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Esperanza Fire Chars More Than 62 Square Miles in California; Political Race that Resorts to Fiction; Larry Miller Interview
Aired October 28, 2006 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: "Now in the News," a wildfire in southern California still spreading this morning. Strong winds have pushed the Esperanza Fire along, burning more than 40,000 acres. At least 10 homes have been destroyed and hundreds more still in the fire's path.
We're going to go live to California for the latest coming up.
First, we want to head over to Reynolds Wolf to see if they're getting a bit of health from the weather.
Are they?
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Not much, unfortunately.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HOLMES: Nine-eight, that is the number of U.S. service members killed in Iraq in October, and that's the fourth highest monthly death toll since the start of the war. The latest fatality, a U.S. Marine killed in the Anbar province west of Baghdad. Four Marines and a sailor were killed early this week.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: NATO promises an investigation into the civilian deaths following NATO air strikes Tuesday in southern Afghanistan. A NATO official says it is satisfied the operation hit Taliban fighters but acknowledges mistakes were made that resulted in about 70 civilian deaths.
Well, the search for remains at Ground Zero could take more than a year. That is the word from a top New York City official. Workers have found more than 200 bones inside abandoned manholes since the search began more than a week ago.
We run down the top stories every 15 minutes right here on CNN NEWSROOM, with in-depth coverage all morning long. Your next check of the headlines coming up at 10:15 Eastern.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LYNNE CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT'S WIFE: Jim Webb is full of baloney. I have never written anything sexually explicit.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: All right. Lynne Cheney sounds off. Her heated exchange with Wolf Blitzer, that is ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM. You don't want to miss this. A lot of people talking about it today. So, when you see it, you can decide for yourself.
It is Saturday, October 28th, 10:00 a.m. here in Atlanta, 7:00 a.m. out West.
Good morning, everybody. I'm Betty Nguyen.
HOLMES: And hello there. I'm T.J. Holmes.
Thank you so much for starting your day here with us.
And we are going to start with of course that wildfire near Palm Springs, California. This is the Esperanza Fire. It's now charred more than 62 square miles.
Firefighters are trying to keep ahead of it. So far, the fire is only about 25 percent contained. Officials there believe the fire was deliberately set. Federal investigators now on the scene to help in this probe, and the reward for information in the case now at $500,000.
We're going to turn now to CNN National Correspondent Gary Tuchman for more. He's joining us live now from Beaumont, California.
Good morning to you, Gary.
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: T.J., good morning to you.
When you're a firefighter fighting a blaze like this, or a journalist covering it, what your fear after you go to sleep is that you'll wake up in the morning and you'll hear bad news, particularly when there have been fatalities. But that so far is the encouraging news. Overnight there have been no fatalities, certainly, and no injuries.
And that's very encouraging because you talked about that 25 percent, T.J. Yes, it's only 25 percent contained, which still means they have 75 percent to battle. However, yesterday at this time it was 5 percent, so that is good progress, considering the fact that yesterday we had winds of up to 40 miles per hour.
Firefighters were very scared they wouldn't gain any ground, and indeed they have. And today it is much calmer.
Thirty-nine thousand nine hundred acres burned. To give you an idea on how much that is, a typical lot that you live on is a quarter- acre, so it's like your lot and 160,000 of your neighbors. That's how much land has been burned here about 90 miles east of Los Angeles. Because of the deaths, you have a lot of firefighters who are working here right now who have a lot of sadness and a lot of anger.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TUCHMAN (voice over): A fire truck destroyed by fire, caked in soot. Now a sobering memorial to firefighters who died when fast- moving flames overtook them while they were in the truck. They had just arrived at a home in the path of the fire, hoping to save it. But that home and others in this mountainous area west of Palm Springs were destroyed.
Mark Loutzenhiser was the engine captain, 44 years old with 21 years of service Jess McLean, 27 years old, with five children. Jason McKay was 27 years old, four years as a volunteer firefighter. And Daniel Hoover-Najera, only 20 years old, it was his second season of firefighting. He also died.
Authorities say their deaths could be homicides because this huge fire was started by arson, and a $500,000 reward is now being offered for information leading to a capture and a conviction.
GOV. ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER (R), CALIFORNIA: ... that we are searching for the arsonists. We will find them, and we will punish them.
TUCHMAN: A fifth firefighter is in the hospital. Doctors say his prognosis is poor.
DR. DAVID WONG, ARROWHEAD MEDICAL CENTER: His degree of burns is one of the most severe.
QUESTION: How much of his body is burned?
WONG: Ninety percent.
ALLISON STEWART, U.S. FOREST SERVICE: Keep your thoughts and prayers for these folks and families at this time, and also their colleagues on the forest. There's a lot of pain right now.
TUCHMAN: It has already spread extraordinarily rapidly since it began Thursday morning, climbing up mountainsides and igniting dry brush as the 40-mile-per-hour gusts help propel it along. The fire still smolders at this house, one of at least 10 homes that have been destroyed.
Alex McKenzie actually saw his house being burned on the news after he evacuated.
ALEX MCKENZIE, RESIDENT: Paintings, statues, titles for cars, paperwork. Everything but my beds and couches was in that storage trailer out there. And that's all gone. Gone.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh man. Look at that.
TUCHMAN: Hundreds of more homes are vulnerable. Thousands of people have evacuated. Life is still in danger as loss of life is mourned.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TUCHMAN: Pablo Cerda, who is that injured firefighter, is 23 years old. He had surgery last night. His condition remains the same.
This fire is called the Esperanza Fire because it started near Esperanza Avenue here in Riverside County, California. But "Esperanza" in Spanish means "hope", and it's an appropriate word because there's a lot of hope here that they could do some good things with this fire today and perhaps get it to over 50 percent containment.
T.J., back to you.
HOLMES: Yes, Gary, a lot of people hoping this thing will get under control very soon, and no more injuries, deaths, or loss of homes.
Gary Tuchman, thank you so much, from Beaumont, California, this morning.
NGUYEN: Well, a nasty race gets even nastier. Actually, the Virginia Senate race between George Allen and James Webb is getting downright vicious.
CNN's Dana Bash looks at the race that is resorting to fiction.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DANA BASH, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Democrat Jim Webb insists sexually graphic passages in novels he wrote between 1981 and 2001 are being taken out of context by his political opponent.
JIM WEBB (D), VIRGINIA SENATE CANDIDATE: Those incidents either were illuminating characters or showing the average reader environments around the world.
BASH: Republican Senator George Allen admits he stirred this pot.
SEN. GEORGE ALLEN (R), VIRGINIA: My opponent says he is a writer. And he talks about that, and he's running it in his ads. And so people can judge some of his writings.
BASH: Allen's campaign compiled this document and gave it to the gossip Web site, "The Drudge Report". Ten sexually explicit passages plucked from five of Webb's novels saying, "They portray women as servile, subordinate, inept, incompetent, promiscuous, perverted or some combination of these."
One highlighted passage from Webb's book, "Lost Soldiers," describes what would appear to Americans as a man performing a sexual act on his son. Webb said it was something he witnessed in a Bangkok slum and it was not a sexual act.
WEBB: When an individual picks up his son and does that in front of 100 people and there is an acceptance culturally of what he just did, that illuminates a culture. And how can someone be a serious writer and not write about these things? BASH: In another passage too explicit to quote directly, Webb describes a stripper performing a sexual act with a piece of fruit.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What his suspicion is on women in the military...
BASH: At a Washington radio show, Webb called it an appropriate illustration for a military novel about the lives of servicemen abroad.
WEBB: That is a sort of thing that happened. That's from Olongapo, in the Philippines. There are hundreds of thousands of American servicemen who have -- who have been in that environment.
BASH: Allen sees it differently.
ALLEN: From those excerpts I read, they certainly are demeaning to women.
BASH: The attack fits a broader Allen message aimed at convincing women voters that Webb, a former Navy secretary, is insensitive.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The same Jim Webb who declared the Naval Academy "a horny woman's dream," and women "psychologically unfit for combat."
BASH (on camera): Your critics, Senator Allen's campaign says that what you chose to write in your novels is indicative of how you think.
WEBB: I think it's absolutely -- you know, to pull, you know, one and two sentences out of a body of work and try to use it for political purposes is just absurd. And they know that.
BASH (voice over): Democrats quickly release their own book list of GOP authors from New Gingrich, to Lynne Cheney, who put some racy passages in their novels.
WEBB: I'm a serious writer. I mean, we can go and read Lynne Cheney's lesbian love scenes if you want to, you know, get graphic on stuff.
BASH (on camera): Webb reminded reporters he is an acclaimed novelist. In fact, Democrats also point out that Webb's military fiction, like this, "Lost Soldiers," has been praised by conservatives, from author Tom Clancy, to Senator John McCain.
Dana Bash, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: And as you heard, a book written by the vice president's wife is being brought into that Virginia race, and now Lynne Cheney is firing back at Jim Webb and Democrats who claim she's written some raunchy stuff herself. Listen to this exclusive interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHENEY: Jim Webb is full of baloney. I have never written anything sexually explicit. His novels are full of sexually explicit references to incest, sexually explicit references -- well, you know, I just don't like grandchildren to turn on the television set. This morning, Imus was reading from the novels, and it's triple X-rated.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: And she did not hold back. A lot more to that, and you want to see it. In about 12 minutes we're going to have more of this interview ahead. Lynne Cheney gets a bit mad, sticks up for her husband and the Bush administration. It's the interview you will only see on CNN.
NGUYEN: And whether it is Lynne Cheney talking tough, or first lady Laura Bush on the campaign trail, do the women of the White House impact your vote? That's our question for you today.
E-mail us your thoughts at Weekends@CNN.com. We'll read some of those responses a little bit later in the show.
HOLMES: The violence in Iraq continues to take a toll on U.S. forces and on relations between the Iraqi prime minister and the Bush administration. And 98 U.S. service members have been killed during October, the fourth highest monthly death toll of the war.
CNN's Michael Ware has more on the political tensions caused by the violence.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In a 30-minute video conference today between Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki and American president George Bush, the Iraqi government sought a greater role ensuring the country's security. However, it requested that the U.S. step up its assistance in training the Iraqi forces and equipping them.
However, earlier today, an aide to the prime minister made it very clear that the Iraqi prime minister told the U.S. ambassador on Friday that he is not committed to carrying out U.S. will. However, is he committed to carrying out any agreements between the two countries approved by his parliament. The aide said that the prime minister noted he is not America's man in Iraq.
It was also said that it was made clear that there is no agreement on timelines, and any U.S. talk about timelines, said the prime minister's aide, was being taken as merely suggestions by the Iraqi government.
Michael Ware, CNN, Baghdad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: Well, the vice president takes some heat for comments about torture. And his wife, well, she comes out swinging in his defense.
Plus, we'll tell you why she is angry with CNN later.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "Swinging back and forth between light and dark like a silver back gorilla with nothing but time. Sometimes people act out their good instincts. This is called charity. Sometimes they act out their bad instincts. This is called strangling.
And sometimes shuffle quietly from home to work and back again, simply puzzled by it all. This is called the rest of us."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Boy, there's some truth in that.
HOLMES: Yes. I'm puzzled by it all most of the time.
"Spoiled Rotten America." In his new book, comedian Larry Miller says the country has gone a bit soft, and he's poking fun at the outrages of everyday life.
His live interview coming up in about 30 minutes.
Stay here.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: All right. "Now in the News," check this out. A wildfire in southern California still spreading this morning. Now up to 40,000 acres.
Four firefighters have died in this blaze. A fifth firefighter from the same company is in critical condition this morning, with severe burns over most of his body.
There is tension between Iraq's prime minister and the U.S. An aide says Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki told the top U.S. diplomat, "I'm not America's man in Iraq." That aide says al-Maliki wants more U.S. support for Iraqi security forces and more help controlling the violence. The Iraqi leader spoke with President Bush during a video conference today.
Admitting guilt. Tucson, Arizona, police say confessed sniper Lee Boyd Malvo admits he and John Allen Muhammad killed a man on a Tucson golf course back in March of 2002. Now, the pair, they did gain notoriety, as you'll recall, a little bit later that year for a deadly sniper spree in the greater D.C. area.
HOLMES: Too crowded and too dirty in L.A. A federal judge says L.A. County must reduce overcrowding and end unsanitary conditions in its jails. The order restricts the county to putting no more than 20 inmates in a holding cell at one time.
And do not forget, set the clocks back tonight. Most of the U.S. will begin Daylight Saving Time at 2:00 a.m. Sunday. If you've got somewhere to be tomorrow morning, you might want to set your clock back before you head to bed.
NGUYEN: Of course they've got somewhere to be. They're going to be watching this show tomorrow morning, right?
HOLMES: You need to be right here, and we'd like for you to be here on time.
NGUYEN: On time.
HOLMES: If you could. But...
NGUYEN: We can see you.
HOLMES: But if you don't set the clock, you'll just be here early.
But we do run down the top stories, of course, every 15 minutes. Our next check of the headlines coming up at the bottom of the hour.
NGUYEN: Right now we want to check in with Reynolds Wolf for a look at the weather outside.
Boy, you can split the country down the middle, different stories on each side.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HOLMES: We're going to talk more about that controversy surrounding what Lynne Cheney's husband did and didn't say about methods of torture. Yes, his wife speaking out and giving CNN's Wolf Blitzer an earful. The full story in about three minutes here on CNN SATURDAY MORNING.
Plus, this...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "And for centuries, the book world has been divided into fiction and nonfiction. I'd like to propose a third category, friction. And boy, am I the guy for that job."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: His new book is called "Spoiled Rotten America". The question is, are we a nation of softies and sissies? His words. Ready to answer that question is, of course, comedian and author Larry Miller. You know him.
He's going to be joining us in about 20 minutes. Stay tuned. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: The vice president's wife stands by her man. It is a CNN exclusive, and this morning it is all the buzz on the blogs.
Now, on last night's "SITUATION ROOM," Lynne Cheney defends her husband to Wolf Blitzer and also talks about CNN's decision to play the terror tape.
Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHENEY: Wolf, that is a mighty house you're building on top of that mole hill there, or a mighty mountain. You know, this is a complete distortion. He didn't say anything of the kind.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Because of the dunking -- you know, using the water and the dunking?
CHENEY: Well, I understand your point. It's kind of the point of a lot of people right now to try to distort the administration's position. And if you -- if you really want to talk about that, I watched the program on CNN last night which I thought -- it's your 2006 voter program -- which I thought was a terrible distortion of both the president and the vice president's position on many issues.
It seemed almost straight out of Democratic talking points, using phrases like "domestic surveillance," when it is not domestic surveillance that anyone has talked about or ever done. It's surveillance of terrorists. It's people who have al Qaeda connections calling into the United States.
So I think we're in the season of distortion. And this is just one more.
BLITZER: But there have been some cases where innocent people have been picked up, interrogated, held for long periods of time, then simply said, never mind, they're let go.
CHENEY: Well, are you sure these people are innocent?
BLITZER: They are walking around free right now and nobody's arrested them.
CHENEY: You made a point last night of a man who had a bookstore in London where radical Islamists gathered. Who was in Afghanistan when the Taliban were there. Who went to Pakistan. You know, I think that you might be a little careful before you declare this as a person with clean hands.
BLITZER: You're referring to the CNN "Broken Government" special. This was the one that John King reported on last night.
CHENEY: Right there, Wolf, "Broken Government." Now what kind of stance is that? Here we are. We are a country where we have been mightily challenged over the past six years. We've been through 9/11, we've been through Katrina. The president and the vice president inherited the recession. We're in a country where the economy's healthy, that's not broken.
This government has acted very well. We have tax cuts that are responsible for our healthy economy. We're a country that was attacked five years ago. We haven't been attacked since. What this government has done is effective, that's not broken government. So, you know, I shouldn't let media bias surprise me, but I worked at CNN once. I watched your program last night ...
BLITZER: You worked as co-host of "CROSSFIRE".
CHENEY: And I was -- I was troubled.
BLITZER: All right. Well that was probably the purpose, to get people to think. To get people to discuss these issues. Because ...
CHENEY: Well, all right. All right, Wolf, I'm here to talk about my book. But if you want to talk about distortion ...
BLITZER: We'll talk about your book.
CHENEY: Right, but what is CNN doing running terrorist tape of terrorists shooting Americans? I mean, I thought Duncan Hunter asked you a very good question and you didn't answer it. Do you want us to win?
BLITZER: The answer of course is we want the United States to win. We are Americans. There's no doubt about that. Do you think we want terrorists to win.
CHENEY: Then why are you running -- why are you running terrorist propaganda?
BLITZER: With all due respect -- with all due respect, this is not terrorist propaganda.
CHENEY: Oh, Wolf.
BLITZER: This is -- this is reporting the news, which is what we do. We're not partisan.
CHENEY: Where did you get the film?
BLITZER: We got the film -- look, this is an issue that has been widely discussed. This is an issue that we reported on extensively. We make no apologies for showing that. That was a very carefully considered decision why we did that. And I think, and I think that if you're...
CHENEY: Well I think it's shocking.
BLITZER: ... if you are a serious journalist, you want to report the news. Sometimes the news is good, sometimes the news isn't so good. (END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: And there you have it. Lynne Cheney's exclusive interview with Wolf Blitzer aired on last night's "SITUATION ROOM".
HOLMES: A lot of folks talking about that today. You can see why, yes.
NGUYEN: Well, it's all over the blogs. And again, you decide for yourself. We aired a large chunk of that right there. And see where you stand on the issues.
Moving on to another story, though, the law, politics and public opinion. In about five minutes, are your legal rights at stake? Our senior legal analyst talks with a member of the high court about judges on trial.
But first, Veronica de la Cruz joins us.
Good morning, Veronica.
VERONICA DEE LA CRUZ, CNN PIPELINE ANCHOR: Hey there. Good morning, Betty.
You know, the clock is ticking. Midterm elections right around the corner. So I'm going to show you what you can find online at CNN.com.
That's after this break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Now in the news, the reward is now up to $500,000 for information on the wildfire burning near Palm Springs, California. Look at this video. Investigators believe it was deliberately set and so far, more than 62 square miles have burned and that number is likely to grow. The fire is only about 25 percent contained.
NATO promises an investigation into the civilian deaths following NATO air strikes Tuesday in southern Afghanistan. NATO says it is satisfied the operation hit Taliban fighters but one NATO official admits mistakes were made that resulted in about 70 civilian deaths.
HOLMES: President Bush on the road this morning to rally Republican voters. Less than three hours from now, he'll attend a rally in Indiana. It's the president's first open rally of the 2006 campaign. Until now, he's only been speaking at fundraisers. The president also visits U.S. troops and attends a Republican party dinner in South Carolina.
Meanwhile, lady liberty turns 120 today.
NGUYEN: She looks great, doesn't she?
HOLMES: 119 easy. The statue was a gift of course to America from France, dedicated on October 28th, 1883. NGUYEN: Don't we all wish we could age like that.
HOLMES: Well of course, we run down the top stories for you every 15 minutes here on CNN newsroom with in-depth coverage all morning long. Your next check of the headlines coming up at 10:45 Eastern.
NGUYEN: So you've heard the phrase activist judges? We have results this morning from a new CNN poll, and despite complaints, two- thirds of Americans don't believe elected officials should have more control over Federal judges. In our poll released here for the first time, check it out, 67 percent of the people surveyed by Opinion Research on behalf of CNN say Federal judges should not be subject to more control; only 30 percent say they should.
Forty one percent of those polled say decisions made by Federal judges are about right. Thirty four percent say they're too liberal and 20 percent say too conservative. The poll has a sampling error of plus or minus 3 percent.
HOLMES: CNN's senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin had a rare chance recently for an on the record conversation with one current and one former Supreme Court justice. In parts of the CNN series "Broken Government," Jeff joins us now from New York. It's tough enough to get one of them to sit down for an interview; you got two justices. You got some pull, don't you?
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SR. LEGAL ANALYST: Actually, all of us, journalism, we get unusual access sometimes and it was really a privilege. It was great, T.J.. I had a great time talking to them and it was fun to show it tonight.
HOLMES: What did they get to chat with you about?
TOOBIN: The striking thing especially from Justice O'Connor, who is of course so famous as the first woman justice is really worried about the attacks on judges that are going on. When we saw just this week with President Bush denouncing the New Jersey supreme court for its gay marriage decision, but the turning point, it seemed to me, especially, was the Terry Schiavo case which we talk about in tonight's documentary, how the entire Congress, plus President Bush, mobilized to essentially take a single case from the Florida courts and try to control it through congressional action. That really disturbed the justices of the Supreme Court and Justice O'Connor talks about it tonight.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SANDRA DAY O'CONNOR, SUPREME COURT JUSTICE (RETIRED): We saw legislation introduced to somehow restrict or affect judges at both the state and Federal levels and even public opinion polls about courts and judges showed an increase in dissatisfaction with the American public. And there was a great deal of rhetoric about activist judges, and that seemed to be a mantra of some kind.
TOOBIN: Federal judges, they are appointed. They're not democratically elected. They serve essentially for life. Why should we trust you, rather than the government officials who are answerable to the people?
JUSTICE STEPHEN BREYER, SUPREME COURT: That's a very good question, why would anyone want a system like ours in a democracy? The answer has to be, it's possible, despite those words on paper, that a majority could gang up on a minority.
The prayer of the founders was that that wouldn't happen here. I can remember in my youth, Governor Orville Faubus (ph) stood in the schoolhouse door with the state militia and said the Supreme Court has told me to let the black children into the white school, but I won't. I won't do it. It took more than the Supreme Court. It took President Eisenhower to send paratroopers to Little Rock who took those children by the hand and walked into that white school, integrating the school, according to law.
I tell you that story. It's one of many, because it both shows a need for judges to be independent, and more important than that, it shows a need for people in the United States to understand how that independence is part of their life, why they might support it, why they might stand up for judicial decisions, even those that they think are very wrong.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TOOBIN: And you know, that was really a very passionate statement by Justice Breyer about the importance of judicial independence and you see why there's a tension there, because you know, majorities feel they're right. Majorities feel that abortion should be regulated in some states, but the Supreme Court says no, you can't do that. People in communities think there should be more connection between church and state.
Supreme Court says no, there's got to be more separation. It's often politically unpopular what the Supreme Court and other courts do, and the judges, particularly these Supreme Court justices are explaining why, even though it's not a democratic system, the system of judicial independence works for everybody. At least that's what they try to do.
HOLMES: All right. We know and we're certainly looking forward to a rare chance there to hear from both of them. Jeffrey Toobin, good to see you this morning and we're going to see more of you. We'll tell folks where they can see more you of you. They can tune in this weekend with CNN's "Broken Government" series from the best political team on TV.
Again, you can see Jeffrey Toobin's documentary, "Judges on Trial" Saturday at 8:00 p.m. Eastern and on Sunday at 7:00 p.m. Eastern and Lou Dobbs looks at "Democracy at Risk" and the problems with electronic voting. So thanks again to you, Jeff.
NGUYEN: This just in, President Bush today reaffirmed his support for Iraq's prime minister and the White House denies there are any tensions between the two leaders. White House correspondent Elaine Quijano joins us now. Elaine, I understand that both of them, the Iraqi prime minister and the president just moments ago released a statement. Talk to us about that.
ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's exactly right. Good morning to you, Betty. This joint statement by President Bush and the Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki essentially talks about them having this secure video conference today. We're told by senior administration official it lasted about 50 minutes, 5-0 minutes and topics included the development of the Iraqi security forces, efforts at promoting reconciliation and this international compact for Iraq and the economic reforms associated with it.
We also understand from this joint statement as well that there is a high level working group that's been formed, consisting essentially of top U.S. and Iraqi officials to tackle this problem, the problems facing Iraq, but also looking at obviously the recommendations on how those goals can be achieved. Now, we understand from the senior official that this was not borne out of any tensions, according to this official, that have been talked about between the Iraqi government and the United States government.
The officials say particularly about this comment from a Maliki aide that Nouri al-Maliki is not America's man in Iraq. This aide saying that perhaps this comment was playing to domestic political considerations, it's not off the mark. This is a sovereign nation that we work with.
Also any idea of tensions, this official saying are over hyped. So what you have here is a White House certainly facing a difficult situation in Iraq at a very critical time in the election cycle, when this is front and center on the campaign trail.
President Bush has been trying to make the case, that in fact, while adjustments have been made, in fact that the overall goals remain the same and that the Iraqi government is on the same page when it comes to tackling some of these issues. You now have this statement, a joint statement about this video conference which the White House is saying is part of just a regular set of ongoing consultations that are taking place.
This official saying that the last time they did something like this with the prime minister was about 12 days ago. They're having them about every two weeks, but coming at a very critical time, some statements coming out of Iraq, raising questions about just how closely the two governments are working together. Obviously now the White House anxious to kind of dispel the notion of any tensions. Betty?
NGUYEN: CNN's Elaine Quijano, thank you for that, Elaine.
Almost here folks, 10 days and counting until the midterm elections. Veronica de la Cruz has the latest now from CNN.com. Good morning.
VERONICA DE LA CRUZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning Betty. I don't have to tell you. I know that you have that date tattooed on your brain.
NGUYEN: Got it right here.
DE LA CRUZ: November 7th, big day. We've got all the best political video on CNN.com, including Wolf Blitzer's full interview with Lynne Cheney that we've been talking a lot about this morning. Here are some of the other hot political clips.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DE LA CRUZ: This week, we saw the race in Missouri get aggressive, as Michael J. Fox, a victim of Parkinson's disease and a supporter of stem cell research endorsed Democratic Senate candidate Claire McCaskill and urged voters to vote against Republican Jim Talent, who's against it. The ad drew backlash from radio show host Rush Limbaugh who accused Fox of faking Parkinson's symptoms for the camera. Limbaugh later said that he learned Fox was not faking and apologized.
A few states are also holding gubernatorial races, most notably Texas, where a four way races has a most diverse cast of characters. From incumbent Republican Governor Rick Perry and former Democratic Congressman Chris Bell to musician and comedian Kinky Friedman and the so-called tough grandma, Carol Keaton Strayhorn, our Bob Franken reports on these candidates, their chances and the other cast of characters coming to Texas to speak on their behalf.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DE LA CRUZ: And you will find those video clips as well as many others. Just put your browsers to CNN.com/elections.
It's time now for our pick of the best I-report of the week. Drum roll, please. OK, that winner, Willis Mattei. Congratulations to Willis. Check out this great video. Willis is 12 years old, folks.
NGUYEN: Really?
DE LA CRUZ: Twelve years old, he captured these shots of a slurry bomber flying over the Esperanza fire in Napa County, California, shot from a safe distance as you can see and of course with dad's permission. The good news here, the fire crews brought this blaze under control on Thursday night. So great job, Willis. We have a future CNN photojournalist on our hands like you were saying Betty.
NGUYEN: Steady hands.
DE LA CRUZ: Willis is 12, so he can't go on the date with Betty so we've got this great tee shirt.
NGUYEN: I do have an age requirement.
HOLMES: You should be more open, Betty.
NGUYEN: There are laws against that so you know.
DE LA CRUZ: We've got this great tee shirt and of course we're going to pick another winner next weekend. And don't forget, you can see more videos, photos like this on our Web site. You can also send in your own I-reports. Join the world's most powerful news team and we would like to thank everyone who contributed to our coverage and keep on sending those I-reports in folks. You, too, could win a date with Betty.
NGUYEN: No!
DE LA CRUZ: I meant tee shirt.
NGUYEN: We have to be clear I'm not up for auction here.
(CROSSTALK)
NGUYEN: Poor Willis. Congratulations.
DE LA CRUZ: Congratulations Willis.
NGUYEN: You're in trouble, Veronica. We'll talk later.
HOLMES: Both of you all, do you gate annoyed sometimes when maybe the popcorn doesn't pop as fast you want it to in the microwave?
DE LA CRUZ: All the extra kernels.
HOLMES: You have to wait in line at the ATM or something, little stuff like that, does that get to you?
NGUYEN: Yes.
HOLMES: Well, suck it up please. We've got a new book here to tell you about "Spoiled Rotten America." This is from comedian Larry Miller. He says we've all gone soft and you know what, you just might agree with him. Stick around.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Now in the news, firefighters, well they are still trying to gain the upper hand on a deadly wildfire near Palm Springs, California. Pushed by high winds, the fire has already scorched about 62 square miles and fire officials say it's only about 25 percent contained. We'll stay on top of that.
President Bush on the road to rally Republican voters. Less than three hours from now, he attends a rally in Indiana. It is the president's first open rally of the 2006 campaign, and until now, he's only spoken at fundraisers. Mr. Bush also visits U.S. troops and attends a Republican party dinner in South Carolina.
HOLMES: It's not over just yet. Controversy over comments made by Vice President Dick Cheney concerning torture continues. Cheney says his comment about dunking terror suspects in water was not a reference to a torture technique known as water boarding. The vice president's wife also weighing in. In an exclusive interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer, Lynne Cheney defends her husband and the Bush administration. Mrs. Cheney says her husband does not approve of torture.
And it is that time, most of the U.S. will begin daylight savings time at 2:00 a.m. Sunday. If you've got somewhere to be tomorrow morning, don't forget to set your clock back before you go to bed.
We run down the top stories for you here every 15 minutes, in the newsroom with in-depth coverage all morning long. Your next check of the headlines coming up at the top of the hour.
Good morning to you all. We've been talking of course about the first lady, Laura Bush on the campaign trail and Lynne Cheney as well.
NGUYEN: In the interview.
HOLMES: Talking to our Wolf Blitzer. We've asked what you think about all of that. Do the women of the White House impact your vote? Your comments straight ahead in the newsroom.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
VOICE OF LARRY MILLER, AUTHOR, "SPOILED ROTTEN AMERICA": What's more note worthy, 100,000 North Koreans turning placards in unison at a stadium or one bite of a really good hamburger? I know which one I'd rather have and I'll bet your signed glossy of the dear leader that the North Koreans would agree. That's what this book is about, the hamburger and the stadium, the large and the small, the innocent and the cynical, division and unity.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
NGUYEN: That is just a thought, just one of many from "Spoiled Rotten America." It's a new collection of essays by comedian and actor Larry Miller. You know this guy. He makes the case that we've become a bunch of pampered self-absorbed cry babies who get cranky over the little annoyance and he joins us live from Dallas, Texas. Good morning to you.
MILLER: Hi, guys. Hi, everyone. I think it's just Betty there but there could be 12 of you. I'm looking at a wall.
NGUYEN: I've been cloned. Let me ask you this though, especially if I've been cloned, why is it that we are so spoiled and really are we? We are hard working Americans. We don't have a lot of time and we demand good service. What's wrong with that?
MILLER: Listen, first of all, I love you. I love me, and I love us.
NGUYEN: Exactly. MILLER: The truth is, I was looking for a theme that would unite everyone and before I hit on "spoiled rotten" it dawned on me, no matter how old you are, 20, 50 or 80, your parents are twice as tough as you and their parents were twice as tough as them and it keeps getting tougher as you go back and then you more or less slingshot back to us. Let's be honest, my father had three jobs and went to school at night. If I go to the cleaners and the bank in the same day, I need a nap.
NGUYEN: Why do you think that is? Didn't you learn some lessons from your father? Why are we so spoiled?
MILLER: Everything, because we have everything. Any human in the world, you know, you could take someone who grew up on the side of Mt. Everest and never even heard of electricity and put him down in the middle of our country, and a week later he would be arguing with his wife about how best to load the dishwasher.
NGUYEN: That's a good point. Another thing that you make I think is so funny, you talk about simple things, cooking something in the microwave, you I don't know, why, like soy ribs? Something like that?
MILLER: Here's how that happened. I didn't even have the title for the book yet. I was still writing the book and here it is by the way "Spoiled Rotten America." That's just a coincidence.
NGUYEN: Yes, right.
MILLER: I was writing the book in the office and seriously, I go down to the kitchen for lunch. It's always stocked, that's spoiled right there. I take out a box of those frozen soy buffalo wings with those goofy nugget things we all eat from time to time. What could be easier?
You put them on a plate. You stick them in the microwave, cooked two minutes, two minutes. It couldn't be simpler and then it said on the directions, turning over half way through and I actually thought, oh, now I've got to turn them over, too? And at that moment, first of all, two things happened. Number one ...
NGUYEN: You're a mess.
MILLER: I realized you know what, I laughed out loud because I really believed with all of my heart if we laugh at ourselves, when we catch ourselves doing something like that. If you laugh at yourself, when you go to the ATM and there are two cars in front of you and you actually get mad thinking, I can't wait 41 seconds for my money, if you laugh at yourself when you're waiting for the computer to go on an extra 12 seconds.
NGUYEN: That makes may so mad.
MILLER: You feel outraged, as long as you laugh, we'll be OK. And that's when the concept hit me, "Spoiled Rotten America." You know, we are good people. We are the most generous people in the world, but that makes me laugh to think that you go to the supermarket and now fruit can come peeled. God forbid we should have to peel it.
NGUYEN: Peel it ourselves, oh, my goodness. What's funny too is I remember when microwaves didn't even have turntables. Remember that, television no remote control. You had the rotary dial a phone. Does it seem like the easier it gets, the more spoiled we've become?
MILLER: Even the sentence you just said I think is hysterical. That you remember when microwaves didn't have turntables.
NGUYEN: I know. Way back in the day.
MILLER: Can you imagine going 1,000 years ago in the middle of England or Germany and just someone saying I don't think I want to be a Thatcher anymore and the village would say are you out of your mind? What are you talking about? So you know what, I love this life.
I love that we -- I love that we get up every day. I write about little league and by the way, I just want to say this, speaking of spoiled, there's a Web site, larrymillerhumor.com and the reason that's extraordinary is because considering I started writing this book with a quill and wound up with a Web site, believe me, that's like taking your grandparents to a space station.
NGUYEN: Quickly, let me ask you this. Since you are so spoiled, you've been a very lucky man in your life. You used to sleep on "Seinfeld's" floor. Jay Leno gave you money to buy your first truck. You've been in "Pretty Woman." You've been in all these great, different sitcoms. You have hob knobbed with the rich and famous but at the same time, you are so spoiled. So that being said, what lessons have you learned from your own book?
MILLER: By the way, I'm hobnobbing right now. I'm standing -- you can't see but all around me are some of the greatest knobs. Look, you know what? I love show business. I loved it since the first joke I told on stage. I'm made for this stuff. It may not be curing diseases but I love acting. I love comedy and frankly, at this moment, as you well know, we've all been talking about this, the country is so angry at each other for the last 20 years and these next two weeks especially.
In fact, one of the original titles was going to be "Stop Yelling and Have a Drink." Because I really believe that it's time to say, you know what? I want to get all these people in the same room on both sides and just say OK, look, could you guys get a lot better fast?
NGUYEN: Could we just speed that up and make it happen? Larry Miller, let me just tell you this, we have really enjoyed your time with us today. The honesty, I think it really resonates. Best of luck with your book, not that you need it. I mean you're a man full of luck, right. Just rub some of that off on me, that's all I'm asking.
MILLER: You know what, I'd be proud to send you some of that luck, if you join the 50-book commitment list.
NGUYEN: Look at you, still hocking that book. MILLER: That's my job!
NGUYEN: We'll talk to you Larry.
MILLER: Bye!
NGUYEN: Thank you.
HOLMES: Stop yelling and have a drink I'm going to get that on my desk.
NGUYEN: You'd like that one.
HOLMES: We do want to quickly get to that live picture of first lady Laura Bush actually campaigning in New York right now. And that takes us right to our e-mail question we've been asking. Do women of the White House impact your vote at all? We've got a few here we want to get to. First, from Jean in Salt Lake City, those sweet ladies don't influence my vote in the slightest. They've already showed poor judgment in who they married, poor delusional ladies.
NGUYEN: Well Rick in Denver says yes, wives influence my vote. Laura Bush is an outstanding first lady and represents our country well in the highest office of the land. Hillary Clinton should never have been in that office and should stay out.
HOLMES: Thanks, Rick. We've got several more we hope to get to.
NGUYEN: A lot more, they're heated, too.
HOLMES: Thank you for sending those in, but for now, we're going to move on and talk about some, remember the hanging chads and the dimpled ballots, that was a long time ago, six years.
NGUYEN: Yes.
HOLMES: Electronic voting, is it really any better? Coming up at 11:00 a.m., computer hacking and the lack of a paper trail in the upcoming election, plus all the day's top story, coming up after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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