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American Morning
Storm's Aftermath; Future of Iraq; 'Blowing My Cover'
Aired January 24, 2005 - 07:31 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: That sunshine is going to melt some of that snow, but probably not today anyway. Welcome back, everybody. Back to the weather here in a few moments. It's still a state of emergency in parts of the Northeast as they try and cope with the blizzard over the weekend. One of the states hardest hit was New Jersey. Chad is there, in fact, giving us a look at the mess across the Hudson. So, we'll get to Chad outside in a moment here.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Was that a Siberian husky or was that just a wolf that finally came out? I think that was a wolf.
Also this morning, what does the CIA teach you in spy school? We're going to talk to a graduate in a just few minutes. She's giving up details on one of the most top secret curriculum on earth. Interestingly, how to work a cocktail party was actually a required class.
HEMMER: She gave up her identity, too. And interesting story to tell.
Carol Costello has made it across town.
Good morning, Carol. How are you?
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: I just found out that Soledad O'Brien went to the grocery store on Friday, buying toilet paper and bread for the weekend.
HEMMER: Smart.
O'BRIEN: Bread and milk, actually. We had plenty of toilet paper. You never know. I mean, come on!
COSTELLO: Oh, Soledad!
O'BRIEN: You have lived here not long enough to make fun of me.
COSTELLO: I'm from Ohio, though. Do you really believe that the stores aren't going to be open for days after, like, one day of snow?
O'BRIEN: There were so many people, you couldn't get into Whole Foods. They actually were rationing, like, the number of people who were allowed in at one time. I'm not kidding.
COSTELLO: It's crazy. That's why you shouldn't have gone. I'm going to make fun of you all day for that.
O'BRIEN: OK.
COSTELLO: "Now in the News." And good morning to everyone.
We begin in the Middle East, where officials appear to be inching towards a possible truce in Gaza. New Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas says two of the largest Palestinian militant groups, Hamas and the Islamic Jihad, have agreed to suspend attacks against Israelis. Abbas has extended his visit in the area to try to get a more definite pledge of a cease-fire. Israel has promised to hold its fire unless provoked.
Here in the United States, Boston's Logan Airport is set to reopen this morning after a powerful winter storm. Parts of Massachusetts are digging out after getting hit with 2 to 3 feet of snow. We'll have more on how the rest of the Northeast is coping in just a minute.
And authorities in Florida say a convicted sex offender is now facing federal kidnapping charges in the abduction of an 11-year-old boy. Frederick Fretz (ph) was arrested yesterday in northern Georgia. Authorities accuse him of kidnapping his roommate's son last Tuesday from the boy's school in north central Florida. The child is said to be safe and has since been reunited with his family.
And in entertainment news, rapper/actor Ice Cube is topping the big screen. His comedy, "Are We There Yet," earning more than 18 million bucks this weekend and winning the No. 1 slot at the box office. The film sent the basketball drama, "Coach Carter," back to the bench. It slipped to No. 2. The comedy, "Meet the Fockers," came in third.
HEMMER: You still have to say it.
COSTELLO: I just love saying that.
HEMMER: As long as it's making money.
COSTELLO: Exactly.
HEMMER: Thanks, carol.
O'BRIEN: Thanks.
The Northeast is digging out from what weather historians are calling one of the 10 worst storms in the last 100 years.
Chad Myers is live for us in Hoboken, New Hampshire, where they are anticipating some pretty bad mass transit trouble this morning.
Hey, Chad, good morning.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Soledad.
You know, if you're watching from Miami or from Tampa, where really mass transit is not a huge problem or really even that big of a priority, you may not understand the problem that the Northeast corridor is having today.
From really north of D.C. through Baltimore into New York and right on to Boston, the trains are running very slow. And, in fact, many trains are actually canceled or separated by minutes that typically won't happen on a normal day.
Some of the Amtrak trains, at about 15 minutes they typically can run between five and seven minutes at a time. But because Amtrak is not sure that these tracks are going to switch on time -- because they're moving so slowly, the iron is very cold this morning -- they are separating the trains, making fewer trains on each track, just like we separate the planes if there's a snowstorm or if there's fog.
This is causing real havoc for commuters here, trying to get either onto a very busy train or missing the train. And so many trains, even as I took up here from Philadelphia yesterday up here, were 20, 30, an hour late, sometimes two hours behind. And that's not usual for trains. They usually run on time.
We're here in Hoboken. You can see now this is actually the bus terminal. But back over here behind me into some of the path trains, they are going to be very busy today in just getting here.
There is also trouble. A lot of folks dropping off their loved ones here. The good news is many, many of the schools are closed. That will keep some people off the roads. But that's not going to be enough to keep this place running on time today.
Take your patience, obviously, even if you're just driving this afternoon or this morning.
Back to you.
O'BRIEN: That is excellent advice. Thanks, Chad.
Rob Marciano is at the CNN center with the latest for us as well.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HEMMER: Just hours ago, a militant group led by Abu Musab al- Zarqawi claims it carried out a suicide car bomb attack very close to the headquarters of interim Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's party. Twelve people are hurt, 10 of them Iraqi police officers.
Jane Arraf joins us now by way of videophone. She's with U.S. forces in Falluja, where troops are getting ready to provide security for the election on Sunday.
Jane -- hello.
JANE ARRAF, CNN BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF: Hello, Bill.
They are getting ready to provide security and more. Now, the official line is that the U.S. military is not supposed to be involved in the elections. Understandably, they don't want the image that these are elections that are rigged, overseen or in any way tainted by American occupation forces.
But, in fact, out here in Falluja and in a lot of other places, there is nobody else to provide security. There is nobody else to hand out information. And they are getting the word out. They've been handing out flyers, telling people elections will take place. They will provide outer cordon security, and they are training Iraqi forces to provide security at the polling sites themselves.
Now, here in Falluja, it's obviously an interesting dilemma. Citizens are starting to come back to the city after that fierce battle. But there isn't a whole lot left in this city, and there's not a whole lot known about these elections that take place in less than a week from now -- Bill.
HEMMER: Jane Arraf on videophone in Falluja. Thanks, Jane -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Lindsay Moran went straight from the Ivy League to the farm. That's the CIA's name for its secret agent training center. Now, Lindsay Moran is sharing her story in a book called "Blowing My Cover: My Life as a CIA Spy and Other Misadventures."
Nice to see you, Lindsay. Thanks for coming in to talk to us.
LINDSAY MORAN, FORMER CIA AGENT: Thank you for having me.
O'BRIEN: Harvard class of '91, commencement speaker, Fulbright Scholar. Why did you want to be a spy when you could have done anything?
MORAN: It had been a lifelong dream of mine. When I was a small child, I was sort of obsessed with this character, Harriet the spy...
O'BRIEN: Of course.
MORAN: ... and read all of the books featuring her. And then I graduated from that to an obsession with James Bond movies and Ian Fleming books. And it was kind of like an itch that I had to scratch, I guess.
I also had what I now realize was kind of a delusion that it was a bit of a family legacy. I thought that both my father and my grandfather had been spies, and that this was sort of a birthright for me.
O'BRIEN: Since you're a spy, what are you telling everybody that you're doing when you go into training at spy school?
MORAN: The CIA kind of left it up to us as to what we would tell our family and friends, those people who didn't know. So, I had a different story about every three or four months. But I found out later that everybody bought my stories. So that was great.
And you spend about three months at Langley sort of learning how the CIA works, and then go down to the farm. And we had two months of paramilitary training, which was actually the funnest part of the CIA training. It's like of like an extended outward bound course or something. And I write a lot about that in the book, and I write also about our trade craft training, which is -- in a lot of ways, it's training you how to have social skills, because you're learning to kind of circulate the diplomatic cocktail circuit and use that as a venue to find potential targets.
O'BRIEN: You write about how you were disillusioned a lot by the CIA. In what ways?
MORAN: Well, partly it's just the culture of the agency. But mostly, it was a realization that what I think has been thought of as this kind of mythical and omnipotent organization is on some levels just a big, plodding bureaucracy. You know, there have been a number of CIA failures throughout the past several decades culminating, I think, in the largest intelligence failure, which was 9/11.
O'BRIEN: Why did you leave the CIA? And then when did you leave?
MORAN: I left in May of 2003, and for a number of reasons, some of which were personal. And I talk about that in the book. Kind of my personal discomfort with what being a spy was.
And I don't hold the agency accountable for that. Spying is a dirty business. Espionage is a dirty business. But I found ultimately, I didn't really enjoy sort of preying upon people and using their vulnerabilities to get them to come work for the U.S. That's the nature of being a spy. So that was the personal aspect.
And then kind of an ideological aspect, as I write in the book or I show through kind of funny anecdotes. It's not overtly critical of the agency, but through the anecdotes it shows some of the dysfunction. I felt that the agency was not serving this country well, and that this was not a place I wanted to spend the rest of my career.
O'BRIEN: The book is called "Blowing My Cover: My Life as a CIA Spy." Nice having you, Lindsay Moran, talking to us this morning.
MORAN: Thank you very much.
HEMMER: Soledad, thanks. Nineteen minutes before the hour now.
In a moment, gas prices are up. OPEC may be trying to keep them there. Andy has that and also your favorite Johnny Carson memories.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: A big jump at the nation's gas pumps. Andy Serwer is here "Minding Your Business," a check of the markets, too.
Good morning.
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Good morning to you guys.
Some economic fallout from the big blizzard and all of that cold weather. You got it. Higher oil prices and higher gas prices at the pump here for U.S. consumers. The price of oil is $49 a barrel, just about midway between that low point of 41 and 55 that we had last October and the price of gasoline up 5 cents a gallon over the past two weeks. Nationwide average, $1.85. No one likes to see that.
The low is Cheyenne, Wyoming -- I love doing these lows -- $1.70 a gallon in Cheyenne. So feeling good up there in Wyoming.
Higher oil prices means lower stock prices. That's the trend we've seen all year. Last week, the third week in a row we've been down -- look at that -- 165 points on the Dow down last week. Nasdaq down on a percentage basis even more.
The January swoon continues, and the January swoon continued for -- or began, really, for the Falcons and the Steelers, did it not? Yes, it did.
HEMMER: It did.
SERWER: It did. You guys watch any of the games a little bit?
HEMMER: Sure.
SERWER: Todd, this is a chance for you to show some Eagles footage here.
HEMMER: Who is Todd, by the way?
SERWER: Todd Boner (ph), our producer, who is a major Eagles fan here, and was down at the game with his 73-year-old father.
HEMMER: He took his father.
SERWER: His father took him in that 20-degree weather. They were bundled up all the way to their noses.
HEMMER: And they loved every single snap of it.
SERWER: They did. And it was a lot of fun. The games were fun to watch.
And how did the anchors do? The anchors did pretty well. I was 2-0. Bill was 2-0. Soledad, 2-0.
O'BRIEN: Yea, the Todd!
HEMMER: Sole-Todd (ph).
SERWER: Sole-Todd (ph), thank you. Jack, the defender of the underdogs...
HEMMER: That's right.
SERWER: ... was 0-2.
HEMMER: Hey, let it be known, by the way, Jack Cafferty always pays his debt.
SERWER: Oh, he did? He did pay that up?
HEMMER: Yes, 50 cents.
SERWER: Now, my understanding is you guys are going with the Patriots?
HEMMER: Yes.
SERWER: I've had enough of Boston, OK?
HEMMER: Really?
SERWER: No, I've had it.
HEMMER: Who is going to...
SERWER: I mean, with the Red Sox, the Patriots, I've had enough.
HEMMER: Two-time defending champs. They're the best coached team in the NFL.
O'BRIEN: Now may not be the time to (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
SERWER: All right, I'm sorry. I think...
O'BRIEN: Wait until they win the Super Bowl.
SERWER: Right. I think the Eagles are due. You know, Philadelphia is an underdog city. They deserve it.
O'BRIEN: That's your rational? They're due?
SERWER: Yes, they're due, yes. Listen, in sports that's often how it works.
O'BRIEN: OK.
SERWER: They're due.
O'BRIEN: We will see.
SERWER: We'll see.
O'BRIEN: Thanks, Andy.
SERWER: You're welcome.
O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, generations of Americans welcomed Johnny Carson into their homes as a friend. But in the high- powered world of Hollywood, he was much more than that. A look at that's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Back to Jack now. Back to Jack, "Question of the Day."
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, we're talking about Johnny Carson this morning, Bill, asking people what they remember about the king of late-night television. What's your favorite memory of Johnny Carson is the question.
This: "I remember my father falling off the chair when Johnny asked Arnold Palmer's wife what she did to give her husband good luck. She said she kissed his golf balls, only she didn't say golf. To which Johnny quickly replied, '"I bet that sure makes his putter stand up.' Johnny got away with stuff nobody else could."
Tony in Roscoe, Illinois: The late '60s was a very divisive time, and my father and I were often at odds. But many days ended with us watching Johnny together, sharing laughs. I'm very grateful for those healing moments between a father and a son."
Dave in Japan: "His interviews with Martin Short always great. He had the wit of a Bill Maher, the timing of Dick Van Dyke, the irreverence of Jerry Seinfeld, and the sarcasm of a certain 'AMERICAN MORNING' anchor. He was so obviously a good, real and decent person. What a massive loss."
And Rex in Toronto shared a couple of Carson quotes: "Any time four New Yorkers get into a cab together without arguing, a bank robbery has just taken place. I know a man who gave up smoking, drinking, sex and rich food. He was healthy right up until the day he killed himself. If variety is the spice of life, marriage is a big can of leftover spam. And when turkeys mate, they think of swans."
HEMMER: Well done.
CAFFERTY: Yes. AM@CNN.com.
HEMMER: Good deal.
CAFFERTY: It took them a minute over there.
HEMMER: They got it.
O'BRIEN: We're the slow team over here.
Let's get right to the same question of our "90-Second Pop" panel. Andy Borowitz joins us from BorowitzReport.com. Sarah Bernard, contributing editor for "New York" magazine. And Toure, CNN's pop culture correspondent.
Favorite memory. Andy, why don't you start us off?
ANDY BOROWITZ, BOROWITZREPORT.COM: Well, I mean, there are so many great ones. I mean, I think that we've been seeing this clip over and over again of Johnny jumping into Ed McMahon's arms, you know, out of terror, which was a great one.
But I think just day to day what I loved about Johnny was the way he would recover when he was bombing, when his monologue was doing badly, and he would acknowledge it and he would do a soft shoe. And I think every comedian in the country wishes they had that kind of grace when they're in a similar predicament, which we all are from time to time.
SARAH BERNARD, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR, "NEW YORK" MAGAZINE: I have to say, for some reason I remember this one, where the guy from the zoo would come on and bring all of the animals. And there was this monkey that looked exactly like him. You know, and then they both just sort of looked at the camera together. And, I mean, how hard is it to be with animals and be funny?
BOROWITZ: Yes.
BERNARD: I mean, it's just unbelievable.
BOROWITZ: And now everybody is doing it.
BERNARD: And now -- right.
BOROWITZ: That's the best.
O'BRIEN: Or trying.
BOROWITZ: Right.
BERNARD: I think the thing about it was the way he retired, don't you? I mean, he left on top, and he just -- he didn't start turning into, like, a KFC, Burger King pitchman or something, which he easily could have done.
TOURE, CNN POP CULTURE CORRESPONDENT: Well, the thing that I always loved -- the thing that I will always remember is last week, he just came out with a news story that Carson's feeding jokes to Letterman. So it's like his final public statement, Dave was better. Like, right at the end, like, I like Letterman. Like, just that's his final going-out moment.
O'BRIEN: Apparently, they said that it gave him a huge kick to see his jokes on the air, to see Letterman do his jokes.
BERNARD: And Letterman wouldn't tell anybody which ones they were. So it was just sort of like this private communication.
O'BRIEN: Right.
TOURE: Jay is winning most of the Nielsen families, but the king of late night is preferring Dave.
O'BRIEN: Let's talk a little bit about a totally different topic, which is "Joey," which kind of didn't do so well. I mean, you're shaking your head in disbelief.
TOURE: It's terrible.
O'BRIEN: But maybe they have got something there to work with. I mean, they obvious don't want to give up the franchise, because they've re-signed it for another year. What's going on there?
TOURE: NBC has nothing to work with.
BOROWITZ: Right.
TOURE: They're in fourth place. They've got nada going on. A show with a faint heartbeat is better than a flat line.
BOROWITZ: Well, you look at what' in the pipeline at NBC. They announced they're doing yet another "Law & Order." It's, like, "Law & Order" DMV, I think. It's like the Department of Motor Vehicles. They are running...
O'BRIEN: They could work.
BOROWITZ: Yes. It's better than "Joey." I think they should reintroduce "Joey" next year as a drama.
BERNARD: But Matt LeBlanc, as we were just talking about, he won a People's Choice Award as favorite male TV actor. So people really like him. It's just the show that's not all that fascinating.
TOURE: NBC now is like the Bulls after Michael Jordan left. Like, they've got nothing. Like, it was...
BERNARD: Oh!
TOURE: They ran Thursday night for 20 years straight, right?
BOROWITZ: Right.
TOURE: And now nothing.
O'BRIEN: Doesn't it take time, though, to rebuild the Bulls after Michael Jordan?
BERNARD: It does a little bit.
O'BRIEN: I mean, as you point out, they've got...
TOURE: They still haven't rebuilt.
O'BRIEN: You know, they've got a star who obviously people like.
BERNARD: That's right.
O'BRIEN: It's just a matter of kind of tweaking, right?
BERNARD: Well, I think Jeff Licker (ph) was saying, who is the head of NBC, that they were going to hope for a 70 percent carryover of viewers from "Friends" into "Joey." And they've got about 60 percent. So that's all not that far off.
O'BRIEN: How long does it usually take for a show to kind of to get going? I mean, you did the "Fresh Prince." What's the... BOROWITZ: Well, that one took off quickly. But sometimes, it's a case of being in the wrong time period, like "Seinfeld" the first two seasons, nothing. It wasn't until they put it on after "Cheers" that it took off.
BERNARD: Right. Well, look at "Arrested Development." I mean, that was hanging by a thread until all of the critics just embraced it.
BOROWITZ: Yes. Still, the ratings aren't strong.
O'BRIEN: Let's talk about De Niro, Scorsese, 2.0, "Taxi Driver." Why are you shaking -- you are just shaking your head all morning.
TOURE: Look, do you think this is a good idea? More Travis Bickle (ph) story. Like, what more do we have to say? We saw his whole life. I mean, how much more can you savage your legacy than by going in to redo "Taxi Driver," the classic. My god!
BOROWITZ: Well, I love the fact that he's going to be playing the same role 30 years later. So now instead of saying "are you talking to me" he's going to say, can you say that again? I'm having a hard time hearing.
O'BRIEN: You guys...
BOROWITZ: It's just like my uncle, you know.
BERNARD: Yes.
BOROWITZ: "Are you talking to me, what, or are you talking to your aunt?"
BERNARD: What?
O'BRIEN: You don't think this can work at all?
BERNARD: No, I am really...
O'BRIEN: Martin Scorsese, it's not like it's not in good hands, right?
BERNARD: I'm really worried about Robert De Niro. I mean, he's honestly been doing the weirdest movies in the last couple years.
BOROWITZ: Right.
BERNARD: I think he owes someone money, something is happening.
O'BRIEN: No!
BERNARD: Because he does not need to do "Bullwinkle." He does not need to do this "Hide and Seek" with Dakota Fanning (ph).
O'BRIEN: But maybe it's something (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
BOROWITZ: And then you see the movie, Raging Bullwinkle. It's related. It seems like a mistake.
O'BRIEN: I don't know. I just think the artists sort of feel like they want to try something different. I mean, isn't it sort of sad that they get so famous that no one allows them to go do some dopey...
BERNARD: "Meet the Fockers?" That's when he comes up with?
O'BRIEN: I love Bobby. What can I say?
BERNARD: Oh! I love Bobby, too, but...
TOURE: Through thick and thin? I mean, come on.
O'BRIEN: Yes, no matter what. Yes, I do. We'll see if it takes off, (1), the idea, and, (2), if it's successful when they finally do do it. I think it will be...
BERNARD: Soledad...
(CROSSTALK)
O'BRIEN: I'll go see it, me alone in the movie theater.
TOURE: I know, my god.
O'BRIEN: Woo, Bobby, good job! You guys, as always, thank you very much.
Bill -- let's go back to you.
HEMMER: I'll go with you, Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Thank you, Bill.
HEMMER: As long as you pay.
Top stories in a moment here. Also, the weekend blizzard, a day after the last flake fell. Even hardy New England is not coping with all of that snow. Back in a moment here on a Monday morning of AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Aired January 24, 2005 - 07:31 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: That sunshine is going to melt some of that snow, but probably not today anyway. Welcome back, everybody. Back to the weather here in a few moments. It's still a state of emergency in parts of the Northeast as they try and cope with the blizzard over the weekend. One of the states hardest hit was New Jersey. Chad is there, in fact, giving us a look at the mess across the Hudson. So, we'll get to Chad outside in a moment here.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Was that a Siberian husky or was that just a wolf that finally came out? I think that was a wolf.
Also this morning, what does the CIA teach you in spy school? We're going to talk to a graduate in a just few minutes. She's giving up details on one of the most top secret curriculum on earth. Interestingly, how to work a cocktail party was actually a required class.
HEMMER: She gave up her identity, too. And interesting story to tell.
Carol Costello has made it across town.
Good morning, Carol. How are you?
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: I just found out that Soledad O'Brien went to the grocery store on Friday, buying toilet paper and bread for the weekend.
HEMMER: Smart.
O'BRIEN: Bread and milk, actually. We had plenty of toilet paper. You never know. I mean, come on!
COSTELLO: Oh, Soledad!
O'BRIEN: You have lived here not long enough to make fun of me.
COSTELLO: I'm from Ohio, though. Do you really believe that the stores aren't going to be open for days after, like, one day of snow?
O'BRIEN: There were so many people, you couldn't get into Whole Foods. They actually were rationing, like, the number of people who were allowed in at one time. I'm not kidding.
COSTELLO: It's crazy. That's why you shouldn't have gone. I'm going to make fun of you all day for that.
O'BRIEN: OK.
COSTELLO: "Now in the News." And good morning to everyone.
We begin in the Middle East, where officials appear to be inching towards a possible truce in Gaza. New Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas says two of the largest Palestinian militant groups, Hamas and the Islamic Jihad, have agreed to suspend attacks against Israelis. Abbas has extended his visit in the area to try to get a more definite pledge of a cease-fire. Israel has promised to hold its fire unless provoked.
Here in the United States, Boston's Logan Airport is set to reopen this morning after a powerful winter storm. Parts of Massachusetts are digging out after getting hit with 2 to 3 feet of snow. We'll have more on how the rest of the Northeast is coping in just a minute.
And authorities in Florida say a convicted sex offender is now facing federal kidnapping charges in the abduction of an 11-year-old boy. Frederick Fretz (ph) was arrested yesterday in northern Georgia. Authorities accuse him of kidnapping his roommate's son last Tuesday from the boy's school in north central Florida. The child is said to be safe and has since been reunited with his family.
And in entertainment news, rapper/actor Ice Cube is topping the big screen. His comedy, "Are We There Yet," earning more than 18 million bucks this weekend and winning the No. 1 slot at the box office. The film sent the basketball drama, "Coach Carter," back to the bench. It slipped to No. 2. The comedy, "Meet the Fockers," came in third.
HEMMER: You still have to say it.
COSTELLO: I just love saying that.
HEMMER: As long as it's making money.
COSTELLO: Exactly.
HEMMER: Thanks, carol.
O'BRIEN: Thanks.
The Northeast is digging out from what weather historians are calling one of the 10 worst storms in the last 100 years.
Chad Myers is live for us in Hoboken, New Hampshire, where they are anticipating some pretty bad mass transit trouble this morning.
Hey, Chad, good morning.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Soledad.
You know, if you're watching from Miami or from Tampa, where really mass transit is not a huge problem or really even that big of a priority, you may not understand the problem that the Northeast corridor is having today.
From really north of D.C. through Baltimore into New York and right on to Boston, the trains are running very slow. And, in fact, many trains are actually canceled or separated by minutes that typically won't happen on a normal day.
Some of the Amtrak trains, at about 15 minutes they typically can run between five and seven minutes at a time. But because Amtrak is not sure that these tracks are going to switch on time -- because they're moving so slowly, the iron is very cold this morning -- they are separating the trains, making fewer trains on each track, just like we separate the planes if there's a snowstorm or if there's fog.
This is causing real havoc for commuters here, trying to get either onto a very busy train or missing the train. And so many trains, even as I took up here from Philadelphia yesterday up here, were 20, 30, an hour late, sometimes two hours behind. And that's not usual for trains. They usually run on time.
We're here in Hoboken. You can see now this is actually the bus terminal. But back over here behind me into some of the path trains, they are going to be very busy today in just getting here.
There is also trouble. A lot of folks dropping off their loved ones here. The good news is many, many of the schools are closed. That will keep some people off the roads. But that's not going to be enough to keep this place running on time today.
Take your patience, obviously, even if you're just driving this afternoon or this morning.
Back to you.
O'BRIEN: That is excellent advice. Thanks, Chad.
Rob Marciano is at the CNN center with the latest for us as well.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HEMMER: Just hours ago, a militant group led by Abu Musab al- Zarqawi claims it carried out a suicide car bomb attack very close to the headquarters of interim Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's party. Twelve people are hurt, 10 of them Iraqi police officers.
Jane Arraf joins us now by way of videophone. She's with U.S. forces in Falluja, where troops are getting ready to provide security for the election on Sunday.
Jane -- hello.
JANE ARRAF, CNN BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF: Hello, Bill.
They are getting ready to provide security and more. Now, the official line is that the U.S. military is not supposed to be involved in the elections. Understandably, they don't want the image that these are elections that are rigged, overseen or in any way tainted by American occupation forces.
But, in fact, out here in Falluja and in a lot of other places, there is nobody else to provide security. There is nobody else to hand out information. And they are getting the word out. They've been handing out flyers, telling people elections will take place. They will provide outer cordon security, and they are training Iraqi forces to provide security at the polling sites themselves.
Now, here in Falluja, it's obviously an interesting dilemma. Citizens are starting to come back to the city after that fierce battle. But there isn't a whole lot left in this city, and there's not a whole lot known about these elections that take place in less than a week from now -- Bill.
HEMMER: Jane Arraf on videophone in Falluja. Thanks, Jane -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Lindsay Moran went straight from the Ivy League to the farm. That's the CIA's name for its secret agent training center. Now, Lindsay Moran is sharing her story in a book called "Blowing My Cover: My Life as a CIA Spy and Other Misadventures."
Nice to see you, Lindsay. Thanks for coming in to talk to us.
LINDSAY MORAN, FORMER CIA AGENT: Thank you for having me.
O'BRIEN: Harvard class of '91, commencement speaker, Fulbright Scholar. Why did you want to be a spy when you could have done anything?
MORAN: It had been a lifelong dream of mine. When I was a small child, I was sort of obsessed with this character, Harriet the spy...
O'BRIEN: Of course.
MORAN: ... and read all of the books featuring her. And then I graduated from that to an obsession with James Bond movies and Ian Fleming books. And it was kind of like an itch that I had to scratch, I guess.
I also had what I now realize was kind of a delusion that it was a bit of a family legacy. I thought that both my father and my grandfather had been spies, and that this was sort of a birthright for me.
O'BRIEN: Since you're a spy, what are you telling everybody that you're doing when you go into training at spy school?
MORAN: The CIA kind of left it up to us as to what we would tell our family and friends, those people who didn't know. So, I had a different story about every three or four months. But I found out later that everybody bought my stories. So that was great.
And you spend about three months at Langley sort of learning how the CIA works, and then go down to the farm. And we had two months of paramilitary training, which was actually the funnest part of the CIA training. It's like of like an extended outward bound course or something. And I write a lot about that in the book, and I write also about our trade craft training, which is -- in a lot of ways, it's training you how to have social skills, because you're learning to kind of circulate the diplomatic cocktail circuit and use that as a venue to find potential targets.
O'BRIEN: You write about how you were disillusioned a lot by the CIA. In what ways?
MORAN: Well, partly it's just the culture of the agency. But mostly, it was a realization that what I think has been thought of as this kind of mythical and omnipotent organization is on some levels just a big, plodding bureaucracy. You know, there have been a number of CIA failures throughout the past several decades culminating, I think, in the largest intelligence failure, which was 9/11.
O'BRIEN: Why did you leave the CIA? And then when did you leave?
MORAN: I left in May of 2003, and for a number of reasons, some of which were personal. And I talk about that in the book. Kind of my personal discomfort with what being a spy was.
And I don't hold the agency accountable for that. Spying is a dirty business. Espionage is a dirty business. But I found ultimately, I didn't really enjoy sort of preying upon people and using their vulnerabilities to get them to come work for the U.S. That's the nature of being a spy. So that was the personal aspect.
And then kind of an ideological aspect, as I write in the book or I show through kind of funny anecdotes. It's not overtly critical of the agency, but through the anecdotes it shows some of the dysfunction. I felt that the agency was not serving this country well, and that this was not a place I wanted to spend the rest of my career.
O'BRIEN: The book is called "Blowing My Cover: My Life as a CIA Spy." Nice having you, Lindsay Moran, talking to us this morning.
MORAN: Thank you very much.
HEMMER: Soledad, thanks. Nineteen minutes before the hour now.
In a moment, gas prices are up. OPEC may be trying to keep them there. Andy has that and also your favorite Johnny Carson memories.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: A big jump at the nation's gas pumps. Andy Serwer is here "Minding Your Business," a check of the markets, too.
Good morning.
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Good morning to you guys.
Some economic fallout from the big blizzard and all of that cold weather. You got it. Higher oil prices and higher gas prices at the pump here for U.S. consumers. The price of oil is $49 a barrel, just about midway between that low point of 41 and 55 that we had last October and the price of gasoline up 5 cents a gallon over the past two weeks. Nationwide average, $1.85. No one likes to see that.
The low is Cheyenne, Wyoming -- I love doing these lows -- $1.70 a gallon in Cheyenne. So feeling good up there in Wyoming.
Higher oil prices means lower stock prices. That's the trend we've seen all year. Last week, the third week in a row we've been down -- look at that -- 165 points on the Dow down last week. Nasdaq down on a percentage basis even more.
The January swoon continues, and the January swoon continued for -- or began, really, for the Falcons and the Steelers, did it not? Yes, it did.
HEMMER: It did.
SERWER: It did. You guys watch any of the games a little bit?
HEMMER: Sure.
SERWER: Todd, this is a chance for you to show some Eagles footage here.
HEMMER: Who is Todd, by the way?
SERWER: Todd Boner (ph), our producer, who is a major Eagles fan here, and was down at the game with his 73-year-old father.
HEMMER: He took his father.
SERWER: His father took him in that 20-degree weather. They were bundled up all the way to their noses.
HEMMER: And they loved every single snap of it.
SERWER: They did. And it was a lot of fun. The games were fun to watch.
And how did the anchors do? The anchors did pretty well. I was 2-0. Bill was 2-0. Soledad, 2-0.
O'BRIEN: Yea, the Todd!
HEMMER: Sole-Todd (ph).
SERWER: Sole-Todd (ph), thank you. Jack, the defender of the underdogs...
HEMMER: That's right.
SERWER: ... was 0-2.
HEMMER: Hey, let it be known, by the way, Jack Cafferty always pays his debt.
SERWER: Oh, he did? He did pay that up?
HEMMER: Yes, 50 cents.
SERWER: Now, my understanding is you guys are going with the Patriots?
HEMMER: Yes.
SERWER: I've had enough of Boston, OK?
HEMMER: Really?
SERWER: No, I've had it.
HEMMER: Who is going to...
SERWER: I mean, with the Red Sox, the Patriots, I've had enough.
HEMMER: Two-time defending champs. They're the best coached team in the NFL.
O'BRIEN: Now may not be the time to (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
SERWER: All right, I'm sorry. I think...
O'BRIEN: Wait until they win the Super Bowl.
SERWER: Right. I think the Eagles are due. You know, Philadelphia is an underdog city. They deserve it.
O'BRIEN: That's your rational? They're due?
SERWER: Yes, they're due, yes. Listen, in sports that's often how it works.
O'BRIEN: OK.
SERWER: They're due.
O'BRIEN: We will see.
SERWER: We'll see.
O'BRIEN: Thanks, Andy.
SERWER: You're welcome.
O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, generations of Americans welcomed Johnny Carson into their homes as a friend. But in the high- powered world of Hollywood, he was much more than that. A look at that's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Back to Jack now. Back to Jack, "Question of the Day."
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, we're talking about Johnny Carson this morning, Bill, asking people what they remember about the king of late-night television. What's your favorite memory of Johnny Carson is the question.
This: "I remember my father falling off the chair when Johnny asked Arnold Palmer's wife what she did to give her husband good luck. She said she kissed his golf balls, only she didn't say golf. To which Johnny quickly replied, '"I bet that sure makes his putter stand up.' Johnny got away with stuff nobody else could."
Tony in Roscoe, Illinois: The late '60s was a very divisive time, and my father and I were often at odds. But many days ended with us watching Johnny together, sharing laughs. I'm very grateful for those healing moments between a father and a son."
Dave in Japan: "His interviews with Martin Short always great. He had the wit of a Bill Maher, the timing of Dick Van Dyke, the irreverence of Jerry Seinfeld, and the sarcasm of a certain 'AMERICAN MORNING' anchor. He was so obviously a good, real and decent person. What a massive loss."
And Rex in Toronto shared a couple of Carson quotes: "Any time four New Yorkers get into a cab together without arguing, a bank robbery has just taken place. I know a man who gave up smoking, drinking, sex and rich food. He was healthy right up until the day he killed himself. If variety is the spice of life, marriage is a big can of leftover spam. And when turkeys mate, they think of swans."
HEMMER: Well done.
CAFFERTY: Yes. AM@CNN.com.
HEMMER: Good deal.
CAFFERTY: It took them a minute over there.
HEMMER: They got it.
O'BRIEN: We're the slow team over here.
Let's get right to the same question of our "90-Second Pop" panel. Andy Borowitz joins us from BorowitzReport.com. Sarah Bernard, contributing editor for "New York" magazine. And Toure, CNN's pop culture correspondent.
Favorite memory. Andy, why don't you start us off?
ANDY BOROWITZ, BOROWITZREPORT.COM: Well, I mean, there are so many great ones. I mean, I think that we've been seeing this clip over and over again of Johnny jumping into Ed McMahon's arms, you know, out of terror, which was a great one.
But I think just day to day what I loved about Johnny was the way he would recover when he was bombing, when his monologue was doing badly, and he would acknowledge it and he would do a soft shoe. And I think every comedian in the country wishes they had that kind of grace when they're in a similar predicament, which we all are from time to time.
SARAH BERNARD, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR, "NEW YORK" MAGAZINE: I have to say, for some reason I remember this one, where the guy from the zoo would come on and bring all of the animals. And there was this monkey that looked exactly like him. You know, and then they both just sort of looked at the camera together. And, I mean, how hard is it to be with animals and be funny?
BOROWITZ: Yes.
BERNARD: I mean, it's just unbelievable.
BOROWITZ: And now everybody is doing it.
BERNARD: And now -- right.
BOROWITZ: That's the best.
O'BRIEN: Or trying.
BOROWITZ: Right.
BERNARD: I think the thing about it was the way he retired, don't you? I mean, he left on top, and he just -- he didn't start turning into, like, a KFC, Burger King pitchman or something, which he easily could have done.
TOURE, CNN POP CULTURE CORRESPONDENT: Well, the thing that I always loved -- the thing that I will always remember is last week, he just came out with a news story that Carson's feeding jokes to Letterman. So it's like his final public statement, Dave was better. Like, right at the end, like, I like Letterman. Like, just that's his final going-out moment.
O'BRIEN: Apparently, they said that it gave him a huge kick to see his jokes on the air, to see Letterman do his jokes.
BERNARD: And Letterman wouldn't tell anybody which ones they were. So it was just sort of like this private communication.
O'BRIEN: Right.
TOURE: Jay is winning most of the Nielsen families, but the king of late night is preferring Dave.
O'BRIEN: Let's talk a little bit about a totally different topic, which is "Joey," which kind of didn't do so well. I mean, you're shaking your head in disbelief.
TOURE: It's terrible.
O'BRIEN: But maybe they have got something there to work with. I mean, they obvious don't want to give up the franchise, because they've re-signed it for another year. What's going on there?
TOURE: NBC has nothing to work with.
BOROWITZ: Right.
TOURE: They're in fourth place. They've got nada going on. A show with a faint heartbeat is better than a flat line.
BOROWITZ: Well, you look at what' in the pipeline at NBC. They announced they're doing yet another "Law & Order." It's, like, "Law & Order" DMV, I think. It's like the Department of Motor Vehicles. They are running...
O'BRIEN: They could work.
BOROWITZ: Yes. It's better than "Joey." I think they should reintroduce "Joey" next year as a drama.
BERNARD: But Matt LeBlanc, as we were just talking about, he won a People's Choice Award as favorite male TV actor. So people really like him. It's just the show that's not all that fascinating.
TOURE: NBC now is like the Bulls after Michael Jordan left. Like, they've got nothing. Like, it was...
BERNARD: Oh!
TOURE: They ran Thursday night for 20 years straight, right?
BOROWITZ: Right.
TOURE: And now nothing.
O'BRIEN: Doesn't it take time, though, to rebuild the Bulls after Michael Jordan?
BERNARD: It does a little bit.
O'BRIEN: I mean, as you point out, they've got...
TOURE: They still haven't rebuilt.
O'BRIEN: You know, they've got a star who obviously people like.
BERNARD: That's right.
O'BRIEN: It's just a matter of kind of tweaking, right?
BERNARD: Well, I think Jeff Licker (ph) was saying, who is the head of NBC, that they were going to hope for a 70 percent carryover of viewers from "Friends" into "Joey." And they've got about 60 percent. So that's all not that far off.
O'BRIEN: How long does it usually take for a show to kind of to get going? I mean, you did the "Fresh Prince." What's the... BOROWITZ: Well, that one took off quickly. But sometimes, it's a case of being in the wrong time period, like "Seinfeld" the first two seasons, nothing. It wasn't until they put it on after "Cheers" that it took off.
BERNARD: Right. Well, look at "Arrested Development." I mean, that was hanging by a thread until all of the critics just embraced it.
BOROWITZ: Yes. Still, the ratings aren't strong.
O'BRIEN: Let's talk about De Niro, Scorsese, 2.0, "Taxi Driver." Why are you shaking -- you are just shaking your head all morning.
TOURE: Look, do you think this is a good idea? More Travis Bickle (ph) story. Like, what more do we have to say? We saw his whole life. I mean, how much more can you savage your legacy than by going in to redo "Taxi Driver," the classic. My god!
BOROWITZ: Well, I love the fact that he's going to be playing the same role 30 years later. So now instead of saying "are you talking to me" he's going to say, can you say that again? I'm having a hard time hearing.
O'BRIEN: You guys...
BOROWITZ: It's just like my uncle, you know.
BERNARD: Yes.
BOROWITZ: "Are you talking to me, what, or are you talking to your aunt?"
BERNARD: What?
O'BRIEN: You don't think this can work at all?
BERNARD: No, I am really...
O'BRIEN: Martin Scorsese, it's not like it's not in good hands, right?
BERNARD: I'm really worried about Robert De Niro. I mean, he's honestly been doing the weirdest movies in the last couple years.
BOROWITZ: Right.
BERNARD: I think he owes someone money, something is happening.
O'BRIEN: No!
BERNARD: Because he does not need to do "Bullwinkle." He does not need to do this "Hide and Seek" with Dakota Fanning (ph).
O'BRIEN: But maybe it's something (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
BOROWITZ: And then you see the movie, Raging Bullwinkle. It's related. It seems like a mistake.
O'BRIEN: I don't know. I just think the artists sort of feel like they want to try something different. I mean, isn't it sort of sad that they get so famous that no one allows them to go do some dopey...
BERNARD: "Meet the Fockers?" That's when he comes up with?
O'BRIEN: I love Bobby. What can I say?
BERNARD: Oh! I love Bobby, too, but...
TOURE: Through thick and thin? I mean, come on.
O'BRIEN: Yes, no matter what. Yes, I do. We'll see if it takes off, (1), the idea, and, (2), if it's successful when they finally do do it. I think it will be...
BERNARD: Soledad...
(CROSSTALK)
O'BRIEN: I'll go see it, me alone in the movie theater.
TOURE: I know, my god.
O'BRIEN: Woo, Bobby, good job! You guys, as always, thank you very much.
Bill -- let's go back to you.
HEMMER: I'll go with you, Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Thank you, Bill.
HEMMER: As long as you pay.
Top stories in a moment here. Also, the weekend blizzard, a day after the last flake fell. Even hardy New England is not coping with all of that snow. Back in a moment here on a Monday morning of AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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