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American Morning
Michael Jackson Case; Interview With Deion Branch, Tedy Bruschi
Aired February 07, 2005 - 07:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Welcome back, everybody. It's just about half past the hour on this AMERICAN MORNING. Bill Hemmer is off today. Rob Marciano is filling in. Thank you very much. We appreciate it.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN ANCHOR: It's nice to be here. Thanks for having me.
O'BRIEN: It's nice to have you on your days off. We know...
MARCIANO: Hey, I don't mind.
O'BRIEN: A little double duty.
The Patriots did it again, another Super Bowl win. We're going to talk to two of the champions, MVP Deion Branch, also defensive star Tedy Bruschi. It's coming up in just a moment.
MARCIANO: Also, is Michael Jackson just a regular guy who is misunderstood? What's behind his latest TV interview? And what will the judge think of it? Jeffrey Toobin breaks it down.
O'BRIEN: Yes, he's just a regular guy who is misunderstood.
MARCIANO: I've always thought that.
(CROSSTALK)
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: It must be the wardrobe, right?
O'BRIEN: Clearly. That may not sell. We'll see. Headlines, now, Heidi Collins.
Good morning.
COLLINS: Good morning to you. And good morning to you, everybody.
"Now in the News" this morning.
In Iraq, the deadliest suicide attack since last week's elections. A suicide car bombing killed at least 11 people outside of a hospital in Mosul. The blast destroyed at least five cars and blew a large crater in the road. And in Baquba, at least 14 people were killed when a suicide bomber attacked a police station there. More than a dozen others are injured. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice promising $40 million in immediate aid to Palestinians. Rice also said Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will meet with President Bush in Washington in the spring. Sharon and Abbas are set to meet officially for the first time at a Middle East summit tomorrow in Egypt.
And in health news now, new guidelines are being released for breast-feeding moms. The American Academy of Pediatrics is encouraging new moms to keep their babies close at night to make feeding easier and to avoid giving them pacifiers during the early weeks. The academy also repeating its stance to breast-feed exclusively for six months and to continue until the baby is at least 1 year old. Dr. Sanjay Gupta will have much more in the next hour.
And, as you know, no two snowflakes, or snow statues for that matter, are alike. Some two million visitors are expected to stroll through Japan's Sapporo Snow Festival this week. It kicks off today. More than 300 statues are on exhibit. The event has been held every year since 1950. It looks a little bit like Minnesota there.
Soledad -- over to you.
O'BRIEN: Really. Do they do the artwork, too?
COLLINS: They do.
O'BRIEN: Really?
COLLINS: Yes.
O'BRIEN: That looks beautiful. That's amazing. Heidi, thanks.
COLLINS: You bet.
O'BRIEN: Jury selection in Michael Jackson's child molestation trial has been delayed because of a death in the family of Jackson's lead attorney, Tom Mesereau. Next Monday, attorneys on both sides will begin narrowing the field of jurors from 250 to 12.
Senior legal analyst Jeff Toobin joins us to talk about a little bit more about this case.
Good morning.
JEFFERY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Good morning.
O'BRIEN: So, how long is this essentially then going to be delayed for? Just until Monday?
TOOBIN: A week. But a week's a long time when you consider that, you know, this trial is going to take months. You know, the last time we were here we were talking about, you know, the leaves could be falling off the trees when this trial is over. And that's looking more and more likely. O'BRIEN: He sat down, Michael Jackson, for an interview with Geraldo Rivera, which aired on Saturday night. First of all, doesn't the judge have to oversee -- there's a gag order in the case. So, does that mean it goes out with the judge's blessing?
TOOBIN: He gave him explicit permission to conduct this interview and make statements, because of the tremendous leak of grand jury material that took place, first at thesmokinggun.com and then on ABC. Because that got so much publicity, the judge felt that Jackson deserved a chance to respond. This was his response.
O'BRIEN: So, what came out of it?
TOOBIN: I don't think much. Michael Jackson is not a very good advocate for himself. I think the way he's going to win this case, if he's going to win this case, is that the jury does not believe his accuser. That's the defense that's going to work in this case, if any defense is going to work, not that they think Michael Jackson is some sort of good and respectable and trustworthy person. I mean, his image is what it is.
I just think, you know, like a lot of celebrities, he has a great deal of confidence in his own ability to communicate. But I'm sure the initiative for this interview came from Michael Jackson, not from his lawyers.
O'BRIEN: We were laughing a little bit earlier, because the spin was sort of, I'm a regular guy, you know, who is misunderstood. When you're talking about Michael Jackson, I mean, as a lawyer, would you advise your client like that's not kind of the way to go?
TOOBIN: No, it's ridiculous. I mean, that can't be the defense. The only defense can be, look, he's an unusual person with unusual habits. Because of his celebrity, he behaves in unusual ways. But he did not molest people.
Look, Michael Jackson is on tape saying he thinks it's a beautiful thing to sleep in the same bed with, you know, children.
O'BRIEN: A tape that the jurors are going to see in this trial.
TOOBIN: The jurors are going to see, absolutely. So, he can't say he's a normal person. That is not normal behavior. All he can say is, look, because of the way he lives his life, there are suspicions about him. But they are unjustified. So, I think any attempt to portray him as normal is just bound for failure.
O'BRIEN: What's the impact, potentially, on the jurors if they saw this Geraldo Rivera interview?
TOOBIN: You know, I think at this point, it's all sort of more noise. They're not supposed to have paid attention to it. And probably at this stage of the proceedings, they haven't. They probably respected that instruction. But I don't think there was any dramatic bombshell in that interview that the jurors will change their impressions, you know, because of it. He's weird. He's not a normal person. You've got to basically embrace that if you're his defense attorney and say that's why he's a magnet for these accusations.
O'BRIEN: But Mesereau is a smart guy. Why is he not doing that?
TOOBIN: Well, I mean, I think he will once the trial starts. I mean, Mesereau is under the gag order. He couldn't say it. But I think the defense in this case is going to be much more on attack on his accusers than it is going to be in a defense of Michael Jackson.
O'BRIEN: Jeff Toobin, thank you. And as you mentioned, we're going to be talking about this for a long time.
TOOBIN: We are. And I'll be out there when it starts.
O'BRIEN: All right. Thanks, Jeff.
TOOBIN: All right.
O'BRIEN: Rob.
MARCIANO: Well, let's take another check of the weather.
(WEATHER REPORT)
O'BRIEN: New England is happy with last night's Super Bowl, but Wall Street is not. Andy is going to tell us why in "Minding Your Business."
MARCIANO: Plus, is one of TV's "Desperate Housewives" ready to come out of the closet in real life? "90-Second Pop" is ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MARCIANO: Well welcome back.
After watching the New England Patriots win Super Bowl XXXIX, fans are using "d" word, as a dynasty, to describe the team that's captured three Super Bowl titles in the last four years. But another "d", Patriots wide receiver Deion Branch was a key to last night's victory. Branch tied a Super Bowl record with 11 catches and was named MVP.
He and teammate, linebacker Tedy Bruschi, join us from St. Augustine, Florida, this morning.
Gentlemen, I assume you're both happy. Deion, we'll start with you. MVP. Describe how you are feeling this morning.
DEION BRANCH, SUPER BOWL MVP: I'm sleepy, you know. Other than that I'm cool. Hey, we had a great game. And last night, we shared all of that with our family and friends, and we got about an hour of rest.
Yes, an hour.
BRANCH : And now we're down here talking with you all, and we're enjoying the moment.
MARCIANO: Well, Tom Brady often seems to be described as "the man." Was coverage tight there in the first couple of quarters? It looked like it was, you know, I don't want to say a sloppy game, but you guys loosened up in the second-half and made some catches. What was the difference in the game for you?
BRANCH: I just think we had to slow down and play our type of football. The first quarter was bad. You know, the coaches and the rest of the guys did a great job of coming to the sideline and adjusting to a lot of things. And we got them corrected and started playing our type of football and started moving the ball and making some points.
MARCIANO: Tedy, you're the defensive star, the linebacker of that squad. What happened defensively? Twenty-one points for you guys given up. That's quite a bit. How do you feel about your performance last night?
TEDY BRUSCHI, PATRIOTS LINEBACKER: We thought it was great, as long as we allowed less points than the offense scores, you know. So, you know, we're happy about that. We had some -- a lot of threats that we had to worry about on the Eagles side of the ball, like Terrell Owens who showed a lot of heart playing, coming back from a broken ankle the way he did. Westbrook and McNabb, those are guys that we really felt we had to stop to win this game.
MARCIANO: How does it feel holding that trophy this morning?
BRUSCHI: Well, it feels great, you know. It's our third one in four years, and you don't get used to it. You don't get used to it, because you cherish world championships whenever they happen. You know, whether it's every year or once every 10 years, when it does happen you just cherish the moment.
MARCIANO: We have some video of you holding something a little differently last night, some of your family members. What does it mean for you to have them be able to run out on the field and celebrate with you?
BRUSCHI: I mean, that's what it's about. That's our motivation, you know. We play for our families to make our families proud. And, you know, when we can share a moment like that with our wives or with our sons, you know, it makes it that much more special. When I can get my sons out on the field and let them touch the trophy and they tell me how proud they are of me, that's the reason why I play the way I do.
MARCIANO: Hey, Deion, it's been a tough year for you injury- wise. You've been battling some stuff. Did you ever think you'd get to the Super Bowl and then play so well to become the MVP?
BRANCH: Yes, the coaches gave me an opportunity, which they did. I just thank them for not putting me on IR, you know, because if that would have happened, I wouldn't be sitting here now. You know, they had the confidence and that faith in me that I would come back and contribute to the team. And we made a great run, and here we are sitting here holding this trophy. And the rest of the guys are upstairs asleep, just to let you all know that.
MARCIANO: Well, we appreciate you getting up with us.
BRUSHCI: We got the early wake-up call.
BRANCH: Yes, sir. No problem.
MARCIANO: Well, we appreciate it. I'm sure it's worth it. One more question. You know, three-peat (ph), but you guys are losing both your defensive and offensive coordinators. Tedy, you know, any projections about what that may do to the squad?
BRUSCHI: Well, what happens when you have a lot of success, you know, other teams want to sort of feed off that success. The Cleveland Browns and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish are two teams that are sort of taking a part of us with them. And, you know, we wish that Charlie Weiss (ph) and Romeo Crennel (ph) luck, because they have really been a big reason why we've had the success that we've had.
But I think we can still adjust. We've had to adjust, just like we adjust on the field with injuries. This is sort of something you have to adjust when you have a lot of success, when the coaches that you have that are under your head coach get recognized and become head coaches. I think our assistant coaches will have to step up. And whoever replaces them, I'm sure they'll do a great job.
MARCIANO: All right, Tedy, be sure to share that trophy with Deion. Deion Branch and Tedy Bruschi, Super Bowl champs this morning. Congratulations.
BRANCH: Thank you.
MARCIANO: See you guys.
O'BRIEN: Gosh, they seem like the nicest guys in the world.
MARCIANO: Well, I'd be feeling pretty good if I were them, too.
O'BRIEN: Yes, although they did mention how sleepy they were. Thanks for waking us up, Rob.
MARCIANO: Right.
O'BRIEN: Good for them. Congratulations to them.
New England fans are obviously excited, but Wall Street is not exactly celebrating the Patriots Super Bowl win. Andy Serwer is "Minding Your Business."
Explain this to me. Why not?
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Well, that's the superstitious types on Wall Street. There's really not a whole lot of science to this. But going back through the years, if the AFC team wins the Super Bowl, the stock market doesn't do well. You know, for what it's worth, it doesn't really -- I wouldn't mortgage the farm on that one.
Anyway, let's talk about what happened last week. A good start to the month of February. The Dow up 288 points. You can see here, 2.8 percent. The Nasdaq doing well as well. And this after a very disappointing January.
The big jobs report on Friday for the month was positive, because the unemployment rate dropped from 5.4 percent to 5.2 percent.
Let's talk about how the anchors here at CNN's AMERICAN MORNING did overall. The final standings are in. And, yes, it's true. Soledad won the whole thing, 65 percent.
O'BRIEN: Thank you. Thank you very much.
SERWER: She picked 116 games right.
O'BRIEN: It's going to help me to start watching football, actually.
SERWER: Good. And we have some presents for you here. Let's start with the AMERICAN MORNING version of the Lombardi trophy. Here you go.
O'BRIEN: Thank you very much. Thank you.
SERWER: You can hold it up over your head maybe, too. There you go.
O'BRIEN: Thank you very much. Thank you.
SERWER: And, of course, you know, for Soledad, these things just don't have the same meaning unless there's food involved.
O'BRIEN: Exactly.
SERWER: So, of course, we got you the pot of gold.
O'BRIEN: Let's break these open.
MARCIANO: Share, share.
SERWER: Yes.
O'BRIEN: These are very good. Thank you. Anything else in there?
SERWER: No, that's it. The football bag. You want to keep the football bag? You can keep the football bag.
O'BRIEN: No. Well, now that I might actually start watching football, I have to say...
SERWER: You're good at it.
O'BRIEN: Todd Bonin (ph), the man who really -- the man behind the woman who made all of the picks.
SERWER: Well, you did have very well. And congratulations to you and your Patriots.
O'BRIEN: Thank you very much. Thank you.
MARCIANO: Jack?
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Yes.
MARCIANO: Do you have anything to give me?
CAFFERTY: Yes.
SERWER: Oh, you just started off so well, Rob. And, you know, now it's downhill.
CAFFERTY: Yes. You know all of those points you made in the first half? Gone.
The Social Security showdown gets bigger today. On one side are the allies of the Bush camp. That would be the conservatives and big business. And on the other side are the opponents of the Bush idea of reforming Social Security. That would be senior citizens and liberals.
And both of these factions or contingents are very well- organized. They're getting ready to spend tens of millions in advertising to try to convince you that their position on this issue is the right one. Those ads will start airing today.
What we're interested in this morning is how you're planning for your own retirement. Some of the mail we've gotten.
Kathy in Harrison, Arkansas, writes: "We're just trying to get our two sons through college and being super-nice to them, hoping they'll be nice to us in our declining years and take us in."
SERWER: Good luck.
CAFFERTY: "There is no way to save money and send your kids to college if you're in the middle class."
Samuel in Ogden, Utah: "What's the point of planning for retirement? Since the old in the U.S. aren't valued anyway, I plan on being as big a burden as possible."
Sam, you've all right started. Way to go, buddy.
Tammy in Midland, Michigan: "For me, retirement is less than a year away. Planning for retirement is almost another full-time job. However the young, middle/lower-class today are just plain out of luck. I feel for them as only the rich will be retiring in the future."
Robert in Tacoma writes: "Unfortunately, I was injured on the job, and we had to spend $13,000 we had saved. Every month, $50 in a savings account for 12 years, it's about gone. Now, I'm applying for SSI disability, so it's very important that we either fix or secure the plan."
And Paul in Hellertown, Pennsylvania: "Dear Jack, I'm planning on moving in with my children, and then getting even with them by turning on all of the lights, putting the thermostat up to 90 degrees and leaving the doors open."
O'BRIEN: Not a lot of optimism there.
CAFFERTY: I guess there's not a lot of reason for optimism right now.
MARCIANO: Prepare yourselves.
CAFFERTY: Yes, it's tough out there.
O'BRIEN: Yes, that's pretty scary.
CAFFERTY: People trying to raise kids, put them through school and plan for retirement and pay all of the bills.
O'BRIEN: They can't do it.
CAFFERTY: Most families are two-income families. That didn't used to be the case in this country.
SERWER: Just pray. That's what you want to do for retirement, I think.
CAFFERTY: Yes.
O'BRIEN: The math doesn't work. The math doesn't work out.
CAFFERTY: Yes, tough stuff.
O'BRIEN: Thanks, Jack, appreciate it.
Well, the Patriots are Super Bowl champs. But which ad took the commercial crown? Pepsi is just one of the contenders ahead. The 90- second poppers make their picks on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: All right. We know why that's running, Paul McCartney, of course. It's time for a Monday edition of "90-Second Pop." The gang's all here this morning. Andy Borowitz from Borowitzreport.com. Jessica Shaw from "Entertainment Weekly." Toure, CNN pop culture correspondent.
Good morning. Good morning. Good morning.
TOURE, CNN POP CULTURE CORRESPONDENT: Hello.
JESSICA SHAW, "ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Good morning. O'BRIEN: Did you all stay up to watch the game?
TOURE: Of course.
ANDY BOROWITZ, BOROWITZREPORT.COM: Yes.
SHAW: Yes. I stayed up to watch Paul and to hear that song.
O'BRIEN: What did you think of him overall? Good, bad?
BOROWITZ: We'll get to that.
TOURE: Oh, god, what a (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
O'BRIEN: Well, you know, we'll talk about that in just a moment. But first let's talk about the commercials.
TOURE: Which, in general, were a bit of a snore.
O'BRIEN: A snore?
TOURE: I think the game was more...
O'BRIEN: This is an exciting "90-Second Pop."
TOURE: Well, no, the pop can be interesting if the subjects are boring. And the game was better than the commercials. I think Madison Avenue is generally lacking in creativity right now.
O'BRIEN: Because they're afraid.
TOURE: Well, partly because they're afraid, and partly because they think every design problem can be fixed by stuffing in a celebrity or three or four or five, like...
O'BRIEN: But some of the commercials mocked that.
TOURE: Yes.
O'BRIEN: That was kind of cute.
TOURE: Yes, which is -- oh, but mocking that is going into that at the same time.
O'BRIEN: I feel like I'm in an English literature class where we're deconstructing something.
TOURE: You are.
O'BRIEN: Let's talk about the ones that you liked the best. What was your favorite?
TOURE: Well, my favorite of the whole night was at the Anheuser- Busch for the soldiers coming home and being applauded by people. It was moving. It was heart-warming. It was honest.
O'BRIEN: Let's watch it for those who missed it.
TOURE: Let's see it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: I've got to tell you, when I saw this, I mean, I got all choked up. I think this is a beautiful commercial. It was really nice.
TOURE: And you know, now we can guarantee that this will happen in airports all over the place, though it did happen after 9/11. I remember standing out in the street, fire trucks going by and people spontaneously applauding in the middle...
SHAW: You're choked up again.
O'BRIEN: I know. It's...
SHAW: You're almost crying.
TOURE: She needs a hug.
O'BRIEN: Can I get a tissue, please?
TOURE: Should we talk amongst ourselves?
O'BRIEN: It's a very...
TOURE: Paul McCartney. Paul McCartney.
O'BRIEN: Exactly. Let's move into the boring. I actually agree with you. And I think it would happen anyway. I think people will be applauding the soldiers when they come back.
TOURE: Absolutely.
O'BRIEN: I thought that was a nice ad. All right. Then there was the P. Diddy ad for Diet Pepsi...
TOURE: Yes.
O'BRIEN: ... which I thought was hilarious. I did not cry at this one. Let's...
BOROWITZ: I found it moving actually.
O'BRIEN: Now the whole point, his car breaks down. He hitches a ride on a Pepsi truck.
TOURE: But this is so Puffy's life, that the least little weird things happen, everyone latches onto it like he's the coolest kid in school and suddenly... O'BRIEN: Because, of course, people pick up on the trend...
TOURE: Yes.
O'BRIEN: ... and everyone goes out and starts getting a Pepsi truck.
TOURE: And by the end, Carson Daly (ph) is driving a Pepsi truck, because he thinks that's what Puffy thinks is cool.
BOROWITZ: Right.
TOURE: And that's what Puffy's life is like.
O'BRIEN: I love that. I think it's funny, because, again, it was sort of self-mocking with all of the celebrities taking part in it.
TOURE: Right, right.
O'BRIEN: It was very cute. Then there was the one that you liked, the MasterCard.
TOURE: Mastercard, yes, there was...
O'BRIEN: And I thought this was kind of lame.
TOURE: But there were two great ones where you had a whole bunch of different mythologies all combined into one. MasterCard got all of the great food characters. And Emerald Nut got all of the great mythologies from childhood together, Santa and the Easter Bunny.
O'BRIEN: I'm obviously just not that deep. I didn't get it. That was, like, boring.
BOROWITZ: But in terms of misfires, though, the MBNA ad, you had Gladys Knight and rugby. Want what went wrong? What went wrong?
(CROSSTALK)
BOROWITZ: Yes, unbelievable. It was a magic combination.
O'BRIEN: All right, let's...
SHAW: It was a huge missed opportunity. Cialis should have sponsored the halftime show.
O'BRIEN: Oh. Segueing us nicely into the halftime show. I didn't think it was so bad. People were just so bored.
BOROWITZ: Well...
O'BRIEN: I thought it was OK.
SHAW: If you're going to get a 62-year-old guy to do halftime show, he's definitely your guy. I mean... BOROWITZ: You know, I thought his performance was OK. I mean...
O'BRIEN: The fireworks?
BOROWITZ: You know, the songs, though, these songs for the record are 40 years old, except "Live and Let Die," which was something for the kids. It was 30 years old. But Paul McCartney is great, but he is looking so much like Angela Lansbury now, it is like really disturbing me. I'm sorry. I thought it was, like, is this "Murder She Wrote?" One of those musicals segments? I don't know. Other than that, great.
O'BRIEN: You loved it.
BOROWITZ: You know, a couple years ago they had a great one. I mean, MTV is getting a bad rap because of last year's show. But remember a few years ago they had, you know, Aerosmith, Gwen Stephanie, Sting? And it was like...
(CROSSTALK)
BOROWITZ: It was sort of a mess, but it was something for everybody. I think, like, next year, let's have a little entertainment. Let's just put entertainment back in the halftime show.
SHAW: I think we should all just be very grateful that when Paul McCartney took off his jacket that he didn't take off his shirt as well.
BOROWITZ: Yes.
O'BRIEN: You know what? That's what we would be talking about today.
TOURE: I just kept thinking of them coming into Shea Stadium in the '60s, you know, as a foursome. And now it's just him and Ringo left. And, like, you know, he's basically the last man standing. It's like wow! That's kind of sad.
O'BRIEN: A bummer read on top of the boring concert.
(CROSSTALK)
BOROWITZ: But it's also like in his age, it's like, baby, you can drive my car, because I just failed my eye test, you know.
O'BRIEN: On that happy note, "90-Second Pop" is over.
Let's go back to Rob -- Rob.
MARCIANO: All right, Soledad, thanks very much.
It's time for a break. But in a moment, today's top stories. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice tackles Mid-East peace efforts. But is she taking the right approach? A look at that ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. We'll be right back.
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Aired February 7, 2005 - 07:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Welcome back, everybody. It's just about half past the hour on this AMERICAN MORNING. Bill Hemmer is off today. Rob Marciano is filling in. Thank you very much. We appreciate it.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN ANCHOR: It's nice to be here. Thanks for having me.
O'BRIEN: It's nice to have you on your days off. We know...
MARCIANO: Hey, I don't mind.
O'BRIEN: A little double duty.
The Patriots did it again, another Super Bowl win. We're going to talk to two of the champions, MVP Deion Branch, also defensive star Tedy Bruschi. It's coming up in just a moment.
MARCIANO: Also, is Michael Jackson just a regular guy who is misunderstood? What's behind his latest TV interview? And what will the judge think of it? Jeffrey Toobin breaks it down.
O'BRIEN: Yes, he's just a regular guy who is misunderstood.
MARCIANO: I've always thought that.
(CROSSTALK)
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: It must be the wardrobe, right?
O'BRIEN: Clearly. That may not sell. We'll see. Headlines, now, Heidi Collins.
Good morning.
COLLINS: Good morning to you. And good morning to you, everybody.
"Now in the News" this morning.
In Iraq, the deadliest suicide attack since last week's elections. A suicide car bombing killed at least 11 people outside of a hospital in Mosul. The blast destroyed at least five cars and blew a large crater in the road. And in Baquba, at least 14 people were killed when a suicide bomber attacked a police station there. More than a dozen others are injured. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice promising $40 million in immediate aid to Palestinians. Rice also said Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will meet with President Bush in Washington in the spring. Sharon and Abbas are set to meet officially for the first time at a Middle East summit tomorrow in Egypt.
And in health news now, new guidelines are being released for breast-feeding moms. The American Academy of Pediatrics is encouraging new moms to keep their babies close at night to make feeding easier and to avoid giving them pacifiers during the early weeks. The academy also repeating its stance to breast-feed exclusively for six months and to continue until the baby is at least 1 year old. Dr. Sanjay Gupta will have much more in the next hour.
And, as you know, no two snowflakes, or snow statues for that matter, are alike. Some two million visitors are expected to stroll through Japan's Sapporo Snow Festival this week. It kicks off today. More than 300 statues are on exhibit. The event has been held every year since 1950. It looks a little bit like Minnesota there.
Soledad -- over to you.
O'BRIEN: Really. Do they do the artwork, too?
COLLINS: They do.
O'BRIEN: Really?
COLLINS: Yes.
O'BRIEN: That looks beautiful. That's amazing. Heidi, thanks.
COLLINS: You bet.
O'BRIEN: Jury selection in Michael Jackson's child molestation trial has been delayed because of a death in the family of Jackson's lead attorney, Tom Mesereau. Next Monday, attorneys on both sides will begin narrowing the field of jurors from 250 to 12.
Senior legal analyst Jeff Toobin joins us to talk about a little bit more about this case.
Good morning.
JEFFERY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Good morning.
O'BRIEN: So, how long is this essentially then going to be delayed for? Just until Monday?
TOOBIN: A week. But a week's a long time when you consider that, you know, this trial is going to take months. You know, the last time we were here we were talking about, you know, the leaves could be falling off the trees when this trial is over. And that's looking more and more likely. O'BRIEN: He sat down, Michael Jackson, for an interview with Geraldo Rivera, which aired on Saturday night. First of all, doesn't the judge have to oversee -- there's a gag order in the case. So, does that mean it goes out with the judge's blessing?
TOOBIN: He gave him explicit permission to conduct this interview and make statements, because of the tremendous leak of grand jury material that took place, first at thesmokinggun.com and then on ABC. Because that got so much publicity, the judge felt that Jackson deserved a chance to respond. This was his response.
O'BRIEN: So, what came out of it?
TOOBIN: I don't think much. Michael Jackson is not a very good advocate for himself. I think the way he's going to win this case, if he's going to win this case, is that the jury does not believe his accuser. That's the defense that's going to work in this case, if any defense is going to work, not that they think Michael Jackson is some sort of good and respectable and trustworthy person. I mean, his image is what it is.
I just think, you know, like a lot of celebrities, he has a great deal of confidence in his own ability to communicate. But I'm sure the initiative for this interview came from Michael Jackson, not from his lawyers.
O'BRIEN: We were laughing a little bit earlier, because the spin was sort of, I'm a regular guy, you know, who is misunderstood. When you're talking about Michael Jackson, I mean, as a lawyer, would you advise your client like that's not kind of the way to go?
TOOBIN: No, it's ridiculous. I mean, that can't be the defense. The only defense can be, look, he's an unusual person with unusual habits. Because of his celebrity, he behaves in unusual ways. But he did not molest people.
Look, Michael Jackson is on tape saying he thinks it's a beautiful thing to sleep in the same bed with, you know, children.
O'BRIEN: A tape that the jurors are going to see in this trial.
TOOBIN: The jurors are going to see, absolutely. So, he can't say he's a normal person. That is not normal behavior. All he can say is, look, because of the way he lives his life, there are suspicions about him. But they are unjustified. So, I think any attempt to portray him as normal is just bound for failure.
O'BRIEN: What's the impact, potentially, on the jurors if they saw this Geraldo Rivera interview?
TOOBIN: You know, I think at this point, it's all sort of more noise. They're not supposed to have paid attention to it. And probably at this stage of the proceedings, they haven't. They probably respected that instruction. But I don't think there was any dramatic bombshell in that interview that the jurors will change their impressions, you know, because of it. He's weird. He's not a normal person. You've got to basically embrace that if you're his defense attorney and say that's why he's a magnet for these accusations.
O'BRIEN: But Mesereau is a smart guy. Why is he not doing that?
TOOBIN: Well, I mean, I think he will once the trial starts. I mean, Mesereau is under the gag order. He couldn't say it. But I think the defense in this case is going to be much more on attack on his accusers than it is going to be in a defense of Michael Jackson.
O'BRIEN: Jeff Toobin, thank you. And as you mentioned, we're going to be talking about this for a long time.
TOOBIN: We are. And I'll be out there when it starts.
O'BRIEN: All right. Thanks, Jeff.
TOOBIN: All right.
O'BRIEN: Rob.
MARCIANO: Well, let's take another check of the weather.
(WEATHER REPORT)
O'BRIEN: New England is happy with last night's Super Bowl, but Wall Street is not. Andy is going to tell us why in "Minding Your Business."
MARCIANO: Plus, is one of TV's "Desperate Housewives" ready to come out of the closet in real life? "90-Second Pop" is ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MARCIANO: Well welcome back.
After watching the New England Patriots win Super Bowl XXXIX, fans are using "d" word, as a dynasty, to describe the team that's captured three Super Bowl titles in the last four years. But another "d", Patriots wide receiver Deion Branch was a key to last night's victory. Branch tied a Super Bowl record with 11 catches and was named MVP.
He and teammate, linebacker Tedy Bruschi, join us from St. Augustine, Florida, this morning.
Gentlemen, I assume you're both happy. Deion, we'll start with you. MVP. Describe how you are feeling this morning.
DEION BRANCH, SUPER BOWL MVP: I'm sleepy, you know. Other than that I'm cool. Hey, we had a great game. And last night, we shared all of that with our family and friends, and we got about an hour of rest.
Yes, an hour.
BRANCH : And now we're down here talking with you all, and we're enjoying the moment.
MARCIANO: Well, Tom Brady often seems to be described as "the man." Was coverage tight there in the first couple of quarters? It looked like it was, you know, I don't want to say a sloppy game, but you guys loosened up in the second-half and made some catches. What was the difference in the game for you?
BRANCH: I just think we had to slow down and play our type of football. The first quarter was bad. You know, the coaches and the rest of the guys did a great job of coming to the sideline and adjusting to a lot of things. And we got them corrected and started playing our type of football and started moving the ball and making some points.
MARCIANO: Tedy, you're the defensive star, the linebacker of that squad. What happened defensively? Twenty-one points for you guys given up. That's quite a bit. How do you feel about your performance last night?
TEDY BRUSCHI, PATRIOTS LINEBACKER: We thought it was great, as long as we allowed less points than the offense scores, you know. So, you know, we're happy about that. We had some -- a lot of threats that we had to worry about on the Eagles side of the ball, like Terrell Owens who showed a lot of heart playing, coming back from a broken ankle the way he did. Westbrook and McNabb, those are guys that we really felt we had to stop to win this game.
MARCIANO: How does it feel holding that trophy this morning?
BRUSCHI: Well, it feels great, you know. It's our third one in four years, and you don't get used to it. You don't get used to it, because you cherish world championships whenever they happen. You know, whether it's every year or once every 10 years, when it does happen you just cherish the moment.
MARCIANO: We have some video of you holding something a little differently last night, some of your family members. What does it mean for you to have them be able to run out on the field and celebrate with you?
BRUSCHI: I mean, that's what it's about. That's our motivation, you know. We play for our families to make our families proud. And, you know, when we can share a moment like that with our wives or with our sons, you know, it makes it that much more special. When I can get my sons out on the field and let them touch the trophy and they tell me how proud they are of me, that's the reason why I play the way I do.
MARCIANO: Hey, Deion, it's been a tough year for you injury- wise. You've been battling some stuff. Did you ever think you'd get to the Super Bowl and then play so well to become the MVP?
BRANCH: Yes, the coaches gave me an opportunity, which they did. I just thank them for not putting me on IR, you know, because if that would have happened, I wouldn't be sitting here now. You know, they had the confidence and that faith in me that I would come back and contribute to the team. And we made a great run, and here we are sitting here holding this trophy. And the rest of the guys are upstairs asleep, just to let you all know that.
MARCIANO: Well, we appreciate you getting up with us.
BRUSHCI: We got the early wake-up call.
BRANCH: Yes, sir. No problem.
MARCIANO: Well, we appreciate it. I'm sure it's worth it. One more question. You know, three-peat (ph), but you guys are losing both your defensive and offensive coordinators. Tedy, you know, any projections about what that may do to the squad?
BRUSCHI: Well, what happens when you have a lot of success, you know, other teams want to sort of feed off that success. The Cleveland Browns and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish are two teams that are sort of taking a part of us with them. And, you know, we wish that Charlie Weiss (ph) and Romeo Crennel (ph) luck, because they have really been a big reason why we've had the success that we've had.
But I think we can still adjust. We've had to adjust, just like we adjust on the field with injuries. This is sort of something you have to adjust when you have a lot of success, when the coaches that you have that are under your head coach get recognized and become head coaches. I think our assistant coaches will have to step up. And whoever replaces them, I'm sure they'll do a great job.
MARCIANO: All right, Tedy, be sure to share that trophy with Deion. Deion Branch and Tedy Bruschi, Super Bowl champs this morning. Congratulations.
BRANCH: Thank you.
MARCIANO: See you guys.
O'BRIEN: Gosh, they seem like the nicest guys in the world.
MARCIANO: Well, I'd be feeling pretty good if I were them, too.
O'BRIEN: Yes, although they did mention how sleepy they were. Thanks for waking us up, Rob.
MARCIANO: Right.
O'BRIEN: Good for them. Congratulations to them.
New England fans are obviously excited, but Wall Street is not exactly celebrating the Patriots Super Bowl win. Andy Serwer is "Minding Your Business."
Explain this to me. Why not?
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Well, that's the superstitious types on Wall Street. There's really not a whole lot of science to this. But going back through the years, if the AFC team wins the Super Bowl, the stock market doesn't do well. You know, for what it's worth, it doesn't really -- I wouldn't mortgage the farm on that one.
Anyway, let's talk about what happened last week. A good start to the month of February. The Dow up 288 points. You can see here, 2.8 percent. The Nasdaq doing well as well. And this after a very disappointing January.
The big jobs report on Friday for the month was positive, because the unemployment rate dropped from 5.4 percent to 5.2 percent.
Let's talk about how the anchors here at CNN's AMERICAN MORNING did overall. The final standings are in. And, yes, it's true. Soledad won the whole thing, 65 percent.
O'BRIEN: Thank you. Thank you very much.
SERWER: She picked 116 games right.
O'BRIEN: It's going to help me to start watching football, actually.
SERWER: Good. And we have some presents for you here. Let's start with the AMERICAN MORNING version of the Lombardi trophy. Here you go.
O'BRIEN: Thank you very much. Thank you.
SERWER: You can hold it up over your head maybe, too. There you go.
O'BRIEN: Thank you very much. Thank you.
SERWER: And, of course, you know, for Soledad, these things just don't have the same meaning unless there's food involved.
O'BRIEN: Exactly.
SERWER: So, of course, we got you the pot of gold.
O'BRIEN: Let's break these open.
MARCIANO: Share, share.
SERWER: Yes.
O'BRIEN: These are very good. Thank you. Anything else in there?
SERWER: No, that's it. The football bag. You want to keep the football bag? You can keep the football bag.
O'BRIEN: No. Well, now that I might actually start watching football, I have to say...
SERWER: You're good at it.
O'BRIEN: Todd Bonin (ph), the man who really -- the man behind the woman who made all of the picks.
SERWER: Well, you did have very well. And congratulations to you and your Patriots.
O'BRIEN: Thank you very much. Thank you.
MARCIANO: Jack?
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Yes.
MARCIANO: Do you have anything to give me?
CAFFERTY: Yes.
SERWER: Oh, you just started off so well, Rob. And, you know, now it's downhill.
CAFFERTY: Yes. You know all of those points you made in the first half? Gone.
The Social Security showdown gets bigger today. On one side are the allies of the Bush camp. That would be the conservatives and big business. And on the other side are the opponents of the Bush idea of reforming Social Security. That would be senior citizens and liberals.
And both of these factions or contingents are very well- organized. They're getting ready to spend tens of millions in advertising to try to convince you that their position on this issue is the right one. Those ads will start airing today.
What we're interested in this morning is how you're planning for your own retirement. Some of the mail we've gotten.
Kathy in Harrison, Arkansas, writes: "We're just trying to get our two sons through college and being super-nice to them, hoping they'll be nice to us in our declining years and take us in."
SERWER: Good luck.
CAFFERTY: "There is no way to save money and send your kids to college if you're in the middle class."
Samuel in Ogden, Utah: "What's the point of planning for retirement? Since the old in the U.S. aren't valued anyway, I plan on being as big a burden as possible."
Sam, you've all right started. Way to go, buddy.
Tammy in Midland, Michigan: "For me, retirement is less than a year away. Planning for retirement is almost another full-time job. However the young, middle/lower-class today are just plain out of luck. I feel for them as only the rich will be retiring in the future."
Robert in Tacoma writes: "Unfortunately, I was injured on the job, and we had to spend $13,000 we had saved. Every month, $50 in a savings account for 12 years, it's about gone. Now, I'm applying for SSI disability, so it's very important that we either fix or secure the plan."
And Paul in Hellertown, Pennsylvania: "Dear Jack, I'm planning on moving in with my children, and then getting even with them by turning on all of the lights, putting the thermostat up to 90 degrees and leaving the doors open."
O'BRIEN: Not a lot of optimism there.
CAFFERTY: I guess there's not a lot of reason for optimism right now.
MARCIANO: Prepare yourselves.
CAFFERTY: Yes, it's tough out there.
O'BRIEN: Yes, that's pretty scary.
CAFFERTY: People trying to raise kids, put them through school and plan for retirement and pay all of the bills.
O'BRIEN: They can't do it.
CAFFERTY: Most families are two-income families. That didn't used to be the case in this country.
SERWER: Just pray. That's what you want to do for retirement, I think.
CAFFERTY: Yes.
O'BRIEN: The math doesn't work. The math doesn't work out.
CAFFERTY: Yes, tough stuff.
O'BRIEN: Thanks, Jack, appreciate it.
Well, the Patriots are Super Bowl champs. But which ad took the commercial crown? Pepsi is just one of the contenders ahead. The 90- second poppers make their picks on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: All right. We know why that's running, Paul McCartney, of course. It's time for a Monday edition of "90-Second Pop." The gang's all here this morning. Andy Borowitz from Borowitzreport.com. Jessica Shaw from "Entertainment Weekly." Toure, CNN pop culture correspondent.
Good morning. Good morning. Good morning.
TOURE, CNN POP CULTURE CORRESPONDENT: Hello.
JESSICA SHAW, "ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Good morning. O'BRIEN: Did you all stay up to watch the game?
TOURE: Of course.
ANDY BOROWITZ, BOROWITZREPORT.COM: Yes.
SHAW: Yes. I stayed up to watch Paul and to hear that song.
O'BRIEN: What did you think of him overall? Good, bad?
BOROWITZ: We'll get to that.
TOURE: Oh, god, what a (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
O'BRIEN: Well, you know, we'll talk about that in just a moment. But first let's talk about the commercials.
TOURE: Which, in general, were a bit of a snore.
O'BRIEN: A snore?
TOURE: I think the game was more...
O'BRIEN: This is an exciting "90-Second Pop."
TOURE: Well, no, the pop can be interesting if the subjects are boring. And the game was better than the commercials. I think Madison Avenue is generally lacking in creativity right now.
O'BRIEN: Because they're afraid.
TOURE: Well, partly because they're afraid, and partly because they think every design problem can be fixed by stuffing in a celebrity or three or four or five, like...
O'BRIEN: But some of the commercials mocked that.
TOURE: Yes.
O'BRIEN: That was kind of cute.
TOURE: Yes, which is -- oh, but mocking that is going into that at the same time.
O'BRIEN: I feel like I'm in an English literature class where we're deconstructing something.
TOURE: You are.
O'BRIEN: Let's talk about the ones that you liked the best. What was your favorite?
TOURE: Well, my favorite of the whole night was at the Anheuser- Busch for the soldiers coming home and being applauded by people. It was moving. It was heart-warming. It was honest.
O'BRIEN: Let's watch it for those who missed it.
TOURE: Let's see it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: I've got to tell you, when I saw this, I mean, I got all choked up. I think this is a beautiful commercial. It was really nice.
TOURE: And you know, now we can guarantee that this will happen in airports all over the place, though it did happen after 9/11. I remember standing out in the street, fire trucks going by and people spontaneously applauding in the middle...
SHAW: You're choked up again.
O'BRIEN: I know. It's...
SHAW: You're almost crying.
TOURE: She needs a hug.
O'BRIEN: Can I get a tissue, please?
TOURE: Should we talk amongst ourselves?
O'BRIEN: It's a very...
TOURE: Paul McCartney. Paul McCartney.
O'BRIEN: Exactly. Let's move into the boring. I actually agree with you. And I think it would happen anyway. I think people will be applauding the soldiers when they come back.
TOURE: Absolutely.
O'BRIEN: I thought that was a nice ad. All right. Then there was the P. Diddy ad for Diet Pepsi...
TOURE: Yes.
O'BRIEN: ... which I thought was hilarious. I did not cry at this one. Let's...
BOROWITZ: I found it moving actually.
O'BRIEN: Now the whole point, his car breaks down. He hitches a ride on a Pepsi truck.
TOURE: But this is so Puffy's life, that the least little weird things happen, everyone latches onto it like he's the coolest kid in school and suddenly... O'BRIEN: Because, of course, people pick up on the trend...
TOURE: Yes.
O'BRIEN: ... and everyone goes out and starts getting a Pepsi truck.
TOURE: And by the end, Carson Daly (ph) is driving a Pepsi truck, because he thinks that's what Puffy thinks is cool.
BOROWITZ: Right.
TOURE: And that's what Puffy's life is like.
O'BRIEN: I love that. I think it's funny, because, again, it was sort of self-mocking with all of the celebrities taking part in it.
TOURE: Right, right.
O'BRIEN: It was very cute. Then there was the one that you liked, the MasterCard.
TOURE: Mastercard, yes, there was...
O'BRIEN: And I thought this was kind of lame.
TOURE: But there were two great ones where you had a whole bunch of different mythologies all combined into one. MasterCard got all of the great food characters. And Emerald Nut got all of the great mythologies from childhood together, Santa and the Easter Bunny.
O'BRIEN: I'm obviously just not that deep. I didn't get it. That was, like, boring.
BOROWITZ: But in terms of misfires, though, the MBNA ad, you had Gladys Knight and rugby. Want what went wrong? What went wrong?
(CROSSTALK)
BOROWITZ: Yes, unbelievable. It was a magic combination.
O'BRIEN: All right, let's...
SHAW: It was a huge missed opportunity. Cialis should have sponsored the halftime show.
O'BRIEN: Oh. Segueing us nicely into the halftime show. I didn't think it was so bad. People were just so bored.
BOROWITZ: Well...
O'BRIEN: I thought it was OK.
SHAW: If you're going to get a 62-year-old guy to do halftime show, he's definitely your guy. I mean... BOROWITZ: You know, I thought his performance was OK. I mean...
O'BRIEN: The fireworks?
BOROWITZ: You know, the songs, though, these songs for the record are 40 years old, except "Live and Let Die," which was something for the kids. It was 30 years old. But Paul McCartney is great, but he is looking so much like Angela Lansbury now, it is like really disturbing me. I'm sorry. I thought it was, like, is this "Murder She Wrote?" One of those musicals segments? I don't know. Other than that, great.
O'BRIEN: You loved it.
BOROWITZ: You know, a couple years ago they had a great one. I mean, MTV is getting a bad rap because of last year's show. But remember a few years ago they had, you know, Aerosmith, Gwen Stephanie, Sting? And it was like...
(CROSSTALK)
BOROWITZ: It was sort of a mess, but it was something for everybody. I think, like, next year, let's have a little entertainment. Let's just put entertainment back in the halftime show.
SHAW: I think we should all just be very grateful that when Paul McCartney took off his jacket that he didn't take off his shirt as well.
BOROWITZ: Yes.
O'BRIEN: You know what? That's what we would be talking about today.
TOURE: I just kept thinking of them coming into Shea Stadium in the '60s, you know, as a foursome. And now it's just him and Ringo left. And, like, you know, he's basically the last man standing. It's like wow! That's kind of sad.
O'BRIEN: A bummer read on top of the boring concert.
(CROSSTALK)
BOROWITZ: But it's also like in his age, it's like, baby, you can drive my car, because I just failed my eye test, you know.
O'BRIEN: On that happy note, "90-Second Pop" is over.
Let's go back to Rob -- Rob.
MARCIANO: All right, Soledad, thanks very much.
It's time for a break. But in a moment, today's top stories. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice tackles Mid-East peace efforts. But is she taking the right approach? A look at that ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. We'll be right back.
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