Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

State of the Union; Police Shooting

Aired February 01, 2006 - 09:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's talk about the president and the State of the Union address. That message now goes pretty much to the home of country music, generally a pretty friendly audience. That's Nashville, Tennessee, and that's where AMERICAN MORNING's Bob Franken is standing for us this morning with more on the reaction to the speech last night.
Good morning to you, Bob.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATL. CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

It's going to be here at the Grand Ole Opry Auditorium, and it's become part of the routine of these things that after the president has made his speech, he goes out and makes a series of speeches, where he really says, this is what I said last night.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FRANKEN (voice-over): The place to watch the president's speech last night was a bar in the sprawling Opryland Resort, which was definitely friendly territory.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think he did a wonderful job. He's very well-spoken. I think he had much improvements in his speaking abilities over the past few years.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think he came out hard, and I think his points on Iraq were right on, but I think, more importantly, on the whole NSA thing, I think I totally support where he's at on the so- called wiretapping. I think he's right on the money.

FRANKEN: While Nashville is a Democratic city, the president will be accompanied today by the Republican Senate majority leader, Bill Frist of Nashville, who is leaving the Senate and leaving behind a tough race with the Democrats for his seat.

But today's venue is a Bush-friendly place.

ANITA BOSWELL, NASHVILLE RESIDENT: This president, during his second term, have faced some major obstacles, and with the State of the Union being as it is, then I think that, overall, he has done as best as one could under the circumstances.

FRANKEN: But in many parts of the country, this is a president who sparks high emotion, for and against.

Recording star Vince Gill, who serves as president of the Country Music Hall of Fame here, is convinced that smart performers keep opinions to themselves.

VINCE GILL, COUNTRY SINGER: This day and age, you make a statement and you can be, you know, you can be persecuted for it.

FRANKEN: In his speech last night, the president called for a debate to be conducted in a civil tone.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FRANKEN: And that, too, has become part of the routine, to call for debate in a civil tone, and other part of the routine, regrettably, Soledad, has been that advice is ignored.

S. O'BRIEN: That's the way it works.

All right, Bob Franken for us this morning. Bob, thanks a lot for that update.

You know, it turns out that the anti-war activist Cindy she man may not have been the only invited guest who was ejected from the president's State of the Union speech. Beverly Young, who is the wife of Florida Congressman Bill Young, is apparently telling "The St. Petersburg Times" that she was also asked to leave the House chamber, in her case it was for wearing a T-shirt reading "Support the Troops Defending Our Freedom."

Now anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan was wearing a T-shirt with an anti-war slogan. She was arrested, charged now with unlawful conduct. She's also mentioned apparently on her blog this morning that she's thinking about bringing a First Amendment lawsuit.

This is what the quote is from the blog, "It's time to take our freedoms and our country back. I don't want to live in a country that prohibits any person, whether he/she has paid the ultimate price for that country, from wearing, saying, writing, or telephoning any negative statements about the government." More on that in just a few moments.

Many people along the Gulf Coast wanted to hear about hurricane rebuilding in last night's State of the Union message. The president, though, didn't say much, and in fact waited till well into his speech, the end of his speech, really, to say it.

Joining us this morning -- you've been on a lot of times now -- Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu.

Nice to see you. Thanks for talking with us again.

U.S. SENATOR MARY LANDRIEU (D-LA): Thank you, Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: What did you want to hear, and what did you hear? LANDRIEU: Well, we wanted to hear more from the president; 165 words out of over 5,000, and sort of tucked into the last paragraph or two of the speech, is not what the people of Louisiana, the Gulf Coast expected. We would like to see revenue-sharing. Part of the money that we send to the national treasury from off-shore oil and gas drilling that actually keep these lights on this morning, if we could use a portion of that to rebuild the Gulf we could do it leading the way ourselves.

If we could get something like Richard Baker, Republican Congressman from Baton Rouge, his bill on housing initiatives -- you know, Soledad, we've lost 200,000 homes.

S. O'BRIEN: 217,000, I think...

(CROSSTALK)

LANDRIEU: 217,000, yes.

S. O'BRIEN: ... actual number today.

LANDRIEU: Yes, 217,000. And now counting Mississippi, it is almost 280,000; 280,000 American tax-paying homeowners have lost their homes, and all we get is 165 words.

I mean, the president needs to focus on America, on the Gulf Coast, maybe less internationally, more right here at home.

S. O'BRIEN: Let's listen to a little bit of what the president had to say last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: A hopeful society comes to the aid of fellow citizens in times of suffering and emergency, and stays at it until they're back on their feet. So far, the federal government has committed $85 billion to the people of the Gulf Coast and New Orleans. We're removing debris and repairing highways and rebuilding stronger levees. We're providing business loans and housing assistance.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

S. O'BRIEN: $85 billion, repairing levees, housing assistance -- someone hearing that speech maybe who doesn't live in the Gulf Coast would say, "I don't know, that sounds pretty good to me."

LANDRIEU: $85 billion to FEMA, a federal agency that on its best day was not even created to help stand up a region like this, is not help to the people of the Gulf Coast. We keep explaining that to the White House. They don't seem to grasp it.

We need new tools. We need revenue-sharing, housing. Giving more money to FEMA and wasting taxpayer money for some contractor rip- offs is not what we need.

S. O'BRIEN: What did you say to the president at the speech, because you approached him?

LANDRIEU: I did. S. O'BRIEN: Were you saying,"Great job," or were you saying, "Not such a great job"?

LANDRIEU: Absolutely not. What I told him was that Don Powell (ph) is a fine man, and we thank him for sending Don Powell (ph) down, but we need to listen more to what he's saying from the field, which is FEMA is not sufficient. We need revenue-sharing, we need the Baker bill, we need some new tools that Washington can rebuild this coast.

This is America's only energy coast. We are not a charity case. We are part of the economy of the United States.

S. O'BRIEN: What are you going do now? I mean, since no new money has been mentioned in this speech, which doesn't necessarily mean no new money is forthcoming, but does lead you to believe that if there were money, it would be mentioned in the State of the Union speech. What are you going to do?

LANDRIEU: Well, first of all, we need not so much more money, although money's always helpful, we need the president to be our champion, not an obstacle. We need him to be a champion, not a critic. We need him to help lead the effort of recovery. We're hoping he would have turned that corner last night and, unfortunately, it wasn't done.

S. O'BRIEN: You didn't feel leadership..

(CROSSTALK)

LANDRIEU: No, I did not feel leadership. I heard words, but words are not leadership.

Leadership is action, bold action, and partnering with local and state governments to get this job done. So we've got a whole Gulf Coast to rebuild, from Pascagoula to Beaumont. We intend do it. The only question is whether we'll do it with or without the federal government. And we need more than words.

S. O'BRIEN: Ray Nagin's going to be before Congress testifying today. What do you think he's going to say?

LANDRIEU: I'm not sure what the mayor of New Orleans is going to say, but I will tell you that the people of Louisiana and New Orleans deserve to have a federal government that spends as much time thinking about them as we think about the people of Iraq. We've got democracies right here at home in Bogalusa and Pascagoula, in Waveland, in New Orleans, in Vermilion and Calcasieu Parish that need support from Washington.

And the people at home are angry, frankly, Democrats and Republicans, that we got such short shrift, and we deserve more. We're tax-paying, hardworking citizens, black and white, Hispanic, and we just didn't get what we deserved last night. S. O'BRIEN: Senator Mary Landrieu, nice to talk to you, as always. Thank you. LANDRIEU: Thank you.

S. O'BRIEN: Let's get back to Miles in New York.

M. O'BRIEN: Thank you very much, Soledad.

A police shooting is sparking controversy in Southern California this morning. Why did a sheriff's deputy shoot an unarmed U.S. airman who had recently returned from Iraq. It was caught on camera. And we warn you, the pictures are disturbing.

Here's CNN's Chris Lawrence.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The home video is dark and grainy, but this much is clear, Airman Elio Carrion survives six months of duty in Iraq and got shot in his own hometown.

DEPUTY: Get up.

ELIO CARRION: OK.

DEPUTY: Get up.

ELIO CARRION: I'm going to get up.

LAWRENCE: Carrion got shot in his chest, leg, and shoulder, but he survived. Now the FBI has been called in to analyze the tape and find out what provoked the deputy to fire. Officials say the deputy was chasing this car before it crashed into a tree. Carrion was just the passenger. He's the one on the ground telling the deputy I'm on your side.

CARRION: I mean you no harm.

I served more time than you in the police.

In the military, OK.

LAWRENCE: Now there's all kinds of background noise on the tape, and sometimes silence. Dr. Bruce Berg is a police training expert who says the deputy may have mangled the instruction to shut up and get down.

CARRION: I'm going to get up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's not clear who is the miscommunicator. It's not clear if the deputy has actually misspoken, which is possible, given his state of probable tension, and anger and adrenaline. in the circumstances; or if he spoke correctly, but he's misheard.

CARRION: I mean you no harm. DEPUTY: Shut the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) up. You don't get up.

NEIGHBOR: You told him to get up.

LAWRENCE: Carrion himself is a security officer in the Air Force, and he was supposed to report back to his unit today. Authorities say it's unfair to make any kind of judgment now without knowing all of the facts, but they placed the deputy on leave until the FBI finishes its investigation.

Chris Lawrence, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

M. O'BRIEN: Now Airman Carrion was shot in three places. Despite all of that, we're a told he's good condition this morning.

Rioting broke out today on the West Bank. And this time it was Israelis versus Israelis. Tapping at an illegal settlement near Ramallah, Israel security forces there to demolish some homes; 2,000 protesters threw paint, rocks and steel rods, 3,000 police, some of them on horseback, beat the crowd back with batons and water. As you see there, the Israeli Supreme Court had just ruled the settlers are on Palestinian land.

(WEATHER REPORT)

M. O'BRIEN: Andy Serwer is here. He's "Minding Your Business." What you got?

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" COLUMNIST: Miles, an American icon files to go public, plus Oprah can sure sell books, but what can she do for car sales? We'll tell you about that coming up on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: It's a busy business day. Let's get right to Andy.

SERWER: Miles, we're going to go down to Wall Street and see how training is going at this hour. The Dow has been up, up 18, it looks like there, for the Dow 30.

Nasdaq having a little bit more trouble, because of Google. We told you earlier, it reported earnings weaker than expected and the stock is getting brutally punished, down $40, to $392. Not quite as bad as initially thought. That's about 9 percent down.

A couple of other stocks in focus this morning. Time Warner, our parent company, beating estimates. Earnings up 21 percent, the stock's up about a percentage point. Meanwhile, the company announcing lay-off programs at its magazine business, where I work. And at the same time here, I notice that bonuses for the top executives just crossed the tape. Richard Parsons getting a $7.5 million bonus. Jeff Bewkes, number two, got a $6 million bonus. The stock has been flat over the past year. M. O'BRIEN: Got to trim.

SERWER: Well, I guess so.

M. O'BRIEN: Take care of those bonuses.

SERWER: Yes, that's right.

JetBlau (ph) -- JetBlue, that would be. The stock is also getting hit today. They announced their first quarterly loss since going public in '02. Higher fuel costs and they're buying some new airplanes.

It's the first trading day of the year in February, I should point out, but stocks off to a good start in the month of January. Dow up 1.4 percent.

Burger King is going public. This company had never been public before in its 52 year history, and I think this is a real positive, Miles, because this company had been tossed around like a hot potato from owner to owner to owner. Maybe that's not quite the right metaphor, but...

M. O'BRIEN: Hot french fry.

SERWER: Right. Hot french fry.

M. O'BRIEN: I sure hope they get rid of those silly ads they have.

SERWER: Yes, those ads...

(CROSSTALK)

M. O'BRIEN: But it's hard to believe it hasn't been public. I could have sworn somebody could buy it.

SERWER: Right. Well, Wendy's and McDonald's sure have. And actually, you know, Burger King has actually slipped a little bit now. It's now number two -- has a number two tie with Wendy's as the nation's second largest burger joint after McDonald's.

And then finally, you know, we talk about Oprah and her marketing power. And of course, when she talks about a book -- "A Million Little Pieces" notwithstanding -- or, in fact, that's a good example of it. Because she certainly spurred sales of that book, as she often does.

And you remember last year, she gave away Pontiac G6s and that was supposed to encourage, perhaps, sales of these cars. Apparently not doing the trick. GM announcing now that it's going to be scaling back production of the G6 -- here's some footage. A new car! Oprah gave me a new car!

Well, I'd say the same thing. And yes, that's kind of what I would do. Miles, if you give me a new car -- how come you don't give new cars out like that? M. O'BRIEN: I -- you know, we just don't have the budget.

SERWER: The budget.

M. O'BRIEN: If we had the budget, we would gladly give you...

SERWER: And this goes back to the Time Warner situation, doesn't it, we were talking about.

M. O'BRIEN: There you have it. Got to take care of folks at the top, right?

SERWER: There you go.

M. O'BRIEN: All right. Andy Serwer, thank you very much.

SERWER: Thank you, Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: CNN LIVE TODAY is coming up next. Daryn, what are you working on?

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: We have a bunch, as always, Miles.

Good morning to you.

Straight ahead, what really happened at the Superdome in the chaos following Hurricane Katrina? New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin testifies on Capitol Hill at the top of the hour. We'll bring that to you live.

Also, last night in his State of the Union Address, President Bush talked a lot about these health savings accounts. What are they and how do they work for you? We'll take a closer look in our top five tips.

For now, Miles, back to you.

M. O'BRIEN: Thank you, Daryn.

Coming up on the program, some A.M. Pop. You might say George Clooney is having a good year. You just might. He's up for three Oscars, two different movies. We'll look at how the one-time sexiest man alive became one of Hollywood's heavy hitters, ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: Over the past year, George Clooney has quietly gone from leading man to being a full-fledged movie maverick. And he's unapologetically making films that put politics on the front burner, with a chance this year for some Oscar gold. Actually, quite a few chances.

CNN's Brooke Anderson takes a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) BROOKE ANDERSON, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With three individual Golden Globe nominations for two different films, George Clooney just may be the man of the evening at this year's award ceremony on January 16.

The Edward R. Murrow drama "Good Night and Good Luck," which Clooney co-wrote, directed and co-starred in, earned him nominations for best director and best screenplay.

GEORGE CLOONEY, ACTOR: Why am I being investigated?

ANDERSON: And the political thriller "Syriana," which Clooney produced, won him a nomination for best supporting actor.

CLOONEY: If you started this time last year and said that at the end of the year, not only would we be getting some nominations but both films would be making money, we would have thought -- I have thought you're crazy.

ANDERSON: A crazy year, indeed, for the man who got his start as the heartthrob handy man in "The Facts of Life"...

CLOONEY: OK, let's see what we got.

ANDERSON: ... and as the handsome Dr. Ross on the TV drama "E.R." Twenty years, multiple TV projects and more than 20 films later, Clooney's career has evolved from struggling actor to multitasking movie mogul.

CLOONEY: The older I get, the more interested I am in other people's issues and trying to find out why they feel a specific way. So I think if I'm growing at all, it's just by being -- asking more questions.

ANDERSON: Both "Good Night" and "Syriana" raise topical political questions.

CLOONEY: I think that I'm curious as a filmmaker and as a human being and a citizen of the country.

ANDERSON: And Clooney's growing stature suggests that he's found a winning combination.

Brooke Anderson, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

M. O'BRIEN: And on March 5, you can you see, along with most of the rest of the world, if George Clooney wins. That's the 78th Annual Academy Awards in Hollywood.

We're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: Well, that's about all the time we have from New York City. Soledad? S. O'BRIEN: And from Washington, D.C., as well. You know, Miles, before I let you go and when we hand it off to Daryn, one of the interesting points I think that we've heard today is no matter what is said in the State of the Union address, it's really actions are sort of the thing that are going to make people change opinions, change poll numbers, agree with what the president has to say, disagree with what the president has to say. At the end of the day, it's really more about actions than words.

M. O'BRIEN: President off to Nashville today. He'll follow up some his themes and we'll see where it goes from here as he presses the case for health care and other issues, including energy independence from overseas oil. So we'll be following that every step of the way.

Soledad, safe home. And we'll see you back here tomorrow.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes, thank you. We'll see you back here tomorrow morning.

M. O'BRIEN: All right. Let's send it over to Daryn Kagan in the CNN Center in Atlanta.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com