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American Morning
Rumsfeld vs. Media; SAT Failure
Aired March 09, 2006 - 09:33 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, ANCHOR: All right, live pictures from Washington now. Let's take a look. Two senior cabinet members testifying. There you see it. Condoleezza Rice, the secretary of state, she is there with the Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, answering some questions about Iraq, as you might have guessed. We will keep an eye on it as this one develops, share with you any choice excerpts as they occur. Wouldn't be a surprise if Mr. Rumsfeld complained about the media in his testimony this morning. Yesterday he excoriated the assembled member of the fourth estate.
Barbara Starr was there for the incoming. We patched her up. She's back in the fray, nursing a few wounds.
Barbara, that was some tough comments.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Excoriated might be too mild a word actually Miles, the secretary genuinely, honestly feels that the news media is failing to report the good news about Iraq.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DONALD RUMSFELD, SECY. OF DEFENSE: Much of the reporting in the U.S. and abroad has exaggerated the situation.
STARR (voice-over): It is one of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's favorite topics, criticizing a press corps he believes to be highly deficient.
RUMSFELD: Steady stream of errors.
STARR: Rumsfeld's latest theory? What he says is inaccurate reporting about recent sectarian violence and not enough attention to the good news in Iraq.
RUMSFELD: The number of Iraqi deaths had been exaggerated. The behavior of the Iraqi security forces had been mischaracterized, in some instances.
STARR: The military says, for example, "The Washington Post" was flat wrong when it said more than 1,300 Iraqi civilians were killed in the days following the bombing of a Shiite Muslim shrine. The Pentagon says it could only confirm 400 or so deaths. The Post" stands by its story.
KENNETH BACON, FMR. PENTAGON SPOKESMAN: Blaming the press for problems in Iraq is a terrible waste of energy. STARR: Ken Bacon was Pentagon spokesman in the Clinton administration. He thinks Rumsfeld is off track.
BACON: I can understand the frustration of the Pentagon, in believing that the press is not doing a good enough job of reporting on schools or hospitals being opened. But that's a hollow story if people are afraid to go to the schools once they're opened.
STARR: Bacon says the press must continue to cover Iraq's political landscape and the reconstruction.
BACON: If the military wants these stories told, they will help to get the press there.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
STARR: But covering Iraq is always going to be tough because of the security situation. Sixty-four journalists have died there in the last three years, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. Let's look at one more example where the secretary says the media has been wrong. That's in the number of attacks on mosques in -- since this rise in sectarian violence. The secretary says the media has exaggerated that number. The Pentagon had originally said it was something like 30 attacks. The media had recorded a much larger number, but just today the spokesman in Baghdad said, no, it wasn't 30 attacks, it was more like 80 attacks. So lots of frustration on both sides of the note, trying to get timely and accurate information -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Barbara Starr at the Pentagon. Thanks very much -- Soledad.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks, Miles.
Here's a high school student's nightmare: After countless hours of studying and then stressing over the SAT, you find out that in fact the College Board messed up your score. It could be higher. It actually happened to about 4,000 students. AMERICAN MORNING's Kelly Wallace joins us now with the story of one very upset kid.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Very Upset. You know, we should put this a little in perspective. We're talking about 4,000 students out of a nearly a half-a-million students that took the exam in October.
But, Soledad, If you're one of the kids that learned your scores are actually higher, it's an incredibly big deal, because you're waiting right now to find out if you're getting into the college of your dreams, and this boy you're about to meet thinks this mistake could have really cost him, again, one of his college dreams.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WALLACE (voice-over): Eighteen-year-old Robert Smith of Brentwood, New York, an honors and ROTC high school senior says, he was shocked to learn his SAT scores were incorrect. ROBERT SMITH, HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR: This was in October, and I'm finding out in March. It's like five months later. That's almost half a year. I've already done college and stuff like that.
WALLACE: Robert learned his overall score was actually 80 points higher on the 2,400-point exam. While writing was unchanged, there was a 30-point jump in reading and a 50-point jump in math, scores that might make him more competitive for Boston University, his top college pick, which rejected him.
SMITH: Like right here. I was the bottom of the Boston, and my math went up to the top.
(on camera): As a mom, how out raged are you about this?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm furious.
WALLACE (voice-over): Robert is one of about 4,000 student who received a letter from the College Board, which administers the SAT, telling them due to a technical processing matter they did not receive credit for some correct answers. Ninety-five percent of the students scores went up by 100 points or less.
KAREN SMITH ROBERT'S MOM: I want to know why this happened. How did this happen? And why did it take so long to notify us?
WALLACE: The College Board first learned of the problem back in December, after some students requested a review of their scores.
JAMES MONTOYA, THE COLLEGE BOARD: Acting in a responsible way often takes more time than anyone would like, but we needed to understand the scope of the problem, and understand which students were in fact impacted.
WALLACE: The College Board has notified colleges and universities about the snafu, which comes at the height of the college admission season, with SAT scores often playing a critical role.
Jacquelyn Nealon, dean of admissions at the New York Institute of Technology, said she has seen anywhere from 25 to 50 applicants who have been impacted, and has been reviewing those applications since she learned of the problem on Tuesday.
JACQUELYN NEALON, N.Y. INST. OF TECHNOLOGY: It's easy to be a Monday morning quarterback. I would have loved the information a couple of months ago, but we dealt with it when we received it.
NEALON: As for Robert, he plans to reapply to Boston University and TO a few other schools he thought he had no chance of getting into. While he's happy about his higher scores, he is still very disappointed.
R. SMITH: And it really is stressful, and this was unneeded stress.
(END VIDEOTAPE) WALLACE: A stressful situation indeed. And you Know, Soledad, Robert and his mother raising other questions about other students, kids who applied early. You know, so many kids apply early admission, if any of those scores were affected, maybe their acceptance or rejection will happen to be part of this. I asked Robert's mother if she is going to get in touch with the College Board, oh, they will be hearing from me.
S. O'BRIEN: No, but my lawyer will.
WALLACE: She said they will be hearing from herself.
S. O'BRIEN: Why -- they're not telling people whose scores were lower. Why not?
WALLACE: They are not. They say there are some cases. Very few cases where the scores were substantially lower now than before. I think the College Board is feeling like it was its mistake. And so It's not going to go ahead and report the lower scores to schools and to students.
S. O'BRIEN: But isn't that unfair?
WALLACE: It was like a real kind of question this morning.
S. O'BRIEN: And what are they saying happened?
WALLACE: Well, they're saying -- you know, they're still looking into it, but they say there was some sort of technical problem in terms of the scanning of these answer sheets.
S. O'BRIEN: Is it because its the new tests. I mean, of course, we all took the 1,600 point-SAT. This is now the 2,400-point. So it's a whole new test. Is it part of that?
WALLACE: It's a whole new tests. It's not clear that it's because of that, because the scanning was really related to the reading and math questions, not to the writing. But it was a problem, and they think they have solved it. And that they hope it won't happen again. But they still sort of really can't kind of pinpoint exactly what caused these kids. They basically weren't getting credit for a number of correct answers.
S. O'BRIEN: Well, that's confidence building. Think they might have solved it.
All right, Kelly, thank you.
WALLACE: Sure.
(WEATHER REPORT)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD RUMSFELD, SECY. OF DEFENSE: To underscore the importance of this request... (END VIDEO CLIP)
M. O'BRIEN: These are live pictures as the secretary of defense, Donald Rumsfeld, addresses the House Appropriations Committee. The subject is further the funding for the war in Iraq. Beside him, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, the secretary of state, General Abizaid also there.
Just a few moments ago as the secretary of state was beginning her testimony, an interesting scene unfolded. Let's watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CONDOLEEZZA RICE, SECY. OF STATE: ... do not take into account our budget timelines and practices, and it's therefore necessary...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How many of you have children in the illegal and immoral war? How many of you have children in this illegal and immoral...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... arms, please restore order.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The committee will come to order.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The blood is on your hands, and you cannot wash it away. The blood is on your hands, and you cannot wash it away.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
M. O'BRIEN: Skirted away, the protester was by the security personnel there. That was the chairman, Jerry Lewis, calling for order there in the hearing room, and on went the testimony after that.
(MARKET REPORT)
M. O'BRIEN: Coming up in the program, actress Kristin Davis will join us live in the studio. She's a new movie out. It's a long way from "Sex and the City," -- "Shaggy Dog." And we'll ask her about what it's like when you get -- this is a funny scene that makes me laugh.
Anyway, it's funny. You'll like it. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TIM ALLEN, ACTOR, PLAYING A DOG: Come on kids. Try to see past the fur and tail the snout and drool.
KRISTIN DAVIS, ACTRESS: Oh, how cute.
ALLEN: Honey, you recognize me. Honey.
DAVIS: Do you guys think your dad is going to come through or should we go ahead and order in?
(KIDS, IN UNISON): Let's order in.
ALLEN: Ouch!
(END VIDEOTAPE)
M. O'BRIEN: The dog gets an Oscar. The dog gets an Oscar. The dog's name is --
DAVIS: Cole.
M. O'BRIEN: Cole. Sorry, I'm jumping the gun here. "AM Pop:" this is Kristin Davis. She is the lead in -- well, playing the wife to a dog. The wife to a dog.
DAVIS: Pretty much.
M. O'BRIEN: To a dog/Tim Allen.
M. O'BRIEN: This is like the third remake of "Shaggy Dog."
DAVIS: Yes.
M. O'BRIEN: It kind of combines the first two.
DAVIS: I have never seen them. Is that true? I haven't seen them.
M. O'BRIEN: I kind of liked them. Fred MacMurray. Good stuff.
DAVIS: I think they took the idea, right? They took the basic idea and kind of jumped off.
M. O'BRIEN: I'm watching this thinking, I'm looking to see if you're wearing those Jimmy Choo shoes and all that stuff?
DAVIS: You were?
M. O'BRIEN: No -- Sandy, my wife, told me to ask that question.
DAVIS: I love that. I do feel the pressure from "The Sex and the City Audience." So when I went to my sittings, I said, I'm playing a mom, but I have a job and I don't want to wear khakis and an oversize jeans shirt.
M. O'BRIEN: No PF Flyers.
DAVIS: No, no.
M. O'BRIEN: None of that.
DAVIS: I am wearing some kind of nice clothes. I tried to walk the line between practical and nice.
M. O'BRIEN: Sandy calls it "being a cool mom." You're a cool mom.
DAVIS: Exactly. That's how all my friends are.
M. O'BRIEN: You had to have fun. First of all, Tim Allen was great. The visual stuff when he eats the cereal like a dog.
DAVIS: I love that. I love that.
M. O'BRIEN: That's great stuff.
DAVIS: When he's kind of half man, half dog.
M. O'BRIEN: And then he goes to kiss you, and he's feeling the dog thing, and he gives you a big lick.
DAVIS: A big lick that got bigger each take. By the end it was like from here to about here. I had no makeup on.
M. O'BRIEN: (Aside) Do we have it here?
This is shooting it. Not the actual scene.
We have a little clip to share, right?
DAVIS: Okay.
M. O'BRIEN: Let's watch.
DAVIS: That's what it was like.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALLEN: Nothing more important than Josh. There's nothing more important to me -- nothing more important to me -- than family.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS: That's true. Well, that's great. I love hearing that.
You know, as a teacher I love to hear it.
(ALLEN CHASES CAT)
DAVIS: Honey?
I'm so sorry. He's really a wonderful father. We have a very normal lifestyle.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS: It seems that way.
DAVIS: Very down to earth.
(SINGING)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
M. O'BRIEN: And on it goes -- big chase scene here. One of my 11-year-old daughter's favorite moments was the older lady up in the tree.
DAVIS: Very popular moment.
M. O'BRIEN: That's a popular moment.
There she is, and boom, up she goes.
DAVIS: Don't worry, she's okay. She's in the tree. She's okay.
M. O'BRIEN: It's okay, folks. It's okay. You must have had some funny moment on the set.
DAVIS: We had a great time. The outtake you were just showing was us laughing between takes at Tim. Tim just can't turn off the comedy. Never know what he's going to do during action or afterwards. So it was a lot of fun. And we had all of the animals.
M. O'BRIEN: Because there were more animals involved.
DAVIS: We have a chimpanzee, we had a little tiny cappuchin monkey, we had, like, I don't know, 40 dogs at one point. We had Cole, who is the star, and then we had six spirited collies who all had special tricks. But Cole did everything. He wouldn't let anybody else work. They all had to sit in their trailers.
M. O'BRIEN: They were understudies who were never called upon.
DAVIS: That's right; they were sad.
M. O'BRIEN: Because Cole is a superstar.
DAVIS: He's a superstar. He loves it. He loves applause. He is a show dog. If you clap he barks and runs around and thinks he has done very well.
M. O'BRIEN: It is amazing. I was looking at it thinking, do you think they doctored up the expressions with a little bit of computer stuff?
DAVIS: No, that's Cole acting.
M. O'BRIEN: That's all him.
DAVIS: Yes. He's very expressive.
M. O'BRIEN: Really?
DAVIS: Yes.
M. O'BRIEN: Were you a little surprised that a dog could have that much range?
DAVIS: No, I'm a dog person. People who are dog people, we all talk to our dogs. It's embarrassing. You probably don't want to admit it, but you know, I turn to my dog and I'm like, Can you believe that? It's kind of like that. And your dog seems like they understand. I don't know if they do.
M. O'BRIEN: This one, obviously, gets it. But, all right, the rule in showbiz is, you know, don't --
DAVIS: Never work with children or animals.
M. O'BRIEN: And there you are, children and animals.
DAVIS: You know, this is my thing. I get cast as the straight man. If you're going to be the straight man, you want to be with people --
M. O'BRIEN: You're no man. You're no man.
DAVIS: Thank you, Miles. You're very sweet.
M. O'BRIEN: As a reporter, I think I can say that.
DAVIS: Thank you, I appreciate that.
But you want to be with people who are very funny and full of life, which kids, animals and Tim Allen all are.
M. O'BRIEN: You had a blast.
DAVIS: I had a blast.
M. O'BRIEN: We had a lot of fun watching it.
DAVIS: Thank you.
M. O'BRIEN: It was a fun movie. I don't hesitate to admit that -- 46 years old, I'm still liking "The Shaggy Dog."
DAVIS: I appreciate that.
M. O'BRIEN: I consider that a point of price.
DAVIS: Thank you.
M. O'BRIEN: "The Shaggy Dog" opens this Friday. Kristin Davis is the cool mom in there. And it's a good dog and a good laugh. Take the family.
DAVIS: Thanks, Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: We're back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
M. O'BRIEN: That's about all the time we have.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes, we're out of time.
M. O'BRIEN: You're still doing homework, though. S. O'BRIEN: Always. We're going to be talking to Michael Keaton -- he's got a new movie out called "Game Six." It's based on -- it's written by Don DeLillo, who's one of my favorite authors. So we'll be talking to him. We'll show that interview a little bit later.
M. O'BRIEN: That'll be tomorrow.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes.
M. O'BRIEN: So there you go; there's our tease for tomorrow.
In the meantime, Daryn Kagan is standing by for the next couple of hours here on CNN.
Hello, Daryn.
S. O'BRIEN: Hey, Daryn. Good morning.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Good reason to tune in tomorrow, to see your Michael Keaton interview.
You enjoy that.
Thank you, Soledad and Miles. You have a great day in New York City.
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