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'Kamber & May'; East Wing Shakeup?

Aired February 16, 2005 - 08:30   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. Half past the hour on this AMERICAN MORNING.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Before the break, we mentioned these new developments in the increasing diplomatic divide between the U.S. and both Syria and Iran. Here is what we are learning now through Reuters. It's reporting that U.S. assistant Secretary of State William Burns calling for the immediate and complete withdrawal of Syrian troops out of Lebanon. Right now, they number 13,000 in that country. Reuters also reports that high-level officials of both governments say they will form a common front against America. Washington has been pressuring Iran to stop its nuclear weapons program. It also has suspicions about Syria's role in Monday's assassination of the former Lebanese prime minister, Rafik Hariri. In addition to this, there have been ongoing complaints about Syrian aid to Iraqi insurgents.

All this developing literally by the hour this morning. So we'll keep you posted on what we're learning here in New York and let you know more in a moment.

O'BRIEN: We're going to keep watching that. Let's get to the headlines first, though, with Heidi Collins. Good morning again.

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, guys. Good morning to you, everyone. Now in the news this morning, Social Security once again topping the agenda for President Bush today as he heads to New Hampshire. The president is set to get on the road within the next two hours. He's scheduled to address a crowd of 2,000 people in Portsmouth. Some Democrats have spoken out against President Bush's proposal to create private accounts, which is a major part of his Social Security plan.

Defrocked priest Paul Shanley serving the first full day of his prison sentence. The 74-year-old Shanley showed no emotion yesterday when he was sentenced to up to 15 years in prison. Shanley was convicted of molesting a boy in a Boston area church during the 1980s.

Lawyers for a 15-year-old boy found guilty of killing his grandparents say they are planning to appeal the verdict. Chris Pittman was sentenced yesterday to 30 years in prison for the murders he committed when he was 12 years old. A Charleston, South Carolina jury rejected claims he was acting under the influence of Zoloft. Pittman's relatives say they are heartbroken by the verdict.

And hip-hop star Sean P. Diddy Combs is being sued for a book he never wrote. Random House Publishing says it gave the rap artist a $300,000 advance for his autobiography, but the December 1999 deadline has come and, well, gone. Combs' spokesman says he hopes the case is resolved without going to court. Shovel over the cash and maybe it will be.

O'BRIEN: He's got enough money, he can just pay it off. He doesn't need to go back to court.

Thanks, Heidi. Appreciate it.

The Bush administration hasn't blamed Syria directly for the assassination of Lebanon's former prime minister, but it has pulled its ambassador out of Damascus. Joining us this morning from D.C. to debate that and other political news as well, Democratic consultant Victor Kamber and Cliff May, former RNC communications director who is with the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies.

Gentlemen, nice to see you both. Thank you both for being with us.

Let's talk about the reports we're just getting about this united front, according to Reuters, between Iran and Syria to confront, as they call it, their enemies. We heard from the former United States ambassador to Syria that in his estimation, that meant potentially unleashing Hezbollah against whatever enemy Syria would be talking about.

Cliff, do you think the yanking of the ambassador was a good move?

CLIFF MAY, FMR. RNC COMM. DIR.: Yes, I think it's very important to send a clear signal to the dictator of Syria, Bashad Assad (ph), that we're very serious that we're not going to stand for the kind of things Syria's doing. We obviously clearly suspect that Hariri was murdered by Syria or by Hezbollah, which is a terrorist organization that's an agent of Syria or Iran.

And Syria is allowing former Saddam croneys to run, and fund and direct the insurgency against us in Iraq on Syrian soil. So I think what we've got to do is make it very clear that unless he changes his behavior, it makes so know sense for him to buy his subway tokens, except one at a time.

BLITZER: Well, Vic, if the message that's trying to be sent is, we're serious, then is withdrawing the ambassador not doing enough?

VICTOR KAMBER, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Well, I think part of the problem is the lack of confidence in where the bush administration is getting its information. If, in fact, what Cliff just said is correct, if, in fact, we know or more than just suspect that Assad has been a part of the assassination last week of the former premiere of Lebanon, then we're not doing enough. If in fact it's strictly a way of saying I don't like this guy to begin with, I'm never liked him, let me use this as a excuse, then I think we're fermenting further problems.

You know, when Cliff talks about a dictator, that part of the world has several. They lists the past week in the news press, "The 10 Worst Dictators in the World," two of them happened to be in that part of the world, and they're our friends, in Saudi Arabia and Libya.

So the fact that they're a dictator, while I hate and deplore that whole part of the world is full of them, we're just picking and choosing who we get along with this week and who we don't.

O'BRIEN: Let's turn to another topic. The president sent 12 judicial nominees back, these are folks he'd been considering around the first time, first administration. Now they're back again. Ted Kennedy said that it's more picking fights than picking judges seriously. Senator Reid said that why send back these folks, essentially -- I'm paraphrasing, that were found too extreme the first time around? Vic, whose side do you weigh in on this?

KAMBER: Well, I think again, I totally think that the president misunderstands what the term advise and consent is. He has the right to pick his judicial nominees. He has the right to send. He has the right advocate for them.

O'BRIEN: And send them back, right?

KAMBER: Absolutely, and I give him every right for that, but the Senate has equally the responsibility to give advice an consent. And if they don't want to consent, they shouldn't, and they have a procedure and both Mr. Frist and Mr. Bush wants to push that procedure aside.

Just yesterday, by the way, in the United States Senate, one Republican who happens to be a good conservative Republican was in Iraq he and said that the Kurdish minority was assured of being comfortable in that legislature with the Shiites because they understood one word that American democracy was based on -- filibuster. And they knew that they were going to be protected, the Kurds, in a minority, because they could filibuster there to protect their minority rights. That's what Democrats have a right to do. Bush and Frist want to get rid of that right.

O'BRIEN: Cliff is smiling when he hears that word "filibuster," and of course Arlen Specter has got a little strategy to defeat this filibuster. Cliff, why are you smiling?

MAY: Well, look, isn't it clear that absolutely the Senate has a right to advise and consent, so let's put these judicial nominees up to a vote by the whole Senate. If they get 51 votes, they win. If they get less than that, they lose. But the idea that the filibuster should be in every case the response to somebody that Nancy Pelosi or Harry Reid doesn't like is absolutely nonsense.

Now there's a whole another question about what the Republicans do about it. Do they do a procedural thing that kills the filibuster, or do they, as I think they should do, as George Will thinks they should do, they should say, OK, let's have filibusters the same way it was in the 1950s when Southern Democrats were against civil rights legislation? If they want to filibuster, make them sit there all night reading the phonebook and sleeping on cots. I think that the filibuster should only be used in exceptional circumstances. Most of the time, judges have art to be given a chance to get the votes of the entire Senate, up or down. That's it.

KAMBER: Cliff, I don't disagree with you. I'm...

O'BRIEN: But you know what, gentlemen, we are out of time. So Cliff May and Victor Kamber, Cliff got the final word. We're going to be talking about this more, I'm sure.

Thanks guys -- Bill.

HEMMER: 22 minutes now before the hour. We've heard plenty about the president retooling his cabinet for a second term. It now appears the first lady is shuffling her staff as well for the next four years.

Kelly Wallace here this morning to tell us more. Good morning.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

Intrigue in the East Wing. While Laura Bush's spokesman says what's going on in the office is the same thing going on in every White House office going into the second term. But Laura Bush is making some very big changes. And that has Washington observers saying, what's going on?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WALLACE (voice-over): Laura Bush's east wing shuffle: in, a new social secretary and chief of staff. Out, the chef, who's been at the White House since 1994. Mrs. Bush gave him the axe.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We don't usually think of Laura Bush as firing anybody. She's just as loyal as anybody else in the Bush family. So I think it is very unusual.

WALLACE: Was it a clash of personalities or something else? We posed those questions to long-time Washington style expert Sally Quinn.

SALLY QUINN, "THE WASHINGTON POST": I suspect she and the chef didn't see eye to eye, and that's the kind of thing that happens. I mean, so much of this is chemistry and personality. And so I'm sure they'll get another chef and I'm sure the food will be fine.

WALLACE: Quinn says it's also a sign of the first lady feeling more comfortable in this, the second term, a time when Mrs. Bush says she and her husband plan to do a whole lot more entertaining. They hosted only four state dinners during the first four years, the same number the elder Bushes hosted during their first six months in the White House.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is how she's spending her capital, she's saying, look, I know you don't want to stay up really late, but darn it, every once in a while, I want to have some fun people around. WALLACE: As she takes on her first official policy role with her husband's administration, overseeing a new program to help troubled boys, there is something else you notice.

LAURA BUSH, FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES: My role probably hasn't changed as much as I've changed.

WALLACE: She has become much more candid with the press. Quinn says that's no surprise.

QUINN: She, I'm sure, is partially responsible for him being re- elected, and I think that she knows that. Everybody knows that. I think she really gets an A-plus, and I think that's given her an enormous amount of confidence.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALLACE: The first lady's words and actions also perhaps a reflection of her sky-high approval ratings. I think her latest approval rating in the CNN poll, 85 percent.

Bill, those are numbers politicians would dream of.

HEMMER: I'm sure. Certainly. And she's stepping out now, as we say.

WALLACE: She is, yes.

HEMMER: Thanks, Kelli. Good to see you.

WALLACE: Good to see you -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: A Kentucky marketing executive is facing an assault charge after an attack on a reporter investigating his company. The incident was caught on tape Monday. You can see right there, that show reporter Eric Flack of station WAVE being held by his neck, and then he's repeatedly punched and kicked.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERIC FLACK, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER: The executive director, Elio Hine (ph) came after me. He took his one hand and choked me with it, slammed me up against a wall. With his other hand, punched me twice to the chin as I tried to duck and get away. He kneed me to the head, knocking my head into our camera. I was able to get away at that point, attempted to call 911. He then came at me a second time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: Flack had been looking into reports that the company, PC Pro, was running what appeared to be a pyramid scam. A Louisville judge issued the warrant charging the company's president with misdemeanor assault.

(WEATHER REPORT)

O'BRIEN: If one law maker gets his way, it could cost a whole lot more to buy a gas-guzzling Hummer.

Andy is "Minding Your Business," just ahead.

HEMMER: Also, the FDA evaluating drugs before they go to market. But who's keeping tabs once they're approved? Good question for the good doctor. Sanjay's up in a moment, next here on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HEMMER: We're here "Paging Dr. Gupta" this morning about the safety of prescription painkillers. With FDA hearings underway, Sanjay tells us that government health officials have already taken a first step toward reducing the potential risk.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A new drug safety board is being created to keep an eye on medicines after they become available to consumers.

MIKE LEAVITT, HHS SECY.: We're going to ratchet up aggressively and systematically the quality and the quantity of information that's available for analysis.

GUPTA: The announcement by Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt comes less than a day before hearings to examine the safety of many popular painkillers. The FDA, doctors and consumers hope they will hear enough testimony and evidence about a class of drugs called Cox-2 inhibitors. Vioxx, Celebrex and Bextra among the brand names, to decide if the use of these drugs is justified, or if there are too many problems to keep them on the market, problems that have been a concern of medical insiders since the drugs were first approved.

DR. LAURENCE SPERLING, EMORY UNIV. CARDIOLOGIST: Initially, about four years ago, or so, there were questions related to the possible heart side effects of these medications.

GUPTA: And now fast forward to the fall of 2004.

RAYMOND GILMARTIN, CEO MERCK & CO.: The risk of a cardiovascular event did increase among those on Vioxx. Accordingly, we are voluntarily withdrawing Vioxx, effective today.

GUPTA: Then, just three months after Vioxx was pulled from the market, over heart attack concerns, the National Cancer Institute halted a study using a similar drug, saying it found the same increased heart risk in those taking Celebrex.

Pfizer, the makers of Celebrex, said that these results were inconsistent with data in other clinical trials and decided to keep the drug on the market. But both Pfizer and the FDA warned doctors to consider all of the risks before prescribing it to their patients.

We spoke with one doctor who heeded their warning.

SPERLING: Right now, with our available information, I would say that I'd be a little wary of prescribing Celebrex to you right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's one pill, 24 hours.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUPTA: Also at issue during the three-day hearings that start today was the heavy advertising in part responsible for the reported overprescribing of these drugs.

And also another question, should drug companies be required to publish research results even if they show negative findings for their treatment? A recommendation from the FDA committee is expected on Friday.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HEMMER: The new board will also create a Web site to get latest drug safety information out to both patients and doctors, and that site will include details on the side effects and steps that can be taken to minimize the risks.

About 12 minutes before the hour. Hummers come with a hefty price tag. We know that already. One lawmaker now wants to make the monster SUVs a bit more expensive. Andy has that story, "Minding Your Business" as we continue in a moment on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody. We've got this information just in to CNN. We're getting this word from Iranian reports that there's been a powerful explosion heard this morning in the outskirts of Dailam, which is in a province of Arad (ph). The witnesses apparently saying that maybe it's possible that this involves some kind of missile fired from a plane. We're going to, of course, continue to check out this story, get more information on it when we get some kind of confirmation on it. This word coming to us right now, though. More on this in a moment -- Jack.

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: That Middle East just percolating right along over there, aren't they?

O'BRIEN: Yes, this morning it is.

CAFFERTY: Executives at a major airline taking a big pay cut. The idea is to try and impress the lower level employees. We don't know if it's going to work or not. With that and a market preview is my friend Andy Serwer. Hello there.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Good morning, Jack. How are you?

Let's talk about the market yesterday. Good session on Wall Street. Dow up 46 points, kind of erasing a lot of the losses from the month of January. You can see we're up across the board. This morning, interesting number. Housing starts for January, a 21-year high. February '84, you'd have to go back to, 2.16 million units begun, which is great stuff. That's low interest rates at work.

Coke reporting better than expected numbers. That should be an active stock this morning. Alan Greenspan going to Capitol Hill to testify.

The airline story you're talking about -- this company, Continental, is cutting the pay for its directors. This is extremely unusual. You hear about CEOs and top executives taking pay cuts. Not a lot of money in the greater scheme of things for board members. That's why it's largely symbolic. Board members make $35,000 a year at Continental, which for these kind of people is not a lot of money, plus $1,000 for every meeting they attend. They're going to cut 30 percent of their pay. That would save $20,000 a year. This is a company that was losing $3 million a day in January. I would call that symbolic.

Jack, here's a story for you that relates to the "Question of the Day" about fuel efficiency and cars. The state of Maryland is considering imposing a $750 tax on vehicles that weigh over three tons. OK. That would be your Hummer, that would be your Escalade, your Navigator and your Yukon.

We spoke to the representative Bill Brotwraught (ph) down there and he said look, people just don't understand what kind of damage this does to the environment, what kind of damage it does to the roads. Farmers say they use some of these vehicles to tow stuff around. I guess that would not be a Hummer. That would look silly in the field, or an Escalade. I think they might be talking about a Yukon or a Navigater.

CAFFERTY: Plowing your furrows in a Hummer, probably not.

SERWER: No. Anyway, that's it. That's all I've got today, Jack.

CAFFERTY: Well, and I've got just a little bit more and then we'll get the hell out of here.

SERWER: All right, good deal.

CAFFERTY: Wednesday, time for "Things People Say."

Beginning with: "Things just came to a head. Liberal queer plus conservative Republican just doesn't mesh well. That was making my life a little bit turbulent." That's Maya Marcel-Keyes, who's the daughter of the conservative political commentator Alan Keyes at a gay rights rally last Monday on how her sexuality had created a rift in her relationship with her parents. .

"There are a lot of people in this city who are afraid I'm going to be very unorthodox and I am." That's the newly elected Democratic National Committee chairman, Howard Dean, on how he plans to lead the party. I still don't understand. They turned away from him in a heartbeat when he did that thing out there in Iowa and raced to John Kerry. And now they've decided they want to ruin the whole deal.

SERWER: Yee-haw!

CAFFERTY: This is good. You'd have to go a ways to outdo this guy. "One year I ordered rose petals spread all over the hotel room and champagne as well as new clothes in her size so she didn't have to worry about not having her overnight bag." "American Idol" host Ryan Seacrest on how he said he planned his very best Valentine's Day.

O'BRIEN: Oh, gag me, come on.

SERWER: Ryan, you animal.

O'BRIEN: Bitter.

CAFFERTY: Obviously nobody ever spread any flower petals around the room for you.

O'BRIEN: And certainly didn't buy me a wardrobe full of clothes so I wouldn't have bother packing my bag.

CAFFERTY: "For better or worse, I'm eternally 12 and stuck in the seventh grade and I just keep the getting left back." Singer Mariah Carey, as if we couldn't tell, insisting her difficult childhood made her grow up too quickly. She tells a magazine, she likes to revert to being a kid whenever she can.

And finally this: "I wouldn't mind attempting to have sex in public." This is Grammy award winner and Naomi Cambell's ex-boyfriend Usher. You could turn that into a pay-per-view thing, you know. Naomi Cambell?

HEMMER: Out on the sidewalk?

CAFFERTY: Make it into a...

O'BRIEN: A little porn, yes.

HEMMER: Would you pay for that?

O'BRIEN: Oh, no, stop.

CAFFERTY: Would I pay for it?

O'BRIEN: Stop, stop!

(CROSSTALK)

SERWER: Job well done, Jack.

O'BRIEN: A serious story -- start tell you about it. The story that's been developing rapidly in just a few minutes, last minutes, in fact. Wire reports saying that Iranian TV has reported an explosion near a Iran's port city of Dailam. A nuclear power plant is reportedly nearby. Iranian TV also reportedly saying it came from an unknown aircraft. We're going to have the latest for you on this as soon as it becomes available. We're back in a moment on American morning.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: There are several developing stories in the Middle East on the day that former Lebanese prime minister, Rafik Hariri, is buried in Beirut. Tensions fly even higher between the United States and Syria. And now Iran is involved as well, declaring an alliance against the United States. High stakes and hard pressure on this AMERICAN MORNING.

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Aired February 16, 2005 - 08:30   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. Half past the hour on this AMERICAN MORNING.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Before the break, we mentioned these new developments in the increasing diplomatic divide between the U.S. and both Syria and Iran. Here is what we are learning now through Reuters. It's reporting that U.S. assistant Secretary of State William Burns calling for the immediate and complete withdrawal of Syrian troops out of Lebanon. Right now, they number 13,000 in that country. Reuters also reports that high-level officials of both governments say they will form a common front against America. Washington has been pressuring Iran to stop its nuclear weapons program. It also has suspicions about Syria's role in Monday's assassination of the former Lebanese prime minister, Rafik Hariri. In addition to this, there have been ongoing complaints about Syrian aid to Iraqi insurgents.

All this developing literally by the hour this morning. So we'll keep you posted on what we're learning here in New York and let you know more in a moment.

O'BRIEN: We're going to keep watching that. Let's get to the headlines first, though, with Heidi Collins. Good morning again.

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, guys. Good morning to you, everyone. Now in the news this morning, Social Security once again topping the agenda for President Bush today as he heads to New Hampshire. The president is set to get on the road within the next two hours. He's scheduled to address a crowd of 2,000 people in Portsmouth. Some Democrats have spoken out against President Bush's proposal to create private accounts, which is a major part of his Social Security plan.

Defrocked priest Paul Shanley serving the first full day of his prison sentence. The 74-year-old Shanley showed no emotion yesterday when he was sentenced to up to 15 years in prison. Shanley was convicted of molesting a boy in a Boston area church during the 1980s.

Lawyers for a 15-year-old boy found guilty of killing his grandparents say they are planning to appeal the verdict. Chris Pittman was sentenced yesterday to 30 years in prison for the murders he committed when he was 12 years old. A Charleston, South Carolina jury rejected claims he was acting under the influence of Zoloft. Pittman's relatives say they are heartbroken by the verdict.

And hip-hop star Sean P. Diddy Combs is being sued for a book he never wrote. Random House Publishing says it gave the rap artist a $300,000 advance for his autobiography, but the December 1999 deadline has come and, well, gone. Combs' spokesman says he hopes the case is resolved without going to court. Shovel over the cash and maybe it will be.

O'BRIEN: He's got enough money, he can just pay it off. He doesn't need to go back to court.

Thanks, Heidi. Appreciate it.

The Bush administration hasn't blamed Syria directly for the assassination of Lebanon's former prime minister, but it has pulled its ambassador out of Damascus. Joining us this morning from D.C. to debate that and other political news as well, Democratic consultant Victor Kamber and Cliff May, former RNC communications director who is with the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies.

Gentlemen, nice to see you both. Thank you both for being with us.

Let's talk about the reports we're just getting about this united front, according to Reuters, between Iran and Syria to confront, as they call it, their enemies. We heard from the former United States ambassador to Syria that in his estimation, that meant potentially unleashing Hezbollah against whatever enemy Syria would be talking about.

Cliff, do you think the yanking of the ambassador was a good move?

CLIFF MAY, FMR. RNC COMM. DIR.: Yes, I think it's very important to send a clear signal to the dictator of Syria, Bashad Assad (ph), that we're very serious that we're not going to stand for the kind of things Syria's doing. We obviously clearly suspect that Hariri was murdered by Syria or by Hezbollah, which is a terrorist organization that's an agent of Syria or Iran.

And Syria is allowing former Saddam croneys to run, and fund and direct the insurgency against us in Iraq on Syrian soil. So I think what we've got to do is make it very clear that unless he changes his behavior, it makes so know sense for him to buy his subway tokens, except one at a time.

BLITZER: Well, Vic, if the message that's trying to be sent is, we're serious, then is withdrawing the ambassador not doing enough?

VICTOR KAMBER, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Well, I think part of the problem is the lack of confidence in where the bush administration is getting its information. If, in fact, what Cliff just said is correct, if, in fact, we know or more than just suspect that Assad has been a part of the assassination last week of the former premiere of Lebanon, then we're not doing enough. If in fact it's strictly a way of saying I don't like this guy to begin with, I'm never liked him, let me use this as a excuse, then I think we're fermenting further problems.

You know, when Cliff talks about a dictator, that part of the world has several. They lists the past week in the news press, "The 10 Worst Dictators in the World," two of them happened to be in that part of the world, and they're our friends, in Saudi Arabia and Libya.

So the fact that they're a dictator, while I hate and deplore that whole part of the world is full of them, we're just picking and choosing who we get along with this week and who we don't.

O'BRIEN: Let's turn to another topic. The president sent 12 judicial nominees back, these are folks he'd been considering around the first time, first administration. Now they're back again. Ted Kennedy said that it's more picking fights than picking judges seriously. Senator Reid said that why send back these folks, essentially -- I'm paraphrasing, that were found too extreme the first time around? Vic, whose side do you weigh in on this?

KAMBER: Well, I think again, I totally think that the president misunderstands what the term advise and consent is. He has the right to pick his judicial nominees. He has the right to send. He has the right advocate for them.

O'BRIEN: And send them back, right?

KAMBER: Absolutely, and I give him every right for that, but the Senate has equally the responsibility to give advice an consent. And if they don't want to consent, they shouldn't, and they have a procedure and both Mr. Frist and Mr. Bush wants to push that procedure aside.

Just yesterday, by the way, in the United States Senate, one Republican who happens to be a good conservative Republican was in Iraq he and said that the Kurdish minority was assured of being comfortable in that legislature with the Shiites because they understood one word that American democracy was based on -- filibuster. And they knew that they were going to be protected, the Kurds, in a minority, because they could filibuster there to protect their minority rights. That's what Democrats have a right to do. Bush and Frist want to get rid of that right.

O'BRIEN: Cliff is smiling when he hears that word "filibuster," and of course Arlen Specter has got a little strategy to defeat this filibuster. Cliff, why are you smiling?

MAY: Well, look, isn't it clear that absolutely the Senate has a right to advise and consent, so let's put these judicial nominees up to a vote by the whole Senate. If they get 51 votes, they win. If they get less than that, they lose. But the idea that the filibuster should be in every case the response to somebody that Nancy Pelosi or Harry Reid doesn't like is absolutely nonsense.

Now there's a whole another question about what the Republicans do about it. Do they do a procedural thing that kills the filibuster, or do they, as I think they should do, as George Will thinks they should do, they should say, OK, let's have filibusters the same way it was in the 1950s when Southern Democrats were against civil rights legislation? If they want to filibuster, make them sit there all night reading the phonebook and sleeping on cots. I think that the filibuster should only be used in exceptional circumstances. Most of the time, judges have art to be given a chance to get the votes of the entire Senate, up or down. That's it.

KAMBER: Cliff, I don't disagree with you. I'm...

O'BRIEN: But you know what, gentlemen, we are out of time. So Cliff May and Victor Kamber, Cliff got the final word. We're going to be talking about this more, I'm sure.

Thanks guys -- Bill.

HEMMER: 22 minutes now before the hour. We've heard plenty about the president retooling his cabinet for a second term. It now appears the first lady is shuffling her staff as well for the next four years.

Kelly Wallace here this morning to tell us more. Good morning.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

Intrigue in the East Wing. While Laura Bush's spokesman says what's going on in the office is the same thing going on in every White House office going into the second term. But Laura Bush is making some very big changes. And that has Washington observers saying, what's going on?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WALLACE (voice-over): Laura Bush's east wing shuffle: in, a new social secretary and chief of staff. Out, the chef, who's been at the White House since 1994. Mrs. Bush gave him the axe.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We don't usually think of Laura Bush as firing anybody. She's just as loyal as anybody else in the Bush family. So I think it is very unusual.

WALLACE: Was it a clash of personalities or something else? We posed those questions to long-time Washington style expert Sally Quinn.

SALLY QUINN, "THE WASHINGTON POST": I suspect she and the chef didn't see eye to eye, and that's the kind of thing that happens. I mean, so much of this is chemistry and personality. And so I'm sure they'll get another chef and I'm sure the food will be fine.

WALLACE: Quinn says it's also a sign of the first lady feeling more comfortable in this, the second term, a time when Mrs. Bush says she and her husband plan to do a whole lot more entertaining. They hosted only four state dinners during the first four years, the same number the elder Bushes hosted during their first six months in the White House.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is how she's spending her capital, she's saying, look, I know you don't want to stay up really late, but darn it, every once in a while, I want to have some fun people around. WALLACE: As she takes on her first official policy role with her husband's administration, overseeing a new program to help troubled boys, there is something else you notice.

LAURA BUSH, FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES: My role probably hasn't changed as much as I've changed.

WALLACE: She has become much more candid with the press. Quinn says that's no surprise.

QUINN: She, I'm sure, is partially responsible for him being re- elected, and I think that she knows that. Everybody knows that. I think she really gets an A-plus, and I think that's given her an enormous amount of confidence.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALLACE: The first lady's words and actions also perhaps a reflection of her sky-high approval ratings. I think her latest approval rating in the CNN poll, 85 percent.

Bill, those are numbers politicians would dream of.

HEMMER: I'm sure. Certainly. And she's stepping out now, as we say.

WALLACE: She is, yes.

HEMMER: Thanks, Kelli. Good to see you.

WALLACE: Good to see you -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: A Kentucky marketing executive is facing an assault charge after an attack on a reporter investigating his company. The incident was caught on tape Monday. You can see right there, that show reporter Eric Flack of station WAVE being held by his neck, and then he's repeatedly punched and kicked.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERIC FLACK, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER: The executive director, Elio Hine (ph) came after me. He took his one hand and choked me with it, slammed me up against a wall. With his other hand, punched me twice to the chin as I tried to duck and get away. He kneed me to the head, knocking my head into our camera. I was able to get away at that point, attempted to call 911. He then came at me a second time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: Flack had been looking into reports that the company, PC Pro, was running what appeared to be a pyramid scam. A Louisville judge issued the warrant charging the company's president with misdemeanor assault.

(WEATHER REPORT)

O'BRIEN: If one law maker gets his way, it could cost a whole lot more to buy a gas-guzzling Hummer.

Andy is "Minding Your Business," just ahead.

HEMMER: Also, the FDA evaluating drugs before they go to market. But who's keeping tabs once they're approved? Good question for the good doctor. Sanjay's up in a moment, next here on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HEMMER: We're here "Paging Dr. Gupta" this morning about the safety of prescription painkillers. With FDA hearings underway, Sanjay tells us that government health officials have already taken a first step toward reducing the potential risk.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A new drug safety board is being created to keep an eye on medicines after they become available to consumers.

MIKE LEAVITT, HHS SECY.: We're going to ratchet up aggressively and systematically the quality and the quantity of information that's available for analysis.

GUPTA: The announcement by Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt comes less than a day before hearings to examine the safety of many popular painkillers. The FDA, doctors and consumers hope they will hear enough testimony and evidence about a class of drugs called Cox-2 inhibitors. Vioxx, Celebrex and Bextra among the brand names, to decide if the use of these drugs is justified, or if there are too many problems to keep them on the market, problems that have been a concern of medical insiders since the drugs were first approved.

DR. LAURENCE SPERLING, EMORY UNIV. CARDIOLOGIST: Initially, about four years ago, or so, there were questions related to the possible heart side effects of these medications.

GUPTA: And now fast forward to the fall of 2004.

RAYMOND GILMARTIN, CEO MERCK & CO.: The risk of a cardiovascular event did increase among those on Vioxx. Accordingly, we are voluntarily withdrawing Vioxx, effective today.

GUPTA: Then, just three months after Vioxx was pulled from the market, over heart attack concerns, the National Cancer Institute halted a study using a similar drug, saying it found the same increased heart risk in those taking Celebrex.

Pfizer, the makers of Celebrex, said that these results were inconsistent with data in other clinical trials and decided to keep the drug on the market. But both Pfizer and the FDA warned doctors to consider all of the risks before prescribing it to their patients.

We spoke with one doctor who heeded their warning.

SPERLING: Right now, with our available information, I would say that I'd be a little wary of prescribing Celebrex to you right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's one pill, 24 hours.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUPTA: Also at issue during the three-day hearings that start today was the heavy advertising in part responsible for the reported overprescribing of these drugs.

And also another question, should drug companies be required to publish research results even if they show negative findings for their treatment? A recommendation from the FDA committee is expected on Friday.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HEMMER: The new board will also create a Web site to get latest drug safety information out to both patients and doctors, and that site will include details on the side effects and steps that can be taken to minimize the risks.

About 12 minutes before the hour. Hummers come with a hefty price tag. We know that already. One lawmaker now wants to make the monster SUVs a bit more expensive. Andy has that story, "Minding Your Business" as we continue in a moment on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody. We've got this information just in to CNN. We're getting this word from Iranian reports that there's been a powerful explosion heard this morning in the outskirts of Dailam, which is in a province of Arad (ph). The witnesses apparently saying that maybe it's possible that this involves some kind of missile fired from a plane. We're going to, of course, continue to check out this story, get more information on it when we get some kind of confirmation on it. This word coming to us right now, though. More on this in a moment -- Jack.

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: That Middle East just percolating right along over there, aren't they?

O'BRIEN: Yes, this morning it is.

CAFFERTY: Executives at a major airline taking a big pay cut. The idea is to try and impress the lower level employees. We don't know if it's going to work or not. With that and a market preview is my friend Andy Serwer. Hello there.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Good morning, Jack. How are you?

Let's talk about the market yesterday. Good session on Wall Street. Dow up 46 points, kind of erasing a lot of the losses from the month of January. You can see we're up across the board. This morning, interesting number. Housing starts for January, a 21-year high. February '84, you'd have to go back to, 2.16 million units begun, which is great stuff. That's low interest rates at work.

Coke reporting better than expected numbers. That should be an active stock this morning. Alan Greenspan going to Capitol Hill to testify.

The airline story you're talking about -- this company, Continental, is cutting the pay for its directors. This is extremely unusual. You hear about CEOs and top executives taking pay cuts. Not a lot of money in the greater scheme of things for board members. That's why it's largely symbolic. Board members make $35,000 a year at Continental, which for these kind of people is not a lot of money, plus $1,000 for every meeting they attend. They're going to cut 30 percent of their pay. That would save $20,000 a year. This is a company that was losing $3 million a day in January. I would call that symbolic.

Jack, here's a story for you that relates to the "Question of the Day" about fuel efficiency and cars. The state of Maryland is considering imposing a $750 tax on vehicles that weigh over three tons. OK. That would be your Hummer, that would be your Escalade, your Navigator and your Yukon.

We spoke to the representative Bill Brotwraught (ph) down there and he said look, people just don't understand what kind of damage this does to the environment, what kind of damage it does to the roads. Farmers say they use some of these vehicles to tow stuff around. I guess that would not be a Hummer. That would look silly in the field, or an Escalade. I think they might be talking about a Yukon or a Navigater.

CAFFERTY: Plowing your furrows in a Hummer, probably not.

SERWER: No. Anyway, that's it. That's all I've got today, Jack.

CAFFERTY: Well, and I've got just a little bit more and then we'll get the hell out of here.

SERWER: All right, good deal.

CAFFERTY: Wednesday, time for "Things People Say."

Beginning with: "Things just came to a head. Liberal queer plus conservative Republican just doesn't mesh well. That was making my life a little bit turbulent." That's Maya Marcel-Keyes, who's the daughter of the conservative political commentator Alan Keyes at a gay rights rally last Monday on how her sexuality had created a rift in her relationship with her parents. .

"There are a lot of people in this city who are afraid I'm going to be very unorthodox and I am." That's the newly elected Democratic National Committee chairman, Howard Dean, on how he plans to lead the party. I still don't understand. They turned away from him in a heartbeat when he did that thing out there in Iowa and raced to John Kerry. And now they've decided they want to ruin the whole deal.

SERWER: Yee-haw!

CAFFERTY: This is good. You'd have to go a ways to outdo this guy. "One year I ordered rose petals spread all over the hotel room and champagne as well as new clothes in her size so she didn't have to worry about not having her overnight bag." "American Idol" host Ryan Seacrest on how he said he planned his very best Valentine's Day.

O'BRIEN: Oh, gag me, come on.

SERWER: Ryan, you animal.

O'BRIEN: Bitter.

CAFFERTY: Obviously nobody ever spread any flower petals around the room for you.

O'BRIEN: And certainly didn't buy me a wardrobe full of clothes so I wouldn't have bother packing my bag.

CAFFERTY: "For better or worse, I'm eternally 12 and stuck in the seventh grade and I just keep the getting left back." Singer Mariah Carey, as if we couldn't tell, insisting her difficult childhood made her grow up too quickly. She tells a magazine, she likes to revert to being a kid whenever she can.

And finally this: "I wouldn't mind attempting to have sex in public." This is Grammy award winner and Naomi Cambell's ex-boyfriend Usher. You could turn that into a pay-per-view thing, you know. Naomi Cambell?

HEMMER: Out on the sidewalk?

CAFFERTY: Make it into a...

O'BRIEN: A little porn, yes.

HEMMER: Would you pay for that?

O'BRIEN: Oh, no, stop.

CAFFERTY: Would I pay for it?

O'BRIEN: Stop, stop!

(CROSSTALK)

SERWER: Job well done, Jack.

O'BRIEN: A serious story -- start tell you about it. The story that's been developing rapidly in just a few minutes, last minutes, in fact. Wire reports saying that Iranian TV has reported an explosion near a Iran's port city of Dailam. A nuclear power plant is reportedly nearby. Iranian TV also reportedly saying it came from an unknown aircraft. We're going to have the latest for you on this as soon as it becomes available. We're back in a moment on American morning.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: There are several developing stories in the Middle East on the day that former Lebanese prime minister, Rafik Hariri, is buried in Beirut. Tensions fly even higher between the United States and Syria. And now Iran is involved as well, declaring an alliance against the United States. High stakes and hard pressure on this AMERICAN MORNING.

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