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American Morning
Obama Meets With Gates and Crowley in "Beer Summit"; Cash for Clunkers Program Strapped for Cash; Should States' Rights Trump the Fed?; Wingnuts of the Week; Jackson's Death Investigation Focused on Drugs; Defense Bill Full of Pork; Real Cost of Taxing "Gold-Plated" Plans
Aired July 31, 2009 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, and thanks very much for being with us on the Most News in the Morning. It's Friday, it's the 31st of July as we mourn the passing of yet another month of summer.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Well, that's a happy way to start the show.
ROBERTS: It's gone. Not an uplifting way to start. Good morning to you. I'm John Roberts.
COSTELLO: I'm Carol Costello filling in for Kiran. Happy Friday, everyone. We're following several developing stories this Friday morning. We'll break them down for you in the next 15 minutes.
The picture the world was waiting to see. The president, the professor and the police officer, kicking back over beers at the White House. All left saying they're ready to move forward. We're live at the White House this morning.
ROBERTS: The Boston cop who became part of the Gates controversy by sending a racist e-mail to "The Boston Globe" is now playing the apology card. We'll tell you how Officer Justin Barrett is trying to explain his comparison of Professor Gates to a "banana-eating jungle monkey."
COSTELLO: And cash for clunkers already out of gas? The program aimed at getting gas guzzlers off the road and new car buyers into the showroom has burned through $1 billion in federal funding in less than a week. What could it mean for you? Christine Romans is "Minding Your Business."
ROBERTS: Sounds like it was successful. Perhaps too successful.
COSTELLO: Oh, too successful.
ROBERTS: Yes. We begin with the most closely watched cocktail party in Washington. The president and the vice president drinking beers with Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Cambridge police Sergeant James Crowley. It was billed as a "teachable moment" and if anything certainly was a lesson in civility.
There were no apologies, but everyone talked and everyone listened. A far cry from the front porch arrest that sparked the controversy even the president couldn't avoid commenting on.
This morning, Gates and Crowley are promising to meet again. They say it is time to look forward, not backward.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SGT. JAMES CROWLEY, CAMBRIDGE POLICE DEPARTMENT: What was accomplished was, this is a positive step in moving forward as opposed to reliving the events in the past couple of weeks, in an effort to move not just the city of Cambridge or two individuals past this event but the whole country to move beyond this and use this as a basis of maybe some meaningful discussions in the future.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Ed Henry is live at the White House for us this morning. And, Ed, was this the administration's goal with all of this going on to hand things off so that the president can stop dealing with it and get his attention back on his agenda?
ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. When you talk to White House aides in private and some of them in public saying quite frankly they do want to move on, as you heard Sergeant Crowley say there about the country moving on from this incident. Politically for this White House, they certainly had to turn the page on it.
Robert Gibbs, the White House spokesman, yesterday telling reporters when he was asked sort of what was the big goal. What do you hope the morning after to accomplish? He said that you guys will no longer be asking me what kind of beer is the president going to have.
Obviously, this took them off what they want to be talking about with their agenda. There was a surprise guest there yesterday, Vice President Biden. He was invited at the last moment by the president.
So, you have this four men sitting down. As you heard from Sergeant Crowley, it seemed very positive the brief time the media was let in, but also when Sergeant Crowley who is the only person who spoke on camera afterwards really described it as cordial. And I think the critical thing is the fact that Sergeant Crowley and Professor Gates have now had made plans to speak in the next few days and perhaps set up another meeting between them.
That's critical for this White House, because then the president can step back and let these two key players work out their differences. The president can be not involved anymore and go back to the agenda -- John.
ROBERTS: And it could be said that the argument over the beer brands might be trivial. But, you know, in terms of the president's agenda and how much he has on his plate already, how much did this controversy really distract him from all of that?
HENRY: Well, it's hard to completely quantify it, obviously. But there's no doubt that White House aides have acknowledged this is something they've spent far too much time talking about at a time when the health care reform bill in particular is at a critical stage on Capitol Hill. And I think while it's a coincidence in the schedule, it's significant that this evening at dinner time for a few hours, the president is convening his cabinet at Blair House across the street from the White House.
What they're doing is the first six months of the administration past, they're trying to reset things, take a look at what worked, what didn't work, and make sure they're focused on issues like health care, like the economy, the two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. This is a sort of a retreat tonight and tomorrow at Blair House. Gives the administration the opportunity to move on, John.
ROBERTS: Yes. We'll be talking about that coming up in the not too distant future with Joe Trippi and Susan Molinari as well.
Ed Henry for us at the White House. Ed, thanks so much.
HENRY: Thanks, John.
ROBERTS: Meantime, a Boston police officer is now turning to national television to apologize for a mass e-mail that he wrote describing Professor Gates as a "banana-eating jungle monkey." Officer Justin Barrett could lose his job over the e-mail, which he also sent to "The Boston Globe." He told Larry King last night that he is not a racist.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OFFICER JUSTIN BARRETT, BOSTON POLICE DEPARTMENT: I would like to take this opportunity to offer fellow police officers, soldiers and citizens my sincerest apology over the controversial e-mail I authored in response to Yvonne Abraham's editorial in "The Boston Globe." My choice of words, Larry, was lacking. I failed to think through the perception others may have based upon what I wrote. I failed to realize the potential through the use of words that others would see as offensive.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Of course, we want to hear what you think about this story or anything else that's on your mind for that matter. Call our show hotline at 1-877-MY-AMFIX or go to our blog at www.CNN.com/amFIX.
COSTELLO: It's interesting. He's not hiding. He's right out there front and center on "LARRY KING LIVE" combination.
ROBERTS: Trying to stay in the job.
COSTELLO: And his reputation. I don't know. Well, it will be interesting to see if people think that -- whether people think his strategy worked.
Also new this morning, the administration's cash for clunkers program is strapped for cash. The program offers cash incentives for car buyers who turn in old gas guzzlers for more fuel efficient cars and trucks. It's been in effect for a week and it already needs a jump start. So, what does that mean for you?
Christine Romans is "Minding Your Business." Well, the program has only been up and running for what? A week and a half. There are commercials on TV.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: That's right. Well, actually as people started trading their cars in sometime in June and the dealers, starting Monday, could start turning around and actually processing these.
This is -- this is your bailout, folks. This is where you could go and take your junker clunker and get some money for it. Take that off the road and turn around and get a more fuel efficient car in return and put it on the road. And this has been a very, very popular program.
What it shows is that people are willing to junk their clunkers and get $3,500 or $4,500 to go head and buy a new car. So this is where we stand now.
And by the way, not all of these have been processed yet. This is going so quickly that the White House and Congress have been kind of alarmed that you could be bringing through the $1 billion already and it will need more money.
There was talk last night they were going to suspend this program. But now the White House saying, no, they're going to find a way to keep it going so you can get your clunker off of the road.
So here's first. There are some -- some 30,000 cars have been turned in and some $96 million in disbursements already. That's just through Wednesday. So think of that.
ROBERTS: Wow.
ROMANS: That's in three or four days. That's how much -- and Debbie Stabenow in Congress, somebody who really pushed for this. She says that overall there have been 230,000 new cars purchased because of this program.
COSTELLO: Really?
ROMANS: Right. And that it's really -- they have found that it is really -- really been a boon for the industry at a very, very weak time. So we will keep talking about this this morning.
If you've got your clunker junker, it's got very low gas mileage. You turn it in. You don't get the trade-in value. So, you know, keep that in mind. But you can go and turn this in, you get $3,500 to $4,500. And you also get -- if you look at my "Romans' Numeral" actually, you can get the scrap value too of this car. It's not very much because they have to scrap your old car and turn it in.
COSTELLO: Did you just turn to "Romans' Numeral"? ROMANS: Well, I kind of did. The $50 is what the dealer gets.
ROBERTS: (INAUDIBLE) secret this one.
COSTELLO: I know. I know. Fifty dollars is what their dealer gets. The dealer loves it too. They're selling a new car plus they get $50 for the junk value of your car and you get the rest of it. It's not very much but maybe a couple of $100 more for the junk value of the car.
(INAUDIBLE) people are liking it. They're getting rid of their cars.
COSTELLO: And there you have it.
ROMANS: And there you have it. So, hopefully the White House in Congress can get their acts together and get some more money for this program. Originally, they wanted $4 billion for it. They didn't get $4 billion. They got $1 billion and now they burned through it in three or four days.
COSTELLO: Thanks, Christine Romans.
ROBERTS: The price of success of gas. Christine "Minding Your Business" this morning.
Other stories news this morning to tell you about. House Democrats are pushing ahead with health care reform hoping that the bill will clear the Energy and Commerce Committee today. Yesterday, Democrats defeated a Republican effort to get rid of a section of the bill that would create a public health plan.
COSTELLO: Search warrants released in the Michael Jackson investigation. The documents imply investigators thought the singer was a drug addict and that searches would uncover evidence of excessive prescribing by Dr. Conrad Murray. Prescribing to an addict is a violation of California state law. If found guilty, Murray's license could be revoked or suspended.
ROBERTS: Continental Airlines is offering Direct TV on its flights. It will cost you $6 for it if you fly coach. First-class passengers will get their live TV for free. Until now, only discount carriers like JetBlue and Frontier have offered satellite television. The competition is fierce right now and Continental's move could push other big carriers to follow suit.
Nothing like getting live TV while in your flight, I'll tell you.
COSTELLO: I know. You have to pay $6 for it. Why not bring a DVD -- just saying.
Hey, no free lunch at the White House at least for big-time CEOs when the heads of AT&T, Coke, Honeywell and Xerox sat down with the president to discuss the economy last month. White House staffers got their credit card numbers and they were billed for the meal.
You're laughing.
ROMANS: I love it. I love it.
COSTELLO: The White House spokesperson says they do that to avoid the appearance of any conflict of interest.
ROMANS: That's a way to raise a little revenue, you know.
ROBERTS: You know, you might want to try that at home too. Invite your friends over for dinner and then say can I take your credit card number.
ROMANS: Do you put the tip on there for the president? You put the tip for whoever you want?
ROBERTS: Oh, my goodness. That is funny.
OK. So we're trying to find out if the nation learned anything from that "beer summit" yesterday. We got to break...
COSTELLO: Don't call it a beer summit.
ROBERTS: The beer meeting, whatever, happy hour. What is -- mea "gulpa" was another way that it was described. You know, come up with your own, whatever.
But we've got a couple of great panelist coming up. Boyce Watkins and Michael Fauntroy just ahead to talk about whether or not they, in fact, did take anything away from this and what we can learn from it and where it goes from here. Sounds good?
COSTELLO: Sounds good.
ROBERTS: All right. Ten minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. As of today, all British forces will be out of Iraq. A small training contingent of Royal Navy was supposed to remain, but an agreement with the Iraqi government fell apart this week. At its peak, during the 2003 invasion, Britain had 46,000 troops in Iraq. No more.
ROBERTS: One of baseball's biggest names, Boston Red Sox slugger David Ortiz, reportedly tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs. That was back in 2003. "The New York Times" says Ortiz and former teammate Manny Ramirez were on a list of 104 major leaguers who failed drug tests in 2003.
Ortiz admits being on the list but says he was surprised that he tested positive. Ramirez now at the L.A. Dodgers served a 50-game suspension earlier this season for a failed drug test.
COSTELLO: And it's a dream come true for "Seinfeld" fans. The cast will reunite in the season's finale of Larry David's "Curb Your Enthusiasm." It's the first time Jerry Seinfeld, Jason Alexander, Michael Richards, and Julia Louis Dreyfus -- I'm having trouble speaking this morning -- Julia Louis Dreyfus will appear together on screen since "Seinfeld" ended 11 years ago. David, the co-creator of "Seinfeld" says the stars will appear in five "Curb" episodes during the season in a storyline about a possible "Seinfeld" reunion.
ROBERTS: Well, the Gates-Crowley controversy started two weeks ago in a porch in Cambridge, Massachusetts. And yesterday, it made it all the way to the Rose Garden. The professor, the president and the police officer have had their beers. So, what's next now?
Joining me now from Syracuse is Boyce Watkins. He's a professor at Syracuse University and a resident scholar for AOL Black Voices. And Michael Fauntroy, professor at George Mason University and author of "Republicans and the Black Vote" is in our Washington bureau for us this morning.
So, gentlemen, I guess the first question I have is what did we learn from this encounter? Michael, why don't you start us off this morning?
MICHAEL FAUNTROY, AUTHOR, "REPUBLICANS AND THE BLACK VOTE": Well, I think from my perspective as a political scientist, as someone interested in how public officials maneuver and manipulate public images, I think we learned that the White House may have missed an opportunity.
I thought it was a master stroke that they decided to do this in the first hand. There's only one White House. There's only one Oval Office, for example. But they actually made the setting in somebody's back yard, and it could have been anybody's back yard. And I'm thinking in so doing, they sort of reduced the potential impact of the event. And with all of the media circus surrounding it, you know, I'm not sure that the White House could have avoided this, it ends up looking like a dog and pony show when in actuality, we may have missed a great opportunity.
ROBERTS: What do you think about that Boyce? Missed opportunity? Dog and pony show?
BOYCE WATKINS, PROFESSOR, SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY: Well, you know, all of politics is pretty much a dog and pony show. We know that. I think that in terms of what we walk away with from this -- this event is sort of like an abstract painting. People are going to have different interpretations and those interpretations are going to based on their preconceived notions.
I think that we can't expect politicians to solve this very deep racial problem in America, particularly in one election cycle during a time when we've got all these other things going on throughout the world. You know, the problem with blacks and whites, it's sort of like Obama trying to go and establish peace in the Middle East over the weekend. It's just not going to happen.
So, what I've encouraged Americans to do is to engage in what I would call the American racial conversation. And that means that you go and you find somebody who identifies with the other side of the situation and listen to that person. Don't talk, don't try to tell them why you're right and they're wrong. Listen and try to understand because that's how we're going to make real progress. It happened with the people, not with the politician.
ROBERTS: Noted scholar Michael Eric Dyson was talking to Wolf Blitzer yesterday. He thought it would have been better if we had been let in on the meeting, you know, if we had a heard what the dialogue was around that table. What do you think, Michael? Can optics be as powerful as substance in terms of, you know, learning something?
FAUNTROY: I think it would have been a huge mistake to leave the cameras there. I think the cameras have a way of having a chilling effect on conversations. And I think that there's less candor when there are more eyes watching.
As Boyce mentioned, you know, we are all shaped by our personal experiences. And everybody would have had a different view on the words that would have been spoken. And I just think that would have been a mistake.
You know, overall, this event may end up on the Mount Rushmore of, you know, racial explosions, if you will, with Rodney King and other things. But, until we begin to have these kinds of conversations on a regular basis, sometimes tense, sometimes heated, but hopefully with an open mind, we're really not going to get where we need to be. And that's a disappointment.
ROBERTS: The professor's thoughts on the meetings which were described in an article that he wrote for TheRoot.com, he said, "There's reason to hope that many people have emerged with greater sympathy for the daily perils of policing, on the one hand, and for the genuine fears about racial profiling on the other hand."
Boyce, did you agree with that? Is that one of the lesson that we take out of the meeting yesterday?
WATKINS: I think it's a lesson for all of us if we choose to go to school and we choose to absorb that lesson. You know, my dad was a cop for 25 years and that gave me a very unique perspective on the ups and the downs, and the good and the bad of the police force. And one of the things that I learned is that there are a lot of dirty, bad, corrupt cops out here. We know that.
You know, there's the cop who referred to Gates as a "banana- eating jungle monkey."
ROBERTS: Yes.
WATKINS: And the truth is, he's not alone. But then there are a lot of good cops, black and white, who want to do their job, who don't want to be called a racist because they're just trying to protect the American public. And a lot of people simply made conclusions and jumped to assumptions based on what one person said or the other person said.
And what's interesting to me as well is that I didn't find the events nearly as interesting as the public's reaction to the events.
ROBERTS: Right.
WATKINS: The reactions are more symptomatic of the deeper problem we have in America. If you go back to the O.J. trial, if you go back to Hurricane Katrina, if you go back to Rodney King, those reactions were merely symptoms of a deeper problem that's existed in our society for a long time.
ROBERTS: Well, I'll tell you what? Why won't you stick around for a little bit. We've got to take a quick break, but I'll let you talk more about that after the break. So Boyce Watkins, Michael Fauntroy, stick around. We'll be right back with more from our panel.
It's 18 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Twenty-one minutes after the hour. We're back with Boyce Watkins and Michael Fauntroy to talk more about the fallout from the "beer summit" yesterday.
Michael, Boyce, just before we went to the break was talking about the reaction to a lot of these incidents that we see in this country. And we see some fallout from this for other people. Lucia Whalen, the woman who called 911 was accused of being a racist. And then we have this from Sergeant Leon Lashley. He was the African- American officer who was at the scene of the arrest then days ago.
He wrote, "One of the major problems stemming from the events of July 16 that I, now known as the black sergeant, have had my image plastered all over the Internet, television and newspapers. Subsequently, I have also become known, at least to some, as 'Uncle Tom.' I'm forced to ponder the notion that as a result of speaking the truth and coming to the defense of a friend and a colleague who just happens to be white that I have somehow betrayed my heritage."
How is this nation, Michael, ever going to become a post-racial society if people are subjected to these kinds of criticisms when these types of events happened?
FAUNTROY: Well, first, let me just say it's very unfortunate that this has happened. But this is some of the collateral damage that is a function of our racial discussion. The only time we as a nation really had conversations about race is when there's a crisis. And as a result, tensions are heightened and things are said that should not be said.
Now, in terms of how we can move forward and what we need to do from our perspective, at least, is to talk about these issues when there aren't crisis. And I think that if you can educate people and listen, more often than not with police officers, the most important color isn't black or white, it's often blue, then I think that makes sense to people and helps people to understand what really is going on. ROBERTS: Boyce, it was once said at the Middle East peace process and the Middle East crisis that every breakthrough is preceded by a crisis but not every crisis precedes a breakthrough. Which situation do you think we have here?
WATKINS: I think that we have a crisis that was to some created by the media. You know, let's be clear. This is a dispute between two guys that ended up having national implications. I don't feel that this is necessarily a good poster child for racial profiling in America.
One thing I'll say is that I certainly empathize with what the black officer was going through because I've gotten a lot of e-mails to the same effect myself because I refused to take sides until I heard the facts. But one reason that people are logically skeptical of his testimony is because the blue line is awfully big within police departments.
My father when he started the force, you know, I've heard stories about guys who are literally on the Ku Klux Klan who would stand by a black officer before they stood by a random white person on the street. So this officer is the only one who really knows if he's, you know, showing allegiance to his colleague or if he is showing allegiance to his race or betraying his race, whatever the case may be.
And then the final thing I'll say on that is that, you this issue with this deep racial problem, it really is a virus that affects our entire society. And you can't do delicate surgery with a big rusty butcher knife, and that's sort of what we're trying to do if we think that we can solve this problem in just a day or two.
ROBERTS: You know, the two have agreed to be in touch by a phone in the future. They might even have a future meeting together. So, that's what's going to happen with the two of them. But, Michael, what do you think the next step should be in the national dialogue that falls out of this?
FAUNTROY: Well, as Boyce knows, we are about three or four weeks away from the beginning of school years all over the country at all levels, K through college. And I think between now and then, those of us who are in the classroom, for example, may want to figure out a way to carve out some time if we care enough about this issue to speak to our students and for pastors to speak to their parishioners and for parents to speak to their kids. And about this issue and why it is much more endemic and deeper than we often address.
ROBERTS: Michael Fauntroy and Boyce Watkins, it's always illuminating to talk to you folks. Thanks very much for being with us this morning. Really appreciate it.
WATKINS: No problem.
COSTELLO: Such a fascinating conversation. You know, I don't know if anyone was expecting to hear an "I'm sorry" out of this beer summit yesterday. But, you know, I suspect something more. We're thinking maybe one of the parties would say it, even if they didn't really truly mean it, just to be nice, just to reach out, you know, in a more effective way to the other person.
ROBERTS: I have been involved in one or two arguments over the course of my life, and I'm sorry often goes a long way to repairing relations.
COSTELLO: Yes. So we'll see if it happens at lunch.
ROBERTS: And agree to disagree sometimes leaves lingering tensions.
COSTELLO: Exactly.
Coming up, an interesting question we're exploring this morning in my segment, "Just Sayin'", should states' rights trump the fed? It seems to be a trend across the country. At least 20 states have introduced resolutions reasserting states' rights because they think that federal government is way too involved in what states do with things like taxes and health care and education.
We want to know what you think about it. We're going to explore the issue.
It's 26 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Got to fight for your states' rights too. Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.
President Obama has made overhauling the nation's health care system his top domestic priority.
COSTELLO: Oh, but the prospect of paying for a massive new health care plan is stoking anger among some states' rights advocates. They think the government is already way too big and now they're pushing back. "Just Sayin'." Should states' rights trump the fed?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO (voice-over): The concept of states' rights is as old as America but lately it's become a red hot issue.
GOV. RICK PERRY (R), TEXAS: States' rights, states' rights. States' rights.
COSTELLO: Texas Governor Rick Perry takes them very seriously.
PERRY: Those states rights that are enshrined in the Tenth Amendment of the United States constitution.
COSTELLO: In other words, Perry says, if you don't like Washington spending your money, tell it to butt out. It's a notion that's catching on.
SARAH PALIN, FORMER ALASKA GOVERNOR: Alaska will lead...
COSTELLO: As Sarah Palin left office, she signed a resolution asserting Alaska's right to govern itself. It has become one of seven states passing Tenth Amendment resolutions this year. More than 20 others are now considering them, a way to tell Uncle Sam, one size doesn't fit all.
(on camera): Just saying.
(voice-over): Should states' rights trump the fed?
CHARLES KEY, OKLAHOMA STATE HOUSE: Absolutely. I mean, it's part of our constitution.
COSTELLO: As in the Tenth Amendment. It says, "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people."
What are those powers? Take a trip to the Oklahoma State House and ask Republican lawmaker Charles Key.
KEY: There's nothing in the Constitution that says the federal government has the legal right and authority to tell the people in the various states how to educate their children.
COSTELLO: That's why President George W. Bush's "No Child Left Behind" mandate left him cold, as does President Obama's stimulus package and legislation that would give the federal government a much bigger role in health care. The debate is as old as the nation.
PROF. DAVID LAW, WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY AT ST. LOUIS: It has been going on since our country was born.
COSTELLO: Thomas Jefferson argued for strong state's rights. But over the centuries, the federal government's powers have grown because it has some money.
LAW: In real life, money comes with strings attached. Federal money is no exception.
PERRY: We didn't like oppression then. We don't like oppression now.
COSTELLO: Critics say Governor Perry found that out when he rejected $555 million in federal stimulus money to cover unemployment benefits because it had strings attached. But months later, he had to ask the federal government for a loan to cover unemployment costs.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: So yes, federal money does come with strings. And you know, Texas will now have to pay that money back. If they had taken the stimulus money, they wouldn't have had to do that. So that's something to keep in mind.
ROBERTS: Yes. COSTELLO: You know, they're passing resolutions in the states and, of course, that's not the same as a law. But the states just want to reassert their rights and tell the federal government, hey, in some instances, we just want you to butt out.
Well, that's it in a nutshell, right?
ROBERTS: A simple way of putting it, yes.
COSTELLO: It's like don't tread on me. Yes, that's some state's motto, right?
We want to know what you think.
Should states' rights trump the Fed? E-mail my blog at cnn.com/amfix and we'll read some of your comments on AMERICAN MORNING a little later.
ROBERTS: Looking forward to that.
Half past the hour and checking our top stories now.
Federal stimulus money earmarked for repairs on tens of thousands of unsafe bridges is instead being used for less urgent projects like repaving roads. An Associated Press analysis found less than one percent of the more than 150,000 bridges labeled deficient or obsolete have been targeted for repairs. State officials say the stimulus money must be spent quickly and repairs on unsafe bridges require years of planning and construction.
COSTELLO: Gas prices creep up. AAA says the average price for a gallon of regular is up 1/10 of a cent.
That may not sound like much.
ROBERTS: Hey, you know, it starts small and then builds.
COSTELLO: That's right. Exactly. In the last 10 days, this is a good example of that, the price of gas has increased almost six cents a gallon. But we're doing better than we were last year when prices were over $4 a gallon.
ROBERTS: Every burst dam begins with a little crack.
The mayor of Hoboken, New Jersey is expected to resign at a news conference this afternoon. Peter Cammarano is one of 44 people arrested last week in the federal corruption bust that included dozens of public officials and five rabbis. He's charged with accepting $25,000 in bribes from a government witness posing as a real estate development.
More politics now in our wildly popular segment "Wingnut of the Week." Each Friday, independent analyst John Avlon calls out someone on the right and the left who he says have taken political name calling to the extreme. COSTELLO: John is a columnist for the DailyBeast.com and the author of "Independent Nation." He joins us with this week's addition to his ring of dishonor.
JOHN AVLON, COLUMNIST, THEDAILYBEAST.COM: Yes. It's always a good time now to the ring of dishonor. And this week, we are taking a look at a couple of polarizing pundits on the right and the left.
COSTELLO: This week was easy, wasn't it?
AVLON: This week, there were really -- there were obligatory selections that really -- I kind of went viral even before wingnuts of the week designation.
On the left, we've got Bill Maher. Smart comedian. Said America was a stupid country this week and then refused to apologize for it when clarified. Let's take a listen to what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: So, people are already complaining that you're calling the United States a stupid country and giving you a chance to clarify.
BILL MAHER, COMEDIAN: I don't need to clarify. It is.
BLITZER: Well, tell me why you think the United States is a stupid country.
MAHER: Because Sarah Palin could be president. I mean, please, do I need to expand on that anymore? Yes, I do. This country just gets dumber and dumber by the day. And I don't think I have time on your show to list all the reasons.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Wow.
AVLON: Yes. So, couple of things about that. Great example of how, you know, when you're end up being a polarizer, you end up confirming your own party's worst stereotypes.
Here, you know, he's fulfilling, embodying the stereotype of the media elite on the coast who always is trying to divide rather than unite. And what he calls flyover country is what Sarah Palin calls real America. It's a great example of how these folks end up being their own worst enemies.
(CROSSTALK)
COSTELLO: Go ahead. I'm sorry.
ROBERTS: Please.
COSTELLO: No, please.
ROBERTS: We're so polite here.
Who's the wingnut on the right?
AVLON: Wingnut on the right is Glenn Beck. And this week, you may have heard that the entertainer cum political pundit said that President Obama was a racist among other things.
Let's take a look at this interchange.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GLENN BECK, POLITICAL PUNDIT: This president, I think, has exposed himself as a guy over and over and over again, who has a deep- seated hatred for white people or the white culture. I don't know what it is.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He can't say he doesn't like white people. David Axelrod is white. Rahm Emanuel, his chief of staff, is white. This -- I think 70 percent of the people that we see every day are white. Robert Gibbs is white.
BECK: I'm not saying that he doesn't like white people. I'm saying he has a problem. He has a -- this guy is, I believe, a racist.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AVLON: Yes. So, I'm not saying he doesn't like white people, he's just a racist. You could say a lot of things.
COSTELLO: He sounds kind of like that Boston cop.
AVLON: Yes. You know, you can say a lot of things about President Obama, but I'm pretty sure you can't say he's a racist.
COSTELLO: His mother is white.
AVLON: Yes. For 1,001 reasons, this wouldn't fly -- no doubt. You know, Glenn Beck is taking a lot of heat for it and refusing to back down.
ROBERTS: So, what about the fallout from this? And I want to quote Chuck Todd from NBC who wrote, quote, "There was a time when outrageous rants like this would actually cost the ranters their jobs. But not anymore. If anything, it's now encouraged."
AVLON: Well, it stirs the pot. And that's part of the problem here. Some of these wingnut comments are great for ratings, but they're bad for the country. And we're not making a distinction.
Now, Fox News ended up really issuing an official sort of distance -- it's a Heisman move through Executive VP Bill Shine. Let's take a look at what he says: "Glenn Beck expressed a personal opinion which represented his own views, not those of the Fox News Channel. And as with all commentators in the cable news arena, he is given the freedom to express his opinions." Now his statements have also provoked a boycott from one group which is calling on sponsors to be boycotted if they bought back his show, and they're half a million strong.
So, we'll see. I don't think this is over yet. This is a real...
COSTELLO: You know the really sad part, you know, they have this beer summit and they want the country to get this teachable moment. But Glenn Beck isn't going to want to go through any teachable moment. He's going to believe what he believes and nothing is going to change his mind.
AVLON: Well, that's the problem with wingnuts and hyper- partisans, right? I mean -- and part of the problem is that those comments give cover to folks who want to create a false moral equivalency over race. And that's really part of the problem here. I mean, it's so absurd to call this president a racist. But if it's good for ratings, some people give it a pass.
ROBERTS: Got an honorary wingnut of the week as well?
AVLON: We've got an honorary -- we're crowded this week. Honorary wingnut, Boston cop Officer Justin Barrett, who, in the wake of what will one day be known as "Gates' Gate," sent off an e-mail to, a mass e-mail including to reporters at "The Boston Globe" in which he referred to Professor Gates repeatedly, four times actually, as a jungle-monkey. Saying -- here's one of the excerpts from this piece of literature.
"If I had been the officer he verbally assaulted like a banana- eating jungle monkey, I would have sprayed him in the face with OC," which is pepper spray.
Now, well, a couple of things wrong about that. And -- so last night, he went on the contrition circuit. You know, this obviously one who got to fly, not the brightest moment in the man's life.
Let's hear what he said on "LARRY KING" last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARRETT: I'm not a racist. I did not intend any racial bigotry, harm or prejudice in my words. I sincerely apologize that these words have been received as such. I truly apologize to all involved, Larry.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: It leaves you speechless.
AVLON: Speechless.
COSTELLO: I know.
AVLON: I just, you know...
ROBERTS: It doesn't happen very often.
AVLON: How can you say you don't intend racial bigotry when you write that phrase four times in an e-mail? And, look, yesterday, he was trying to summon "some of my best friends are black" defense. And his lawyer -- I got to say his lawyer who tried to make this brilliant distinction -- my client was not claiming the Professor Henry Louis Gates was a jungle monkey, he was simply comparing him to the jungle monkey.
COSTELLO: He was acting like one.
AVLON: The worst lawyer of all time award.
ROBERTS: Acting like one...
AVLON: I'm sorry. You know, that distinction without a difference, my friend.
ROBERTS: Fine but ridiculous line there.
AVLON: Yes.
ROBERTS: John Avlon, it's always great to see you, buddy.
AVLON: Good to see you.
ROBERTS: Have a good weekend.
You can go to our AMFix hotline, by the way, and the blog to read John Avlon's piece in this week's wingnut, cnn.com/amfix.
COSTELLO: And more on Michael Jackson this morning. Just when you think there can't be anymore news about Michael Jackson, there is. We're going to kind of talk to his personal chef about what she saw going on in the house and what she saw Jackson's personal doctor doing.
It's 39 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. Michael Jackson's personal chef was on "LARRY KING LIVE" last night. She talked about what happened the day he died, and what she saw going on in the house when Dr. Conrad Murray was there.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LARRY KING, CNN HOST, "LARRY KING LIVE": Did you notice oxygen tanks, because if it was Diprivan and they have to measure blood -- they have to measure your blood pressure?
They also need oxygen tanks if you're giving that drug.
KAI CHASE, MICHAEL JACKSON'S PERSONAL CHEF: Yes.
KING: Did you notice them?
CHASE: I saw the oxygen tanks, yes.
KING: Where were they?
CHASE: I would see Dr. Murray carrying the oxygen tanks down in the mornings.
KING: On that morning or other mornings?
CHASE: No. I didn't see him that morning. I saw him in the afternoon, but other mornings.
KING: He would carry them down?
CHASE: Carry them down.
KING: They were portable oxygen tanks?
CHASE: Yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Now, the investigation is focused on the drugs the singer was taking. Randi Kaye has that for you.
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We have a copy of the search warrant issued in Las Vegas for Dr. Conrad Murray's home and office. The warrant states it's looking for evidence of, quote, "demonstrating crimes of excess prescribing, and prescribing to an addict, and manslaughter." The addict in this case apparently Michael Jackson. The search warrant also says authorities were looking for prescriptions and information on when medications were administered, prescribed, transferred, sold, distributed and concealed, including the powerful sedative, Diprivan, which authorities believe killed Michael Jackson and which we know from a source Dr. Conrad Murray gave him within 24 hours of his death.
Now investigators seized five hard drive images, one hard drive, paperwork, records from two cell phones and an iPhone. But the key piece of evidence that stand out really is a CD with a name Omar Arnold on it. Detective seized that. And I confirm with the source close to the investigation that Jackson used the name Omar Arnold as an alias to obtain prescription drugs and to get procedures done without anyone knowing. So now we know he used that name, and we know a CD with that name was taken from Dr. Murray's clinic in Vegas. That is something investigators no doubt will look at.
The search warrant also shows authorities believe Michael Jackson was using 19 other aliases. They were looking for prescriptions written in all of those names, which include the name of his personal chef, Kai Chase, and even his own son Prince Jackson. His attorney still saying Dr. Murray is a witness and has not been named a suspect. But the search warrant also mentioned seven other doctors that may have had correspondence with or written prescriptions for Michael Jackson and any of his aliases. So it seems, they're trying to match up Michael Jackson in any of the other names he used with doctors that they are looking at.
Now those mentioned in a search warrant include Dr. Murray, Jackson's long-time dermatologist Dr. Arnold Klein and five other doctors we have not reported on. The warrant also says they're looking for correspondence between Jackson and Cherilyn Lee. She's his former nurse, who told us that Jackson begged her for Diprivan. She said he begged her for it so he could sleep. I also spoke with a source with knowledge of the autopsy and the investigation, and he told me they are still issuing subpoenas for records. Still visiting doctor's offices. He said the autopsy and the toxicology report is just not done.
Randi Kaye, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: And so it goes. Thanks, Randy.
ROBERTS: Well, we got some extreme weather taking aim at the northeast today. And another big question, will the space shuttle be able to land later on this morning at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida?
Rob Marciano has got it all for you coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Twelve minutes now to the top of the hour. Rob Marciano is tracking all of the extreme weather for us this morning.
Is it Atlanta and the Northeast going to get pounded in some areas, Rob?
(WEATHER REPORT)
COSTELLO: Sure you'll keep track of that.
Thanks, Rob.
ROBERTS: The new Defense spending bill, some people say it looks more like a Christmas ham than a piece of legislation. We've got our Chris Lawrence. He is breaking it all down for you. He's coming up next with that beautiful fighter -- off the books or on the books? We'll find out. Ten minutes to the top of the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: I can't believe they're not dancing it there.
Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.
The House is set to vote on a military spending bill with the price tag of $6 plus billion. And a lot of that money is coming from congressional earmarks. Pentagon correspondent Chris Lawrence has more for you. CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, Carol, the 18 members of the committee that came up with this bill accounting for one-third of all the earmarks contained in it.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LAWRENCE (voice-over): $600 billion won't buy you any more F- 22s. The House cut funding for the fighter jet that's never fired a shot in battle. The Pentagon didn't want that jet anyway, but it's still stuck with projects it did not ask for.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates didn't want a new missile defense system, or another engine for the joint strike fighter, or nearly half a billion dollars for new presidential helicopters. Come to think of it, even President Obama didn't want those. They're all in the new defense spending bill.
RYAN ALEXANDER, TAXPAYERS FOR COMMON SENSE: The Department of Defense has no history of being frugal.
LAWRENCE: The president of Taxpayers for Common Sense, a non- partisan watchdog group says the words Pentagon and frugal have never been connected before.
ALEXANDER: And when they say we actually don't need this, it's pretty extraordinary. We should listen to that.
LAWRENCE: Nearly $3 billion of the extra money goes to earmarks, which are projects demanded by individual congressmen. Mostly for work in their home state.
REP. JEFF FLAKE (R), ARIZONA: If they're so good, why do we have to earmark money for them? Why don't we say compete on your own like everybody else?
LAWRENCE: Representative John Murtha sponsored the bill that cut the F-22 money, but says his earmarks provide good jobs for American workers and produce needed equipment like body armor.
REP. JOHN MURTHA (D), PENNSYLVANIA: The biggest complaint I get from troops in the field, I don't know how often you visit the field, Mr. Flake. I don't know how often you come to the people that do this work.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LAWRENCE: Representative Murtha was responsible for 23 earmarks, totaling $90 million, the most of any House member. But we'll have to see if they all make it through, because President Obama has threatened to veto this bill and some of these projects were included - John, Carol.
ROBERTS: Chris Lawrence for us this morning.
Chris, thanks so much. A new push to tax what's called Cadillac care, those top-of-the- line health care plans that cost nearly four times the national average. But could that idea backfire? Our Brianna Keilar live on Capitol Hill to explain, coming right up.
It's 54 1/2 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.
They call it Cadillac care -- top-of-the-line, gold-plated health care plans that cost nearly four times the national average. Now there's a push to tax them in order to help pay for health care reform, but at what cost?
Our Brianna Keilar live on Capitol Hill to navigate this one for us.
Good morning, Brianna.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John. This was an idea introduced by Senator John Kerry to try and break that log jam in the Senate over how to pay for health care reform. And the idea here is to tax insurance companies instead of American taxpayers.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KEILAR (voice-over): They're the best health insurance plans money can buy. In Washington, they have a name...
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Super gold-plated Cadillac plans.
KEILAR: What makes them so great?
PAUL FRONSTIN, EMPLOYEE BENEFITS RESEARCH INSTITUTE: No deductible, no co-payments, no co-insurance, unlimited choice of drugs, no restrictions on network.
KEILAR: These plans are often marketed to the wealthy. They cost as much as $40,000, far above the national average of $12,000. And critics say they encourage the overuse of doctor visits and procedures. A Democratic proposal to tax insurance companies that provide this pricey plans is gaining bipartisan support in the Senate as a way to help pay for health care reform and keep costs down.
SEN. RON WYDEN (D), OREGAN: Tax insurance companies, and that will then put pressure on them to try to make sure that people look for more cost-effective health care packages.
KEILAR: Some lawmakers say a tax on plans with premiums over $25,000 could raise as much as $90 billion to reform health care. The insurance industry which opposes the tax insists it would hit the policies of middle class Americans and not just the risk. Economist and insurance expert Paul Fronstin agrees. FRONSTIN: But you may also find a plan that costs $25,000 because the average age of workers is 55. And because they use a lot of health care, the cost of the plan is very high.
KEILAR: Labor Unions, a powerful Democratic ally also opposed the tax. The nation's largest union for public employees and health care workers says insurance companies will pass the cost on the consumers.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: While we think that any plan involving taxation and health care reform should not make health care more expensive. So alternatively, we think taxing income level is a better way to go. Another way to do this is to tax capital gains.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KEILAR: So as you can imagine, unions support the tax that's on the table in the House of Representatives, which is an additional income tax on the wealthy. Now that said, Republicans oppose it. But not only Republicans, so do many of these conservative blue dog Democrats. They want to see it stripped from the bill. But, John, it's a little early to see if maybe this tax on Cadillac plans will gain traction in the House, as well as the Senate.
ROBERTS: Yes. Well, it looks like we've got at least a month and a week to figure all of this out.
KEILAR: Sure.
ROBERTS: So we'll see where it all goes. Brianna Keilar for us at Capitol Hill this morning.
Brianna, thanks so much.
That brings us now to the top of the hour. It's Friday, it's the 31st of July. Another month of the summer gone by.
COSTELLO: I know, one more month to go.
ROBERTS: It just doesn't make me happy. I'm sorry. I don't mean to bring everybody down.
COSTELLO: Stop it.
ROBERTS: But any day of the summer that expires is -- I just don't like it.
COSTELLO: You need another vacation.
ROBERTS: I just -- I need more summer.
