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CNN Live At Daybreak
Placing Blame; Madame President; D.C. Cronyism
Aired September 14, 2005 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: It is Wednesday, September 28. He was feeling the heat, and now he's trying to put out the flames.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL BROWN, FMR. FEMA DIRECTOR: I guess you want me to be the superhero that is going to step in there and suddenly take everybody out of New Orleans.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: On the Hill and firing back, the former head of FEMA tangles with his many critics.
Also, looking for a new direction. The New Orleans police superintendent, Eddie Compass, says he's taking off his badge.
Plus, the nation's chief executive wearing a skirt? Well, only in primetime. But is it getting closer to reality?
ANNOUNCER: From the Time Warner Center in New York, this is DAYBREAK with Carol Costello and Chad Myers.
COSTELLO: Good morning, everyone. We'll have more on Michael Brown's testimony in just a minute.
Also ahead, it's getting close to World Series time, and at least two teams have made it to the playoffs. We'll tell you who was drinking the bubbly last night.
And maybe the Supreme Court isn't so stuffy after all. The highest court in the land agrees to hear the Anna Nicole Smith case.
But first, "Now in the News."
This morning, a female suicide bomber strikes in Iraq near the Syrian border in the town of Tal Afar. At least five people are dead, another 30 hurt.
President Bush takes to the podium this morning. He'll talk about what the White House calls the war on terror in Iraq possibly in regard to the recent killing of Abu Azzam, the second most wanted operative for al Qaeda in Iraq. CNN will bring that to you live at 10:20 Eastern.
Talk on Capitol Hill this morning, big money and Katrina. The Senate Finance Committee opens a hearing at 10:00 Eastern. It will hear from the governors of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.
The Navy's floating hospital ship Comfort is expected to dock this afternoon in New Orleans. The ship will serve as an emergency trauma facility.
To the forecast center and Chad.
Good morning.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: And good morning, Carol.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COSTELLO: It's too early.
MYERS: No. No, it isn't.
COSTELLO: I know.
MYERS: Everybody is sick of some of this heat, let me tell you.
COSTELLO: Well, that's true. Some of us, anyway. Thank you, Chad.
MYERS: Thanks.
COSTELLO: Finger pointing is nothing new on Capitol Hill, but in yesterday's House hearings on FEMA, the so-called blame game made for some very good television. The testimony and acrimony centered on former FEMA chief Michael Brown. CNN's Brian Todd has more for you.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Saying he's happy to be the scapegoat, the former FEMA director still blasted back at his critics, taking dead aim at two of the major players in the Katrina disaster, even as he was admitting his own mistakes.
BROWN: My biggest mistake was not recognizing by Saturday that Louisiana was dysfunctional. For whatever reason, Mayor Nagin and Governor Blanco were reticent to order a mandatory evacuation.
TODD: Michael Brown said that he tried to convince New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin and Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco to order a mandatory evacuation before they did. That wasn't enough to avoid a sharp rebuke from a Louisiana Congressman.
REP. WILLIAM JEFFERSON (D), LOUISIANA: I find it absolutely stunning that this hearing would start out with you, Mr. Brown, laying the blame for FEMA's failings at the feet of the governor of Louisiana and the mayor of New Orleans.
TODD: Brown said he didn't have the authority to order an evacuation. At one point he said FEMA deployed emergency response teams to potentially affected areas. At another point, he said FEMA's job is not as a first responder but as a coordinator. That drew the most contentious exchange of the hearing.
REP. CHRISTOPHER SHAYS (R), CONNECTICUT: You were very clear that your job is to coordinate. I want to know how you coordinated the evacuation.
BROWN: By urging the governor and the mayor to order the mandatory evacuation.
SHAYS: And that's coordinating?
BROWN: What would you like me to do, Congressman?
SHAYS: That's why I'm happy you left. Because that kind of, you know, look in the lights like a deer tells me that you weren't capable to do the job.
BROWN: I take great umbrage to that comment, Congressman.
SHAYS: Why?
BROWN: Because FEMA did -- what people are missing in this entire conversation is the fact that FEMA did more in Hurricane Katrina than it did in Charley in Florida and the others.
SHAYS: Why is that relevant?
BROWN: We moved all those in there.
SHAYS: Why is that relevant?
BROWN: We did all those things and things were working in Mississippi and things were working in Alabama.
SHAYS: No, but see, why I don't...
BROWN: I guess you want me to be this superhero that is going to step in there and suddenly take everybody out of New Orleans.
SHAYS: No. No, what I wanted you to do was to do your job of coordinating. And I want to know what you did to coordinate. Those are your words, sir. I didn't invent them.
BROWN: And coordinating is talk to the governor and the mayor and encouraging them to do their obligation to their citizens. I am not a dictator and I'm not going and cannot go in there and force them to do that.
SHAYS: No, see, what I think that is, is just talk. It's not coordinating.
TODD: Then there's the convention center controversy, where hurricane victims desperately waited for help. This is what Michael Brown said on THE SITUATION ROOM on Thursday September 1.
BROWN: Wolf, we just learned today from the state about the convention center and the folks there. And the state ordered five truckloads of meals and food, so we started delivering those today.
TODD: This is what former director Brown told Congress today.
BROWN: So I first began to learn about that about noon on Wednesday, and I misspoke on Thursday when I said, we were just learning about it.
TODD: It wasn't until that Friday, September 2, that food and water finally got to the New Orleans Convention Center.
Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: We'll have much more on this later.
Some kind words for FEMA, though, from a Louisiana sheriff. Yesterday, we told you that the sheriff of Vermilion Parish was critical of what he called FEMA's slow response to his area. But after meeting with FEMA officials, the sheriff now says FEMA is doing a fine job.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHERIFF MICHAEL COUVILLON, VERMILION PARISH, LOUISIANA: They explained to me what they were here for, what -- they weren't first responders. They were here to bring food, water and supplies, ice and generators, if available.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Vermilion Parish was heavily damaged by Hurricane Rita. About a quarter of the parish was under water.
President Bush reviewed the relief efforts during his tour of the region. The president says all the pieces are in place to help those devastated by Rita.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We had the top people here with me. The Coast Guard admiral's in charge of the federal response. I had the head of FEMA here with me. I had a three-star Army general here, all of them here to help make sure these people can get their lives back together.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: The president made stops in Lake Charles, Louisiana, and Beaumont, Texas. In Beaumont, the president promised that FEMA would distribute $2,000 in emergency aid per household. Of course that's the same amount offered to victims of Hurricane Katrina.
We'll have more on FEMA, as I said, coming up a little later, including a closer look at Michael Brown's testimony on Capitol Hill.
The New Orleans police superintendent, Eddie Compass, has quit.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SUPR. EDDIE COMPASS, NEW ORLEANS POLICE DEPT.: I have served this department for over 26 years, and I have had the pleasure to be superintendent for over three-and-a-half years. I have taken this department through some of the toughest times in its history, and I'm very proud of the men and women of this New Orleans Police Department.
At this time, within the next 30 to 45 days during the transition period, I'll be retiring as superintendent of police, and I will be going on in another direction god has for me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: And the big mystery this morning, why did he resign at this particular time? No one seems to be able to answer that question.
Compass was very visible in the days after Hurricane Katrina, when a big chunk of the police went AWOL and there was widespread looting. Mayor Ray Nagin calls his police chief a hero.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR RAY NAGIN, NEW ORLEANS: This is a sad day in the city of New Orleans, when you have a hero to make a decision such as this. I've known Eddie Compass most of my life. He's a good man.
He's a man who has had some significant accomplishments as the superintendent of police. He's a man who helped to guide this city through one of the toughest times it's ever had.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Still, there are questions that Mayor Nagin forced Eddie Compass out. Nagin adds, "No, there was no pressure on Compass to resign." Two hundred fifty officers face discipline for deserting their posts in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, and that is about 15 percent of the entire force.
A DAYBREAK follow-up for you this morning. We're talking about your money.
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff says FEMA's inspector general will take a close look at all emergency contracts handed out after Hurricane Katrina. Chertoff says the contracts can always be renegotiated if they're not cost-effective. We told you yesterday about a report that more than 80 percent of Katrina contracts were awarded without bidding or without -- or with limited competition.
Just ahead here on DAYBREAK, the military calls it a major strike against the insurgency in Iraq. The number two al Qaeda operative in Iraq is killed in a shootout. So what exactly does that mean? We'll head live to Baghdad to find out. Plus, it's not what you know. It's who you know. You know?
At least that's what critics say is behind political cronyism. It's nothing new, but is it getting worse?
And a woman's touch in the White House. TV's new commander in chief. Are you ready to salute?
But first, here's a look at what else is making news this Wednesday.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: International markets moving higher this morning. Tokyo's Nikkei up 125 points. The London FTSE adding 21. The German DAX higher by 51.
Let's take a look under the hood and check the oil. In futures trading, crude oil is down 36 cents and now stands at $64.71 per barrel this morning. And AAA should come out soon with the average price of a gallon of gas, and of course I'll pass that along as soon as I get it.
Your news, money, weather and sports. It is 5:13 Eastern. Here's what's all new this morning.
Anna Nicole Smith will fight for her late husband's fortune at the Supreme Court, the U.S. Supreme Court. Justices have agreed to hear her case starting in January. As you probably know, she married oil tycoon J. Howard Marshall in 1994, when he was 89 and she was 26.
Twenty-two-year-old Army reservist Lynndie England has been sentenced to three years behind bars. On Monday, a military jury convicted her of detainee abuse at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison.
In money news, health insurer WellPoint has agreed to buy WellChoice for almost $6.5 billion in cash and stock. The deal gives WellPoint a stronger presence in the northeast.
In culture, real estate mogul Donald Trump is going to be a daddy again. We told you this yesterday. His 35-year-old wife is pregnant. She's due this spring. Trump, who's 59, has four other children from his previous marriages.
In sports, the Atlanta Braves have clinched their 14th consecutive division title, taking the National League east. It happened last night with a 12-3 victory over the Colorado Rockies.
Maybe they'll actually do something in the World Series if they make it there, Chad.
MYERS: Hey, you know what? They won by six games, or at least they're up six games now. But the race is the Red Sox and the Yankees.
The Red Sox and the Yankees tied going to Fenway to clinch it, to figure out who goes, and who doesn't. And who goes to wildcard.
Good morning, everybody.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COSTELLO: Thank you, Chad.
That's a look at the latest headlines for you.
A fictional new president of the United States was sworn in last night. Actress Geena Davis made her debut as the country's first female president on ABC's new show "Command in Chief." As CNN's Jeanne Moos reports, some people are celebrating and watching this series closely, hoping fiction will become reality.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Who knew that when Geena Davis drove off that cliff in "Thelma and Louise" she would one day land in a limo as president of the United States...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE, "COMMANDER IN CHIEF": Madame President...
MOOS: ... being "madamed" and "ma'amed" to death?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE, "COMMANDER IN CHIEF": Yes, ma'am.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE, "COMMANDER IN CHIEF": Of course, ma'am.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So you really want to be president?
GEENA DAVIS, ACTRESS: I want to be the pretend president. And I am, as it turns out.
MOOS: Actually, she starts as vice president and takes over after the president has an aneurysm. No political foes try to dissuade her.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE, "COMMANDER IN CHIEF": I really must insist that you strongly consider...
DAVIS, "COMMANDER IN CHIEF": You're not in a position to insist how I take my coffee.
MOOS: Think of "Commander in Chief" as "The West Wing" meets "Desperate Housewives."
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE, "COMMANDER IN CHIEF": Will they put your face on money?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE, "COMMANDER IN CHIEF": Female president. Can't you smell the history?
MOOS: Polls show the scent is getting stronger. How long before a woman is elected president? The next 10 years, say 46 percent of Americans polled. (on camera): Are you ready in reality for a female president?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You bet your life.
MOOS: By the way, six percent of those polled said there would never be a female president.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My daughter thinks that women are too sentimental, too emotional to handle, you know, like...
MOOS: What do you think?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it's time for a little caring in the White House.
MOOS (voice over): But her own sister disagrees.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it needs a little more time.
MOOS (on camera): Are you going to slap her around when you get her home?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
MOOS (voice over): The bad guy in "Commander in Chief" is the speaker of the House, played by Donald Sutherland. He is the one who sabotaged the new president's teleprompter as she addressed Congress?
DAVIS, "COMMANDER IN CHIEF": The White House...
MOOS: President Mackenzie Allen barely misses a beat, going on to ad lib a heartwarming speech. Something similar happened in real life...
JEANNINE PIRRO (R), NY SENATE CANDIDATE: Hillary Clinton...
MOOS: The woman running for the Senate against Hillary Clinton froze.
Fiction meets reality in this first episode in New Hampshire, where a group hoping to convince Condoleezza Rice to run for president is running a political ad during the debut of "Commander and Chief."
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE, "COMMANDER IN CHIEF": Good. She's going to be our president in a few years.
MOOS: Imagine Hillary versus Condi, or Condi versus Oprah.
(on camera): How about Condi Rice?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not on an empty stomach. Or not on a full stomach.
MOOS (voice over): As for the president's husband in "Commander in Chief," the first gentleman finds his quarters...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE, "COMMANDER IN CHIEF": Very pink.
MOOS: This isn't the first screen version of a female president and a first hubby. That's Fred McMurray admiring portraits of previous first ladies.
We've come a long way. "Commander in Chief" even features a menopause joke.
DAVIS, "COMMANDER IN CHIEF": But we have that whole once a month "will she or won't she press the button" thing.
DONALD SUTHERLAND, ACTOR, ""COMMANDER IN CHIEF": A couple of years, you're not going to have to worry about that anymore.
MOOS: Now that's enough to make a female president go nuclear, unlike a male president. He'd go "nucular."
Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(LAUGHTER)
COSTELLO: Oh. I think I would have punched him, Donald Sutherland, whatever his character's name is. I don't know.
MYERS: Oh, yes. I was laughing about the "nucular" thing.
COSTELLO: Oh. I was laughing about the menopause thing. See how we see things differently as a man and a woman?
MYERS: Absolutely.
COSTELLO: You know, it surprised me that 46 percent thought there would be a woman president in the next 10 years.
MYERS: Yes. After General Honore.
COSTELLO: He's awesome, isn't he?
MYERS: Yes.
COSTELLO: But you would think -- you know, you see all those bumper stickers, "Hillary," "Condi," that people would be ready.
MYERS: Sure. I think so. There's no question about it.
COSTELLO: Yes. Well, of course that does bring us to our "Question of the Day."
MYERS: But that doesn't matter what I think, does it?
And I want to know what you think today. That is our DAYBREAK "Question of the Day." Is the U.S. ready for a female president. Are other countries ready for us to have a female president? Maybe there's another story, too. DAYBREAK@CNN.com, let us know what you think, please, this morning.
COSTELLO: Other countries have had a female leader.
MYERS: There you go.
COSTELLO: Remember Margaret Thatcher, called "The Iron Lady?"
MYERS: Sure.
COSTELLO: Nobody thought she was weak.
DAYBREAK@CNN.com.
Still to come this morning, there's one guy who may work long enough to see a female president. Senator Byrd's big announcement coming up.
You're watching DAYBREAK for a Wednesday.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MYERS: Ah, the e-mails are coming in already. Got about 20 of them already, and they've only been up for 30 seconds.
Here's the "Question of the Day." Is the U.S. ready for a female president? Go to DAYBREAK@CNN.com and let us know what you think. We'll read them in about 20 minutes -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Can't wait.
It's often said it's not what you know but who you know when it comes to getting a job. But what happens when unqualified people get handed important jobs, especially in the White House? CNN political correspondent Candy Crowley takes a look at the problem of political cronyism.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Michael Brown is friends with Joe Albaugh, who was campaign director for George Bush, who became president and put Albaugh in the top job at FEMA.
BUSH: But I picked him because he's a good man and knows how to run a very important organization. And I'm proud of my friend.
CROWLEY: Albaugh brought Brown, a former commissioner of the International Arabian Horse Association to FEMA. Eventually, Albaugh resigned, and Democrats say the rest of the story is a disaster spelled with a capital "C."
SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV), MINORITY LEADER: We still have a -- here in the White House, an aura of cronyism.
CROWLEY: Brown is Exhibit A, but not the whole case. This is the "Plum Book." It's not about the color. It's about the jobs.
PAUL LIGHT, NEW YORK UNIVERSITY: You can go through it and select the position and the title that you might like to have, like the associate deputy undersecretary of Interior. Now, that's a nice title, isn't it? Or chief of staff to the assistant secretary of Education. That has a nice ring to it for my resume.
CROWLEY: If you help the president get elected or know somebody who knows somebody who did, then the "Plum Book" is a must read of 3,000 political appointment slots.
LARRY NOBLE, RESPONSE POLITICS CENTER: These are jobs in the government that basically bypass the civil service rules and that the president, the White House, can make appointments to without having to worry about all the civil service rules, about exams, qualifications, seniority, those type of things. They are -- they are the spoils of war, if you will. They are the spoils of the election.
CROWLEY: 'Twas ever thus, JFK made his brother attorney general. Bill Clinton put his wife in charge of a healthcare plan. The difference may be that George Bush is very, very good at it.
LIGHT: I've never seen an administration, I've never studied an administration that has used its political appointees more effectively as an extension of the president's own belief system.
CROWLEY: David Safavian once partnered with Grover Norquist, a political ally of President Bush. Safavian became the administration's chief procurement officer, overseeing $300 billion a year in government contracts.
LIGHT: Oh my god. I mean, you know, on the top 10 lists of bad appointments...
CROWLEY: A "TIME" magazine investigation interviewed 12 federal procurement officers who called Safavian the most unqualified person to ever hold a job.
(on camera): The head of administration personnel told "TIME" magazine Safavian was by far the most qualified person for the job. Meantime, Safavian quit his job earlier this month and was arrested on charges of obstructing and lying in a criminal investigation unrelated to his job. His lawyer says he will fight the charges vigorously.
(voice over): The current ambassador to Canada, a former state lawmaker and Bush fund-raiser, said prior to his confirmation that he has seen Canada once 30 years ago.
The appointments of both men, and Brown's appointment as deputy FEMA director were all approved by Congress. Bush critics armed with similar cases say this is not about giving jobs to friends, it's about giving jobs to unqualified friends.
The head of Bush administration personnel declined to be interviewed for this story, but recently he denied anyone has gotten a job in this town by knowing somebody who knows somebody. Candy Crowley, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: Now for some other stories making news "Across America."
Senator Robert Byrd is not read to retire. The West Virginia Democrat says he will run for a record ninth term. Byrd was first elected to the Senate in 1958 after serving three terms in the House. In June, he'll pass Strom Thurmond as the longest-serving senator in history.
The parents and siblings of Terri Schiavo are writing a book about their fight to save her life. The brain-damaged Florida woman died earlier this year after her feeding tube was removed. Schiavo's husband, who fought to the -- who fought to end her life, is also writing a book. Both memoirs are set to be released in March.
A dubious honor for the late James Dean. A crossroad junction is being named after him just a few days short of the 50th anniversary of his death. Dean died in a wreck at a crossroads just outside of Bakersfield, California, on September 30, 1955.
Meet Brad Hodson (ph). The police picked him up while he was sleeping next to a 55-gallon drum of gasoline, but it wasn't his gas. Hodson allegedly siphoned the fuel out of the underground tanks at a Muncie, Indiana, gas station. That's also where he fell asleep.
But it gets better. Instead of giving police his own name, he gave the name of a man already wanted on an outstanding warrant. That's a big "oops." He's now being held on theft and gun charges.
Here's what's all new in the next half-hour of DAYBREAK.
Is the Supreme Court ready for this plaintiff? Yes, Anna Nicole shaking it up and taking her case to the highest court in the land. We've got details for you.
Plus, hot words from the hot seat. The former FEMA chief faces a tough crowd in Washington and gives as good as he gets. Oh, you don't want to miss this.
We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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