Return to Transcripts main page
American Morning
Attacking McClellan: Former White House Colleagues Blast Tell- All Book; New Crime & Punishment Museum; Global Warming: Hot Topic on Capitol Hill
Aired May 29, 2008 - 05:59 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. I'm Kyra Phillips, in for Kiran Chetry.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning. I'm John Roberts.
It's Thursday, Friday eve, the 29th of May. Almost bidding goodbye to this month, and June just around the corner.
We begin with the most politics in the morning today.
Just five days and counting now until the last primary, and Barack Obama makes a bold prediction, suggesting the nomination will be his by next Thursday, if not sooner. But Hillary Clinton conceding nothing at this point, insisting that she has the popular vote and would win in the fall, a charge that has done little to shake Obama.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I feel very confident that we will be so close in terms of the actual delegates needed that if it's not Tuesday, then it will be Wednesday or Thursday that we can say that I'm the nominee and that we're ready to take on John McCain.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON (D-NY), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's going down to the wire, because where we stand right now, I lead in the popular vote. My opponent has a slight lead in delegates. So this is by no means over.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Before Puerto Rico votes -- and that will be on Sunday, and Montana and South Dakota ring in on Tuesday -- there is one more crucial showdown looming. Democratic National Party officials will meet Saturday in Washington to decide what to do about Florida and Michigan's delegates.
And Barack Obama says he is considering a pre-election trip to Iraq, but not with John McCain. It's been more than two years since his last visit to the war zone, and McCain has been hammering him on the issue, insisting the Democratic front-runner will change his stance once he realizes what's happening there.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Glad to hear that senator Obama is now "considering" a trip to Iraq. It's long overdue. It's been 871 days since he was there, and I'm confident that when he goes, he will then change his position on the conflict in Iraq because he will see the success that has been achieved on the ground.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Obama says if he goes it will be to talk to commanders, not to score political points.
PHILLIPS: Turning now to the political firestorm over former White House press secretary Scott McClellan's explosive tell-all. That book hits bookstores next week, but it's already number one on amazon.com's bestseller list.
The White House calling the memoir self-serving sour grapes. And some of McClellan's former colleagues are even questioning his creditability and accusing him of disloyalty.
CNN's Ed Henry has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ED HENRY, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The gloves are coming off. White House officials initially would not comment on Scott McClellan's explosive new book claiming President Bush used propaganda to sell the war in Iraq.
But now former colleagues are charging the tell-all is a betrayal of the president's trust.
DAN BARTLETT, FORMER COUNSELOR TO PRESIDENT BUSH: All I will say is that there is an enormous amount of disappointment among those who are closest to Scott. This is not the Scott we knew.
HENRY: Former White House insider Dan Bartlett lashed out, telling CNN it's "total crap" for McClellan to write the media was soft on the administration.
BARTLETT: The fact of the matter was, the weapons of mass destruction weren't there. The intelligence was wrong. But that doesn't make people out to be liars or manipulators or propagandists.
HENRY: No reaction yet from the president himself, who delivered the Air Force Academy's commencement at a bitterly cold Colorado Springs.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Your parents are proud of you, and so is your commander in chief.
HENRY: Matching the tone of the official response from current White House spokeswoman Dana Perino, who declared, McClellan is disgruntled. "For those of us who fully supported him before, during and after he was press secretary, we are puzzled," Perino said. "It is sad. This is not the Scott we knew."
SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The world is better off and America's more secure because Saddam Hussein was removed from power.
HENRY: McClellan's predecessor, Ari Fleischer, said, "If Scott had such deep misgivings, he should not have accepted the press secretary position as a matter of principle."
But a former Clinton White House inside said McClellan's account has credibility because his long proximity to Mr. Bush gave him a window on how the war was prosecuted, and he may now be having pangs of conscience.
JOHN PODESTA, FORMER CLINTON WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: The fact that we went to war on to some extent propaganda, I think he's come to the conclusion, as two-thirds of the American people have, that it was a bad mistake of judgment on behalf of the president.
HENRY (on camera): I spoke to Scott McClellan briefly by telephone and he stood behind his account. As for the president, aides say the book has been described to him but they do not expect him to comment on it anytime soon. They say he has far more pressing matters to deal with.
Ed Henry, CNN, Colorado Springs.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: We're also following breaking weather news out of the western Caribbean. A tropical depression brewing off Costa Rica right now. Forecasters saying it's expected to strengthen into a tropical storm and make landfall actually along the coast of Nicaragua late this afternoon. The Atlantic hurricane season actually begins on Sunday.
And in central China, the government is rehearsing plans for a massive evacuation operation. Rescue crews say if a dam gives way, they will actually have four hours to move more than a million people away from an unstable lake. Now, as much as 66 feet of water, rock and soil could wipe out dozens of cities and villages near that earthquake zone. Engineers have been working around the clock, digging a drain to relieve pressure on that dam.
ROBERTS: New this morning, a big win for gay rights activists in the state of New York. Governor David Paterson says same-sex marriages performed in states that allow gay marriages will now be legally recognized in the Empire State. New York does not allow gay marriages to be performed though.
Meantime, California says same-sex marriages can begin taking place on the 17th of June, but the state Supreme Court has until the day before to decide whether to grant a stay of a previous ruling that legalizes gay marriage.
Our legal analyst Sunny Hostin breaks it all down for us coming up later on this hour.
Two U.S. Customs agents busted, accused of taking bribes at New York's Kennedy airport. The DEA say Walter Golembiowski and John Ajello took cash in exchange for allowing large amounts of hash and fake goods into the country. The arrests were part of a sting operation investigating corruption at the airport.
A town in Texas cannot ban illegal immigrants from renting homes there. A U.S. district court says only the federal government can decide who is in the country legally, not the Dallas suburb of Farmers Branch. The town is not appealing the ruling.
Their new plan is to make prospective tenants get a renter's license. They will then check the renter through a federal database.
PHILLIPS: A deadly collision outside Boston. Police say that a crowded two-car transit trolley rear-ended another at a stoplight during rush hour. One person was killed and at least 12 others were injured. The National Transportation Safety Board is now investigating that.
And NASA says the Phoenix Mars Lander is digging for the first time after a communications glitch delayed its mission by a day. The arm will scoop up soil and ice and try to determine if Mars could have supported primitive life.
It's coming up on seven minutes after the hour. Gasoline prices going way up now. Just 5 cents away from a $4 national average for a gallon of gas. And many of you already pay much more than that. We'll tell you where, ahead.
Shoot like Billy the Kid and sit in Old Sparky. A taste of crime and punishment at a brand new interactive museum in Washington.
Our Jeanne Meserve shows us around.
And climate fight. Lawmakers gearing up to debate new global warming bills. But can we afford the costs of going green?
We'll take a look ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS (voice over): Coming up on AMERICAN MORNING, the ride of his life. Suited up and strapped in, Rob takes the plunge.
Life in free fall, ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Eight minutes after the hour, almost nine after the hour now. And the saint of sartorial splendor, Ali Velshi, here with us this morning.
A new tie.
PHILLIPS: We all dressed alike today.
ALI VELSHI, CNN SR. BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Oh Yes. I appreciate this. You're all wearing -- yes, thank you. Check this out.
PHILLIPS: We all color-coordinated.
VELSHI: You guys have been digging around in my closet.
ROBERTS: Cut from the same cloth.
VELSHI: Gas prices are now a nickel away from a national average of $4 a gallon. Wow. We are at $3.95 now, as you can see in the bottom right corner. It just hurts my arm to keep pointing at this thing, so you're just going to know it's here.
Take a look at the map across the country. I will show you how many states are now with $4 a gallon gas.
Eleven states, plus the District of Columbia. And we pulled out Alaska and Rhode Island so that you can see it. I don't know if Rhode Island should get pulled out. I've never seen that done on a map.
There are now four states that are on their way -- five more states on their way to $4 a gallon. Florida, Indiana, Maine, Ohio and Oregon now within 5 cents of getting to $4 a gallon.
We have heard from Ford now that following its decision to cut back on some production because Americans decided at $3.50 a gallon to stop buying trucks and SUVs in the same numbers that they've been buying them, Ford has now announced that it's going to cut back production. And of course that means cutting back jobs. That's going to happen.
General Motors now saying that it plans some production cuts. Honda is even making some changes to the way it makes vehicles in the United States to try and deal with the fact that people are getting away from the trucks. They're going to transfer some of their truck production from Ontario, Canada, to the United States, move some of their Honda Civic production to Canada. So they are going to be doing things like that.
We are going to ask you, as we have been asking you for so many weeks, what you are doing about the high price of gas and what you need to do to understand it. So later on today, at 10:00 Eastern, we're going to be doing a live radio show on CNN Radio. You can also see it on CNN.com. It will be live-streamed.
We're taking your phone calls. We'll give you that number on the AMERICAN MORNING Web site as well: 1-877-266-4189.
The idea is it's not just gas prices. It's affecting you in so many other places. And we would like to hear from you, because when you tell us what's going on with gas prices and inflation and oil prices, and how it affects, we're going to report more on some of those interesting things that we're hearing from our viewers.
ROBERTS: Looking forward to it.
VELSHI: But you asked me several weeks ago about how Americans are changing their behavior, and we're seeing it very definitely in car purchases.
PHILLIPS: All right. We'll be listening. Ali on the mike.
VELSHI: With those natty suits.
ROBERTS: Your natty new tie.
PHILLIPS: All right. See you in a little bit.
ROBERTS: Actually, I revise it. It's the sultan of sartorial splendor.
VELSHI: Thank you.
ROBERTS: Velshi, the sultan of sartorial splendor.
PHILLIPS: Getting all kinds of nicknames.
ROBERTS: I like that. It's good.
PHILLIPS: All right. Well, we're also continuing to follow the breaking news of a tropical depression in the eastern Pacific. There it is right there. You can see it from our satellite pictures.
Will it become a tropical storm? We'll talk about that, and whether it's a sign that it could be a pretty busy and scary summer.
Also, Sharon Stone sets off a firestorm of anger though. That's across China. We're going to tell you why she's apologizing straight ahead on this AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Actress Sharon Stone apologizing to China today. She says she's "deeply sorry" for suggesting China's massive earthquake may have been a result of bad karma over its treatment of Tibet. China's official news agency calling her "public enemy of all mankind." And Christian Dior says it's dropping the actress from its Chinese ads.
More than 68,000 people died in that quake, and millions of people are still homeless.
(WEATHER REPORT)
ROBERTS: Lawmakers about to start hashing out a bill on global warming, but will the changes help the environment or hurt your wallet? We're taking a look at the issue coming up later on this hour.
PHILLIPS: And it's a little Bonnie and Clyde and a little bit CSI. We're checking out a brand new crime museum in Washington.
Stick around. You're going to see Jeanne Meserve with a gun.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Twenty minutes after the hour.
Tapping a nation's fascination with the bad guys. The brand new National Museum of Crime & Punishment just opened up in Washington. It's an interactive look at what it's like to be a criminal and to catch one.
CNN's Jeanne Meserve has got a sneak peek for us this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WARREN BEATTY, ACTOR, "BONNIE AND CLYDE": Good afternoon. This is the Barrow Gang.
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice over): America reveres and reviles its robbers. The movie "Bonnie and Clyde" burnished the legend of that criminal couple. Now a museum does, too.
JANINE VACCARELLO, NATIONAL MUSEUM OF CRIME & PUNISHMENT: This is the "Bonnie and Clyde" car from the Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway movie.
MESERVE: But this new museum is also about cops and the consequences of crime.
VACCARELLO: The first thing that we want people to come away with is to know that crime doesn't pay.
MESERVE: But this is definitely not Sunday school. Shoulder a rifle and engage in a Wild West shootout. Take a police car in a high-speed chase in a simulator just like those used for police training.
There are also efforts to prevent real crime. Admission includes getting your children fingerprinted. Many of the splashy exhibits let visitors see how crimes are solved.
VACCARELLO: I'll just touch back here, and you can see how the infrared technology works on the wall when I remove my hand. You can still see...
MESERVE (on camera): Oh, wow. It leaves that heat mark.
(voice over): And visit a mockup of a forensic crime lab, corpse and all, to learn the finer points of doing an autopsy.
As for punishment, there is an electric chair in which 125 people died. Even a lethal injection machine, though the museum points out that it doesn't have a position on capital punishment. And for those who escape the death penalty, there is a cell offering a different kind of escape.
VACCARELLO: Tada!
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MESERVE: And here we are on that simulator. You may remember a couple of weeks ago I did a fire truck. Now I'm doing a police car.
I am way off the road. It's icy conditions. I have gone off. I'm afraid I'm never going to make it to this accident scene. Sorry about that.
John, back to you.
ROBERTS: As long as you don't have one of your own, we'll be fine.
Jeanne, fascinating look inside. Thanks very much.
And if the crime museum isn't up your alley, here is n AM Extra look at some other odd places that you might want to check out.
Gatlinburg, Tennessee, there is the Museum of Salt and Pepper Shakers, home to 20,000 shakers collected from around the world. Or you can slide on over to the Banana Museum in California, where the top draws include the infamous petrified bana. And in Plano, Texas, you can visit the Cockroach Hall of Fame and Museum, where the big draw is dead bugs dressed a as celebrities, including Elvis and Liberace.
You can't make this stuff up.
PHILLIPS: We have reached an all-time high in this morning show.
ROBERTS: There you go.
PHILLIPS: It was about making the crew laugh.
ROBERTS: Twenty-two minutes into the hour and we're already down here.
(LAUGHTER)
PHILLIPS: Oh boy.
Well, I'm definitely going to turn the corner here and talk about Scott McClellan. You know, the Bush-bashing memoir that he wrote, it's already number one on amazon.com's bestseller list.
McClellan accuses the Bush administration of using propaganda to sell Americans on the war in Iraq. The White House and McClellan's former colleagues are bashing back, too, calling him disgruntled and saying that the book is just sour grapes.
And that brings us to this morning's "Quick Vote" question. Who has more credibility, Scott McClellan or the White House?
Cast your vote at CNN.com/am.
And this isn't the first time a Bush insider has turned on the boss. We take a look at some possible reasons why it happens.
And away he goes. Rob Marciano on his leap and landing, straight ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Well, lawmakers on Capitol Hill are turning their attention to global warming. And new bills call for limits on greenhouse gases and would allow polluters to buy and trade emission credits, actually. That debate actually begins on Monday, so we want to talk about the impact that this new legislation would have on the environment and the economy.
Joining me to talk about it, Howard Gould, conservationist, green entrepreneur, and co-founder of Equator Environmental.
Ooh, that's a lot to get out so early in the morning. I'm sorry.
HOWARD GOULD, CONSERVATIONIST: Sorry about that.
PHILLIPS: It's a complex -- that's OK. Did I say it correctly?
GOULD: Yes, you did.
PHILLIPS: OK. Good.
Let's just get right down to the cap and trade system. And give us the nutshell on why you believe this is the way to go.
GOULD: Well, in a nutshell, I mean, a cap and trade system is basically emissions targets are going to be released by the government to particular companies. And if they release over their emissions, they can sell those to other companies that are releasing under those emissions.
Now, the objective of that is to lessen the amount of missions per year so those cap numbers will come down over time. So, essentially, this market that we're talking about now, potentially could be the largest market ever created in the world, and certainly the largest commodity market. So it's very, very important that we get this right.
PHILLIPS: Meanwhile -- well, the question isn't how do you get it right, because you have got big businesses and you've got the coal industry that are opposed to this legislation going, this is not the right timing, this is going to kill the economy.
GOULD: Well, I think what we have to also remember, that this isn't kind of a decision, do we do this or do we not? We're in a state right now where we're surpassing the worst-case models for climate change. We don't really have a choice. We need to lessen the emissions. So we're trying to figure out, what would be the best possible solution for this? So it's not a do we do this, do we not decision. We have no choice.
PHILLIPS: Even -- here we are 4 bucks a gallon practically -- almost. We're almost there with regard to gas or electricity...
GOULD: Unfortunately.
PHILLIPS: Yes, unfortunately is right. Electricity bills, sky high. Are we in a recession or not? That's debatable.
I mean, can we really -- are we in a position right now to adopt those new standards?
GOULD: Well, I think that we have to look carefully at what's happening. I mean, gas prices with these kind of new standards may spike, but these bills account for that for lower, middle-income housing. There will be tax rebates back to them for these spiking energy prices.
But also, what it's going to do is it's going to spur renewables in the use of alternative fuel such as biodiesel and proper uses of ethanol. And so those kind of prices are going to spike initially, and then they'll come back down on the back end of this. So, ultimately, when we look long term, we will be in a much better situation than we are now.
PHILLIPS: All right. Meanwhile, I want to just get your opinion on this new study.
The cost of not doing something about climate change could be even much more costly, according to this survey and looking at these numbers. Nine hundred and fifty billion dollars in increased water costs because of increased drought conditions; $422 billion in damages in Atlantic and Gulf Coast states for more intense hurricanes; $360 billion in real estate losses because of rising sea levels; $141 billion in increased energy costs, mainly for air conditioning because of higher temps.
GOULD: It goes on and on and on, yes.
PHILLIPS: I mean, you know, tremendous numbers. Can you buy into this?
GOULD: Well, I think the fact that what we're doing -- I mean, the United States is the largest emitter -- or it's the second largest emitter. China actually just overtook us, but if we can alleviate any of these things, I mean imagine if we could alleviate climate change and it stopped a Katrina from happening. It's well worth the expense.
So, you know, as you read off, these types of things are catastrophically expensive, and we need to do something to change the trajectory that we are on right now. And this is kind of the best situation that we've got. Europe and the rest of the world is way, way ahead of us on this, and so we can learn from their mistakes, and hopefully we can build something that makes sense.
PHILLIPS: Yes, even Tony Blair lashing out and giving us a hard time that we're not doing enough about global warming.
GOULD: Yes. I mean, it's going to be the biggest thing that anybody has ever seen. Right now it's a kind of gathering storm that's on the horizon, and it's coming.
PHILLIPS: Howard Gould, appreciate your time this morning.
GOULD: Thank you.
PHILLIPS: All right -- John.
ROBERTS: Kyra, just about 30 minutes after the hour. And here are some of the top stories that we're following right now.
Why some people say President Bush's management style may be to blame for that scathing new tell-all book by his former press secretary, Scott McClellan.
Also, a look at the legal battle likely to take shape after a landmark order by New York Governor David Paterson. He wants same-sex marriages performed out of state to be recognized in New York
And free falling. Rob Marciano makes a 14,000 foot jump to get a little closer to one of this week's big headlines. We got that coming up for you.
But we begin with the United Nations announcement today that all of its relief workers will be allowed in to Myanmar. Nearly 2.5 million people are desperate for food, shelter, and medicine. Almost a month after a cyclone hit the Southeast Asian nation. But Myanmar's military regime still will not let U.S. Navy ships deliver relief supplies. The ships have only a few more days until they have to move on to other commitments.
Police in South Korea are battling with protesters who are angry about the decision to allow U.S. beef back into the country. Despite the protests, the government says it's going ahead with the agreement that it has made with the United States to import beef again. South Korea's previous regime banned U.S. beef after mad cow disease was discovered in the U.S. That was back in 2003.
Turning now to the "Most Politics in the Morning." With just five days left until the final primary votes are cast, it appears that the popularity gap between the Democrats and Republican John McCain is shrinking. In the national poll of polls, Barack Obama leads McCain by just two points -- 46 percent to 44 percent. Two weeks ago, Obama led by five. Hillary Clinton also leads McCain 46 percent to 44 percent. She led by four points two weeks ago.
Sad, sour grape, total crap. That's what some of Scott McClellan's former colleagues are saying about his new book bashing the White House that he once served as press secretary. He claims the Bush administration used, quote, "propaganda" to sell the war in Iraq. PHILLIPS: And as you can see those accusations are pretty stunning, giving the feedback as you heard from, John. Given McClellan's long-time relationship with President Bush, but he's not the first former insider to tell all about the Bush White House. CNN's Carol Costello has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It appeared to be beautiful, as beautiful as a relationship made in the world of politics can be. That's Scott McClellan on his last day as White House spokesman.
SCOTT MCCLELLAN, FORMER WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Mr. President, it has been an extraordinary honor and privilege to have served you for more than seven years now.
COSTELLO: Now it's safe to say McClellan has burned that bridge and incinerated many more. His book, "What Happened," is a scathing account of the Bush administration's policies, so negative the president's new spokesperson, Dana Perino, says, "We are puzzled." Ari Fleischer, who was McClellan's boss at the White House says passages in the book don't sound like Scott. Others weren't so kind. Former Bush homeland security adviser Fran Townsend says McClellan's book as well ill-timed.
FRAN TOWNSEND, FORMER HOMELAND SECURITY ADVISER: For him to do this now, frankly, strikes me as self-serving, disingenuous and unprofessional.
COSTELLO: The conservative blog Red State said what a scum bag. And Rush Limbaugh called him another Republican turncoat.
RUSH LIMBAUGH, TALK SHOW HOST: They'll throw anybody under the bus, even their own grandmothers to have a seat of power with the liberals. Get their approval. Not just Scott McClellan. He's the worst example of it lately.
COSTELLO: Unflattering kiss and tells about the Bush administration are a dime a dozen. Spilling the beans, former Treasury secretary Paul O'Neil, former Iraq Envoy Paul Bremer, and former senior economic adviser Larry Lindsay.
From a psychological standpoint, that's not surprising. Analysts say the Bush administration demanded loyalty and suppressed dissent. A perfect recipe for rebellion.
DR. GAIL SALTZ, PSYCHIATRIST: When you see someone commit what appears to be an act of revenge and do it in a potentially very self- destructive way, you have to wonder about the guilt that they feel. All right? Because they're asking for punishment, in a sense.
COSTELLO: And Scott McClellan is certainly feeling a backlash but ethicists look at it another way.
BRUCE WEINSTEIN, BUSINESSWEEK.COM: There's no statute of limitations on telling the truth. And he may be alienating people. But he may very well feel that and perhaps justifiably so that it's more important to be truthful and to let the American people know what was actually happening.
COSTELLO (on camera): Of course, only Scott McClellan can explain why he wrote this book and we should have an answer soon. He's about to hit the interview circuit to promote his book.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
Kyra, John?
ROBERTS: All right. Carol Costello for us this morning. Carol, thanks.
PHILLIPS: Ali Velshi, bring us something good.
ALI VELSHI, CNN SENIOR BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Food prices will be going down, but not for a little while. There's a new report out from the OECD, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. They have an outlook that goes out almost ten years and they're telling you what's going to happen with food. I'm going to bring that to you just ahead.
PHILLIPS: Coming up on AMERICAN MORNING, taking off. Rob heads for the heavens.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: We're at 2,000 feet. Not even halfway there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: He's not breaking the sound barrier or any records. But he's definitely going for the ride of his life. A firsthand look at what it's like to free fall, ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(CROSSTALK)
PHILLIPS: I'm hungry.
(CROSSTALK)
PHILLIPS: Yes, exactly. What are you cooking up?
VELSHI: You know, one of the things we've been talking about with the high oil prices, also the high food prices that taking together. Those are the things that cause inflation. But there's really a bigger issue with food. The OECD, which is the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development.
It's an organization of generally the richer countries in the world. They put out a food outlook for the next ten years. And it's not great. It means we're going to have high food prices for a while.
Now, let me just tell you, over the last eight years we have seen dramatic increases in the price of food. Here are some basic things that we have seen increasing since the year 2000. Wheat is up 362 percent in that period. Rice is up 318 percent. And maze which for the morning will called corn up 250 percent for that time period.
Now, the OECD says that over the next ten years or the next eight years, you can expect things to be increasing fairly dramatically. You'll see the price of those commodities increasing. What are they saying here? I'm just trying to get my -- all right, so we're going to see 20 percent higher beef and pork prices, 30 percent higher raw wheat and sugar prices, skim milk and milk will be 40 percent to 60 percent higher. And butter and oil is 60 percent higher.
Vegetable oil, 80 percent higher is what they're predicting. And we're going to have in terms of increases. Now, they have said -- here is the good news. The good news is over that time period prices will actually decline.
So the average will be an increase over the next ten years, but what will happen is that we will probably adjust in our eating habits, our growing habits, and things like that. But the things like weather and the fact that demand is increasing is outstripping supply at the moment. So we're going to see high food prices for the next few years. Adjust to what you eat maybe.
ROBERTS: Ali, thanks very much.
VELSHI: OK.
ROBERTS: New York's governor takes it on himself to recognize same-sex marriages from outside the state. Is he laying the groundwork for legalization or pushing the state in a direction that it doesn't want to go.
And Rob Marciano versus gravity. Our new resident daredevil takes a dive from 14,000 feet. Gravity wins, by the way, and he's back on the ground.
Hey, Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I wouldn't call me a daredevil, by the way. Gravity, by the way, pretty fun. We went up in the clouds where they hang out because of all the hype and excitement over the French skydiver. Sky jump from 130,000 feet. We did it much lower. The story still coming up when AMERICAN MORNING comes right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MARCIANO: Well, we all watched as a skydiver saw his helium balloon fly away without him. But French parachutist Michel Fournier vows to try to break the record for the longest free fall in August. Tuesday's attempt was scrapped after a freak accident caused his balloon to slip away into the skies above Canada. He spent nearly $13 million on his quest to dive from the edge of space at 130,000 feet.
Well, the whole story -- well, kind of inspired me. As a meteorologist sometimes it's not enough to just report on the clouds. So yesterday, I took a ride up there to check it out. And tell you what, it was some ride down.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARCIANO (on camera): With all this excitement about that French skydiver that wants to jump from 130,000 feet, kind of got me fired up to jump myself. Much lower, about 14,000. Here at Freefall Adventures in Jersey, we're going to give it a go.
MARCIANO (voice-over): I get geared up with safety instructor Range Luda.
MARCIANO (on camera): I'm a little nervous.
RANGE LUDA, SAFETY INSTRUCTOR: You need a harness?
MARCIANO: All right. Is there at all a chance for this to come loose from you?
LUDA: No.
MARCIANO: Never happened?
LUDA: Never happened.
MARCIANO: Not once?
MARCIANO (voice-over): Range and I will be hooked together for the jump in tandem, a way for beginners to skydive.
MARCIANO (on camera): I'm going to tight this -- all in the name of safety.
MARCIANO (voice-over): There's a lot to remember when you're falling at 120 miles an hour. Like when to pull the rip cord.
LUDA: The time for you to pull is 5,000 feet.
MARCIANO: Pulling the cord later could make a skydiver land too fast and lose control of his chute.
MARCIANO (on camera): If you jump from 130,000 feet, you need a pressurized spacesuit, helmet, oxygen, the whole nine yards. From 14,000 feet, well, altimeter, some goggles, not even a helmet. For me not even a parachute because I don't know what I'm doing. That's what Range is for.
Do you know what you're doing?
LUDA: I do.
MARCIANO: You got the chute? LUDA: I got the chute.
MARCIANO: Let's do it.
LUDA: Let's do this.
MARCIANO (voice-over): Our group climb to nearly 15,000 feet. I was getting light-headed and antsy. Others? Not so nervous.
MARCIANO (on camera): These things in my stomach, are they supposed to be there?
MARCIANO (voice-over): My turn to jump.
MARCIANO (on camera): All right. Let's give this gravity thing a try!
MARCIANO (voice-over): Gravity pulls me quickly downward while the plane's motion forces me sideways. Soon, our velocity is locked in. All I hear and feel is the wind.
MARCIANO (on camera): Oh, man, that was crazy.
LUDA: Craziness.
MARCIANO: That was fantastic.
It was like on a roller coaster ride. Your heart pounding, you're losing your breath, a little chilly, but it's just unbelievable.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MARCIANO: Much chillier at 130,000 feet, no doubt about that. I don't know how that guy would even consider trying to do that.
PHILLIPS: Fournier is watching this piece going -- oh yes, OK, whatever, Rob.
MARCIANO: You know what I found out after that, that the U.S. Parachute Association says that because of human errors there are two dozen skydiving deaths a year.
(CROSSTALK)
MARCIANO: That's the second time I've done it. I was just as nervous and excited the second go-around. It's not quite as crazy as bungee jumping.
ROBERTS: The butterfly in your stomach was almost big enough to keep you aloft by itself, right?
MARCIANO: Hey, guys, if -- you know, if you thought that was high --
PHILLIPS: Range Luga. I'd like that name. MARCIANO: Yes. Hey, check this out. You thought that was high? We tracked down this video. At Utah with Joseph Kittinger back in 1960, he set the record for the highest free fall of 102,000 feet. He fell for four minutes, 36 seconds, reaching speeds of up to 640 miles an hour.
The "New York Times" says his right hand swelled to twice its normal size because during the jump the pressurization malfunctioned in his suit there on his right glove. Malfunctioned there.
ROBERTS: If you had the butterflies like you did jumping from 14,000. What do you have jumping from 130,000?
MARCIANO: I think you've got a little something else going on.
PHILLIPS: I think boiling in your system at that level of altitude.
MARCIANO: All in the time of science, my friends.
ROBERTS: There you go. Rob, glad to have you back.
MARCIANO: It's nice to be back.
ROBERTS: On terra firma.
New York State goes as far as it can go in supporting same-sex marriage without actually legalizing it. Our AMERICAN MORNING legal analyst Sunny Hostin fill us in, just ahead.
PHILLIPS: The Atlantic hurricane season begins this weekend, but a new report says that after two relatively calm seasons, most people have stopped preparing for the worst.
ROBERTS: And necessity is the mother of invention. While they await new parts, the international space station crew fixes a broken toilet themselves. How they did it, coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Barring unexpected legal actions. Same-sex couples may start getting married in California on June 17th. And under a bold new order, New York will give full legal recognition to such marriages from California and anywhere else that they're legal.
AMERICAN MORNING legal analyst Sunny Hostin is here to explain what this means for same-sex couples.
Good morning.
SUNNY HOSTIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Good morning.
PHILLIPS: All right. So let me get this right. So, gay couples married in any other place but living in New York will get the same recognition as any other place of marriage. Am I saying that right? HOSTIN: You're saying that right. I mean, it's a very broad, broad directive that Governor Paterson has issued. And so now, same- sex couples that are married other places are going to enjoy the same benefits that I enjoy here with my husband in New York like filing my joint tax return with him.
But in all seriousness, health benefits, things like public housing, the right to get your spouse's pension benefits if your spouse dies. Really, really important benefits. They will all be entitled to here in New York now.
PHILLIPS: So is this the first step or I guess you think this is the first step and the next that will allow same-sex marriage in New York?
HOSTIN: Absolutely. I think that this is a very broad directive and there's no question that it is the governor's intent to make sure that same-sex marriages are allowed here in New York. It has not passed previously. We know that Governor Spitzer attempted to pass this bill last year, but I think his intention, Governor Paterson's intention is very clear and that we're really moving that way here in New York.
PHILLIPS: What do you think about this? I mean, you have lived here and you have watched the laws and --
HOSTIN: Yes.
PHILLIPS: This is, this is -- well, obviously it's going to be -- a lot of people in New York are going to be very happy about this.
HOSTIN: They're going to be very happy. I think we're going to see a lot of same-sex couples here in New York maybe flying over to California to get married like Ellen and her intended. And I think we're going to see that happen and having people come back to New York and enjoy all the benefits that all married couples here in New York enjoy. It's a movement that's been happening for a long time and I think we're here now.
PHILLIPS: Sunny Hostin, thank you so much.
HOSTIN: Thank you.
PHILLIPS: All right.
And John?
ROBERTS: Kyra, it's nine minutes to the top of the hour. And now to this morning's "Quick Vote" question. We're asking you this morning -- Who do you think has more credibility, Scott McClellan or the White House? And take a look at this. A whopping 95 percent say McClellan does. Just 5 percent believes the White House does. Cast your vote at cnn.com/am.
PHILLIPS: Counter attack.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Maybe this is a new Scott.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: The White House responds to its former spokesman who said the administration used weapons of mass deception.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's almost like an out of body experience, quite frankly.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Is Scott McClellan telling his story to make a sale or set the record straight? Ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Coming up on AMERICAN MORNING, danger zone. It's the most vulnerable part of your home and ignoring it could be devastating.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You loose the roof, you loose the contents of the house. Everything is gone.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: The simple fix that could help you survive a storm, ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
ROBERTS: And it's six minutes to the top of the hour. Former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan's book is making noise this morning on the campaign trail. McClellan blasts his former boss in his new memoir saying that he was part of an administration that misled America about the war in Iraq. Here is what Hillary Clinton and John McCain had to say about that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I have not seen the book nor the comments, but I know why I supported it, because I believed that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, as did every intelligence agency in the world and every assessment.
SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D-NY), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: In this book, this young man essentially apologizes for having been part of misleading America for three years. He talks about how difficult it was that our president and those working with him didn't either level with the American people or didn't change course when circumstances demanded it.
(END VIDEO CLIP) ROBERTS: The president's supporters are now asking if McClellan held these opinions, why didn't he speak up when he was working in the White House?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LIMBAUGH: Scott McClellan, the big tell-all book, the guy that never voiced one complaint, never resigned in protest, never told anybody how he felt, what you have here is many things, but among them, a classic illustration of what I always say on how Republicans/conservatives end up going to Washington and the Washington political and social culture just swallows them up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Let's talk a little bit more about all of this. We bring in Bruce Weinstein. He is the ethics guy for businessweek.com.
It's good to see you this morning.
BRUCE WEINSTEIN, ETHICS COLUMNIST, BUSINESSWEEK.COM: You too, John.
ROBERTS: Let's take a look at what Dana Perino had to say about all of this yesterday -- quote - "Scott, we now know is disgruntled about his experience at the White House. For those of us who fully supported him before, during, and after he was press secretary, we are puzzled. It is sad. This is not the Scott we know."
Dana Perino is the current White House press secretary. Who took over Tony Snow, who took over from Scott McClellan? The question is a tell-all book like this so harsh on the president -- ethically, is he on solid ground releasing it while President Bush is still in office?
WEINSTEIN: Yes, he is. He not only had a right to write this book, he had an ethical obligation. Because there is no statute of limitations on telling the truth. Yes, it would have been better had he spoken up earlier. And yes, it's important to be loyal, but it's much more important to tell the truth especially when alliance are at stake as the case here.
ROBERTS: Yes. As we saw and I saw because I was a White House correspondent during his tenure from Ari Fleischer, the transition through to Scott McClellan. He stood up there at the podium when we were hammering him about the Iraq war -- faithfully, faithfully defending it. And now here is what he is saying about all of that -- quote -- "What I do know is war should only be waged when necessary and the Iraq war was not necessary."
WEINSTEIN: Well, we can understand why he would be reluctant to have spoken up then. I mean, he probably would have lost his job. It's very difficult to stand up. I'm not excusing it, I'm just trying to explain or understand why he might have done this.
But, you know, let's face it, this is not a partisan issue. And the same would have been the case if Jody Powell from the Carter administration written such a tell-all book or Dee Dee Myers from the Clinton administration. Ethics is the ultimate, non-partisan issue. And there is no statute to limitations on telling the truth. We ought to speak truth to power when we can if we're in a position to do so.
ROBERTS: As recently as April of 2006, he was still defending the Iraq war, even when according to this book, he held those opinions. Let's listen to what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SCOTT MCCLELLAN, FORMER WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: There are people that are out there making irresponsible accusations that intelligence was manipulated or intelligence was misused. There's been no evidence to back that up whatsoever.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Now, he's saying that the president's advisers, quote, "Confused the propaganda campaign with the high level of candor and honesty so fundamentally needed to build and then sustain public support during a time of war."
Bruce, you said that he want to keep his job. But ethically, can you hide behind the cover of I like my job, food is expensive, I've got a mortgage to pay for so I'm going to toe the party line here.
WEINSTEIN: There's no question that it would have been much better ethically for him to have spoken up earlier but, you know, we make mistakes. We sometimes don't rise to the challenges we should, but that doesn't mean that it's never a possibility of rising to the challenge. You know, it's never too late to right a wrong. That is the lesson here. Of course, what these clips show is that we have to be careful what we say on the air because those are words that may come back to haunt us.
ROBERTS: Right. But what about credibility? And this is the point that his White House colleagues, former members of the administration, current members of the administration, are really hammering him on. That he didn't say any of this before, so why is he saying it now?
WEINSTEIN: Actually, if you look at what most of the critics are saying, they are attacking his motivation, not the truth content of what he's saying. Most of the people that I have heard on CNN in the last 24 hours have talked about -- well, he's disgruntled. He's doing this for the money.
But you know, you and I make a living and it doesn't diminish the integrity of what we're doing. People need to make a living and you know, he's writing a book. He will make money from that, but nevertheless he's standing up for what he believes is true. And let's look at the truth content of what he's saying, not the motivations for why he might be doing this.
ROBERTS: So bottom line, he's on solid ground. WEINSTEIN: Solid ground, definitely. Bruce Weinstein, the ethics guy from businessweek.com. Good to see you. Thanks for coming in.
ROBERTS: We're going to hear more from an administration insider coming up, former White House communications director, Dan Bartlett. He's going to be with us. That's at 7:45 Eastern.
Kyra?
PHILLIPS: And new information this morning about a Barack Obama and a possible trip to Iraq. His campaign told CNN last night the senator is considering it, but he's not taking McCain's bait. It's been two years since Obama's last visit. McCain recently invited Obama on a trip to Iraq. Obama's campaign calls a political stun.
