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American Morning
Sarah Palin Officially Steps Down as Governor of Alaska; Dems Acknowledge GOP Help Needed on Health Care; Fallout From Biden's Remarks on Russian Relations; Minnesota Mayor Sick of Stimulus Red Tape; Lance Armstrong on Taking 3rd in Tour de France; Sinking Lobster Industry in Maine; Tour New York City with a Celebrity
Aired July 27, 2009 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to AMERICAN MORNING. It is Monday, July 27th. 6:00 a.m. here in New York. I'm Kiran Chetry.
ALINA CHO, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, certainly, but it doesn't feel like a Monday. I got enough sleep last night.
CHETRY: You did? Good for you in a way.
CHO: Good morning, everybody. I'm Alina Cho along with Kiran Chetry. Of course, John Roberts has the day off this morning.
A lot to get to. We are following several developing stories this Monday morning. We're going to be breaking them down for you in the next 15 minutes.
Sarah Palin now officially the ex-governor of Alaska. She took some parting shots at Democrats, environmentalists, the media, even Hollywood. We're going to tell you what she said and what may be next.
CHETRY: Also despite the setback, the White House says it is making progress on health care reform. The president is not letting up keeping the pressure on Congress and making its case directly to the American people. We've got a live report from the White House just ahead.
CHO: And he's known for being blunt and sometimes off message. We're going to tell you why the White House is scrambling to clarify Vice President Joe Biden's remarks about Russia's future.
CHETRY: We begin, though, with the changing of the guard in Alaska. Sarah Palin waking up this morning a private citizen after officially stepping down as governor yesterday. And she is not talking about her future plans. But in her farewell speech, it included some straight talk. She blasted the media and Hollywood.
Last night she also sent her final state Twitter saying, "Thank you, Alaska, I love you. God bless Alaska. God bless the USA." More now on Palin's parting words from senior political correspondent Candy Crowley.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): She is a one-woman sound bite machine.
SARAH PALIN, FORMER ALASKA GOVERNOR: By the way, Hollywood needs to know we eat, therefore we hunt.
CROWLEY: A warning from the moose-hunting, fish-catching Sarah Palin that Hollywood wants to take away the right to bear arms, an unexpected topic for a farewell speech as Palin handed over the Alaska governorship, the wear, tear and resentment of the year on the big stage were evident.
Her parting words, a parting shot at the media.
PALIN: So, how about in honor of the American soldier, you quit making things up.
CROWLEY: Palin's farewell was a three-day rolling picnic from Wasilla to Anchorage to Fairbanks surrounded by supporters (INAUDIBLE).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If we get a woman president, let it be her. She's a real woman. She knows about what a woman is supposed to be. She's pro-life, she's pro family, she's pro woman.
CROWLEY: It was not all friendly going. Palin has lost some of her light in Alaska and a lot of it on the national stage.
ALEX CASTELLANNOS, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: She abandoned her state in the middle of a term. They didn't ask for her to run.
CROWLEY: The latest ABC/"Washington Post" poll found that 53 percent of Americans view Palin negatively. Forty percent see her positively. Worse, four in ten Republicans don't think Palin understands complex issues.
Still, she wouldn't be the first politician to rehabilitate herself. And it's clear while she's handing over the governor's chair, she's not relinquishing the microphone.
PALIN: Know with this decision now, I will be able to fight even harder for you, for what is right and for truth.
CROWLEY: Palin is writing a book. She says she'll help other candidates. She'll give speeches. And one of her first post governor event is at the Ronald Reagan library in California. She could make good money doing all of that. She could also be on a path at least to 2012. It's called keeping your options open.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Because I just asked her that about five minutes ago. And she -- you want to know what she said? She said, I don't know, with her little smirk.
CROWLEY: One thing is crystal clear. Sarah Palin, private citizen, sounds a lot like Sarah Palin, politician.
PALIN: And one other thing for the media, our new governor has a very nice family, too, so leave his kids alone. CROWLEY: Exit stage right, but definitely don't fade to black.
Candy Crowley, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: All right. So we know that she's not going to just fade to black but just how much money does Sarah Palin stand to make now that she stepped down from governorship. Well, here's a look in the "AM Extra."
Her book deal already set for 2010, and according to the Web site, thedailybeast.com, her advance is close to $4 million. Also, it's estimated that she'll get somewhere between $75,000 to $100,000 per speech when she hits the circuit. So that means you can make $5 million next year in speaking fees alone on average.
Add that to possible jobs like TV show appearances, newspaper articles and other contributions, Palin could bring in anywhere upwards of $20 million over the next year.
CHO: Not bad. A congressional vote on health care, meantime, this week is likely a long shot. But President Obama still pushing hard for health care reform. And this week, the president will be back on the road selling that plan.
A key Democratic senator now admits even with a 60-vote majority they likely don't have the votes to get health care reform passed without Republican help. Meanwhile, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tells CNN if the plan goes to the floor, it will pass.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It is the speaker's job sometimes, and you know a lot better than I, to referee disputes within the family. Are you worried your family is coming apart on this and that you might not have the votes on the floor?
SEN. NANCY PELOSI (D), HOUSE SPEAKER: Absolutely positively not. When I take this bill to the floor, it will win. But we will move forward. This will happen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHO: CNN's Suzanne Malveaux following the developments live at the White House for us this morning. Suzanne, the administration out in force this weekend doing damage control for one saying that August deadline to get this passed, now maybe it wasn't really a deadline.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Alina, obviously, in public there's a lot of confidence. You heard Nancy Pelosi. You talk to White House aides. They express the same kind of confidence.
In an e-mail that I got this morning, however, one of the top White House aides was saying, look, this is a time when it's important that the president look credible, look viable, still in this debate. And that the one thing that they are trying to get across to folks is that he is still a player in this, that he has not lost his political capital despite the fact that he did not get the deadline, did not get what he wanted this time around. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID AXELROD, WHITE HOUSE SENIOR ADVISER: We're less interested in hard deadlines than in moving the process forward. The deadlines have had a disappointing affect. Three of the five committees of jurisdiction in the Congress have passed a bill. The other two we're working hard on it. We want to move this process forward, even if both House -- even both the House and the Senate had voted on these bills before the break, this would still go, as you know, well into the fall.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: Alina, that's what they're saying, it's going to go well into the fall. The debate continues. We're going to continue to put the president out there and he's going to push this issue. But it is clear from White House aides, they know that there are still some hurdles.
We're talking about where 80 percent there, but 20 percent we've got a ways to go. It is that 20 percent, Alina, that's going to be the toughest 20 percent for them to negotiate. Here's how one Republican put it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R), MINORITY LEADER: The House bill and the Senate Health Committee bill, they pay for it by cutting doctors, cutting hospitals, and raising taxes on small business. Those are very difficult pay fors and they're having a hard time selling it to their members. The only thing bipartisan about the measures so far is the opposition to them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: Well, that's a snippy little phrase there, snappy phrase but obviously there's something a lot of people are feeling here. That this is going to be something that's going to be tough. There's still some real splits between the Democrats, some real problems the Republicans have with the bill. But the White House officials here believe that you put the president out there. He'll be out there again this week, Alina, and in the weeks to come in August.
August is not going to be some sort of grand recess for the president that he's going to be trying to push as much as possible behind the scenes, do a little bit more arm twisting as well -- Alina.
CHO: Yes. You talk about all of that wrangling. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell also saying the only thing bipartisan about this bill is opposition to it. Meanwhile, you know, one of the proposals out there I know that seems to be gaining ground is the so-called Cadillac tax that Senator John Kerry is sponsoring. Tell us about that, Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: Well, one of the things that we're beginning to feel already just the last couple of days or so, is that this is something that's gaining bipartisan support. You said, Senator Kennedy introduced it. It's something some Republicans over the weekend said they would not object to. Even the White House saying they're going to pay close attention.
But essentially it is a tax on what they're calling this gold- plated Cadillac plans, a tax on the insurance companies who offer these plans, on these plans to like high company executives worth about $40,000 or so. The government and some Democrats believe that they're way overpriced, that they should tax some of those plans.
Now the critics are saying, look, you're going to tax the insurance companies on these big-time plans. That tax is just going to be passed onto the consumer, that it's ultimately the consumer who's going to be paying for it.
So, it's a controversial idea. But it is still one, Alina, that at least people seems to be listening to, they're open to, now that they've got a lot of suggestion, and some more time essentially on the table to take a look at what they're going to do with health care reform.
CHO: It's also an issue, of course, that every American cares about, too. Suzanne Malveaux at the White House for us. Suzanne, thank you.
President Obama is hoping a cold beer will help cool a heated racial controversy. Now it all started back on July 16th with the arrest of Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. at his home. The White House says Gates and the arresting officer, Cambridge police sergeant James Crowley have agreed to sit down with the president and share a symbolic cold one.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERT GIBBS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: It's their hope that, as the president said, there can be -- this can be part of a teachable moment, that we can create a better communication and a dialogue between communities and police and help everyone do their job a little bit better. And it's our hope that soon Professor Gates and Sergeant Crowley can sit at the White House and talk about some of these issues and have a beer with the president.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHO: Now the president has tried to defuse the situation after his initial comments that Cambridge police "acted stupidly" in arresting Gates. Meantime, the woman who reported the possible break- in is speaking out. She said she never mentioned race when she called 911. And her lawyer says she's "personally devastated by media reports suggesting the men she saw were black."
CHETRY: All right. Well, it's nearly 10 minutes after the hour right now.
Also new this morning, North Korea says it is open to specific talks over its nuclear program. But in a statement, Pyongyang said the country will not return to six-nation nuclear talks. The United States has said it will only allow talks within the Six-party format.
CHO: This morning, a five-year-old boy is in critical condition after a deadly three-car crash that killed eight people including his mother, sister and three young cousins. It happened yesterday just north of New York City when the boy's mother drove the wrong way on the Taconic Parkway and slammed head on into an SUV.
The three men inside that SUV were also killed. A third vehicle was also involved in the crash but those passengers were not seriously injured.
CHETRY: And right now, shuttle astronauts aboard the International Space Station are gearing up for an ambition walk. Their fifth and final spacewalk is scheduled to happen in just two and a half hours. The astronauts will install new cameras. They're also going to be doing some rearranging, some power cable hookups as well.
CHO: Well, cyclist Lance Armstrong may have missed out on the yellow jersey this past weekend but he still made a pretty impressive comeback yesterday at the Tour de France.
CHETRY: He sure did. The seven-time winner strolled into Paris. He took his place on the podium as the third cyclist to finish the marathon bike race. And Armstrong's last Tour de France victory, it was actually four years ago. CNN's chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, had a chance to talk exclusively with Armstrong about what it was like to complete this year's race.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Coming in first, is that something you thought about? I mean, did you care? You write it's not about the bike but do you care if you come in first or not?
LANCE ARMSTRONG, 7 TIME TOUR DE FRANCE CHAMPION: Well, I wanted to come in first. But sometimes in sports, there's somebody that's better. And I was that guy for seven years and I never understood what it felt like to get second or third.
I'm 38 now, and you race guys that are 24, 25 or 26 and they're fast, they're strong. They have acceleration. They have all of the things that you had at that age. Then you get third. That's the great thing about the tour is that the best man always wins.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHO: There you good. Good sport about it. CHETRY: He was. Good sport about it but then, I mean, he won seven times.
CHO: And he's still on the podium.
CHETRY: Yes. Exactly. All right. Well, you can see Sanjay's entire interview with Lance Armstrong. It's coming in just about 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, Vice President Joe Biden offered a critical and blunt assessment about Russia and its future. But is that the message the administration wants out there.
And why is Russia so vital to U.S. foreign relations? We'll talk about it.
Twelve minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. It's 14 minutes after the hour right now.
Vice President Joe Biden is known for speaking his mind. In an interview with the "Wall Street Journal," the vice president in very blunt terms talks about U.S.-Russian relations. Here's what he said.
Speaking about Russia, he said, "They have a shrinking population base. They have a withering economy. They have a banking sector and structure that is not likely to be able to withstand the next 15 years."
Joining me to talk more about the fallout from his remarks is Jay Newton Small, the Washington correspondent for "Time" magazine. Thanks for being with us this morning, Jay.
JAY NEWTON-SMALL, WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT, "TIME" MAGAZINE: Thanks for having me on.
CHETRY: First of all, explain why it's so important, why Russia is such an important ally or player on the foreign stage and why these words matters.
NEWTON-SMALL: Well, look, they're a huge provider of natural gas and oil. And our relations with them haven't been exactly rosy in recent years. And so, if you remember back in the beginning of the administration, Hillary Clinton sort of famously brought the Russian foreign minister that reset button and said now we're going to reset relations with Russia.
And so, there is this big push from the Obama administration to get on better terms with Russia so that, you know, so as to ease a lot of the tensions that had happened under the Bush administration. So obviously, these comments aren't exactly in the mold of what has been Obama's stated policy since the beginning of the administration. CHETRY: Right. Because the vice president seemed to suggest that we had the upper hand, I guess you could say, or we're in a better bargaining position to get Russia to get along with us on certain things like North Korea, like the Iran nuclear threats. And then it was interesting to hear what Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who is the nation's top diplomat had to say about Biden's comments. So let's listen to that?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON, SECRETARY OF STATE: No. And I don't think that's at all what the vice president meant. There are certain issues that Russia has to deal with on its own. And we want to make it clear that as we reset our relationship, we are very clearly not saying that Russia can have a 21st century sphere of influence in eastern Europe.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: So, she sort of backed down from the comments where she said that she was asked, did he mean that we're in a better bargaining position. No, I don't think that's what he meant. So, two different messages. Is he off message or is this part of the administration strategy when dealing with Russia.
NEWTON-SMALL: Well, look, I mean, the whole point and when I spoke to the administration officials about this, is the whole point of Biden or the vice president going to Ukraine and Georgia was to very much assure these countries that even though Barack Obama was going to Moscow, even the president of the United States is resetting relations with Russia, that doesn't mean that we're not taking their sovereignty seriously, and that they're not, you know, going to be careless in terms of Russia's claims to this sort of mere abroad countries as Putin and Medvedev call them, which are the leaders of Russia.
And so there's sort of a good cop, bad cop turn. You know, like we've got Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama saying one thing, saying sort of let's be nice, let's be friends. And then on the other hand, you've got Joe Biden saying, well, don't take us for granted. We're not going to -- you know, we're not going to roll over if you have certain interests in this neighborhood.
So, I think it was a concerted effort to try and be tough on Russia and sort of say, look, just because we're being nice doesn't mean we're going to be easy.
CHETRY: How often does the vice president's words and things that the vice president says in that position contradict or speak for the administration, I mean, historically speaking? Did you hear Vice President Cheney saying things that perhaps weren't exactly how George W. Bush would have put it?
NEWTON-SMALL: Well, certainly, the problem with Biden speaking so bluntly in this case is that he's got such a history of kind of doing these gaffes where he, you know, talks about how maybe you wouldn't want to get on an airplane during swine flu or, you know, 30 percent of the stimulus -- there's a 30 percent chance that the stimulus might fail. And so because he's had these gaffes in the past, we, as journalists, tend to look at his comments when he goes off message or is not exactly the same message as the Obama administration is something that maybe he's going off message, maybe it's another gaffe, when, in fact, it could just be them playing good cop/bad cop.
CHETRY: What we call gaffes may be just truth? Maybe just a little wave of honesty among politicians sometimes?
NEWTON-SMALL: There is a definition of a gaffe, right? It's just telling the truth a little too bluntly.
CHETRY: Isn't that funny? Jay Newton-Small, Washington correspondent for "Time," thanks for joining us this morning.
NEWTON-SMALL: Thanks for having me on.
CHETRY: Eighteen and a half minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHO: Hi. Twenty-one minutes after the hour.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, everyone.
CHO: Good morning.
Christine Romans, "Minding Your Business." Ben Bernanke.
ROMANS: Ben Bernanke is the Fed chief. When I first started covering the Fed in the 1990s, you never heard of a fed chief going to a town hall answering questions from real people, real people about their jobs, about small business. And that's exactly what this new fed, this fed chief is doing. It's sort of a warmer, fuzzier fed, and that's because of what is being called the great recession.
He's out there trying to explain what the Federal Reserve has been doing, trying to demystify the fed and explain what all these bailouts and all these efforts are all about. On the economy, he says, the economy will recover within a few years. And then it could actually be stronger than before.
And this is what he said about the bailouts. He says nothing have made him more frustrated than having to intervene in a couple of cases where banks or companies made wild bets and force companies close to bankruptcy. Nothing has made him angrier. But if those companies were allowed to collapse, it would have brought the system down and they had to act.
He said, "I was not going to be the Federal Reserve chairman who presided over the second Great Depression." He said, "I had to hold my nose and stop these firms from failing and I'm as disgusted about it as you are."
CHETRY: Wasn't he a student of the Great Depression?
ROMANS: He was.
CHETRY: I mean, that's what he studied and saw places that perhaps the fed and the government fell short in helping prolong the pain back in the '30s.
ROMANS: And that's absolutely right. And now this new open fed, he is trying to use some of those mistakes from the Great Depression and try to make sure that we don't repeat those mistakes again. So a defense of what the fed has been doing, and defense in front of real people in a town hall on PBS are going to air in three parts this week.
CHO: We've got a "Romans' Numeral."
ROMANS: I do. 1994 is the number, and it's a year. It's the year 1994.
We all had curlier, bigger hair back then.
This is the year that the fed began to actually release its federal Open Market Committee announcement on interest rates. Before then, when I first started covering the fed, you didn't know officially what the fed had done. It was so secret, so insular you didn't even know what was happening. Now, they have minutes. We know -- we hear what the fed, you know, has done right away.
CHO: That's because the public demanded that? I mean, basically now, right?
ROMANS: Public demanded it. Public demanded it. Also, the economy changed. The economy was faster and bigger. And you had to start sort of cluing in everybody what was going on. So it's not -- it's Ben Bernanke and Dr. Phil or something. You know, the fed that I started covering never would have done this.
CHETRY: It's a good thing -- she's a child prodigy, by the way. Start covering at the age of 10.
ROMANS: Yes, 10, right.
CHETRY: But you know, the interesting thing is that, you know, a lot of people are saying it's our money, what's happening.
ROMANS: Absolutely.
CHETRY: The fact that he's answering these questions and coming on different shows, it's a good thing.
ROMANS: Yes. And just really quickly, this $1.5 trillion that the fed has loaned to these banking institutions that we don't know about, we don't know who got what, what kind -- so there are still some secrets that I personally would like to know but we are learning more and more about what the fed is doing and more of a defense of what the Fed's moves and bailouts than we had before. CHO: Note to Ben Bernanke...
ROMANS: Yes.
CHO: ... Christine still has some questions.
ROMANS: Give me a call.
CHO: All right. Christine, thank you.
ROMANS: Thank you.
CHO: You know seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong made it to the podium this time around on Sunday in Paris as a third place winner. Our Sanjay Gupta spoke exclusively to Lance right after the race. We're going to have that for you next.
Twenty-four minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHO: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. Well, we've made it a top priority here at CNN to show you where the stimulus money is going and who is helping.
CNN's Jim Acosta live in Washington for us. And Jim, you found one mayor who's asking, where's the money? And I suspect he's not alone.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Alina, he's not. And earlier this year, Vice President Joe Biden visited St. Cloud, Minnesota, to tout the prospects of the stimulus. Now the mayor of the city has become one of the program's toughest critics. His question, what is taking so long?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Our best days are ahead of us. This is just not happy talk.
ACOSTA (voice-over): Back in March, Vice President Joe Biden took a stimulus road trip to St. Cloud, Minnesota where he toured the New Flyer bus company. He and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood predicted the stimulus would create jobs.
RAY LAHOOD, SECRETARY, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION: Tomorrow you'll have a phone call from our folks at DOT to figure out how we can make this happen.
MAYOR DAVE KLEIS, ST. CLOUD, MINNESOTA: We had a high expectation of these things ready to go right away.
ACOSTA: But four months later St. Cloud's mayor says he's still waiting for those jobs, still waiting for an answer on nearly a dozen stimulus requests. He blames stimulus red tape.
So is it your feeling that the vice president and the transportation secretary overpromised and underdelivered?
KLEIS: Well, I think that it raised our expectations. It raised our expectations that we were going to see something quicker.
LAHOOD: What I said was accurate, sure.
ACOSTA: Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood points to the New Flyer bus factory. Thanks to the stimulus, it's seen a boost in sales and avoided layoffs.
LAHOOD: And all you see all over America are orange cones, people working in good paying jobs, building roads, building runways, building bus garages. And so, the idea that our money isn't going out is just not accurate.
ACOSTA: We did find new stimulus jobs in St. Cloud at the Gaver (ph) Signal Company. They've hired 25 new workers to make road signs. Stimulus projects across the state.
(on camera): Before the stimulus and after the stimulus you've seen an effect.
CHRIS ALBERS, GAVER (ph) SIGNAL CO.: Absolutely. Compared to last year and this year, it's been a resounding effect.
ACOSTA: Resounding effect.
ALBERS: Yes. Absolutely.
ACOSTA (voice-over): St. Cloud is weathering the recession well. City hall is surrounded by state road construction projects which have driven the local unemployment rate to 7.7 percent, far below the national average. That's without the stimulus.
A lot of mayors would trade places with you to have that unemployment rate. Would they not? Have you been to Detroit? It's 15 percent there.
KLEIS: Yes. We have a diverse economy. And we have, again, we still have challenges.
ACOSTA: You feel like you're not getting your fair share.
KLEIS: Oh, absolutely not. I'm convinced of that.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ACOSTA: The Transportation Department cites a recent government report showing the stimulus is moving ahead of schedule but don't tell that to the nation's mayors who have their own studies showing cities compared to rural areas are getting the short end of the stimulus stick -- Alina.
CHO: Jim Acosta live for us in Washington. Jim, thank you.
ACOSTA: You bet. CHO: It is just about, just exactly, actually, 30 minutes past the hour on this Monday morning. Checking our top stories for you this morning.
She is waking up as citizen Sarah Palin after officially stepping down as governor of Alaska Sunday. And she took some parting shots at Democrats, environmentalists, Hollywood and the media. Palin has been vague about her future plans to say the least. The only thing we do know is that she is scheduled to speak at a GOP event next month at the Reagan presidential library in California.
CHETRY: New video just in to CNN. It shows French President Nicolas Sarkozy leaving the hospital this morning. He had a bit of a health scare collapse while jogging yesterday in hot weather. He spent the night in a Paris military hospital. Officials say tests confirmed it was not related to any heart problem.
CHO: And New York Senator Chuck Schumer wants to make it a federal crime for mass transit operators to send text messages while on the job. Schumer will introduce a bill this week prohibiting drivers and conductors from using electronic messaging devices while in any public or private transportation vehicle. It follows a deadly accident in California, another crash in Boston involving transit operators who were text messaging.
CHETRY: Well, Lance Armstrong already has his sights set on the 2010 Tour de France. He came up a little bit short. We call it short. He still came in third in his comeback attempt this year. The seven-time Tour champ finished third, more than five minutes behind winner Alberto Contador of Spain.
CHO: (INAUDIBLE) at the same time. After the finish, Armstrong sat down exclusively with our chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Today has been a remarkable 22 days for Lance Armstrong right here in France. Tour de France started in Monaco, ended right here in Paris. Fans, cancer survivors from all over the world really cheering on the seven- time Tour de France winner.
Now I set on the board of Lance Armstrong, and I can tell you, after a four-year hiatus it was a big decision for him. I caught up with him just a few hours after he took third place at the Tour de France to talk about some of the challenges, to talk about some of the criticisms that have been waged against him, and how he responds to those and to simply ask him why he decided to get involved in all of this again.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA (on camera): Coming in first, is that something you thought about? I mean, did you care? You write it's not about the bike. But do you care if you come in first or not?
LANCE ARMSTRONG, THIRD PLACE AT TOUR DE FRANCE: Well, I wanted to come in first. But sometimes in sports there's somebody that's better. And I was that guy for seven years. And I never understood what it felt like to get second or third. I'm 38 now. And you race guys that are 24 or 25 or 26, and they're fast, they're strong. They have acceleration. They have all of the things that you had at that age. And you get third. That's what the great thing about the Tour is that the best man always wins.
GUPTA: How was this race different for you in terms of how you trained, what you ate? Were there differences compared to five years ago?
ARMSTRONG: Well, I used a lot of the same training, the same idea with diet. I mean, the only difference, I guess, is that I'm now 38 years old. So a 38-year-old man does not wake up every day like a 28-year-old. But I can't even complain. I mean, I think I rode well.
GUPTA: Why come back after four years? What inspired this?
ARMSTRONG: Obviously, I have to have a love for the bike. I have to have a love for the Tour. Otherwise, this is too hard. It's just way too damn hard to go out and do this. But my passion for fighting cancer and fighting it not just in Texas or the United States but around the world.
GUPTA: When you look at you the man, Lance, and the issue of cancer, do you think that people separate that? I mean, do they understand why you're riding and why you came back?
ARMSTRONG: Yes, I think so. You know, these days it's easy to get feedback. When people have a comment or have an issue, they let you know. And most of them are regarding cancer. So that tells me that the people understand. They've been affected either themselves or a loved one and they understand it. And then they say keep going. You know, pedal hard for them tomorrow. Pedal hard for my mom or my neighbor or my co-worker.
GUPTA: One of the things you mention --- you talked a lot about during the whole tour was surprise test for doping. They just come and surprise you.
ARMSTRONG: They're not surprises any more.
GUPTA: Not surprising -- 40, I think over 40 tests.
ARMSTRONG: They're 50 -- they're 50 now.
GUPTA: What do you say to the critics? What do you say to the skeptics now at the end of the tour?
ARMSTRONG: Look, I've done this a long time. And I've been at the highest level now since 1992 until 2009. I've been tested more than anybody else. If I can take four years off and come back at the age of 38 with more controls than anybody else on planet earth and get third in the hardest sporting event in the world, I think we've answered the questions.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA: You know, it's worth pointing out a couple of things. Lance's heart and lungs are different than most people. For example, his heart pumps about 90 gallons per minute, as compared to five gallons per minute, which is more typical. Also, he gets double the amount of oxygen out of every breath as compared to a healthy 20-year- old.
So, he's physiologically has a lot of advantages, for sure. He also tells me he wants to keep on the cancer fight. In fact, he's hosting a global cancer summit in Dublin later on this August.
Kiran and Alina, back to you.
CHETRY: Fantastic that he had a chance to talk to him.
I've never seen Sanjay in pinstripes.
CHO: No, I haven't either.
CHETRY: Did he borrow Ali Velshi's sport coat to go to Paris?
CHO: I was just going to say, not a bad gig to walk down the stairs in Paris in the middle center city.
(CROSSTALK)
CHO: Yes, she thinks Sanjay has a man crush on the...
CHETRY: Well, I mean, he does.
All right. Well, we'll find out more from Sanjay a little later.
Meantime, another victim of the recession -- lobsters and the lobster business in Maine. Jason Carroll takes a look.
Thirty-six minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.
You know, we've seen the economy take a toll on businesses and industries across the country. Well, Maine's lobster industry was hit particularly hard, collapsing prices, forced lobster fishermen to take extreme measures to try to make ends meet.
CHO: Jason Carroll's here with a look at that.
You're just back from Maine?
JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes.
CHO: So, what did you find?
CARROLL: Well, here's the good news. If you're a consumer like we are, lobster is cheaper now than ever. The bad news for lobstermen is that they are really taking a hit because of this.
You know, when you think of lobstermen, think of the small business owner. Every time one goes under, so, too, does a small business. And businesses like this are the backbone of the economy, their survival now in question.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CARROLL (voice-over): It's a stormy morning in the waters off of Portland, Maine, not ideal conditions for lobster fishing. But that didn't stop Mike Davis.
(on camera): Even in this rainy, stormy weather, you're still out, went for lobster.
MIKE DAVIS, LOBSTER FISHERMAN: Summertime -- summertime, you have to. You can't make up a day that you missed in the summertime.
CARROLL (voice-over): That's because things have gotten bad for Maine's lobstermen.
DAVIS: Missing a day, it does hurt, you know. You've got to go as much as you can. You really do.
CARROLL: Davis knows he'll catch in a storm. The question -- will consumers, battered by a dismal economic climate, buy? Many are foregoing lobster for cheaper eats.
In 2007, the Maine lobster industry made $280 million in sales. Last year, $240 million. Lobstermen say that loss hurts.
DAVIS: A lot of guys, we're on the breaking point of can we keep doing this?
CARROLL: Lobstermen we spoke to wondering if they are the ones now trapped, invested in a sinking industry.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We pretty much have seen I guess I'd say probably a 30 percent to 40 percent cut in income.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need more money, so the pressure on the industry is quite a lot.
CARROLL: Pressure that turned to violence.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The shooting of a lobster man on Matinicus Island.
CARROLL: One lobster man accused of shooting another over fishing territory last week. There's also tension between fishermen and dealers who sell their catch. Lobstermen say that dealers are still turning profits so in order to make ends meet...
DAVIS: Here you go. Thank you very much.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thanks, guys. CARROLL: Lobstermen like Mike Davis sell not only to dealers, but directly to consumers. Dealers like Bill Bailey not happy.
BILL BAILEY, DEALER: Sometimes I don't think that they want to listen to reason.
CARROLL: Bailey along with 12 other dealers wrote a letter of complaint to the state.
BAILEY: Selling their product on the side of the road for a cheap price depresses the whole market.
CARROLL: For now, the state says lobstermen can keep selling on their own.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think one of the things we have to do is see how big it gets.
CARROLL: However bad the economy is, Mike Davis can't think of any other life.
DAVIS: Today might be a little different story, but when you wake up, and it's a beautiful, calm, sunny morning, I can't imagine not coming down and going out the whole crowd. I would really definitely miss it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CARROLL: Well, until the economy rights itself and prices rise again, lobstermen say the industry has to do a better job at marketing and letting consumers know that lobsters are less expensive right now, and so go out there and buy and eat.
CHETRY: And also just a question I was asking as your piece was running about the unintended consequences perhaps environmentally. I mean, is there an over fishing happening because of this or are lobster populations growing because they are not getting as much money for them?
CARROLL: Yes. Well, you know, it's a great question. Basically the jury is still out. This is just happening right now. But what you've seen from our piece there is that lobstermen are out there fishing all year round as oppose to just one part of the season in order to try to make ends meet. So eventually, you know, a lot of environmentalists are going to be looking at this and saying, are the lobsters going to be suffering.
CHO: And the other thing that we were discussing is from a business standpoint. I mean, is this a little bit of robbing Peter to pay Paul.
CARROLL: Well, that's what the dealers are saying. You know, by going out there and selling on your own and selling directly to the consumers in such a low price, what you're basically doing is you're hurting yourself.
CHO: Yes.
CARROLL: But as it stands right now, the state is saying these lobstermen can go out there and do it. The economy is just so bad right now.
CHO: Oh, survival.
CARROLL: Exactly.
CHO: Yes, yes. Jason Carroll, thanks.
CARROLL: All right.
CHO: Thank you.
Well, here's a quick check of the "A.M. Rundown." Getting a taste of New York from some homegrown celebrities. We're going to tell you how Big Apple tourists are getting the red carpet treatment.
Well, we know Vice President Joe Biden is prone to verbal gaffes. Hear how the White House and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in particular, is scrambling to clarify Biden's candid comments about Russia.
And Secretary Clinton expressing herself on the subject of having a female U.S. president. Does the former candidate see herself in the Oval Office someday? We'll tell you.
Forty-three minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Rob Marciano tracking the weather for us this morning. Forty-six minutes past the hour. And, boy, yesterday, I was driving. I made it into my garage, a second later the skies just opened up. We got some storms.
CHO: Oh, yes. It was ugly for a while.
(WEATHER REPORT)
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: On a brighter note, check out this shot out of Australia. We got a brand-new Asian elephant. It's a Thai elephant. First Asian elephant to be born on Australian zoo. 238 pounds. Luk Chai, congratulations. Made her public debut, and then, I got a name. I don't know what she's playing on top of there. But the obligatory Monday morning animal story for Alina. (INAUDIBLE), I thought Alina might like that. I know you like that.
(CROSSTALK)
CHETRY: I love it.
CHO: I do like it -- 238 pounds.
CHETRY: I know. And look how tiny she looks compared to the mom.
MARCIANO: Little bundle of joy.
CHETRY: So cute. All right, Rob.
CHO: Thank you, Rob.
CHETRY: Next time you come up to the Big Apple maybe you're not going to visit the Statue of Liberty. Maybe, you know, do the typical things that you do, see Times Square.
(CROSSTALK)
CHO: Times Square, yes.
CHETRY: Instead, perhaps you're going to get a tour of the neighborhood by one of the "Sopranos" stars. It's a new take on visiting the Big Apple. Alina Cho is going to show it to us.
Forty-eight minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Start spreading the news. There's a whole new way to tour the Big Apple. It's a beautiful shot this morning of New York, where it's 74 degrees. Maybe that's not so beautiful. All right, a little bit later, 85 degrees and some storms.
CHO: You know, the sky looks beautiful.
CHETRY: Yes. It sure does. See it there through the fog.
Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. If you're planning a visit to New York City, it's a pretty safe bet, you'll do Times Square, the Empire State Building, maybe, right? Perhaps Rockefeller Center.
(CROSSTALK)
CHO: Around Christmas, you want to see the tree at Rock Center. Definitely.
CHETRY: Of course.
CHO: But, you know what, for a taste of the real New York, you can now tag along with real New Yorkers. Thanks to something called the Big Apple Greeter Programming.
Get this, some of the newest greeters are bona fide celebrities. Yes, celebrity tour guides. And they are showing you parts of the Big Apple many never see.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHO (voice-over): Would you want a tour of New York from this guy? You would if he did this. (VIDEO CLIP)
This is Bronx born and breadth Dominic Chianese, the actor otherwise known as Uncle Junior on the hit TV series "The Sopranos." And now he's a tour guide.
A what?
DOMINIC CHIANESE, ACTOR: This is the neighborhood. This is the place for the cigars.
CHO: Chianese is the newest member of the Big Apple Greeter Program. A non-profit group that pairs real New Yorkers with New York visitors. The celeb factor a way to promote the city. And show people like Nancy and daughter Kathy Sexton from South Carolina a sight of the Big Apple many never see or taste.
CHIANESE: Let's go over here.
CHO: Chianese and the Sextons start their day on the subway. Final stop, the Little Italy of the Bronx, Arthur Avenue, where Chianese was born.
DAVID GRECO, OWNER, MIKE'S DELI: This is the neighborhood right here. Right here, Dominic Chianese and the Sextons from South Carolina.
CHO: Spend a few minutes walking around town with the actor and you'll find...
CHIANESE: Hello, good to see you, kid.
CHO: He's treated like the mayor, and he knows his food.
CHIANESE: Pizza, delicious. Really nice. There's an old Italian expression.
CHO: Chianese also shows the Sextons the New York way to eat pizza. Fold the slices in half.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I guess it's like the real Italian food.
CHO: A real treat.
CHIANESE: Thanks for coming by, really.
NANCY SEXTON, TOURIST FROM SOUTH CAROLINA: I just can't really tell you how much it's meant to us to be here with him and to see this community and just appreciate it for what it is.
CHO: The tour ends with a walk around the old neighborhood.
CHIANESE: I was born in this building (INAUDIBLE)...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes?
CHIANESE: Yes, in 1931.
CHO: And to stroll through Author Avenue market, where they sampled aged parmesan cheese, and get a threat of a lifetime.
(VIDEO CLIP)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHO: You know, he's 78 years old.
CHETRY: I know. He's great, though. We went down to Little Italy around Christmastime a couple of years ago, when he was out there singing as well.
CHO: Oh, you're kidding me. Oh, he sang?
CHETRY: Yes. He has a beautiful voice.
CHO: He does.
CHETRY: He looks nothing like Uncle June, doesn't he?
CHO: And you know what, if you want to hear more of his singing, you can go to cnn.com/am.
But Mayor Bloomberg was saying, you know what's great about New York, 8.4 million people, most of them live outside of Manhattan. You know, they created these great neighborhoods like Arthur Avenue and The Bronx, and you should get up there if you get a chance.
CHETRY: All right, sounds good. Great piece, Alina.
CHO: Fifty-five minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. It's 57 minutes past the hour right now.
Something Vice President Joe Biden said has made things perhaps a little bit tense between Washington and Moscow. President Obama has had to clarify some of the vice president's comments before, but now it's the secretary of state's turn.
Foreign affairs correspondent Jill Dougherty is tracking this story from our Washington bureau this morning and the comments he made in an interview he gave to the "Wall Street Journal."
JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Right. Kiran, you know, the catchphrase the Obama administration uses for its Russian policy is reset the relationship. It's an expression that Vice President Joe Biden used first in a speech back in the spring.
Now, catchphrases are one thing. But diplomats watch their words carefully, something the vice president isn't known to do. Now, what some people call Biden's refreshing candor is setting off alarm bells in Moscow and creating some headaches for Secretary Clinton.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DOUGHERTY (voice-over): America's chief diplomat finds herself trying to explain comments on Russia by the vice president.
QUESTION: Is he speaking for the president and is the message essentially that the U.S. now has the upper hand when it's dealing with Russia?
HILLARY CLINTON, SECRETARY OF STATE: No, I don't think that's at all what the vice president meant.
DOUGHERTY: Just three weeks after President Barack Obama tried to reset the relationship with Moscow, Vice President Joe Biden, just back from his own trip to Ukraine and Georgia, tells "The Wall Street Journal" the United States holds all the cards in a relationship with an economically weakened Russia. They have a shrinking population base, he says. They have a withering economy. They have a banking sector structure that's not likely to be able to withstand the next 15 years.
Those comments land with a thud in Moscow. A top adviser to the Russian president firing back, quoted by Interfax News Agency as saying, "The question is, who is shaping the U.S. foreign policy, the president or respected members of his team?"
The White House spokesman tries some damage control, saying, "The president and vice president believe Russia will work with us, not out of weakness, but out of national interest."
Finally, Secretary Clinton rides to the rescue.
CLINTON: And we view Russia as a great power. Now, every country faces challenges. You know, we have our challenges. Russia has their challenges.
DOUGHERTY: Caution now is one of Secretary Clinton's top responsibilities. Along with the Russian foreign minister, she's heading up a joint presidential commission spearheading relations.
Explaining comments by Vice President Biden doesn't appear to be part of the job description.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
DOUGHERTY: The Russian president's aide says he's perplexed by Vice President Biden's comments and adds if some members of the President Obama's team don't agree with their own president's policy, then, quote, "we should simply know about this."
Looks like Secretary Clinton will have some more explaining to do when that commission meets, Kiran.
CHETRY: All right. And you know, some are questioning whether it's part of the good cop bad cop strategy, and it was intentional. DOUGHERTY: Yes, that's always a question. Nobody really knows but it didn't go over well in Moscow, and the relationship that they want to start over again.
CHETRY: Yes, understandably. All right. Jill Dougherty for us this morning. Thanks so much.
