really need one because he doesn't come in contact with any large crowds. He's OK.

FOREMAN: But Nader fans say even if they help George Bush win their votes will not be wasted.

STEVE SHAFARMAN, NADER SUPPORTER: I'm investing my vote in creating a stronger democracy.

FOREMAN (on camera): What does that mean?

SHAFARMAN: It's about creating a stronger democracy in the future when other voices can be heard when we will have more choices.

FOREMAN (voice-over): With enough votes to bolster their legal challenges of the election process they believe third parties may become less of a laughing matter.

Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) obviously Mr. Nader is in it, not to win it but to make a point that he's a man of conviction, a man of principle, now the numbers in all of this from CNN's Bill Schneider.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BILL SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST (voice-over): In 2000, Ralph Nader got more than 97,000 votes in Florida. Bush carried the state by 537. How worried should Democrats be this year with Nader averaging less than two percent in the polls?

Not all of Nader's votes come at the Democrats' expense. If forced to choose between John Kerry and Bush about half of Nader's current supporters say they would vote for Kerry. A quarter would vote for Bush. The rest wouldn't vote for either one. Nader's running mate says Kerry and Bush are nearly one and the same.

PETER CAMEJO (I), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Kerry gave George Bush 18 standing ovations in January. That's hard to do with somebody you don't like.

SCHNEIDER: Nader's running mate in 1996 and 2000 doesn't agree. She recently endorsed Kerry saying: "He is a rational alternative to the most destructive administration in recent memory."

Right now, Nader is on the ballot in 34 states and the District of Columbia. How many states look like potential Floridas? Those are states where Nader is on the ballot. Kerry is not leading in the post debate polls and Bush's lead is smaller than Nader's vote. Those conditions hold in four states right now, Arkansas, Wisconsin, New Hampshire and Florida.

In 2000, New Hampshire and Florida were the two states where Nader got enough votes to put Bush over the top. In a race this close even a diminished Nader could cost the Democrats victory again. Nader's response, "If the race is that close, it's not my fault."

NADER: The Democrats should be land sliding George W. Bush. He stands for everything that represents greed, power, domination and autocracy by giant corporations.

SCHNEIDER: A historian once said third parties are like bees. They sting and then they die. Ralph Nader is haunting this race like the undead.

Bill Schneider, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Coming up next a man who was Ralph Nader's protege. Mark Green joins us here in New York.

And later, say it ain't so, no more baton twirlers, no more world peace? Oh, my goodness. The American Broadcasting Company bids farewell to Miss America and we say hello to Phyllis George but we take a break first.

This is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Well, if anyone can call himself the heir to Ralph Nader, Mark Green is the man. For ten years he was one of Mr. Nader's closest associates, former public advocate, sort of the city's ombudsman here in New York. Currently he works for the Kerry campaign though that is not the capacity he's in tonight. We're glad to have him with us, good to see you, Mark. Welcome.

MARK GREEN: Thank you, Aaron. By the way, I don't work for the -- I'm his co-chair but no money has changed hands.

BROWN: Work in a different sense.

GREEN: All right.

BROWN: Anyway, let's talk about Mr. Nader. People I think in their worst moments will say, look, it's just all about Ralph. It's all about ego. Is it that simple?

GREEN: No, if it were, he wouldn't run. He's a smart man who understands that if, God forbid, he twice elects George W. Bush it's ruinous. Now, he's extremely messianically willful so that if 24 or 25 friends say don't do this, like Lincoln's (UNINTELLIGIBLE). He says 24 nay one aye, the ayes have it.

BROWN: Yes.

GREEN: Second, he has high-minded reasons for running. I don't agree with them but he would argue he's going to pull out more voters. He's going to make more radical critiques of Bush than the Democratic nominee could make on Iraq, on living wage.

BROWN: Nobody, I mean -- I don't want to say no one's listening to him. Someone surely is but by and large no one's listening to him, so it's a tree fallen in the forest that no one hears.

GREEN: Well, he is on television these couple of weeks for the reason of Bill Schneider's lead-in.

BROWN: Yes.

GREEN: He could make the margin of difference. So, you're right in that Democrats have thrown him into the brier patch of ballot access fights, so 90 percent of what you hear about him is he's on, he's off the Ohio, the Pennsylvania ballot.

So, he hasn't really gotten out his critique. Now a lot of Democrats I know agree with his critique, agree that he has technically of course the right to run but it's not right that he runs because he risks reelecting the least progressive president of the century.

BROWN: When did you last talk to him?

GREEN: Sunday.

BROWN: Does he give any ground at all? Does he worry, for example, that the rather extraordinary career that he had before this one, before the Harold Stassen phase of his career, is going to be forgotten, lost?

GREEN: You know, when I worked with him, he was very famous and very popular. He never said, as big politicians do, hey, did you see me on AARON BROWN, did you see me on the "TIME" magazine cover?

It was all about the issue, not him. And so right now, he never talks about, oh, this is going to hurt me. He still talks about the issues that he thinks are underdeveloped. Aaron, he has $1 billion in political capital and goodwill created over 40 years of life-saving efforts.

GREEN: To bet all your chips on a sure shot, that is rational. To bet all your chips on a long shot is either heroic or insane or a combination of both. So you're right. It is hard to understand. In his mind, he's doing it for idealistic reasons.

BROWN: Do you think it does in fact have an effect on that other movement, on the consumer advocate movement? I wonder if people send money anymore to it.

GREEN: He created a hundred groups, successfully challenged Congress, ended nuclear power.

BROWN: Yes.

GREEN: But his major institution is Public citizen, with Common Cause and the environment groups, the leading citizen groups in Washington. They're hurting. Fewer people are giving and donating, because, even though he left the group some 20 years ago, having created it, they're blaming it for his run.

And almost all his friends didn't want him to do. The people who supported him in 2000, from Michael Moore, Susan Sarandon, Phil Donahue, are not having a run. So we're dealing with a level of willfulness that -- I never met Teddy Roosevelt or Lenin, but it has to be of that level, where you accomplish great things or you have great failures.

BROWN: It's good to see you.

GREEN: Thank you, Aaron.

BROWN: Thanks for coming in.

He's an interesting guy. He's been an interesting guy for 40 years. And he'll go out that way, I guess. Thank you, Mark. Nice to see you.

GREEN: Thank you.

BROWN: Still to come tonight, "Stolen Honor" or stolen airtime. Sinclair Broadcasting airs portions of a very controversial, very anti-John Kerry film tonight.

And while the Sinclair story might be seen by some as sort of tabloidy, we actually have tabloids because it's Friday. So we'll get to that in morning papers, Miss America, lots more.

This is NEWSNIGHT on a Friday in New York.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: The saga of Sinclair Broadcasting, the owner of more than 60 TV stations, and its decision to air all or parts of a harshly anti-John Kerry film on its stations so near the election has been a drama of its own.

The company said it never intended to air the whole anti-Kerry film, though some of its station managers said otherwise. It became the target of complaints to the FCC, the target the lawsuits by shareholders. It fired its Washington reporter and tonight finally aired on its stations a program featuring Senator Kerry's remarks about Vietnam more than a generation ago.

So what did it turn out to be after all this fuss? We're joined now from Washington by the host of CNN's "RELIABLE SOURCES," media critic for "The Washington Post," Howard Kurtz.

Good evening, Howie. What did they do?

HOWARD KURTZ, "RELIABLE SOURCES": Well, Aaron, it was a more balanced program than a lot of critics had been led to expect. There were several attempts to show the other side.

But at the top, the first 10 minutes or so, you would have to say that it was pretty loaded against John Kerry. For example, Carlton Sherwood, who is the producer of that anti-Kerry film, "Stolen Honor," began the program by saying, what is John Kerry's campaign afraid of? There was one former POW from Vietnam who accused Kerry of having made false charges in 1971, another who compared him to Benedict Arnold.

But then later, we heard from a couple of pro-Kerry veterans and they showed about four minutes a pro-Kerry Vietnam film, "Going Upriver" by George Butler. And there was an interview with Butler as well.

BROWN: As you look at how the last I guess three weeks or so has played out, is there any doubt in your mind that what Sinclair put on the air today is different from what it intended to put on the air three weeks ago?

KURTZ: I think Sinclair would dispute that.

However, about 10 days ago, one of is executives told me they planned to air the whole 42-minute "Stolen Honor" and then have some sort of panel discussion and perhaps provide more time if Senator Kerry agreed to come on, which he did not. The Kerry campaign, by the way, spokesman, Chad Clanton telling me that this was a premeditated smear. So they didn't find it very fair and balanced.

But, yes, look, Sinclair was clearly just rocked by the complaints with the FCC and the FEC and the Democrats saying this was a partisan pro-Bush organization and the flap with the Washington reporter which you mention and the stock going down. Clearly, Sinclair wanted to at least make some stab at showing that it could produce a documentary that had more than just charges against John Kerry.

BROWN: Well, at some point in the next -- I guess probably Monday, we'll see how many -- we'll understand how many people actually watched it. It was on a lot of stations, some of them big stations, some not.

Is there any evidence that the coverage of it itself became bigger than what it is that they did?

KURTZ: I wouldn't be surprised, Aaron, if this draws a pretty big number in the 40 markets where it was shown where Sinclair has stations, many of them swing states.

After all, it is has gotten an avalanche of free publicity. A lot of people had never heard of Sinclair Broadcast Group before this flap. So, you can either subscribe to the view that all publicity is good publicity or you can say that this is a company that has been painted by critics as having a partisan agenda.

One thing that might have made this program a little fairer would be to spend more than one segment out of about six or seven on President Bush's National Guard record and the controversy over his military service. But they did spend time on that, but most of the program devoted to Kerry, his testimony after coming back as an anti- war veteran from Vietnam.

And so even when pro-Kerry witnesses or friends or guests were heard from, they were on the defensive pretty much for the entire show.

BROWN: Howie, thank you. And I know it has been a long day for you, Howard Kurtz in Washington and the host of "RELIABLE SOURCES" this weekend on CNN.

Ahead on the program tonight, a depressing sign of the times, the Miss America story. And a Miss America herself, Phyllis George, joins us.

And I wonder what the rooster will look like in an evening gown. Well, I don't even want to think about that. Do you?

Around the world, this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: The Yankees gave it up to the Sox and Miss America, it turns out, was jilted by ABC. It hasn't been a good week for giants.

It struck us that at least one of those losses says something larger about who we are. Truth be told, former giant is more accurate in the case of Miss America. It's not the kind of thing you necessarily talk about in polite company, but eight decades is a long time, the last 50 unfolding in front of the camera. And now for the first time since she was beamed into our living rooms, Miss America is without a date.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (singing): There she is, Miss America. There she is, your ideal.

BROWN (voice-over): For decades, she was the epitome of American womanhood, a fairy tale come true for anyone who believed that goodness would always be crowned in glory.

It's always been a fall ritual, like the World Series for girls, in days when they didn't mind being called girls, the days when father knew best and Bert Parks knew the rest. He presided over the pageant 1955 until 1980.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And she has championship form. BROWN: The pageant began in 1951, a way to lure more tourists to Atlanta City. For decades, most Miss America contestants were white, which was no accident. In 1937, the pageant decreed that only white women need apply.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And Miss New York looks like the winner.

BROWN: Bess Myerson was the first Jewish woman ever to wear the crown. That happened in '45, but not on television. Americans couldn't tune in until 1954. And, when they could, they did in droves; 47 percent of the nation's TVs were watching when Lee Meriwether won the title 50 years ago.

But as times changed, so did our thoughts about the pageant. In the '60s, as the anti-war movement gave birth to feminism, women began to challenge the pageant as sexist and bras were burned on the boardwalk. Feminists asked serious questions which were usually quickly dismissed. Those who believed in the pageant did so with a fervor.

Despite the parade of beautiful women in bathing suits and high heels, it was never sexist to its ardent fans, who insist it is about scholarship and talent and opportunity. Cynics always implied, that was like saying you read "Playboy" for the fiction.

Contestants could look sexy, just not be sexual. Vanessa Williams dazzled audiences in 1983, when she was crowned as the first black Miss America. But she gave up her crown after a spread in "Penthouse" ignited a firestorm of outrage. Our puritan hearts couldn't deal with it. But we were never quite as innocent as we pretended to be.

Miss America summed up an era, but "Sex and the City" defined another. He's just not that into you anymore was what the announcement from ABC seemed to say to the pageant, a network currently obsessed with a different sort of woman, the "Desperate Housewives."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Phyllis George was crowned Miss America in 1971, the year "The Washington Post" published the Pentagon Papers and President Nixon ended the trade embargo against Cuba, the year the voting age was lowered to 18.

In '71, Pittsburgh beat Baltimore in the World Series. "All in the Family" debuted on CBS. And Simon & Garfunkel's "Bridge Over Troubled Waters" was the album of the year, song of the year, too. And, oh, they were burning bras on the boardwalk in Atlantic City.

Ms. George joins us now.

(CROSSTALK)

BROWN: ... sound old.

(CROSSTALK)

PHYLLIS GEORGE, FORMER MISS AMERICA: Hi, Aaron.

BROWN: Nice to see you.

GEORGE: Thank you for having me.

BROWN: You said an interesting thing, I thought, when we talked to you early. You said, they need to modernize it. And I wonder if you can modernize somehow the concept, that the concept itself was something wonderful and wholesome and of a time, and the culture has changed.

GEORGE: Well, everything has changed.

And as the culture changed and society changed, women's roles changed. And we had to change along with that. And then, when I grew up, the Miss America Pageant was the hottest ticket on television on Saturday night.

BROWN: Yes.

GEORGE: And now we have 100 cable channels and do very good programming. We have TiVo. We have a lot of reasons not to...

BROWN: And you have sort of oddly -- you have other -- you have "The Swan" and you have these sort of reality shows that are...

(CROSSTALK)

GEORGE: We were the first reality show.

(CROSSTALK)

BROWN: Exactly.

And what is it that -- see, I actually think somehow you have got to go back. You can't go back and get Bert Parks, because he passed away.

GEORGE: No. Miss him.

BROWN: I always thought that was a terribly stupid thing to do.

(CROSSTALK)

GEORGE: I agree with you on that.

BROWN: Yes.

GEORGE: He made that program what it was for so many years. And people still to this day come up to me and say, what was Bert Parks really like? You know, what was he like?

BROWN: Honestly, I mean, maybe there are -- of course there are people who can, but I can't tell you who did it after Bert Parks. GEORGE: We had several hosts. And not one has really stuck more than a year or two.

We need another Bert Parks, is what we need. But this program is not ending. And I have had so many phone calls since ABC made the announcement that they weren't picking up our option.

BROWN: Yes.

GEORGE: In television land, that's not a big deal. This is not an ending. This is a beginning for us. And there are tremendous opportunities for us now.

BROWN: Well, like any good Miss America, you are the epitome of optimism.

GEORGE: Of course I am. I believe in this program. It's part of my legacy.

BROWN: It changed your life?

GEORGE: Absolutely. I'm from Denton, Texas.

BROWN: Yes.

GEORGE: And I have gone on to a lot of things, you know, in broadcasting and politics and I've written books and I've been in business. I've done so many things.

And that truly was a springboard for me, as it was for many other Miss Americas, and not only Miss America, those of us that won, but how about on the local level and the state level?

BROWN: Do you have a daughter?

GEORGE: I do, Pamela (ph).

BROWN: Would you be uncomfortable if she was a pageant girl?

GEORGE: Well, I was never a pageant girl, by the way. I didn't enter them...

(CROSSTALK)

BROWN: Well, somehow, you got into the big one.

(CROSSTALK)

GEORGE: ... said, Phyllis, you can play the piano and you've got a big smile. So why don't you come enter this thing? And I did.

BROWN: Yes.

GEORGE: It would be Pamela's choice. She's a broadcast journalism major at UNC Chapel Hill. She's proud of me. But I'm not sure that's the direction she'll go. And for a small-town girl like me, it was a great opportunity to launch my career.

BROWN: Did you ever think this is a little bit demeaning?

GEORGE: Never. I never did.

BROWN: Do you think any of the women think that at all?

GEORGE: No.

But I will tell that you I'm not sure I would enter today in those little teeny-weeny bikinis.

BROWN: Yes.

GEORGE: I won swimsuit in my year. And it was not a pretty swimsuit.

BROWN: If that's what it has to be, maybe it shouldn't be. If what you have to do is tart up Miss America to get people to watch it, maybe it's better to exist in our memory.

GEORGE: Well, no.

I think it is their choice whether they want to do it. Well, this year, it wasn't. Speedo was the sponsor. And they wore it. But, look, you have got the Miss USA Pageant, the Miss Universe, the Miss World. We're the tiffany of pageants. We're 84 years old. We're the largest scholarship program in the world for young women. Last year, we gave out $45 million. But the networks, they feel like they have to do certain things and tweak it here and there in order to make a good television show.

BROWN: They need to get people to watch it.

GEORGE: But we're a 52-year program. We're not on just that one night. We go 52 years.

BROWN: I know, but if you don't have the TV money...

GEORGE: I know. Well, do you watch?

BROWN: You know, when I was in the service in 1969 and came into New Jersey, I snuck up there and snuck in to watch it. Yes, I did.

GEORGE: You did. You admit you did. Did you like the swimsuit?

BROWN: I was sitting so far back, I was hoping, honestly, that I might find a girl. And I was in the service. That's all.

GEORGE: Aww. That's so sweet.

(LAUGHTER)

GEORGE: You have learned something about Aaron Brown, because you're blushing.

BROWN: Probably. Nice to see you.

(LAUGHTER)

GEORGE: Thank you so much.

BROWN: I hope you will come back. We'll find a reason.

GEORGE: Oh, we have got all kinds of new possibilities. They are limitless. We're going to be back strong.

BROWN: You've got a deal. I don't sing, but I would do that if it was asked.

Morning papers after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(ROOSTER CROWING)

BROWN: OK, time to check morning papers from around the country and around the world. It's been a little disruptive in here the last couple of minutes.

OK. "The Des Moines Register." "Des Moines Nurse Sues Over Pacemaker." I don't know why it's a front-page story, but it is, because it's a big story there. "Lawsuit Claims Doctors" -- that's why -- "Would Get Kickbacks For Using Certain Brands." I hate it when my doctor is getting a kickback. Yikes.

"San Antonio Express News." "Grieving Leads to Grief." I'm not sure what the story -- "Mom's Funeral Plea Sparks Firestorm in Mason" -- Texas, I gather. "Man Admits Guilt In" -- this is a really depressing front page in the San Antonio paper for a Saturday. Not doing that.

Here's a story. This is interesting to me how little coverage overall. I'm involved in making coverage decisions. I shouldn't be weirded out by it. "Kyoto Wins Key Vote in Russian Parliament. Global Warming Pact Will Take Effect After Moscow Ratification." The United States won't participate in it, OK, so I don't know how much an effect it will actually have on global warming. I hope some.

How much time we got here? That's one. That's the key. OK. That's OK. It's all the same to me.

Go to the tabloids. Here are some of the stories we missed covering, along with Kyoto, perhaps this one almost as big as Kyoto. "Archaeologists Find Fossil of Real Life Barney the Dinosaur." And this sounds preposterous, I suppose. But the fossil is approximately six feet tall, about the same size as Barney, had big feet meant for dancing, a large, flat nose and a wide grin. In addition, six human fossils believed to be children were found nearby, and one parent who appeared to be screaming.

I hadn't heard this. This I guess came out during former President Clinton's surgery. "Docs finds Monica's Thong in Clinton's Clogged Arteries."

(LAUGHTER)

BROWN: Speaking of politics, "Alien Caught in Hot Tub with Laura Bush and Teresa Heinz Kerry." So what does that say? Now, who's got to apologize for that?

Speaking of politics, and I was, "Donald Rumsfeld Sleeps with G.I. Joe Doll. Secretary of Defense Would Be Singing Soprano If Not For G.I. Joe Doll."

I'm sure there is weather tomorrow in Chicago, but I don't know what it is.

We'll wrap it up in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: A couple of quick things before we say good night.

A lot of you asked if we plan to re-air the piece we did the other night on rescuing the Jews of Iraq. It will re-air in the 4:00 hour and the 10:00 hour tomorrow night, tomorrow afternoon and tomorrow night.

For those of you who plan your weekend around the weather in Chicago, "dicey" is the answer.

Have a great weekend. We'll see you all next week. Good night for all of us at NEWSNIGHT.

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