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American Morning
Bill Clinton in North Korea; President Obama Says No Middle- Class Tax Hike; Continental Airline Emergency Landing; Still Political Activity during August Recess; Airline Flies Pets Coast to Coast; Where Do All the Clunkers Go?; The Marketing of a Dead Superstar
Aired August 04, 2009 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: And welcome to AMERICAN MORNING on this Tuesday, August 4th. Glad you're with us this morning. I'm Kiran Chetry.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. I'm John Roberts. We do have breaking news to tell you about this morning following several developing stories, in fact, that we'll be breaking down for you over the next 15 minutes.
First, though, former president Bill Clinton's surprised mission as we speak. He is North Korea this morning, hoping to win the release of American journalists Euna Lee and Laura Ling.
The two could be released at any moment. We're covering all the angles of this story with the global resources of CNN to bring you the very latest.
CHETRY: Other stories we're going to be breaking down for you. Read his lips. No tax hike for middle class Americans. White House press secretary Robert Gibbs trying to set the records straight after President Obama's top economic advisers suggested that a tax increase couldn't be ruled out as a way of cutting the budget deficit and paying for healthcare reform.
ROBERTS: And you have the clunker, but will the government have the cash? The White House says the Senate must ask quickly and approve another $2 billion to save the popular Cash for Clunkers Program. So what happens to that old gas-guzzler after you trade it in?
A lot of people have been asking. We dispatched our Jason Carroll to look at that.
CHETRY: We begin now again with breaking news and a surprise visit to North Korea by former president Bill Clinton. He arrived in Pyongyang just before midnight. His mission, to secure the release of American journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee.
ROBERTS: You may remember back in June, the women were sentenced to 12 years of hard labor after North Korean officials claimed they entered the country illegally to smear the government. The questions that we're asking this morning -- can President Clinton get them out? And how much of this deal was cooked before he went over there?
Jill Dougherty is live for us from Washington this morning. Elaine Quijano live at the White House.
Let's start with Jill. And Jill, when it comes to getting these journalists home, is this trip by the former president going to work?
JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: You know, that really is the big question because nobody can guarantee. One of the things that officials have said even before Clinton went, they were talking about perhaps Al Gore going or Bill Richardson.
And what they said is, once they get off that plane, nobody really knows precisely who they'll be meeting with, what could happen, and what the decision would be.
It's extremely high profile. This is Bill Clinton, his first mission for President Obama. And, of course, we have Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. A very dramatic moment - Kiran.
ROBERTS: Yes, Jill, it's John here.
DOUGHERTY: Sorry, John.
ROBERTS: So you know, North Korea, of course, is the king of quid pro quo. They don't do anything for nothing. So, how do you expect that North Korea could benefit from all of this?
DOUGHERTY: Well, this is the other part of it is which is the administration has been trying to keep these two things separate. The journalists on one side and the standoff over the nuclear program of North Korea on the other side. And so -- and the sanctions have been growing, the world community is really moving very strongly to crack down on the North -- on North's nuclear program and make those sanctions heard.
So, the question would be, would North Korea, if they were to release those journalists, they could score some points for, let's say, erasing some of that ferocious image that they've had recently with nuclear tests and missile firings. And what they would probably want is some type of negotiation in that direction.
Would that happen? Would this just be the beginning of it? So you've got two stories playing out at the same time in a very dramatic fashion.
ROBERTS: All right. We'll be watching this very closely all day today. Jill Dougherty for us this morning from Washington. Jill, thanks.
CHETRY: We're also following a story from the White House this morning. Elaine Quijano, the only reporter live this early. And Elaine, so from your location, what's the latest? And what do we know about how involved the White House was in making this happen?
ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we're waiting to find out, Kiran. I can tell you so far it's been radio silence, perhaps an indication, obviously, of just how sensitive this mission is. But obviously, this is a very delicate balancing act, as Jill was just saying a moment ago for the Obama administration.
How to negotiate the release of these two journalists while at the same time keeping that separate from the nuclear issue. As Jill was mentioning here, the White House really all along has been trying to say, look, this is a humanitarian issue, one that should be kept separate from the issue of trying to get North Korea to curb its nuclear ambitions.
But, in that time, of course, North Korea conducted a nuclear test, launched ballistic missiles. It remains to be seen, Kiran, whether or not any of that might come up during former President Clinton's visit to North Korea.
CHETRY: You know the other interesting thing about the Bill Clinton factor, he's the husband of the current secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, and you can't forget, of course, that Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama were also rivals in the primary.
So you've got a lot going on there?
QUIJANO: Yes, you know, a lot. A lot of layers, you're absolutely right, Kiran. This is the first high-profile public mission that former President Clinton is on on behalf of the Obama administration. It really answers this long-standing question -- what role would the former president have in the Obama administration? What missions might he be asked to carry out?
It was no secret during the campaign that Barack Obama and Bill Clinton did not necessarily have a close relationship. Instead, it was described as being distant and cool. Now, of course, though, it appears they are moving beyond that with President -- former President Clinton now on the ground in North Korea representing the Obama administration.
CHETRY: All right. Elaine Quijano, for us, thanks so much.
The other interesting thing is the last high-profile person from the government to visit with under administration also, you know, Madeleine Albright, the then secretary of state.
ROBERTS: Right. And you know you've also got, of course, the other figure in all of this is Al Gore, President Clinton's former vice president, because he is part owner of Current TV. Laura and Euna both work for Current TV.
And Al Gore told us in an interview awhile ago that he was doing everything he possibly could to secure their release. So you've got the intersection of a lot of powerful players here.
So just who are Euna Lee and Laura Ling? Here's more for you in an "AM Extra". Both of them work for Current TV, a Web based TV channel started by Al Gore, as we said. Euna Lee is 36 years old. She's a Korean-American videographer and joined Kiran back in 2005. She is married to an L.A.-based actor and has a 4-year-old daughter named Hanna.
Laura Ling is 32. She's a Chinese-American reporter who gained attention for her reports in the drug wars in Mexico. She's married to financial analyst Ian Clayton. Back in June, Ling's celebrity sister Lisa spoke exclusively to our Anderson Cooper about her sister's conviction.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LISA LING, LAURA LING'S SISTER: It's very challenging. We haven't heard much out of North Korea. So, in a way, we appreciated that they released these charges. We will say, again, as we've said before, that when they left U.S. soil, they never intended to cross into North Korea.
According to the charges, they confessed. And so we know they're sorry. We're very sorry. And we hope that the North Korean government now will show compassion and just let them come home.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST, "ANDERSON COOPER 360": Lisa, I mean, does it concern you that the North Korean government is saying that they were there for a smear campaign, not acknowledging that they were independent journalists?
LING: All we can say is that they are journalists and they were doing their job. My sister has been a journalist for years. And that's really all we can say. You know, we weren't in the courtroom. We don't know any sort of specifics other than what was released.
We just hope, you know, given the fact that we know, the girls have apologized profusely, that they will let the girls come home to us. It's been -- it's been three months. And that's been too long for us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: And stay with us because coming up in about five minutes' time, we're going to be talking to Victor Cha. He was the director of Asian affairs at the White House during the Bush administration. He went to North Korea. We're going to find out what he thinks is going on behind closed doors right now.
CHETRY: Other stories new this morning. The White House wants to make it perfectly clear that President Obama is committed to his campaign promise not to raise taxes on families earning less than $250,000.
Over the weekend, the president's top money men refused to rule out new taxes in an effort to close the budget gap. On Monday, press secretary Robert Gibbs then tried to set the record straight with reporters.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUESTION: Did Geithner and Summers go off script or were they sort of testing the temperature out there with something like this?
ROBERT GIBBS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I don't know. I know the president has been clear about his commitment.
QUESTION: So there's no real scenario there as the administration sees it where middle class taxpayers might be hit with a hike? There's no scenario right now?
GIBBS: The president made a commitment to the campaign. He's clear about that commitment. He's going to keep it. I don't know how much more clear about the commitment I can be.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: But some economists have said that slashing the deficit and overhauling health care may require a middle class tax hike.
ROBERTS: Iran for the first time this morning confirming the arrest of three American hikers. And according to the Iranian officials, the two men and one woman have been charged with illegal entry. The three were hiking through the Kurdish region of northern Iraq when they apparently strayed across the border into Iran on Friday. That's when they contacted a friend to say they were surrounded by Iranian soldiers.
CHETRY: The White House warning the popular Cash for Clunkers trade-in program could be a clunker itself soon if the Senate doesn't approve another $2 billion in funding before its Friday recess. Senate Democrats are trying to win over reluctant Republicans who say the program is just another taxpayer funded bailout.
We're also going to track what happens to that clunker after you trade it in. Jason Carroll will have that live for us a little later in the hour.
CHETRY: Former president Bill Clinton in North Korea this morning trying to win the release of Euna Lee and Laura Ling. Will he be able to do it? And really what's it in for North Korea? Is this about their nuclear program? Is this about a smooth transition of power? We'll find out. Victor Cha, former director Asian affairs at the Bush administration White House, will be joining us in just a moment. Nine minutes now after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.
CHETRY: And welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. It's 11 minutes after the hour.
Right now, we're following breaking news. Washington raising the stakes in its effort to win the release of two U.S. journalists jailed in North Korea. As we speak, former President Bill Clinton is in Pyongyang. This is video of him arriving there.
His visit comes more than eight weeks after Euna Lee and Laura Ling were sentenced to 12 years of hard labor. Accidentally crossing over the border is what they say happened.
Joining me now is Victor Cha. He was director of Asian affairs at the White House during the Bush administration. He also visited Pyongyang with Governor Bill Richardson back in 2007. Victor joins us via Skype from Hawaii this morning.
Thanks for being with us.
VICTOR CHAR, CSIS KOREA CHAIR: My pleasure, Kiran.
CHETRY: Drawing on your experience as your extensive knowledge of North Korea, what might be going on in these negotiations of North Korean leaders and our former president, Bill Clinton?
CHA: Well, I think for the North Koreans, they're receiving -- a former head of state gives them a lot of face, political face, which is important to their country and to their leadership.
I would imagine that the former president is there solely for the purpose of trying to bring back these two Americans and that he's probably engaging in discussions with the foreign ministry as well as with some members of the party., perhaps even the leader himself to secure the release of the Americans as a humanitarian gesture by the North Korean government.
CHETRY: It's interesting, we've heard the rhetoric ratcheted up recently, the long-range missile firings, the censure of North Korea by the United Nations, nuclear talk, pulling out of the six-party talks.
What does it say about North Korea's influence on the world stage if they're finally getting a former U.S. president to visit them, but it's only after detaining two American journalists?
CHA: Well, I mean, it doesn't say a lot in terms of their reputation around the world, clearly. You know, but for them, former President Clinton is very credible to them because, you know, he as president considered very seriously going to North Korea in his last few days or weeks in office.
So, for the North Koreans to receive him, I think they see that as a really big deal for him. And hopefully that will be enough to get them -- get the two Americans released. But overall, in terms of their reputation around the world, they certainly doesn't do them any good.
CHETRY: I guess what I'm also wondering and what some of us are wondering is what will they get? I mean will they basically get rewarded, perhaps, or get some agreements in exchange for the release of the two that many in the world say they were unfairly detain? CHA: Yes. Well, I mean, I think -- I mean, I think that, you know, they will probably want some sort of apology from the two women. Past practice in North Koreans have always asked for some sort of apology as a way to save face for themselves.
You know they may want compensation for the fact that they held these two women in the state guest house for over five months which ends up to be a lot of money for North Koreans. You know they may ask for something like that.
But I don't know if they'll link this directly to the nuclear negotiations. Having said that, if President Clinton comes out with these two women and he says that they're ready to negotiate on the nuclear side that would put a lot of pressure on the Obama administration to reengage and try to move this process forward even as U.N. sanctions continue on the North Korean regime.
CHETRY: Yes, and that's the other interesting element here. What sort of message is this sending from the Obama administration? I mean technically you have the former president but he's also the spouse of the current secretary of state.
CHA: Right. Right. I mean, you know, if you talk to U.S. government officials about this, they'd say very clearly this is a private humanitarian mission. It was requested by the families of Euna and Laura. And that there's no government officials going.
Having said all that, he's the former president and he's the husband of the secretary of state. So this not being anything related to the U.S. government is kind to difficult to believe. And I think the North Koreans understand that and that's one of the reasons why they were so eager to receive the president.
CHETRY: And here's the -- you want to be careful about. But it is something that we were wondering here in the newsroom. Investigative reporter Lisa Ling, many know her as a reporter with National Geographic. She's the sister of Laura Ling. She entered North Korea back in 2006 for a National Geographic documentary and she was posing as a member of the medical team.
This is some of the video that she gave us in this documentary which was entitled "Undercover in North Korea." She exposed some of the hardships of living in North Korea.
Do you think that Kim Jong-Il was aware of this documentary and once he knew did that impact, perhaps, the treatment and the detainment of her sister?
CHA: Yes, I mean, I think the North Koreans were pretty well aware of everything that's written and filmed about them outside of the country. So I would not doubt that they knew about this earlier video. And I think that, you know, the reason that they took these two women, you know, trying to send a message to everybody that they don't want journalists snooping on their border trying to write stories about people leaving their country. And I think they're trying to use these two reporters to send a very strong message to the world that they don't want folks sniffing on their border. So this wasn't so much, you know, something that they were trying to do related to the nuclear problem, per se. I think they had a very clear message that they were trying to send to people about staying away from their border.
CHETRY: Victor Cha, the last time you visited the country was in 2007. You have a lot of great insight on this. Thanks so much for being with us this morning.
CHA: My pleasure, Kiran.
ROBERTS: Good to hear from him today.
So lots of action in the markets yesterday. Things all in the positive direction. The Dow up 114, the S&P up 15, the Nasdaq up 30. Leading indicator for potential economic recovery? We'll see.
Christine Romans joins us in a couple of few minutes to break it all down for you. It's 17 1/2 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Updating you now on breaking news. Former president Bill Clinton on a diplomatic mission this morning as we speak. He's in North Korea trying to win the release of American journalists Euna Lee and Laura Ling.
The two women are serving 12-year sentences after being convicted of entering the country illegally to commit hostile acts.
We've got teams across the globe working this story. We'll bring you the very latest information when we get it. Meantime, Christine Romans here "Minding Your Business" this morning.
And a very good start to the month of August with the stock market. Dare we hope that maybe things are on the upswing?
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: And July was very, very good as well. I mean this has been a pretty good run here. I want to look at the S&P 500 and show you this one. This is the broadest gauge of stock market strength that is -- or weakness that is tied to your retirement money and your investments.
If you look at the S&P 500, you can see that it is back to November levels now. You can see that huge plunge, just a catastrophic plunge, that went to 12-year lows at 676 in March. Since March, the S&P 500 is up 48 percent. It is very rare to see this strong of a rally in such a short period of time.
The Dow and the NASDAQ are showing similar charts. The NASDAQ is up 58 percent from 12-year lows hit back in March.
Now why is this happening? It's because we like to say that the stock market is a leading indicator. It's looking ahead. And it's looking at things like a manufacturing survey yesterday that was strong. Car sales, construction spending, earnings, all of these things that are showing -- at least they're not showing a free fall anymore.
And the way one economist explained it to me, he said, look, we are still skydiving out of the plane, but someone pulled the chute. And the stock market is telling us that now we're floating down instead of just plummeting toward the earth. And that's where we are. And the stock market has been reflecting that. And that's why the stock market is up.
CHETRY: What happened to some of those stocks that ended up being worth pennies compared to what people bought them for? Is that going to climb for people eventually or you sort of...
ROMANS: Some of those will be worth pennies no matter what. And some of them will never get back maybe up to their peak. I mean that's a good question because the S&P actually over the past 10 year, I looked it up, it's down and it's down about 23 percent. It was at 1300 10 years ago. So that's something to remember, too.
I mean, we are up very substantially right here, but we are still down -- we are still down quite a bit from where we were last year and even over the past 10 years.
CHETRY: All right. That brings us to our "Romans' Numeral" which is a number driving a story about your money. What do you have for us this hour?
ROMANS: It's a year, it's 1938 -- it's to leave you kind of an up note. It was the best up five-month gain for stocks. The best five...
ROBERTS: Since 1938.
ROMANS: Since 1938. And you remember, 1938, there were two very terrible, painful down waves. I mean it was hard to get through. And that was a big rally there back in 1938. Another big caveat I want to leave you with is oil prices. Oil prices back above $71 a barrel. They're cut in half from last year. But if you are -- still in or at the end of the great recession, and oil is at $71, what happens when the economy starts growing?
Some people are concerned that oil prices are going to keep moving higher and that will be something that all of us will feel even as maybe our investments are buying back some of their losses, we're still watching low prices here.
CHETRY: All right. Speaking of, you know, clunkers and the oil and paying for gas. Do you like this Cash for Clunkers program?
ROMANS: Well, a lot of people like it, I tell you that.
CHETRY: Taken off. Right?
ROMANS: It really is. CHETRY: So what happens to all these clunkers after you trade them in? Well, Jason Carroll is going to show us. It's 23 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. Twenty- six minutes past the hour right now.
You know something's wrong when ambulances and stretchers line the runway. Well, this was a scene after a Continental flight from Rio de Janeiro to Houston was forced to make an emergency landing yesterday after getting hit by severe, severe turbulence.
At least 26 people on that flight were hurt. And this morning we're hearing from some of the passengers onboard.
Here's CNN's Brian Todd.
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John and Kiran.
We're getting new information about the condition that Continental Airlines jet encountered over the Caribbean and the passengers and their pictures are telling a harrowing story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TODD (voice-over): This is what violent turbulence looks like inside the cabin. These photographs from a passenger aboard Continental flight 128 show the ceiling of the plane split open. Two sections you can see in this shot looked like casings for several oxygen masks.
One witness says this damage may have been done by passengers who were thrown upward.
JOHN NORWOOD, CONTINENTAL FLIGHT 128 PASSENGER: All of the lighting and all -- where the masks come down and everything, people that weren't seat belted in flew out and hit the ceiling. So their faces, their heads hit the plastics and broke all the plastic up the top.
TODD: The plane with 179 people aboard encountered severe turbulence on the way from Rio de Janeiro to Houston and diverted to Miami. 26 passengers were hurt. Some required at least temporary hospitalization.
CNN meteorologist Chad Myers says there was no severe weather in the area at the time. And the Continental Airlines official now tells CNN this aircraft encountered what's called clear air turbulence.
Pilots we spoke to say this is when a plane gets caught between air masses moving swiftly in different directions. As the name indicates, it often happens when the weather looks fine and it comes on with virtually no warning. JOHN WILEY, PILOT: So as the pilots are transiting this area, they're not seeing anything on the radar, they're not seeing anything visually that gives them reason to believe that they're getting ready to penetrate an area of clear air turbulence.
TODD: Pilots say during these events, passengers not wearing seatbelts can get severely injured when G-forces throw them to the ceiling. They can be pinned on the ceiling even for a few seconds, then could get injured by being thrown back down on the seats or the floor.
After landing in Miami, some passengers were asked whether they got any warning to buckle their seatbelts when the heavy turbulence began.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: None, whatsoever. I hit my head on the light above. It broke the light out. It was showered in glass.
TODD: Continental says the seatbelt sign was illuminated and their procedure is to give a verbal warning when that happens.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TODD: A Continental official told me they're still gathering information about exactly what happened but, quote, "There's every reason to believe a verbal warning was given."
John and Kiran, back to you.
ROBERTS: Brian Todd for us this morning. Brian, thanks so much.
Coming up on 29 minutes after the hour. Updating you on our breaking news this morning. A surprise visit in North Korea by former president Bill Clinton. He arrived in Pyongyang just before midnight. His mission, to secure the release of American journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee.
The women were captured, tried, convicted and sentenced to 12 years of prison labor. We're tapping into the global resources of CNN this morning to bring you the very latest information just as soon as we get it.
CHETRY: Well, the custody issue has been resolved but the battle over Michael Jackson's estate continues. A judge in Los Angeles approving an agreement that would grant Jackson's mother Katherine permanent custody of his children.
Katherine Jackson also wants more of a say in her son's estate. In fact, she's challenging the two men named as co-executors in Michael's will. The judge says that he wants both sides to try to reach a resolution on their own.
ROBERTS: And snow, rain, heat, and gloom of night can't stop your mailman, but the e-mail might. The Postal Service is looking at consolidating or closing nearly 700 post offices across the country. Apparently, the two-cent increase in stamp prices back in May was not enough to cover $7 billion loss this year.
Big reason for that loss, more and more people are ditching snail mail and paying their bills online and sending e-mails or instant messages or SMS's or BlackBerry messages or whatever else they send to each other.
Well, Congress may be heading home, but health care is not taking a back seat. For everyone involved the August recess will be a working vacation. So just who should we keep our eye on over the next few weeks?
Joining me now is Martin Kady. He is the deputy Congress editor of Politico.com. He's also author of Politico's "Huddle." And he's got a very interesting article called "The Five Things to Watch for During the Recess."
Martin, it's great to see you this morning. Let's start with number. You say, watch for an aggressive move by Karen Ignagni. She is the president and CEO of America's health insurance plans. What should we be watching for from a person who many Americans have never heard about before?
MARTIN KADY, DEPUTY CONGRESS EDITOR, POLITICO: Well, the health insurance industry has kind of been a little bit quieter than other parts of the health care industry so far. But Speaker Nancy Pelosi called the health insurance industry the villains in this whole debate last week. So, that means the health insurance industry is ready to turn-on. It started talking about the 100 million or more people who actually have insurance. And talked about how they may be affected. So much of discussion is about who is uninsured, but now they are ready to go on the attack during the summer.
ROBERTS: They had a seat at the table during the initial negotiations with the White House, but they are not in favor of this public option, right?
KADY: They are not in favor of the public option, because they believe that employers in the long run will start to drop the employer-based coverage and start switching to the public option. So they're warning of the government take over of health insurance.
ROBERTS: Number two thing to watch you say, Martin, is watch President Obama's numbers? How do you think they will play out during the August recess?
KADY: Well, if the president was still in the mid-60s and extremely popular like he was in the first six months of his presidency, you know, conservative Democrat from a district that McCain want could go home and say, I'm with this president. I believe in him.
Now you can think if Obama's numbers are in the low 50s nationwide, they may even be below that in a red district. So if you're a Democratic member of Congress, you're going home. You're getting a lot of push back. People aren't quite buying in to the entire Obama agenda right now. These guys are going to be very worried, and they might start to waiver while they're back on the home front.
ROBERTS: You mentioned when were talking about number one, Martin, Speaker Pelosi and talking about the message war. That issue, number three thing to watch for during the August recess. The message war. I guess a lot of that centers around health care -- yes?
KADY: Yes, sure. And, you know, Republicans have it easy on the message war. They can try the pretty easy buzz word. Socialized medicine. A government takeover of your health care. They'll talk about government bureaucrats, you know, deciding what care you can and can't get. I mean, we've seen commercials, you know, on CNN this morning along these lines. But Democrats have it a lot harder. You know, they have the noble goal of covering the uninsured. But when they, the next step when they have to explain that, how does it affect me? They have to start talking about public insurance exchanges and, you know, non-profit cooperatives and how to pay for it. It's a lot more complicated.
ROBERTS: Yes, I know. How do you sell those insurance exchanges and the health care cooperatives?
KADY: Yes.
ROBERTS: Or most people just have no clue what's going on, or what's in the bill because it's 1,000 pages and so many people and so many members of Congress haven't even read it.
KADY: Exactly.
ROBERTS: Number four you say is who will come to the tea parties? These anti-tax, anti-spending protests?
KADY: You know, we already saw this flare up over the weekend. Now we have a video up, and I know several networks have run this video as well. Lloyd Doggett, he's a Texas Democrat. He had a town hall meeting in south Austin that basically got overrun with the tea party-type protesters, who, you know, are saying just say no, as you can see on the screen here.
And these folks -- you know, it's hard to tell whether they are actually grassroots organized citizens, but the more likely thing is that they're being organized on the national level by conservative groups. And we've gotten memos from groups called how to embarrassyourcongressman.com.
So, these folks are keying up the party. And they're not huge. But think, a small group of people can disrupt a congressman's town hall event. It goes on YouTube. It goes nationwide. And it's embarrassing for the member of Congress.
ROBERTS: Yes. There's an awful lot of pushback against members of Congress.
KADY: Yes.
ROBERTS: Coming up in this recess. And number five you say Baucus in a box. This is Max Baucus. The chairman of the finance committee. He's the guy who's charged with trying to write the health care reform bill in the Senate. Why is he in the box?
KADY: Well, Max Baucus doesn't like to move major bills out of his finance committee without getting a signoff from a few Republicans. He's a conservative Montana Democrat. He wants to get Republicans like Chuck Grassley of Iowa or Mike Enzi of Wyoming to sign off on this before he moves it to the full Senate, because he knows if it comes out of the Senate Finance Committee on a pure partisan vote, it's going to be tough to get 60 in the Senate.
ROBERTS: Yes. Five things to watch for during the August recess. Martin Kady of Politico.com. Great to talk to you this morning. Thanks so much.
KADY: Thanks, John.
ROBERTS: Enjoyed the article, by the way.
KADY: Thank you.
ROBERTS: If you want to read Martin Kady's full article from Politico, we'll link you to it. Just go ahead to our blog at cnn.com/amfix. You'll find the link there. We also want you to weigh in with your take on how President Obama is doing. It's the second 100 days of his administration winds down, when you're ready for the third 100 days. Cast your vote at cnn.com/reportcard, and see the results this Thursday night, 8:00 Eastern, right here on CNN.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Meanwhile, this cash for clunkers program turned out to be quite popular. In fact, the White House is saying if you want to keep it going, the Senate actually has to approve billions and more money for it. But ever wonder what happens to the clunker after you trade it in? Jason Carroll went digging. He shows us up next.
Thirty-five minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. You know, we promised you clunkers and what happens to them. But unfortunately we're wondering the more pressing problem is what's happen to Jason Carroll's piece on it. Apparently it's kind of trapped in our electronic system somewhere. We're struggling desperately to find it. And we'll get it to you just as soon as we can.
Meantime, and here's the reason why you saw these pictures of furry little doggies. There's a new airline flying the friendly skies one that caters to a very specific clientele.
CHETRY: Yes, that's right. The name says it all. It's Pet Airways. It offers coast-to-coast travel for cats and dogs only. Carol Costello has the story for us. She's live in D.C. this morning.
You mean people can't even go on the plane?
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No, no people, just dogs and cats. Maybe that's where Jason Carroll is. I'm getting worried about him.
CHETRY: Either we're going to get his piece or he's going to re- enact what happens to the clunkers. One way or another.
COSTELLO: Oh, make him re-enact it.
(CROSSTALK)
ROBERTS: That won't be good either when he goes into the crasher.
COSTELLO: It would be good, because I hear him laughing in the background.
OK, let's talk about Pet Airways, shall we? Because I admit I was skeptical about Pet Airways. Who in a recession would dole out hundreds of dollars to fly their pets on a plane just for dogs and cats. Once again, I underestimated the love Americans have for their animals. It's crazy.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO (voice-over): Welcome to Pet Airways, where passengers are pawsengers.
And people, pet parents.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's going to be a pawsenger. He's going to be a special pawsenger.
COSTELLO: On Pet Airways, pets fly in the air conditioned main cabin of a beach 1900 turbo prop in the company of a pet specialist.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're going to be a good boy and behave yourself.
COSTELLO: The animal's owners aren't up there with them. They'll fly commercial and meet up with their loved ones when their pet's flight lands.
Alysa Binder is the co-creator of Pet Airways.
Some people might think, oh, you're crazy.
ALYSA BINDER, CO-FOUNDER, PET AIRWAYS: Yes, people did. But we said there was a need. And we are our own community. And we said we get it.
COSTELLO: No chief said our own community. That's loosely defined as a group of people who think their pets are people, who know that one day their dog will be able to do what the Dug did in the movie "Up." DUG, CARTOON CHARACTER, "UP": My name is Dug. I have just met you, and I love you. My Master made me this collar. He is a good and smart master, and he made me this collar so that I may talk -- squirrel!
COSTELLO (on camera): So he's your baby.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's my baby. He's my first baby.
COSTELLO (voice-over): Gus is 12, arthritic, and prone to seizures. And the thought of Gus flying commercial alone is too much to bear, even at $399 one way.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, and definitely. I'm nervous about he's -- how he's feeling, so that makes me feel so good to know that Pet Airways that they're going to be stopping by and checking him. They're going to be in the plane with him.
RENLUKA JENKINS, PET AIRWAYS CUSTOMER: I mean, we treat them as they live with us. They sleep with us. We take care of them. They go to the doctor. Why should this be any different?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE).
COSTELLO: And with that sentiment in mind, Arthur Gus and the rest are buckled up and ready to fly. When Pet Airways lands in L.A. --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, there's mommy.
COSTELLO: ... let the reunions begin.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm going to cry.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: Oh, Gus made it safe and sound. And we did get an e- mail from Gus's mom, Jennifer. She said he had a great trip. As for the costs, since Gus was a great big dog and he had problems, it costs $399 to fly him one way. But the airline says some flights are as low as $149, and the people who are flying their pets, John, Kiran, said those prices are comparable to what you'd pay if you had to fly your dog commercial in cargo.
ROBERTS: Yes. It's not cheap, particularly anymore, you know? And the charge of all that extra baggage. But why not just put the dog in the cargo, hold of a regular aircraft, though?
COSTELLO: Well, because it's dark down there. Nobody keeps an eye on them. You know, you've heard nightmare stories of dogs escaping, and some dogs dying. Although that happens very rarely. So, people just feel more comfortable, you know, to have their pets on an air conditioned plane with people watching them. One of whom is a veterinarian.
CHETRY: See. COSTELLO: You know, if you're moving across country and you want to like ship your dog over, I guess that's -- it's worth it to some people.
ROBERTS: Well, I admit. I actually -- I did have a bad experience putting a dog in a cargo hold. We took the dog up to cottage in Canada, and when we arrived back at Newark, the dog was covered in poop.
CHETRY: See? If only to avoid the unpleasant washing after arrival. Or you could always...
ROBERTS: Getting the dog in the car was a lot of fun after that, considering we didn't have any access to the water.
CHETRY: But you know you could have done, you could have just strapped the dog to the top of your car.
ROBERTS: You mean?
COSTELLO: Stop that.
ROBERTS: She's talking about Mitt Romney again. PETA pulled a Mitt Romney with a dog.
(CROSSTALK)
COSTELLO: You know, PETA is coming after both of you.
PETA is coming after both of you, and you're going to be...
(CROSSTALK)
ROBERTS: No, that's -- Mitt Romney did that. Not us.
CHETRY: Exactly.
We don't advocate that at all.
ROBERTS: No.
CHETRY: We like Pet Airways.
ROBERTS: Carol, thanks so much.
CHETRY: Much safer.
ROBERTS: Yes.
Mitt Romney's dog, Seamus. It's famous on the Internet, by the way. Just look it up.
We're watching extreme weather this morning. Storms on tap for parts of the country this morning. Rob Marciano checks in. He's coming up next.
43-1/2 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Forty-six minutes after the hour. Rob Marciano is at the weather center in Atlanta today. He's checking on the extreme weather across the country.
Midwest and across today, Rob?
(WEATHER REPORT)
CHETRY: All right. Well, finally, we promise, we're going to have it for you.
ROBERTS: You're going to try this again?
CHETRY: We're talking about the popular Cash for Clunkers program, right? You trade in, you get a voucher for a certain amount of money to go toward buying your new car. But what happens to your old car. Jason Carroll, fingers crossed, can show us this in just a minute.
It's 47 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: This is it. Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. Cash for clunkers, it's getting a lot of credit for the surge July car sales we've seen. Right now, though, the wildly popular program is running on fumes. The Senate needs to approve another $2 billion in money for the program this week, or the White House says the program itself will have to be junked.
But what happens to the actual clunker when you trade it in? Jason Carroll is taking a look at that for us this morning.
We waited a long time for it so it better be good.
JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. You put me under pressure there.
(CROSSTALK)
ROBERTS: Carol Costello wanted you to do a re-enactment. That's, I mean, that's a critical part of the process. We all know that.
(CROSSTALK)
CARROLL: Well, this is sort of like a lesson of mechanics 101 in some ways. You know, one estimate shows some 120,000 cars were traded in under the cash for clunkers program. A lot of you have written in asking if those trade-ins are not supposed to go back out on the road, where do they go? Well, you're finally about to get your answer.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) CARROLL (voice-over): Major automakers reporting a boost in sales, thanks to the government's cash for clunkers program, consumers giving thanks to.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, I got $4,500 for this vehicle.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Deal is done. We are happy for him.
CARROLL: Official numbers not in yet. But already, tens of thousands of owners have dumped their old cars for new ones. What happens to the old ones? Fluid put into the engine at the dealership makes them unusable.
What's next?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So this is the first step when they come in over here.
CARROLL: Most end up at salvage yards like this one in Ridgefield Park, New Jersey.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It definitely helped our business.
CARROLL: Dan Savenyano (ph) took us on a step-by-step process of de-clunking the clunker.
Step one, evaluation.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These cars came in right from the dealership in Teterboro, right there over the bridge.
CARROLL (on camera): So this is an example of what some of the clunkers for cash that you're getting -- right?
This three?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Yes.
So basic on this, like normally if it wasn't a clunkers car, I can see the doors, probably the air bags, sell them.
CARROLL (voice-over): The government program doesn't allow every car part to be recycled, because they don't want certain parts back out on the road.
(on camera): What's the next step?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, step two, when any car comes in to our facility, we put it on this rack over here.
CARROLL (voice-over): Evaluation complete. Step two -- draining.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Rear end fluids, brake fluids, all the fluids are drained here in this area. CARROLL (on camera): The next step is to recycle the items that are allowed. In this case -- the tires, the catalytic converter, the battery, the condenser, and the radiator. These are the only items from these types of cars that the program allows to be recycled. The next step -- it's got to be crushed.
(voice-over): Once it resembles a metal pancake, it's done; ready for its final step, shredding.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The little pieces about that big, and then it gets exported to any metal recyclers overseas.
CARROLL (on camera): At the end of the day, if you had to give your assessment of this program, how it's been working for you so far, what would it be?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, it's definitely built relationships with the dealers out there also. And it also helps us to get, you know, every little bit you can out of a car.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CARROLL: Well, under the cash for clunkers program, there have been concern. Some of the trade-ins have been sold through auction and actually do end up back out the streets. Also some environmentalists question just how fuel efficient some of the cars bought in exchange for the trade-in are? Not in question at this point. The financial success of the program, the dealers are making money. The consumers seem to be happy, even the salvage yards out there making money as well.
CHETRY: Right. So we have to see if the program is going to continue now.
CARROLL: Well, we'll have to wait and see.
CHETRY: All right.
CARROLL: Maybe by the end of the week, we'll know.
CHETRY: Thanks so much, Jason.
CARROLL: You bet.
CHETRY: And we also want to know what you think about the cash for clunkers program. Do you support more funding for it? Have you used it? Will you use it? Share your thoughts, cnn.com/amfix.
ROBERTS: Of course not everybody is happy with the cash for clunkers program. Senator Jim DeMitt is not happy with it. He's going to be joining us coming up in the not too distant future to talk about why he doesn't support it being renewed.
And also why he's against the health care program as well. So all of that coming up. We also -- we'll talk about President Clinton, former President Clinton in North Korea trying to win the release of two American journalists. All that ahead.
It's 54 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. Fifty-six minutes past the hour right now on the Most News in the Morning.
Now that the custody situation is settled in the Michael Jackson case, the kids are going to be staying with his mother, Katherine Jackson. There's still the matter of money. A judge has decided who will handle his estate at least for now, but the marketing of a pop icon who died has only just begun.
Here's Randi Kaye on what's in the works already.
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John and Kiran. Michael Jackson was $400 million in debt by some estimates. So why the fight over his estate?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARK ROESLER, CEO, CMG WORLDWIDE: Michael Jackson will certainly be worth more dead than he was alive.
KAYE (voice-over): Business agent Mark Roesler handles the estates of other celebrities who have passed, like Marilyn Monroe and James Dean. He predicts Jackson will be the biggest-grossing personality of all time -- good news for his mother, Katherine, and his three children, who together were left 80 percent of his estate.
(on camera): So, what is the estate really worth? Katherine Jackson's attorney has said it's worth $2 billion. But a source close to the estate dealings called that ridiculous and called her attorney terribly misinformed. That source told me the estate is more likely worth $100 million right now, with the potential to be worth a whole lot more.
(voice-over): Already, we have learned deals are in the works that could bring in hundreds of millions of dollars, including a movie featuring hours of Jackson's final rehearsal footage. Our source says the estate will get 90 percent of the profits. Also, Jackson's memoir, "Moonwalk," will be re-released in October. That deal is worth about $60 million.
ROESLER: You are talking about the copyrights. You are talking about the trademarks. You are talking about the -- what you call the -- the right of publicity that is associated with his name and likeness.
KAYE: In fact, he's the highest selling artist after death, since Nielsen started tracking this stuff in 1991. The numbers don't like. From January 1st of this year until the week he died, Jackson sold 297,000 albums. Compare that to 3.73 million five weeks later. And, in 2009, prior to the week he died, fans downloaded just 1.3 million of his songs.
Five weeks later, it had jumped to 8.5 million. Also, he had the top 10 albums on the Billboard chart for two weeks, the first time any artist alive or dead has done that.
MATTHEW MILLER, SENIOR EDITOR, "FORBES": Everyone is looking at it through rosy, tinted glasses. And the further we get from his death, the more you will see those sunglasses taken off. And, so, the value of his assets will actually go down.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KAYE: No doubt Jackson's family and his creditors hope that doesn't happen any time soon.
John, Kiran, back to you from Los Angeles.
CHETRY: Randi Kaye for us. Thanks.
