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American Morning
Judge Sotomayor on the Hot Seat; Is Hillary Clinton Being Benched?; Dems Want Cheney and CIA Program Investigated; Tracking the Stimulus
Aired July 15, 2009 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: And that brings us to the top of the hour.
Thanks for being with us on the Most News in the Morning on this Wednesday.
It's the 15th of July. I'm John Roberts.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Kiran Chetry. Glad you're with us.
Here's what's on the agenda this morning. These are the big stories we'll be breaking down for you in the next 15 minutes.
Issues of race, abortion, and gun control all will be on the table as Republicans will fire question after question at Judge Sonia Sotomayor. Her answers -- very careful ones. The Supreme Court nominee will likely get more of the same later today as we look to day two of those heated exchanges and what Sotomayor can expect in just a few hours.
ROBERTS: Is the secretary of state being sidelined? She is supposed to be America's top diplomat, but Hillary Clinton has been out of the limelight since she broke her elbow last month. Now some people inside the Beltway say the president's inner circle is keeping Clinton out. Our Jill Dougherty is tracking that story for us this morning.
CHETRY: Also, Democrats on the Hill have a few questions for former Vice President Dick Cheney. Former VP is now connected to a secret CIA program and Democrats are clamoring for President Obama to launch a new investigation. The White House still says it wants to look forward, not back. Our Jim Acosta is working his sources from Washington this morning.
We begin, though, with some tough questions and some careful answers from the confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Judge Sonia Sotomayor. She'll be headed back to the hill in just a few hours for day three of her confirmation hearings.
And so far, Republicans have pressed Sotomayor on gun control, abortion, her judicial temperament. And the moment that everyone will be talking about today, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham's exchange about Sonia Sotomayor's comments on race and the appearance of a double standard. Take a look. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R), JUDICIARY COMMITTEE MEMBER: But do you understand, ma'am, that if I had said anything like that and my reasoning was that I'm trying to inspire somebody, they would have had my head. Do you understand that?
Lindsey Graham said that I will make a better senator than X because of my experience as a Caucasian male makes me better able to represent the people of South Carolina, and my opponent was a minority. It would make national news and it should.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Let's bring in our congressional correspondent, Brianna Keilar. She is live on Capitol Hill this morning. And the response to Lindsey Graham and what he said at the time, what do you think?
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Oh, I think this is what everyone was watching yesterday, Kiran. And we want to give you a sense right now of what a lot of spectators have been coming to see these fireworks.
Of course, at this point, Democrats pretty happy with the performance of Sonia Sotomayor. She's been staying well within the lines, and a lot of these members of the public who have been coming in to fill these last two rows of this hearing room are Hispanic- Americans really eager to see the first Hispanic-American nominee who so far is on track to be confirmed to the Supreme Court.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KEILAR (voice-over): As Sonia Sotomayor took the hot seat, prepared to answer Republican questions about her controversial off- the-bench remarks, Democrats launched a preemptive strike.
SEN. PATRICK LEAHY (D), CHAIRMAN, JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: Here's your chance. You tell us -- you tell us what's going on here, Judge.
KEILAR: Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy gave her a friendly audience as she explained her comment about a wise Latina reaching a better conclusion than a white male. She said it was a misunderstanding, that she was trying to inspire Hispanic students.
JUDGE SONIA SOTOMAYOR, SUPREME COURT NOMINEE: I want to state up front unequivocally and without a doubt, I do not believe that any ethnic, racial, or gender group has an advantage in sound judgment.
KEILAR: It wasn't enough for Republican critics, who pressed Sotomayor on whether she could be impartial.
SEN. JEFF SESSIONS (R) RANKING MEMBER, JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: I'm just very concerned that what you're saying today is quite inconsistent with your statement that you willingly accept that your sympathies, opinions and prejudices may influence your decision making. SOTOMAYOR: As I've indicated, my record shows that at no point or time have I ever permitted (ph) my personal views or sympathies to influence an outcome of the case.
KEILAR: Through hours and hours of testimony, Sotomayor scribbled notes and was careful in her answers. On Roe v. Wade and a more recent Supreme Court decision upholding the ban on late-term abortion, Sotomayor said she respects those past decisions.
SOTOMAYOR: All precedents of the Supreme Court I consider settled law.
KEILAR: Asked about President Obama's past comment that judges must at times use their hearts in making decisions, a description Republicans decry as inappropriate, Sotomayor distanced herself from the man who nominated her.
SOTOMAYOR: I don't -- wouldn't approach the issue of judging in the way the president does. The job of a judge is to apply the law. And so it's not the heart that compels conclusions in cases. It's the law.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KEILAR: Now eight more senators will get to ask their questions of Sonia Sotomayor today. And here's where you want to be watching.
Senator John Cornyn, he is a Republican from Texas, so he's dealing with that tricky issue of coming down too hard on a Hispanic nominee. But he's also the chairman of the Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee. He is in charge of getting more Republican senators elected. And, of course, confirmation hearings are fundraising and political opportunities. So he's going to be walking a bit of a tight wire.
So the other person you want to keep an eye on, of course, is Senator Al Franken, the former "Saturday Night Live" funnyman. He has been in the Senate for just a little over a week now. And this, Kiran, is really our first chance to see him performing his duties as a senator.
CHETRY: It's going to be interesting for sure. A lot of people are going to be watching that and to see what he asks and how she answers. It will be great.
And great that we're getting that type of firsthand look, Brianna, this morning that they let you in there early so we can check out what it's going to be like a little bit later today just a couple of hours from now. Brianna Keilar for us this morning, thanks.
KEILAR: Thank you.
CHETRY: And the only place to see three -- day three of Judge Sonia Sotomayor's confirmation hearing with the best political team on television is right here, of course, on CNN. And again, the hearing starts in just two and a half hours, 9:30 Eastern. You can watch it online as well, CNN.com/live.
ROBERTS: After months of being out of the spotlight, Secretary -- rather weeks, I think, is probably more fair -- Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gives a major foreign policy speech today at the Council on Foreign Relations. Before her trip to India and Southeast Asia, her boss has already made several high-profile international trips and speeches abroad, while Clinton has kept a fairly low profile. So was she being benched?
CNN's foreign affairs correspondent Jill Dougherty joins us now from Washington to talk about who's in charge of foreign policy. And, you know, some articles written in the past few days, Jill, suggests that the Obama administration is sort of being very centrist about maintaining a control of foreign policy in the White House. Are they elbowing her aside?
JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's the debate here in Washington. But the person who ultimately sets the country's foreign policy, of course, is the president. The secretary of state is the nation's top diplomat who contributes to that policy and carries it out.
Now, roles are one thing. Being in the spotlight is another. And recently Secretary Clinton has been less visible. Some observers are reading the diplomatic tea leaves.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So far, we are thrilled to have you here.
DOUGHERTY (voice-over): They called her a rock star, her first day at the State Department.
HILLARY CLINTON, SECRETARY OF STATE: There is nothing that I welcome more than a good debate.
DOUGHERTY: Even President Obama showed up to welcome her. She wowed friends and foes alike with her encyclopedic knowledge.
CLINTON: You know the oceans convention -- the law of the sea.
DOUGHERTY: Since then, in spite of her trips to Asia, the Mideast, to Europe, the spotlight has shifted to high-profile international appearances by President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden.
Last month, Secretary Clinton broke her elbow and had to cancel a trip, leading to some good-natured ribbing about Washington's political jockeying.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Just before the incident, Secret Service spotted Richard Holbrooke spraying WD-40 all over the driveway.
DOUGHERTY: But some media pundits say it's not a joke. Clinton, they claim, is being sidelined. "The Washington Post." Jim Hoagland says, "It's the president's inner circle of advisers like Rahm Emanuel and David Axelrod who really decide policy.
Senator Bob Casey, member of the Foreign Relations Committee, says that's wrong.
SEN. ROBERT CASEY, FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE: I believe Hillary Clinton in the arena of foreign policy is the leader working with the president, and I think she's done it very well.
DOUGHERTY: Administration officials close to the secretary point to her leading role on China policy. On relations with Russia, with North Korea, her strategic dialogue with India, Clinton, they say, is rebuilding the State Department winning back some of the influence it lost to the Pentagon in the previous administration.
In a city of sharp elbows, they claim, Hillary Clinton, diplomat and politician, knows how to use hers.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
DOUGHERTY: On the secretary's speech today, her aides say she's been planning it for months and that her elbow injury did force her to push it back by a few weeks but they deny she's giving it in order to grab the spotlight back -- John.
ROBERTS: That big trip coming up this week, too. Jill Dougherty for us this morning. Jill, thanks so much. Good to see you.
CHETRY: And we're also following breaking news this morning. There was a plane crash. It happened in northwestern Iran. And we have some new video of the debris as well.
The Caspian Airlines jet went down 75 miles northwest of Tehran. An Iranian aviation spokesman said that the plane crashed 16 minutes after takeoff from the capital's airport.
And this is video from the scene. The wreckage from the flight still smoldering. Iran Press TV says that all 168 people onboard are believed to have died.
A powerful 5.8 aftershock hit off the coast of New Zealand, the western coast. This came just 20 minutes after a 7.8 magnitude quake hit in that exact spot. The U.S. Geological Survey issued a tsunami warning that has now been cancelled. They say that the quake struck about 100 miles off of New Zealand's South Island.
Local police report that there are some cracks in buildings and also reports of food falling off of supermarket shelves. Local media, though, say that power lines are down as well, but no injuries reported at this point. We will keep tracking this one for you throughout the morning.
ROBERTS: Well, also new this morning, federal investigators are warning that the Washington, D.C. metro system still has problems almost a month after the deadliest crash in the transit system's history. They say the signals could fail at any time. A top metro official says one problem was identified and some parts were replaced, but the exact cause of last month's crash that killed nine people still remains a mystery.
CHETRY: Well, why not hire your girlfriend? A D.C. council member, Marion Barry. says that there's nothing illegal about lawmakers hiring significant others. The controversial former mayor is now being investigated for hiring his girlfriend who accused him of stalking before those charges were dropped. Barry told "The Washington Post" people don't understand how things work in Washington and "some people like to talk like all we did was pillow talk."
ROBERTS: It's not easy being Marion Barry.
And protests outside a swim club accused of kicking out campers over their skin color. One man holding a sign that says "Jim Crow swims here." Now the day camp is suing. In less than 20 minutes, the camp director joins us live. The serious allegations of racism and why she says the kids are permanently scarred.
It's 11 and a half minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.
Judge Sonia Sotomayor faces a second day of questions on Capitol Hill today. Republicans are already hitting on issues many of their supporters take personally, like gun control and abortion. They say they want to be sure that the judge isn't hiding a liberal agenda. Democrats say her record proves that she's not.
CNN senior legal analyst Jeffery Toobin has been watching the hearings very closely. He joins us live this morning from our Washington bureau.
Jeff, always great to see you. I guess, you know, the one question that was hanging out there that we were wondering when it would come up was her statement about a wise Latina and making a decision. Didn't take long for it to come out. Senator Patrick Leahy, the chairman, got it out there in his own way. Let's listen quickly to her response.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JUDGE SONIA SOTOMAYOR, SUPREME COURT NOMINEE: I want to state up front, unequivocally and without doubt, I do not believe that any ethnic, racial, or gender group has an advantage in sound judgment.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Did the Republicans buy that response, Jeff?
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Well, some did, and some didn't. And that certainly was the dominant subject of the day, whether that statement indicated some sort of persistent bias on Judge Sotomayor's part. And throughout the hearings, both she and her Democratic supporters kept pointing to her record as a judge. "Look at the cases I've decided, not one speech I gave eight years ago" to indicate that, in fact, she has been a very mainstream judge.
You know, I think in the best tradition of these confirmation hearings, she has taken something controversial and tried to neutralize it and say, no, no, no -- I was just trying to say something a lot less controversial.
ROBERTS: Right.
TOOBIN: Some believed her. Some didn't.
ROBERTS: Yes. She said that the rhetorical flourish was a bad idea. But Lindsey Graham, who was questioning her later on came back and said, "You know, if I said something like that, even if I said I was trying to inspire somebody, they would have had my head."
TOOBIN: Well, and I think they do have Sotomayor's head. I think she's paying a price for this. Lindsey Graham is right that if he had said this, it would have been very controversial. But, look, it's very controversial what Sotomayor said, and she is expressing regret in 17 different ways that the statement was being taken that way.
ROBERTS: You know, Graham proved himself to be one of the tougher questioners yesterday, and he really drilled down on this idea of her temperament saying it sticks out like a sore thumb. Let's listen to one of the questions that he asked.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: This is pretty tough stuff that you don't see from -- about other judges on the Second Circuit.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: So really suggesting that her temperament may not be adequately suited for the Supreme Court. Did she absolve herself of those inquiries yesterday?
TOOBIN: Well, you know, that was really a very dramatic moment in the hearing because he kept reading these anonymous quotes that had been submitted to this directory. "She's ill-tempered, she's obnoxious."
Now, I read the full entry and there were many complimentary things that Senator Graham left out. Also, a lot of the comments struck me as the kind of thing that gets said about women in powerful positions. You know, men are called tough, women are called shrill. But, you know, I think she does have the reputation of being tough on the bench, as does Antonin Scalia, as does John Roberts, and she'll probably fit just right in there. ROBERTS: You know, for all of these claims for being a real firebrand on the bench, the Sonia Sotomayor that we saw in the committee room over the last couple of days described as fairly low key and reserved.
Here's what "The New York Times" said about her. "She sought to fend off Republicans' criticisms that she was a temperamental bully who would allow her feelings to dictate her decisions. Judge Sotomayor took pains to make herself as boring as possible, with the possible exception of her flaming red jacket."
Is she intentionally being low key here to try to disabuse people of this notion that she may have a temperament that's not suited for the bench?
TOOBIN: Ever since Robert Bork was defeated in 1987, nominees have struggled to say as little as possible. And Sotomayor is very much in that tradition. She is, yes, trying to be boring, be uncontroversial.
She's got seven -- 12 Democrats and seven Republicans on this committee, 60 Democrats and 40 Republicans in the full Senate. She's ahead. If nothing happens, if it's a boring hearing, she gets confirmed. That's -- and she's fulfilling the goal of boringness admirably.
ROBERTS: You have a target of the number of votes that she'll get in the full Senate?
TOOBIN: You know, that's a subject of great interest to a lot of us nerds here on this stuff. I mean, I think it will be in the high 60s.
ROBERTS: OK.
TOOBIN: There are others who think it will be as high as 80. Chief Justice Roberts got 78.
ROBERTS: Right.
TOOBIN: I know Chuck Schumer wants to beat that. I don't think he will.
ROBERTS: We'll find out in the near future. Jeff Toobin, always great to see you. Thanks for joining us.
TOOBIN: OK, John.
ROBERTS: By the way, you can read more of Jeff's analysis on these hearings and Judge Sonia Sotomayor. It's on our show blog. The address, CNN.com/amFIX.
Kiran?
CHETRY: All right. Still ahead, we're going to be speaking with the camp director of the children that were kicked out of that swim club at Valley Spring (ph) swim club in Philadelphia. What's the latest? She says that the children -- some of them could be permanently scarred and they're also preparing to sue.
Nineteen minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. Twenty-two minutes past the hour now.
We have Christine Romans. She is tracking the stimulus money. She said she wanted to get out of D.C., out of New York, and get to places where this money is being put to use. And, of course, it happens to be Miami Beach that she finds the stimulus money.
ROBERTS: Oh, though Miami Beach in July is kind of like going to Anchorage in the middle of February. It's a little hot down there.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: How convenient, right? It is a little hot down here.
But, look, I wanted to find people whose jobs have been "saved by the stimulus." There's been a lot of argument in Washington and on Wall Street about how this money is being used, and I wanted to actually find the people whose paychecks are going to be paid by stimulus funds.
And I found 2,000 teachers. And that's exactly over the next two years -- they would not have their jobs here if it weren't for that stimulus money. And when we talk to state agencies, you guys, when we talked to the people who are actually using the stimulus money and putting it to work in the economy, you get the feeling that they're playing defense here. This is a very defensive way of putting the money to work to try to just hold out for the next couple of years, not necessarily to start new programs.
And I asked Mark Zandi at MoodysEconomy.com if that kind of stimulus spending is somehow less stimulative for the economy. And this is what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARK ZANDI, CHIEF ECONOMIST, MOODYSECONOMY.COM: If you're helping a state from cutting a program or cutting a job, that's just as important as if that state went out and created a job. It's like in football -- what's the difference between getting a touchdown or stopping the other team from getting their own touchdown? There's really no difference.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Now he says that -- he thinks that the stimulus should have been bigger in the first place. He's not ready to say that we should have another stimulus yet. But you're going to be hearing about that. I think once the Sotomayor confirmation hearings are over, you're going to start hearing people talking again about another stimulus.
It would be the third for us. I mean, there was $168 billion under President Bush. This is $787 billion. And there are people who think that maybe there needs to be more money deployed.
But remember, only a little over 10 percent, maybe 15 percent has even been used yet. So there's still a lot of money to go out the door.
One final point I want to make about saving or creating three million to four million jobs. How many times have we heard the White House over the past few months talking about the stimulus would save or create three million to four million jobs?
Christina Romer, who is a top adviser to the president, admitted on CNBC this week that, look, it's impossible to know just how many jobs have been saved and created. That's something that we've been saying here for a very long time. To verify exactly how many jobs have been "saved" is going to be difficult. But we did come down here and we found 2,000 people who we can tell you their jobs were saved by the stimulus -- John and Kiran.
CHETRY: All right. And what about your "Romans' Numeral" for this hour?
ROMANS: My "Romans' Numeral" has to do with all this talk about another, yet another stimulus, and spending more money. And a lot of people likened what's happening today are worried that what's happening today is like what happened in Japan, the lost decade in Japan.
And in Japan, there were ten different stimuluses (ph) over -- stimuli, I guess, over a decade. Ten of them totaling about $1 trillion.
We've already almost spent $1 trillion here on these two stimuluses (ph). But just think of that. Ten, a decade, trying to chase after the problem and put more money after the problem. Just a little bit of perspective about the discussion we're having here today.
ROBERTS: Christine Romans "Minding Your Business" this morning from Miami. Christine, thanks so much for that.
ROMANS: Bye-bye, guys.
ROBERTS: Well, is the vice president in hot water for telling the CIA not to disclose a secret counterterrorism program to Congress? Congress seems determined to investigate. Our Jim Acosta looking into all of this. He joins us coming up next.
It's 25 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Twenty-seven and a half minutes after the hour. We're back with the Most News in the Morning.
Democrats want some answers about a secret CIA program and former Vice President Dick Cheney's connection to it. Cheney's daughter says her father will not comment on the program because it's classified. But could an investigation force the former vice president to talk even behind closed doors?
Our Jim Acosta has been tracking this developing story since it broke. He's live in Washington with the latest.
Good morning, Jim.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John. And Democrats in the House are raising the stakes to find out whether Cheney did, in fact, order the CIA not to tell the Congress about a counterterrorism program. And they just may ask Cheney to pay them a visit on Capitol Hill.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ACOSTA (voice-over): Democrats are determined to investigate whether former Vice President Dick Cheney directed the CIA to withhold information from Congress about a secret counterterrorism program.
REP. JAN SCHAKOWSKY (D), INTELLIGENCE SUBCMTE. ON OVERSIGHT & INVESTIGATIONS: Why is it that the vice president thought that it was too risky in some way to inform the Congress about this? I think we have to dig deeper.
ACOSTA: And if it comes to the point where you may have to ask the vice president to come to Capitol Hill and testify, is that something that should be discussed at least at this point?
SCHAKOWSKY: I think it should be discussed.
ACOSTA: Jan Schakowsky, the chairwoman of a key House Intelligence Subcommittee says even CIA Director Leon Panetta was in the dark about the operation.
SCHAKOWSKY: He wasn't even informed about it.
ACOSTA: Published reports indicate the program launched after the 9/11 attacks was aimed at capturing or killing al Qaeda terrorists. Without confirming the program's existence, a former intelligence official told CNN, it should come as no surprise that we would go after the bad guys, the terrorists, especially given what President Bush said about Osama bin Laden.
GEORGE W. BUSH, FORTY-THIRD PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Wanted dead or alive. All I want, America wants him brought to justice.
ACOSTA: The vice president's daughter, Liz Cheney, says Democrats are targeting her father to protect House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who came under fire when she accused the CIA of repeatedly lying to Congress. LIZ CHENEY, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT'S DAUGHTER (via telephone): If they want to go to the American people and say that they disagree with the notion that we ought to be capturing and killing al Qaeda leaders, you know, I think it's just going to prove to the American people one more time why, you know, they can't trust the Democrats with our national security.
ACOSTA: The White House is approaching with caution.
ROBERT GIBBS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The president believes that Congress should always be briefed fully and in a timely manner in accordance with the law.
ACOSTA: Whether it's Cheney and the CIA or the possibility of a Justice Department investigation into Bush administration interrogation methods, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs says the president's views have not changed.
GIBBS: Our efforts are better focused looking forward than looking back.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ACOSTA: Miss Cheney has already said publicly she does not know whether her father instructed the CIA to withhold information from Congress, and even members of the House Intelligence Committee admit they don't know all of the details of this operation, which is why they're now asking the CIA for documents related to the program.
An agency spokesman says the CIA director has ordered an international review that should result in "lessons learned" on congressional reporting -- John.
ROBERTS: Jim, is it likely because of the classified nature of this program that any investigation into it at the congressional level would be conducted behind closed doors?
ACOSTA: Absolutely. And Jen Schakowsky said that yesterday that if in fact they could possibly get the vice president to come and testify on Capitol Hill, and that's a pretty remote possibility that that would probably happened behind closed doors because this is a classified matter. But they are determined to get to the bottom of this. All indications are they're not dropping this. John.
ROBERTS: Jim Acosta for us live from Washington this morning. Jim, thanks so much for that.
And it's 31 minutes after the hour. Here are this morning's top stories. We're following breaking news today. A plane crashed in northwestern Iran about two-and-a-half hours ago. And there is dramatic new video from the scene where the plane went down. Iranian press TV said that all 168 people onboard are believed to have died in that crash.
CHETRY: And we're also getting a first look inside of a plane that was flying at 34,000 feet when a hole ripped through the fuselage. It was about the size of a football, and you can actually see a beam of sunlight coming through as passengers scrambled to put on their oxygen masks.
Passenger John Benson shot this on his cell phone during Monday night's Southwest Airlines flight that ended up having to make that emergency landing in West Virginia. No one was hurt. And a Southwest spokesperson says that the cause of this tear in the fuselage is still not known.
ROBERTS: Well, if she's got any aspirations to the White House in 2012, Sarah Palin's got some ground to make up. Two-thirds of her own party don't think that the governor is qualified to be president. That according to a new CBS News poll. Only 33 percent of Republicans surveyed said they think Palin has the ability to serve effectively as president. That is down from 71 percent who said she was last fall.
CHETRY: Wow. That's a huge drop.
ROBERTS: Big drop.
CHETRY: All right. Now to a developing story that's taking place outside of Philadelphia. We have the latest now in the fallout in this racially charged case of a swim club. As we've reported, a group of kids from a local day camp, mostly black and Hispanic, say they were asked to leave the Valley Swim Club because of the color of their skin and now the group is taking the case to federal court.
Joining me now Alethea Wright, she is the director of the Creative Steps Program and the group's attorney, Alethea -- sorry and the group's attorney, Carolyn Nichols. Thanks to both of you for being with us this morning.
ALETHEA WRIGHT, DIRECTOR, CREATIVE STEPS: Good morning.
CHETRY: And Alethea, you said in a press conference earlier in the week that the children are, "permanently scarred." How are they doing in the wake of all of this attention?
WRIGHT: The children are not doing well at all. They -- it's really coming to the surface how these children have been affected. They're asking questions -- are they too dark to go into the pool. One child has been experiencing migraine headaches. It's not been pleasant. I even had to have a talk with them prior to us returning back to the pool that we already go to on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
CHETRY: So you're saying that even -- they're questioning whether they want to go to a different pool, not the Valley Swim Club?
WRIGHT: Absolutely. Definitely not the Valley Swim Club.
CHETRY: You said -- I guess they reached out to you guys. And they said that it was a misunderstanding. They would like for you guys to come back. As I understand, the club president, John Duessler tried to contact you.
WRIGHT: Excuse me -- one second. You said that they reached out to me and asked me to come back to the club?
CHETRY: Yes.
WRIGHT: That's not true. That didn't happen.
CHETRY: What happened?
WRIGHT: The only thing I received is a text message and an e- mail stating to call. We have not been welcomed back to the club. My attorneys have not received any written invitation for us to come back. The only thing that I've heard has been third party via media or via what you just said.
CHETRY: All right. I guess -- this is what John Duessler said. We did invite them to come on the program as well. They have an open invitation if they would like to. They did not accept that invitation this morning. But apparently, the quote is, "This is the saddest week of my life. Everything I stand for and everything this club represents has been turned on its head." Is there any type of room for reconciliation or do you guys think it's best handled in the courts?
WRIGHT: Well, I don't know if John Duessler has said it to the media, but I definitely offered for us to try to come to a resolution when these derogatory comments were made to the children. And I was told after their board meeting with the members as well as the board, the members of the club that he stated to me that their decision was let the chips fall where they may.
CHETRY: Carolyn, I want to ask you about this lawsuit against Valley Swim Club that you plan to file. What specifically are you going to be asking for in this suit?
CAROLYN NICHOLS, CREATIVE STEPS PROGRAM'S LAWYER: Well, specifically, the lawsuit will be based on violations of Title II of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which relates to the denial of access in use and advantages of a public accommodation, meaning that the swimming pool is open to accept and solicit patronage from the general public. That's kind of the primary federal claim.
And, of course, you've heard Alethea talked about, you know, the humiliation, and embarrassment, and the scarring and suffering of the children. That would be covered by our claim for compensatory damages. We're also seeking injunctive release, cease and desist the bigoted comments and the discrimination as well as punitive damages to punish the club for the harm that they've done to the children.
CHETRY: Alethea, do you believe the revised comments, I guess you could say, in the days that followed where they said it was not about race -- it was a big misunderstanding? It had to do with overcrowding and they asked two other day camps that are not predominantly minority day camps to also not come because they did not anticipate it was going to be so crowded?
WRIGHT: Well, to be honest with you, I'm baffled about exactly what is the problem other than race? Because first it was "the complexion in the atmosphere of the club may change." Then when -- then it was the space issue.
But when Vernon Odom showed the size of the pool, then it became a safety issue. They have not just one pool, but two pools. And one pool is 110,000 gallon pool and the other pool is a one-foot pool for nonswimmers. He had three to four lifeguards and I had eight staff members, and my son's school was just there the week before with 56 children.
So, I'm baffled as to why would we be invited back if that statement is true unless he added extra footage to the pool since we last was there, why couldn't this have been resolved when I requested humbly -- I begged John Duessler for this to be resolved prior to even getting to this point.
CHETRY: That's interesting. Also, I want to ask you about this, Carolyn. The "Philadelphia Inquirer" did a little bit of research and looking at tax records, et cetera, of this swim pool. They said that if the lawsuit went forward, it could actually cost the club more money than they have and possibly leave board members liable if there are indeed civil rights verdicts. What do you think about the possibility that this could lead to them closing?
NICHOLS: Well, that's always a possibility. You know, I can't sit here and say, you know, what a court will do and how a proceeding will resolve. But all we're saying is that we're going to go forward through the process. Of course, as you know in court, in a lawsuit, there's always conferences and discussions about how to resolve a matter. So, you know, we can't sit here today and say that it's a fact that, you know, that the club will go out of business...
CHETRY: Right.
NICHOLS: Just because we're going forward with the filing, you know, a civil rights action.
CHETRY: All right. And finally -- I just -- quickly, Alethea. There's been so much attention brought to this. One columnist of the "Philadelphia Inquirer" said if I were you, or if I were the kids "with my head held high, stride right up to the Valley Club and do a big belly flop right in the pool to show that forgiveness is a powerful thing and to show that I may not be as threatening as they think I am." Is this quote a teachable moment as we've heard before for both the kids and the club members?
WRIGHT: I think it's a teachable moment for the entire world. Because we're in the year of 2009. And we're trying to move forward and come together as a country. And it is just no time -- we definitely want everyone to come out a winner in this situation because there's a lesson that definitely needs to be learned. And there's some things that we need to come together on the racism. Racism needs to be completely extinguished out at the Valley Swim Club.
CHETRY: Right. Alethea Wright, director of Creative Steps and Carolyn Nichols, lawyer for the camp. I want to thank both of you guys for joining me today. WRIGHT: Thank you.
NICHOLS: Thank you.
CHETRY: And we also want to know what you think. Should Creative Steps take the swim club to court? What do you think about this case, e-mail us, cnn.com/amfix. You can also call our show hotline, it's 877-MYAMFIX. Right now it's 40 minutes past the hour.
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ROBERTS: Welcome pack to back to the Most News in the Morning. Who will get the children? And what really killed Michael Jackson? Those now are the two biggest questions surrounding his mysterious death. There's conflicting information about whether Jackson's ex- wife, Debbie Rowe, has made a deal with the singer's family. And police are now questioning doctors who treated Jackson. Our Randi Kaye is tracking the developing story for us this morning from Los Angeles.
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John, Kiran. Still so much drama regarding this case of custody and the investigation. The "New York Post," as you know, has been reporting that Debbie Rowe has reached a deal in exchange for the children she had with Michael Jackson for $4 million. The newspaper also said that she would forfeit her parental rights, all of this according to a family source. Well Debbie Rowe's attorney told us the story was "completely false." But hours later, Debbie Rowe's attorney, Eric George, demanded a retraction.
The "Post" told CNN it stands by its story. But Rowe's attorney sent a letter to the paper. It reads in part "this letter constitutes a demand for an immediate retraction" and goes on to say "there has been no agreement reached between Ms. Rowe and the Jacksons, and Ms. Rowe has not and will not give up her parental rights." What's interesting about the letter is that it doesn't say that there's not a negotiation taking place. It just simply says an agreement has not been reached.
Now we reported on CNN that a deal is being brokered behind the scenes. Debbie Rowe, according to our source close to the family, is expected to be paid many millions for giving up custody and visitation with the two children.
Also, as we reported, there's a list of doctors that our source told us. Investigators have working their way through learning what they can about the doctors, what they may have prescribed Jackson. His long-time dermatologist, Dr. Arnold Klein, is on the list of doctors being looked at.
And CNN's Larry King spoke with him last week and he told him he has not been questioned and that he opened up his records a long time ago. But late yesterday, a swarm of media descended on Dr. Klein's office. Apparently, the assistant coroner was there to pick up records related to his treatment of Michael Jackson. Here's what he told the media when he left the office. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ED WINTER, L.A. ASST. CHIEF CORONER: We're still conducting our investigation. There's a security hold on the case. And I can't comment.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you looking at medication as well?
WINTER: No. No. We're just looking at some documentation that Dr. Klein has agreed to provide to us.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Medical records of Michael Jackson.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) about the toxicology results.
WINTER: No, we hope to have the findings probably the middle of the next week.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How many medical records have you been able to get?
WINTER: Dr. Klein has cooperated with us extensively.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAYE: Investigators still appear to be gathering as much information as they can to try and make sense of what role Jackson's many doctors may have played in his death. John, Kiran, back to you.
ROBERTS: Randi Kaye for us this morning. Randi, thanks so much.
So, hormone replacement therapy and ovarian cancer. Just how dangerous is it? Well, we've got new information that suggests that regardless of how long you're on hormone replacement therapy, or how much you took, what the dosage was, the risk is significant. Our Sanjay Gupta has got that coming up in just a few minutes. Right now, it's 46 minutes after the hour.
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ROBERTS: More stormy weather across the midsection of the country today. Our Jacqui Jeras at the weather center in Atlanta tracking all of the extreme weather across the country. Hi, Jacqui.
JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hey, guys. Yes, it's kind of the same story as yesterday. Just a little further to the east. So, we got storms and heat once again for your weather headlines across the Great Lakes down into the Ohio Valley and also into the middle Mississippi River Valley. Some wicked storms moved through Chicago about half an hour or so ago. They're east. But you still have some delays at O'Hare. There was a ground stop at Midway.
Kansas City getting hit at this time yesterday. Getting hit now. But those storms are weakening a little bit as they moved through town, and then St. Louis, they got a nice line here along I-70, heading out towards Terre Haute, Indiana. Our main threat of severe weather today from about Michigan, extending down into parts of Kansas and then we've got an isolated area here into the high plains across parts of Colorado.
The heat, yes we've got that once again for today. With heat advisories in the same places as we had yesterday. But I wanted to show you a little bit of glimmer of hope that we're talking about with the five-day forecast for Dallas. Look at those 90s by the weekend. Looking a lot better, John and Kiran.
ROBERTS: Excellent. Jacqui, thanks so much for that.
CHETRY: All right. Well, it's day three for the confirmation hearings for Judge Sotomayor. And funnyman, now newly minted senator Al Franken is going to be asking some of those questions today. So we'll get a preview still ahead.
Fifty minutes past the hour.
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CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. It's 51 minutes past the hour.
Now, there is a new warning this morning for women. Hormone replacement therapy. It is often used by women going through menopause to combat some of the unpleasant side effects, the hot flashes and other symptoms. But this treatment may be far more dangerous than anyone knew. It is now connected to what's known as "the silent killer."
We're "Paging Dr. Gupta," CNN's chief medical correspondent to explain more about this. And we've known before about some of the risks associated with taking hormone replacement therapy. You got to ask yourself it the benefits outweigh the risks. But what about this new potential threat?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it is one of those classic questions in medicine, a risk benefit analysis. I tell you as well, one of the first stories I covered here as a reporter at CNN, and we covered it just about every year. Now, a concern about ovarian cancer as you mentioned.
Ovarian cancer is something we don't talk nearly enough about. This is a very deadly cancer, as you mentioned, because the early symptoms can be so vague. There's about 21,000 new cases of ovarian cancer every year, and 15,000 deaths, Kiran. So you can get an idea of the mortality there. Take a look at some of the symptoms. Again those are vague symptoms. That's why when a woman experiences those it is hard to know that something much more serious may be developing.
With regard to this particular study, they studied 900,000 women, almost 1 million women over 10 years trying to figure out is there a relationship between hormone replacement therapy and ovarian cancer. The answer came back a resounding yes. Take a look at the increased risk of developing ovarian cancer if you're on hormone replacement therapy. What was interesting -- and I think you mentioned this earlier is that it really didn't matter, either the formulation of the hormone replacement therapy or the duration that the women were taking it. Women who were taking it as short as six months even had this increased risk.
So, you know, this was concerning especially given the potential mortality rates of ovarian cancer, Kiran.
CHETRY: So what's the recommendation then with this study?
GUPTA: Well, I tell you, again, it comes down to one of those classic risk benefit ratios. You know, I used to tell people when we were first studying this that if you eat a cheeseburger, you know that's bad for you. It (INAUDIBLE) a certain amount of risk to heart disease. Taking a few days of hormone replacement therapy is going to increase your risk of something but not that much. As you take it more and more, you know, the risk seems to increase to some degree but again with this, even as short as six months seemed to cause some risk.
Find alternatives is one of the recommendations most doctors will make. If you're having those awful symptoms of menopause, the hot flashes, the mood swings, there are some alternatives out there.
Wyeth, who is the maker of the hormone replacement therapy, we asked them as well for a statement specifically about this and ask them, you know, what they recommend women would do. They say the findings in this study do not change what we already know about the benefits and risks of hormone therapy, which is based on data from multiple studies. Hormone therapy remains a good health care choice for the "appropriate" woman seeking relief from moderate to severe menopausal symptoms.
Look, what I can say is this, Kiran. It makes perfect sense to start hormone replacement therapy years and years ago. Women's hormone levels start to go down as they get older. Replace that and it would be this panacea. We now know that not to be true and it possibly has a lot of risks as well. Find some alternatives instead of HRT and talk to your doctor about it.
CHETRY: All right. Good advise. Sanjay, great to see you, as always. Thanks so much.
GUPTA: Thank you.
CHETRY: Right now, it is 54 minutes past the hour.
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ROBERTS: It should be a pretty happy day I think in Washington, particularly weather wise. Seventy-two degrees, little bit of clouds in the sky right now. But later on today, brilliant sunshine and a high of 89.
After months of being out of the spotlight, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gives a major foreign policy speech today before her trip to India and Southeast Asia. She'll be talking to the council on foreign relations. Her boss has already made several high-profile international trips and speeches abroad, while Clinton has kept a relatively low profile as of late. So the question being asked in Washington is, is she being benched?
CNN's foreign affairs correspondent Jill Dougherty joins us now live from Washington. Jill, at speech to the council on foreign relations, why the speech, why now?
JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Secretary Clinton's aides telling she started thinking about giving this speech about two months ago. And it's a big-picture look at what the administration set out to do six months ago, what it has accomplished and what we can expect to see next in U.S. foreign policy. But some observers claim the speech is really an attempt by the secretary to grab back the spotlight.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So far we are thrilled to have you here!
DOUGHERTY (voice-over): They called her a rock star her first day at the state department.
HILLARY CLINTON, SECRETARY OF STATE: There is nothing that I welcome more than a good debate.
DOUGHERT: Even President Obama showed up to welcome her. She wowed friends and foes alike with her encyclopedic knowledge.
CLINTON: You know, the Oceans convention, the law of the sea.
DOUGHERTY: Since then, in spite of her trips to Asia, the Mideast, to Europe, the spotlight has shifted to high-profile international appearances by President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden. Last month Secretary Clinton broke her elbow and had to cancel a trip, leading to some good-natured ribbing about Washington's political jockeying.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Just before the incident, Secret Service spotted Richard Holbrooke spraying WD-40 all over the driveway.
DOUGHERTY: But some media pundits say it's not a joke. Clinton, they claim, is being sidelined. "The Washington Post" Jim Hoagland says it's the president's inner circle of advisors, like Rahm Emanuel and David Axelrod, who really decide policy. Senator Bob Casey, member of the Foreign Relations Committee, says that's wrong.
SEN. BOB CASEY (D), PENNSYLVANIA, FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE: I believe Hillary Clinton, in the arena of foreign policy, is the leader working with the president, and I think she's done it very well.
DOUGHERTY: Administration officials close to the secretary point to her leading role on China policy, on relations with Russia, with North Korea. Her strategic dialogue with India. Clinton, they say, is rebuilding the state department, winning back some of the influence it lost to the Pentagon in the previous administration.
In a city of sharp elbows, they claim, Hillary Clinton, diplomat and politician, knows how to use hers.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
DOUGHERTY: And people who know Secretary Clinton claim she's more interested in shaping foreign policy than playing the Washington media spotlight game, that she really is a policy wonk (ph). John.
ROBERTS: All right. We'll see how she does in this upcoming trip and we'll be watching that speech today very closely. Jill Dougherty for us in Washington. Jill, thanks.
It is a huge day for Secretary Clinton. So what kind of statement will she be making in that big policy speech this afternoon? We got two expert political minds coming up, Cliff May, he is the president of a foreign policy think tank and Karen Finney, the former communications director for the Democratic National Committee. See what they have to say about Clinton's real role in this administration.
That brings us to the top of the hour.
