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American Morning
Defending 'Little Pieces'; 'New You Resolution'; Alito Hearings
Aired January 12, 2006 - 08:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANNOUNCER: You're watching AMERICAN MORNING with Soledad O'Brien and Miles O'Brien.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back, everybody, 8:31 here in New York.
Let's get right to Carol for an update on what's happening in the news.
Carol, good morning.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning.
I have a few more details for you now on the, you know, dozens of people were killed this morning at that stampede at the Hajj. We're just getting in new pictures from Mecca, Saudi Arabia. Let's take a look. You can see ambulances arriving on the scene.
It seems masses were rushing to complete a symbolic stoning ritual. Reuters saying at least 50 people are dead. Apparently this all started with some luggage. People were rushing to get to the ceremony, they tripped over luggage and that's when the stampede started. When we get more information, we'll pass it along.
The release of the man who shot Pope John Paul II may be short lived. Mehmet Ali Agca left prison in Turkey earlier today. But within the past half-hour, the country's justice minister said they're planning to review the case again. That could mean the man could potentially go back to prison. In the meantime, Agca says he will tell his story, if he's paid. He's apparently already gotten a $1 million offer.
More terrible news about the miners killed in West Virginia. Officials involved in the investigation tell CNN an oxygen tank near the miners may have helped them stay alive longer, perhaps in time for rescuers to reach their location.
Also, the men apparently could have followed a conveyor belt and walked out of the mine, but there was, understandably, a great deal of confusion in the aftermath of the explosion, and debris or smoke may have blocked their way.
Former President Bill Clinton is doing more to help stop the spread of AIDS. Word is that his foundation now has a deal to provide cheaper AIDS tests and drugs in developing countries. In some cases the agreement will help cut the cost by half. A formal announcement is expected later today.
And in the Netherlands, they're hoping to shatter a world record. Actually, they hope they don't shatter it. It's a tower made out of champagne glasses. A total of four people built this thing, working for four straight days. They are trying to break the world record of 35,000 glasses. And it's all for a good cause. The glasses will be sold to help a pediatric hospital. So we'll be following that one -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes, that's neat looking, isn't it?
COSTELLO: Yes.
S. O'BRIEN: That looks great. And for a good cause, why not?
All right, Carol, thank you.
Let's talk about what everybody is talking about this morning, the controversy surrounding James Frey's memoir, which is called "A Million Little Pieces." Now critics have been accusing him of exaggerating and actually just making up some parts of the book. Frey broke his silence last night, had an exclusive interview with CNN's "LARRY KING LIVE." He wasn't the only one, though, to break his silence.
AMERICAN MORNING's Kelly Wallace has that story.
Hey, Kelly, good morning.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.
No, he wasn't, because at the very end of the show we heard from the woman who single-handedly helped this book become the top nonfiction book of 2005.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KELLY WALLACE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A surprise caller towards the end of Larry King's interview with controversial author James Frey.
LARRY KING, CNN HOST: Are you there, my friend?
OPRAH WINFREY, TALK SHOW HOST: Hello, Larry. How are you?
KING: Hello, dear one. How you doing?
WALLACE: On the line, Oprah Winfrey.
WINFREY: Hi, James. Hi, Lynne.
JAMES FREY, AUTHOR, "A MILLION LITTLE PIECES": Hi, Oprah.
LYNNE FREY, MOTHER OF JAMES FREY: Hi, Oprah.
WALLACE: Her first comments since explosive charges that parts of Frey's memoir of addiction and rehab were more fiction than fact.
WINFREY: The underlying message of redemption in James Frey's memoir still resonates with me, and I know that it resonates with millions of other people who have read this book and will continue to read this book.
WALLACE: Winfrey seemed to stand solidly behind Frey and his book, "A Million Little Pieces," her October pick for her ever so powerful book club, but placed some of the blame on the publishing industry.
WINFREY: I am disappointed by this controversy surrounding "A Million Little Pieces," because I rely on the publishers to define the category that a book falls within and also the authenticity of the work.
WALLACE: Frey, clearly gratified by Winfrey's support, had one message that he repeated over and over to Larry King.
J. FREY: I still stand by the book as being the essential truth of my life. I will stand by that idea until the day I die.
WALLACE: Regarding the allegations raised by the Smoking Gun investigative Web site that he fabricated key sections of the book, Frey says he has acknowledged embellishing some details, although there is no such disclaimer in his memoir.
KING: With the kind of incredible life you have had, why embellish anything?
J. FREY: I mean, I've acknowledged that there were embellishments in the book, you know that I've changed things, that in certain cases things were toned up, in certain cases things were toned down.
WALLACE: Frey, whose mom joined him at the end of the show, says there is one lesson he's learned after intense scrutiny of his book.
J. FREY: I'll absolutely never write about myself again.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WALLACE: One lesson there.
Another big question, so, will this entire controversy hurt or help book sales?
S. O'BRIEN: Help.
WALLACE: Hello.
S. O'BRIEN: Let's see.
WALLACE: Let's see, which do you think it is?
S. O'BRIEN: People are talking about it nonstop all the time. I'm going to go with help.
WALLACE: We -- I think so. Last night, right even before the King show, I believe it was number one on Amazon.com.
S. O'BRIEN: Still number one.
WALLACE: It's still number one.
S. O'BRIEN: And we just checked, it's number one. And now he sold another a couple million copies.
WALLACE: Probably.
S. O'BRIEN: I like the way he says I'm never going to write about it again. He can focus on some fiction for awhile.
WALLACE: Focus on fiction. Exactly.
S. O'BRIEN: We should remind everybody that "LARRY KING LIVE" airs weeknights at 9:00 p.m. Eastern.
Kelly, thanks a lot.
WALLACE: Sure.
S. O'BRIEN: Interesting controversy, isn't it?
WALLACE: Very much.
S. O'BRIEN: Miles.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you, Soledad.
Andy is "Minding Your Business" just ahead. A matter of fact, he's right there.
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: I'm right here.
M. O'BRIEN: There you are.
SERWER: Thank you.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
SERWER: I'm here, Miles, as we speak.
M. O'BRIEN: You're minding my business, too, aren't you?
SERWER: That's right.
M. O'BRIEN: Quit looking at my notes, will you?
SERWER: I will.
M. O'BRIEN: OK. SERWER: Martha Stewart is rolling out a new product and the "Sports Illustrated" swimsuit issue has a new drinking buddy. You won't want to miss that. Stay tuned to AMERICAN MORNING.
M. O'BRIEN: No, I don't. I don't.
SERWER: You don't.
M. O'BRIEN: No.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
S. O'BRIEN: Look at that fog. That's the Supreme Court building, Washington, D.C. You could see on the left there the scaffolding. Remember a chunk fell off?
SERWER: Yes.
S. O'BRIEN: They've been trying to do some repairs there. I thought people say the fog makes it as murky as the state of the nomination and the confirmation of Samuel Alito is tough (ph).
SERWER: Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: That's very poetic.
M. O'BRIEN: You have set a mood for this.
SERWER: Very heavy.
S. O'BRIEN: I did. Isn't that heavy? It's poetic.
SERWER: It's very heavy.
S. O'BRIEN: I didn't make it up, but I thought it was just beautiful.
M. O'BRIEN: You know what I feel like doing? Hey, baby, that was good, man.
S. O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody.
SERWER: You guys are losing me today.
(CROSSTALK)
S. O'BRIEN: Thank you, I stole it.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
S. O'BRIEN: Thank you. Thank you.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes. Where's my beret?
S. O'BRIEN: Whoever whispered it in my ear, thank you. Thank you. M. O'BRIEN: You are some cat.
All right. Well you know it's all about the ladies, we know that.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes, it is.
M. O'BRIEN: Martha Stewart is reaching out to younger women.
SERWER: Yes.
M. O'BRIEN: And Budweiser donning a bikini?
SERWER: Yes.
S. O'BRIEN: My!
M. O'BRIEN: Andy Serwer, once again, providing us the full breadth and depth.
SERWER: With all the hard news, the good news, the business news, if you can believe that. We have a couple of stories about the magazine business, or the dead tree industry as the people in the TV and Internet call it.
First of all, let's start off with Martha Stewart introducing a new magazine today called "Blueprint." It's a lifestyle magazine for women between the ages of 25 and 45. How is that different from "Martha Stewart Living"? I'm not quite clear.
S. O'BRIEN: Maybe it's going to be less crafty. "Martha Stewart Living" is very sort of crafty.
SERWER: Yes.
S. O'BRIEN: I mean I subscribe, so I know.
SERWER: OK.
S. O'BRIEN: And it has a lot of you know cooking and family- oriented things (ph).
SERWER: Yes, how to make curtain rods.
S. O'BRIEN: Right. So maybe it's...
SERWER: Yes.
S. O'BRIEN: ... for younger women, like maybe you're not doing that for 25 years old.
SERWER: I think that could be.
M. O'BRIEN: Maybe this is how to make the window frame now...
SERWER: Yes. M. O'BRIEN: ... for the kids (ph).
SERWER: There's not as much Martha Stewart in it. And it comes out on May 1.
M. O'BRIEN: I don't get that. Why wouldn't she put herself in the magazine here (ph)?
SERWER: Because she's a felon.
S. O'BRIEN: There's that, see.
M. O'BRIEN: But she still has a fan club.
SERWER: True. Well there's -- yes, but the felon thing. And she's been distancing herself from a lot of her business ventures lately.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
SERWER: And that's true. I say that not tongue in cheek at all.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes. Go.
SERWER: Another magazine story, you know it's the dark days of winter, the depth of winter's chill is around all of us. That can only mean one of two things. First of all, Valentine's Day is coming, February 14, and on that same day, the "Sports Illustrated" swimsuit issue comes out.
S. O'BRIEN: How is this a business story?
SERWER: It's a big business. It's a very big...
M. O'BRIEN: This is big.
SERWER: There it is. See how big that business is? It's huge.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes, yes, it is. That is business. Yes.
SERWER: Now of course this magazine is put out by Time Incorporated, our sister company here at CNN, we should point that out.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes. Yes.
SERWER: There is a new sponsor this year. Budweiser is replacing Miller, which is big news. Miller had been doing this the last eight years. And you know Budweiser...
S. O'BRIEN: Nobody knew what beer was sponsoring it.
SERWER: Well, listen.
M. O'BRIEN: Tastes great, less filling, who cares, right?
SERWER: It's all that beer, sports, bikinis, it's kind of the what makes American business work, yes.
S. O'BRIEN: That was an opportunity to show cute women in bikinis, Andy, and you know it.
SERWER: My producer is a woman, I should tell you, and she was the one who suggested we do this story.
They are sponsoring parties. Now get this, if you buy a 12-pack of Budweiser, you get a $5 coupon to buy the magazine. I guess that kind of works, right? So if you get a lot of beer, you get the free bikini magazine.
M. O'BRIEN: And home you go with your 12-pack and your magazine and you have a good night...
SERWER: See how America works, Soledad? OK.
That's all I've got.
M. O'BRIEN: They call synergy. That is synergy.
SERWER: Yes.
S. O'BRIEN: OK, not a business story.
SERWER: It's not a business story. I will admit it's kind of a business story.
S. O'BRIEN: Kind of.
SERWER: OK.
S. O'BRIEN: You just wanted to show the girls in the bikinis. I know that.
SERWER: I sort of did.
S. O'BRIEN: Ahead this morning, we're going to talk to Dr. Sanjay Gupta. He stops by. Another instillation of our "New You Resolution." This time we're talking twins, one is a doctor, one is a lawyer. They're a teeny weenie bit competitive and they both eat way too much junk food. What's it going to take them to get on healthy diets? Got that up next on AMERICAN MORNING. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
M. O'BRIEN: You know that is just toe tapping music, isn't it?
S. O'BRIEN: It is.
M. O'BRIEN: Really.
(CROSSTALK)
M. O'BRIEN: It's uplifting. Day four of our "New You Resolution for '06." It's all about the power of two this year. You've already met the lobbyists in D.C., the military couple in Wyoming. This morning, we meet our final contestants, twins from New York and D.C., Stuart and Mark Rasch.
S. O'BRIEN: The twins say their competitive natures, yes, they're pretty competitive, they lend to their "New You" goals. They try to just basically outdo each other. Win, win, win at any cost. So it's going to be fun. Got a lawyer and a doctor.
Sanjay, maybe you can listen to the doctor and get some tips, too.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely get some tips. Look, you know the one thing about their application that we saw was they have such busy lives and that resonates with so many people.
Here's a look at what they do, Stuart in New York and Mark in D.C.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Sibling rivalry is a big motivator for these twins to gear up for the "New You Resolution."
STUART RASCH, NEW YOU PARTICIPANT: We've always been competitive and he usually wins because he's bigger than I am. I can still whip his butt.
GUPTA: In this corner, Mark Rasch, a D.C.-based cyber lawyer who spends half his week traveling for work. Jam-packed flight schedules force him to rely on fast food.
MARK RASCH, NEW YOU PARTICIPANT: Breakfast is basically a butter and cheese.
GUPTA: When he's working from home, he raids the fridge.
M. RASCH: If it's around and it's salty or sweet, it's fair game.
GUPTA: And in the other corner, Stuart Rasch from upstate New York.
S. RASCH: Can you give her one (INAUDIBLE)?
GUPTA: He's an emergency room doc who works overnight and sleeps during the day.
S. RASCH: Goodnight.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Goodnight.
GUPTA: When he's not saving lives, he stands over his takeout food, taking quick bites before he has to run to the next patient. On days off, his sleeping and eating patterns are turned upside down.
S. RASCH: I may, in a 24-hour period, I may eat five meals. And I may conceivably eat only one or two meals on the Tuesday/Wednesday.
GUPTA: Although these 47-year-old twins may have very different jobs in different cities, their food indulgences are surprisingly similar.
S. RASCH: I like French fries.
M. RASCH: French fries are usually an undoing.
S. RASCH: I like pistachios. I like nuts.
M. RASCH: And there are some foods that you absolutely can't stop yourself, like pistachio nuts.
GUPTA: The twins have a history of heart disease in their family. Added to that, these two have poor diets, no time for exercise and excess pounds.
S. RASCH: The body mass index, you know, too much body, too much mass.
GUPTA: As for which brother will win?
M. RASCH: My cholesterol is going down, my blood pressure is going down and my weight is going down. And it's going down faster and more than his is.
S. RASCH: This is what we will do, we will have the weight loss, we will have the fitness and we will be better!
(END VIDEOTAPE)
M. O'BRIEN: We will see who is the girlie man, won't we? Yes. Interesting. By the way, guys, you're good sports for posing for some of those pictures. I certainly wouldn't want to -- anyway. Let's...
(CROSSTALK)
M. O'BRIEN: No, no, no, we're not going there. My six-pack has a protective cover, OK.
Let's talk about you have similar tastes, twins, after all. Do you think it will be a similar set of struggles? Who wants to take that?
M. RASCH: It probably will be. I mean the thing is, fitting time for exercise, fitting time to eat right and making the right decisions is, you know, if we all did that easily, we'd all be thin right now. So, really, it's going to be the same kind of struggle for both of us I think.
S. O'BRIEN: I think it's so fascinating that you're basically highlighting the shift problem, because when -- you know because we have a similar thing.
M. O'BRIEN: We can deal. Yes.
S. O'BRIEN: You come in at 3:00 in the morning, and of course your hours are really sort of all over the place, but what do you eat? Even if you want to eat healthy, even if you're on top of it, it's really hard to not just grab a candy bar, which is often just the fastest, easiest thing.
S. RASCH: Well, and in an emergency room, people bring food in and they just leave it there. And a pizza that's six or seven hours old is still edible, so...
M. O'BRIEN: It's actually quite good.
S. RASCH: Yes. It's when it starts green molding that you stop eating it. It's very difficult.
S. O'BRIEN: You're a doctor, you can treat that. It's all right.
S. RASCH: That's exactly right. Shot of something and you'll be fine. And it's very hard to arrange what to eat and where to eat, even if you had all the restaurants in New York available to you, you just don't have anywhere to prepare the food.
S. O'BRIEN: And you don't have this much time. I mean you know you have got 15 minutes or less before you have got to get to the next patient, which means you're going to stand up and you have got to shovel down food.
S. RASCH: You can't sit there and eat in front of people who are having emergencies.
S. O'BRIEN: Right.
S. RASCH: It's just not right.
S. O'BRIEN: They hate that.
M. O'BRIEN: That is not right.
GUPTA: Stuart is overnight shifts, Mark is always on the go, this is a difficult problem for a lot of people. But here's what we came up with for their "New You" prescription.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GUPTA: Hey, Rasch twins, step away from those French fries. Here is your "New You" prescription. Lowering blood pressure is goal number one. Mark's target is 140 over 85 and Stuart's is 120 over 80.
M. RASCH: My LDLs are the same as my SATs.
GUPTA: Both brothers have to aim for total cholesterol levels below 200. Finally, diet and exercise enough to lose two pounds a week. Mark's target weight for eight weeks is 189 pounds. Stuart's target is 153 pounds. To help him reach his goal, Stuart needs to eat several small meals on a regular schedule. Mark's at risk for metabolic syndrome, a dangerous combination of heart health factors, so he has to cut back on salt, carbs and junk food on the road.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUPTA: All right, so maybe nothing that you didn't already know, but some good advice there. I'm not sure about the cholesterol and the SATs either.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes.
(CROSSTALK)
S. O'BRIEN: I'm not a doctor, but that sounds like it's off a little bit.
RASCH: Can't be good.
GUPTA: All right, well thanks so much for joining us.
Tomorrow we're going to get a look at what their week in New York has already been like, so tune in tomorrow. You can also follow along as well, CNN.com/newyou.
S. O'BRIEN: All right, and we'll see how that shapes up.
M. O'BRIEN: Good. May the better man win.
RASCH: I will.
(CROSSTALK)
S. O'BRIEN: Competition.
RASCH: I'm going to do what Star Jones did as soon as I can figure out what that...
S. O'BRIEN: A short break.
I've got her book for you.
A short break, we're back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
S. O'BRIEN: Today is expected to be the last day of questions for Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito.
Let's head to "THE SITUATION ROOM." Wolf is there.
Good morning, Wolf. What are we looking forward to today?
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: It's going to be a final opportunity for the Democrats to try to press Samuel Alito on the sensitive issues, whether abortion rights for women, executive authority, executive power, the split between the president and the Congress, the judicial branch. It will be an opportunity to get into that.
But I suspect the Democrats, Soledad and Miles, will also continue to press on this Concerned Alumni for Princeton, this controversial group that Judge Alito doesn't seem to recall having been a member of, even though he cited it on an application.
By the way, Mrs. Alito is now in the room. Remember we had a tearful experience with her last night, just near the end. She's there with Samuel Alito's sister, and others will be coming in momentarily.
M. O'BRIEN: You know, it's interesting, Wolf, yesterday Judge Alito renounced the views of this group, that Princeton alumni group, that is supposedly anti-homosexual and anti-women and so forth. And was that not enough for some members on the committee?
BLITZER: It's not enough, because they say it's not credible that a really smart guy, like Sam Alito, doesn't remember this group at a time when there were newspaper articles, a lot of Princeton alumni were talking about it. And it just doesn't pass, as Joe Biden said, the credibility test, that a lot of Democrats think there is something else going on. So they're not happy with his answers.
M. O'BRIEN: All right, Wolf, thank you.
Yesterday I said it was "Brady Bunch." I'm thinking more it's "Hollywood Squares." And that makes me, what, Charley Weaver or Paul Lynde.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes, it does. Either one, really.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes. All right.
Wolf, thanks for letting us in to "THE SITUATION ROOM."
S. O'BRIEN: That's right.
And here's Wolf's coverage of "THE SITUATION ROOM."
BLITZER: And thanks very much.
To our viewers, you're now in THE SITUATION ROOM, where new pictures and information from around the world are arriving all the time.
Happening now, our special coverage of the Samuel Alito confirmation hearings. It's just before 9:00 a.m. here in Washington, and Judge Alito is getting ready for what should be his last go-around with the Senate Judiciary Committee. Will Democrats get any more out of the Supreme Court nominee after a day of questioning that brought his wife to tears?
Also this hour, President Bush is about to leave for the Gulf Coast to drive home his commitment to rebuilding what Katrina destroyed. It's coming up on 8:00 a.m. in New Orleans where reconstruction is a very touchy subject with a controversial plan to try to revive the city now on the table.
And the holiest of Muslim rituals turns deadly again. It's 5:00 p.m. in Saudi Arabia. We'll tell you what went wrong at the stampede in Mecca.
I'm Wolf Blitzer. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.
Another grilling day lies ahead of the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing room. Judge Samuel Alito likely will get pummeled once again, some more tough questions about his legal views and on his character.
While emotions ran high yesterday, senators' opinions of the Supreme Court nominee don't seem to have changed much, if at all.
Let's bring in our national correspondent Bob Franken. He's covering these hearings. He's in the hearing room right now.
Set the stage for us -- Bob.
BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, these will be remembered as the hearings where the nominee's wife left the room in tears and the hearing where a couple of senators squabbled, which they never do in public.
But it's going to also be remembered as the hearing, thus far anyway, where the Democrats, the opponents, haven't been able to lay a glove on the nominee. Samuel Alito, who the Democrats would like to paint as somebody who is an ultra right winger who would bring the conservative agenda to the Supreme Court, have tried to pin him down on his views about the precedent of Roe versus Wade, whether he would absolutely guarantee that he would uphold that precedent.
Alito has been unwilling to talk about his view on that. And has also been really unwilling to be pinned down on his views about how he would rule on presidential power. And that has frustrated the Democrats who have gone round after round on this. And they're going to make one more stab this morning.
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