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American Morning
Annie Le's Body Found; Swayze Dead at 57 After Battle With Pancreatic Cancer; Spitzer Criticizes Lack of Reform on Wall Street; FBI Conducts Raid Ahead of Obama's Visit to New York; Kennedy's Memoirs to be Published
Aired September 15, 2009 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Brings us now to the top of the hour. Thanks so much for joining ounce this Tuesday. It's the 15th of September. I'm John Roberts.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Kiran Chetry. Here's what's on the agenda. These are the big stories we're going to be breaking down for you in the next 15 minutes.
First, a campus in shock and a case still unsolved, but there are new clues for investigators. Yale University holding a candlelight vigil for murdered grad student, Annie Le. We're going to hear what her roommate had to say and also get the latest on the police investigation, plus why some on campus are saying there could be a murderer among us.
ROBERTS: A tragic loss in Hollywood. Stars, fans, and family all celebrating the life and mourning the death of Patrick Swayze this morning. The 57-year-old actor battled pancreatic cancer for almost two years.
He became a silver screen idol in the '80s and '90s for his role in "Ghost" and "Dirty Dancing," among other films. A look back at his career is just ahead.
CHETRY: Just a year after the Lehman Brothers collapse kick- started the financial crisis, we're talking to the man once known as the sheriff of Wall Street, former New York governor, Eliot Spitzer. What should we be doing to fix the economy and to bring back all the jobs lost in the past year? The former governor's going to be joining us, live.
But we begin with the Yale University campus in shock, devastated, and also in mourning. Hours after authorities confirmed they'd found the body of missing grad student Annie Le lodged in a wall in a lab, hundreds showed up for a somber and emotional candlelight individual vigil.
Le's roommate spoke for the first time, calling her friend's death "completely senseless." Police say le was not the victim of a random attack.
And now students are worried that this person, that the person behind this grisly crime could still be walking the school grounds. Our Mary Snow is tracking this developing story live from New Haven, Connecticut. And Mary, what's the latest on the investigation this morning?
MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kiran, all indications are that police are zeroing in on a suspect, but, officially, they will only say that they do not have a suspect yet in custody, this as police have been saying yesterday that this was not a random act.
And as police continue their investigation, students gathered last night to mark the end of a promising life.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NATALIE POWERS, ANNIE LE'S FORMER ROOMMATE: She was always kind, generous, honest, caring, and the list just keeps going.
SNOW: Natalie Powers speaking out for the first time about her roommate, Annie Le. Yale students held a vigil just hours after authorities confirmed their worst fears.
The body found Sunday lodged inside a basement wall at a Yale research facility was Le, a 24-year-old PhD student that stood at 4'11" and weighed 90 pounds.
POWERS: And she was tougher than you'd think by just looking at her.
That this horrible tragedy happened at all is incomprehensible, but that it happened to her, I think, is infinitely more so.
SNOW: As one professor put it, there's the sense there's a murder among us, and Yale's president tried to assure students.
RICHARD LEVIN, YALE UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT: We're doing all we can to ensure your security across the campus.
SNOW: The president of Yale said there were a limited number of people in the basement that day, and they were known to authorities. To get inside the building, students tell us IDs like these need to be swiped.
SUMAYYA AHMAD, YALE MEDICAL STUDENT: Obviously, this person probably had access to the building. So it makes you very wary of people that you're around and work with.
SNOW: But Annie Le herself wrote an article for a university magazine in February on how not to become a crime statistic in New Haven. Adding to the anxiety on campus, Yale officials say the building where Le's body was found is a newer one and had top-notch security. More than 70 cameras were trained on the building and its surroundings.
Officials also say they have images of her as she walked several blocks from another building to the lab where she was killed.
But a Yale official says there were no cameras in the area where her body was found, and that has shaken some fellow graduate students. YAN HUA, YALE RESEARCH ASSISTANT: I think most of us work very hard here. We work at night and also the weekends, also. So there are not too many people around.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SNOW: And Kiran, you certainly got the sense on the campus talking to students and faculty that it would be no surprise that the suspect, when arrested, would be someone from Yale.
And yesterday, the president of Yale University, in talking to students, trying to calm their anxiety and fears, telling them that there was a, quote, "abundance of evidence" that police had gathered -- Kiran?
CHETRY: It's just such tragedy all around, though. Mary Snow for us this morning from New Haven. Thanks.
ROBERTS: Also, more sad news this morning. Tributes are pouring in overnight for actor Patrick Swayze, who lost his two-year battle with pancreatic cancer. His smooth moves on "Dirty Dancing" shot him to fame, but behind the scenes, Swayze had another passion.
CHETRY: And as flowers are laid on his Hollywood walk of fame star last night, our Anderson Cooper looks behind the dancing superstar and gives us a look at the real man.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON COOPER, HOST, "AC 360": It is the way many of us first came to know Patrick Swayze. The year was 1987. The film was "Dirty Dancing".
Swayze played dance instructor Johnny Castle. His moves captured America's attention. Dancing is something that Swayze said was always part of who he was.
PATRICK SWAYZE, ACTOR: My mother's a choreographer, so I sort of had no choice in it. I came out of the womb dancing.
COOPER: His dancing may have been dirty, but the movie made him a star. Swayze even composed and sang a hit song from the film.
He'd already appeared in a dozen films before "Dirty Dancing," movies like "Red Dawn" and Francis Ford Coppola's "The Outsiders"
"Dirty Dancing," however, made him a household name. He later felt he was too associated with the film.
SWAYZE: There was a period, it was like, god, am I ever going to get out of this dance dude thing? That's part of the reason why I've gone off and done so many types of characters.
COOPER: Among those characters were brawlers in "Roadhouse," and "Next of Kin," a thrill seeking bank robber in "Point Break" and a drag queen in "To Wong Fo, Thanks for Everything Julie Numar." Swayze hit it big again in the 1990 romantic thriller "Ghost". He played a murder victim whose ghost returns, a part that showcased his ability to play masculine characters with a sensitive side.
By the late 1990s, Swayze was getting fewer blockbuster roles. He began to spend more time on his horse ranch in southern California.
SWAYZE: My animals really tell me whether I'm buying the hype or not or whether I'm really 100 percent myself.
COOPER: He also continued to dance, making a film on the subject with his wife.
In March, 2008, the world learned that Patrick Swayze was ill, suffering from pancreatic cancer. A year before his diagnosis, he struck a philosophical note as he reflected on his journey through Hollywood.
SWAYZE: A career goes up. I think I'm on the fifth refocusing of Patrick Swayze's career. You know, it's like, part of the ride and the growth is the up and down. It can be just as hard to live through the ups as it can be to live through the downs.
COOPER: Patrick Swayze lived a life of ups and downs onscreen and off. He died at the age of 57.
Anderson Cooper, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: What a shame. He was such a nice guy.
CHETRY: Great guy. Kept it real, even though he was such a huge star. And he was hoping to hang on. He said I want to live long enough that they can -- that I can be here when they have a cure.
ROBERTS: Yes. Unfortunately, he would have had to live god knows how long for them to find a cure for pancreatic cancer, because they don't seem to be very close at all.
Also new this morning, the House of Representatives is going to vote later on today on a resolution of disapproval for Congressman Joe Wilson. You'll remember the South Carolina Republican yelled "You lie!" at President Obama during last week's health care speech to a joint session of Congress.
ACORN under fire again this morning, another hidden camera apparently catching employees advising a couple posing as a pimp and a prostitute on how to launder cash and hide it in a tin buried in their backyard. A conservative activist says he shot it in the nonprofit organization's Brooklyn office.
ACORN is fighting back, saying the conversation on the videos are dubbed.
Plus, after she lost her cool on the court, Serena Williams is apologizing again.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SERENA WILLIAMS, U.S. OPEN SEMIFINALIST: For a major emotional outburst that I had. And I think we've now pretty much covered it. And I just really wanted to apologize sincerely, because I am a very prideful person, and I am a very emotional person, a very tense person, and I think it all showed.
And most of all, I am a very sincere person. I wanted to offer my sincere apologies to anyone that I may have offended.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Williams lost her semifinal match at the U.S. Open because of a profanity-filled outburst. She was fined $10,000 for the tirade, but officials could still raise that, maybe even consider suspending her.
CHETRY: All right, well, a lot of apologies going around, lately, right. You've got Joe Wilson saying sorry...
ROBERTS: Because we've got bad behavior going around. It's an epidemic.
CHETRY: Meanwhile, what about Wall Street? Has there been enough reform? Has there been enough change after the big near- financial collapse that we saw last year?
He was known as the sheriff of Wall Street, right, Eliot Spitzer?
ROBERTS: He was. And he's going to be joining us coming up next to talk about whether we need to do more with Wall Street and really whether anything has changed in the past year since the meltdown began.
It's nine and a half minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Welcome back to the ""Most News in the Morning"".
It has been one year since the crash of Lehman Brothers started a domino effect that nearly brought down the global financial system. We're finally seeing some stability on Wall Street, but unemployment is still hovering near double digits.
And minding your business this morning, we are talking to the man once known as the sheriff of Wall Street, former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer. Good to see you. Thanks for coming in this morning.
ELIOT SPITZER, (D) FORMER NEW YORK GOVERNOR: My pleasure, good to be here.
ROBERTS: So the president was here in New York yesterday vowing that the bad old days are over. Let's listen to a little bit of what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: We will not go back to the days of unchecked excess that's at the heart of this crisis.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: It's a noble pledge to say that we're not going to go backwards, but a year after this crisis started, really, where are we when it came to Wall Street?
SPITZER: Well, not nearly as much has changed as should have changed, and even though there's been a great deal of talk about reform, my view, at least, is we're moving deck chairs on the ship of Titanic and we are not doing anything on a regulatory level that will change the system.
The fundamental issue is too big to fail. The major institutions that have received trillions of dollars, U.S. taxpayer dollars, are not changing their behavior. They are not facing a fundamentally different environment. And if anything, we are getting to pint where we are more concentrated, not less.
Most academics would tell you, most editorial boards would tell you too big to fail is the big issue. The administration is not confronting it, and it has too.
ROBERTS: So who's too big to fail these days? We had AIG last year, we were told, Lehman Brothers apparently was small enough that it could be let go.
SPITZER: Lehman, and I think most people think that was a mistake in terms of the shock to the system even though we can understand emotionally...
ROBERTS: So you think in hindsight Lehman should have been saved?
SPITZER: With 20/20, most people saying letting Lehman go that way is what triggered this cataclysm.
Having said that, the egregious errors were made in years before that when the system was built in such a way that institutions such as Citi, such as Goldman, such as Morgan Chase, such Wachovia, were made into such big institutions and permitted to get leveraged to the point that when the market began to drop, they collapsed.
And what people say in sort of a technical phrase, there's an asymmetry. They were covered on the downside because they were too big to fail. Taxpayer dollars went in. They got all the upside, so they invested in riskier and riskier investments.
And at the end of the day, when things failed, the taxpayer was on the hook, and they made out like bandits. Nothing has been fundamentally done about that asymmetry. What have what we say socialized the risk, privatized the gain.
It's wrong. And until "too big to fail" is addressed head-on, nothing will be fundamentally be different.
ROBERTS: You also said in an interview that you did yesterday, quote, "Institutions that have received billions or one could argue trillions of taxpayer dollars are not investing that money back into the system to create jobs for the future."
SPITZER: That's exactly right.
ROBERTS: What are they doing with that money?
SPITZER: A lot of that money is going back into their proprietary trading. The market is going up, and a lot of that money is being cycled through the major investment banks from Goldman Sachs on.
And Goldman Sachs -- I don't mean to beat up on them as one institution -- they got a check for $12.9 billion. When AIG was bailed out, they were a counterparty. They got 100 cents on the dollar. Nobody has explained why that happened.
Geithner mumbled and fumbled when he was asked about it. Nobody has given an explanation. It was wrong, it was egregious. Three times the amount of money we're investing in our school system at the federal level just to one firm, and they're investing it in proprietary trading, high speed trading, overseas funds.
GE got billions of dollars in subsidies because their debt was guaranteed. When GE Capital was about to go under, they got taxpayer guarantees on their commercial paper. What are they doing back? Virtually nothing. There has been no asked of these major investment banks.
ROBERTS: We got an interesting piece of news yesterday when a federal judge overturned the settlement that Bank of America had made with the SEC, a fine that it was going to pay because it didn't disclose fully the bonuses that were going to be paid to Merrill Lynch executives when that merger happened.
Is this an indication that maybe -- we may see some claw back of bonuses here?
SPITZER: Well, we certainly should, because I think the whole compensation -- back what I was AG, we tried to get bonuses back from CEOs and others because it was egregious back then and it's even gotten worse since then.
But notice it's the judiciary, not the regulatory system. The SEC, or OCC, all of these agencies utterly failed during the prior ten years and aren't doing a whole lot better right now. They're pushing a settlement there, and it's wrong.
ROBERTS: So when it comes to this idea of who's watching the henhouse, do you have any confidence that the SEC and the Fed are capable of doing it?
Look at the Bernie Madoff scandal, what's coming out about how asleep at the switch the SEC was.
SPITZER: I hate to go back too many years, but a number of years ago I said when I was attorney general I would not let the SEC do a house closing for me. I said then, I stand by it. They're incompetent, we need a different entity. They simply haven't figured out how to make the structural cases. They don't know how to think about what's going on. It's a serious problem.
The Fed is what got us into this problem. The New York Fed is owned by the banks, literally. The New York Fed is what got us to where we were because they permitted this leverage.
Tim Geithner, when he was up for secretary of the treasury said, "I have never been a regulator." He didn't understand what his job was as president of the New York Fed. This is where we are right now.
ROBERTS: And what about regulatory reform? The DOW is up, at about 9,600 now. The economy is starting to get better. Congress is focused on health care reform. It's focused on what's going on in Afghanistan. Is there any real urgency now to financial reform?
SPITZER: There should be.
ROBERTS: But is there?
SPITZER: There isn't. Unfortunately, the attention has shifted to other things. The legislative system is one where if you don't get a resolution very quickly, things fall apart.
We must move forward on "too big to fail." We must put in place a consumer protection agency.
The only really good voice out there -- well, there are a few others -- Shelia Blair is doing great stuff. But Elizabeth Warren is the person who should be out there put in charge of this. She has been a clarion voice, focusing on the right issues. She's the right person.
ROBERTS: So we talked about a lot of the industry, but before you go, this is the first chance we've had to talk since the whole thing happened 18 months ago. And you're our governor here, and most of us are here in New York, some in New Jersey.
But what the heck were you thinking?
SPITZER: Well, you know, I've said, John, I'm human, I made an egregious, egregious error. I spent the past year-and-a-half, fortunately, with a loving wife and three daughters who are spectacular, and that's where my focus is, and that's where it will continue to be.
ROBERTS: All right, former Governor Spitzer, good to see you this morning. Thanks for coming in, really appreciate it. SPITZER: John, thank you.
CHETRY: Still ahead, did the president's visit to the big apple trigger early morning raids by the Fed in a neighborhood in Queens, or was this all just a big false alarm? A lot of unanswered questions this morning. Our Deb Feyerick is going to be joining us with the latest on this case.
It's 18 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: It's 20 minutes past the hour. Welcome back to the ""Most News in the Morning"".
We've been following a developing story for you, and we're hoping to get more answers today. A terrorism investigation still underway here in New York City.
Police and the feds launched early morning raids yesterday just hours before President Obama came to the city. Now there are some conflicting reports on whether or not the president's visit actually triggered those raids.
Our Deb Feyerick is tracking the story for us. And so tell us a little bit more about what went down and now what the authorities are saying about this.
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. And there are some outstanding questions, but it does appear that federal agents were tracking a man who had traveled from the Midwest to New York City as part of what sources call an investigation into potential terrorism.
Now, dozens of heavily armed FBI agents from the joint terrorism task force executed search warrants at two known locations in Queens just hours before the president arrived in Manhattan. Eyewitnesses were stunned by the manpower.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
"KHAN": When my friend dropped us off, they had like close to about 30 SUVs, impalas double parked on the avenue. We saw one FBI suit, two FBI suits.
So we came in the building. And then we saw like 30 camouflaged FBI, machine guns, riot gear, everything. And then we went back outside, because we didn't know what was going on. So it was safer to stay outside than inside.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FEYERICK: Now, there was no indication of a specific plot against the president. Sources say no bomb-making materials were found. FBI agents did confiscate a few boxes, and several people were questioned and released, including a New York City taxi driver who appeared badly shaken by the ordeal, saying he works hard seven days a week.
Sources say authorities reacted out of extreme caution.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. CHARLES SCHUMER, (D) NEW YORK: One, there was some rumors that the terrorist act was imminent. That was not true.
Second, there was some speculation that the raids were related to president Obama's visit to New York because they occurred at the same time. That is not true.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FEYERICK: Now, here's where it gets a bit cloudy. Two sources later contradicted Senator Schumer, saying concerns of the president's New York visit did play a role.
And, of course, this may all boil down to, of course, that Al Qaeda is central -- homegrown terrorists remain a big concern, especially here in New York City. And you know the saying, really an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of care. And that may be what happened in this situation.
CHETRY: All right, and hopefully, there are some conflicting reports on whether or not it had to do with the president's visit and exactly what they knew. So maybe we'll find out more today.
FEYERICK: Hopefully.
CHETRY: Deborah Feyerick for us this morning, thanks.
ROBERTS: So Senator Ted Kennedy, who passed away recently, he had been working for a number of months, actually, a couple of years on a memoir, the very first memoir a Kennedy has done. It was called "True Compass."
It was released yesterday, and we're going to be talking with two of Senator Kennedy's sons, Ted Jr. and Patrick coming up right after the break, some memories about his father and some little-known revelations that he really hadn't shared with anybody before. So we'll talk to them about all of that coming right up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Welcome back to the ""Most News in the Morning"".
It was an emotional goodbye. The Kennedy family, their friends, and the rest of America said a final farewell to Senator Ted Kennedy after his death on August 25th.
Now for the first time we get to hear about some of the most personal moments of Ted Kennedy's life in his own words in a memoir, "True Compass." It hits bookstores this week.
I had an opportunity to talk about Ted Kennedy with two of the most important people in his life, his sons, Ted Kennedy Jr. and Congressman Patrick Kennedy.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: This book had been in the works for quite some time. It was actually slated for release next year, but publication was accelerated when your father learned of his diagnosis.
Ted, why was it so important for him to get this book out? Many people would have just said, oh, I've got to deal with this cancer diagnosis. I don't have time to finish the book.
TED KENNEDY JR, SON OF SEN. TED KENNEDY: Well, you know, people are surprised when they learn that my dad actually took contemporaneous notes over the last 50 years of his life.
But I didn't know that he wanted to write a book, really, until a couple of years ago. He really felt like he wanted to tell his story. I mean, so many books have been written about the Kennedys, and he just felt like he wanted to explain because of his part in history, because to straighten out the record, but mostly just to tell, what I think, is an incredible emotional life philosophy that he had, that he shared with us, but is still so revealing in these pages, even to me, his son.
ROBERTS: Were you surprised, Patrick, as your brother Ted was, the degree to which he bared his heart, he bared his feelings?
REP. PATRICK KENNEDY, (D) RHODE ISLAND: Well, my dad, as I've always said, is kind of old Irish, didn't like to talk about feelings and sentimentalities. But during his last year, the one thing we benefited the most with is the fact that he really softened up, and he leaned on us.
And for us, that was the greatest thing he could have done. He gave us a sense of empowerment that we were all in it together and that, you know, he really wanted us and we could be valuable to him in his last year, emotionally, to him. And he really wanted that.
And that was something very meaningful to us, because most of his life he was going so fast. In the last part of his life, he could really stop and smell the roses and enjoy his family. And that meant a lot to us.
ROBERTS: In the last months of his life, he wrote a letter to the Pope which was revealed at his funeral, in which he said, quote, "I have always tried to be a faithful Catholic, your holiness, and though I have fallen short through human failings, I have never failed to believe and respect the fundamental teachings."
Ted, you said you've read that letter a number of times, and every time you do, you're brought to tears. TED KENNEDY JR: I am, because he considered himself a devout Catholic, and he really felt like his mission in this world was to look out for the least of his brothers, so to speak.
And I think the letter speaks to the humility of the man. One of the things that you learn about in this book, and when I read this book -- I just got a copy of the book two days after he died, and I was worried about even picking the book up. But I didn't know what to expect, really. But I felt like his voice was really speaking to me.
ROBERTS: What were you concerned about?
TED KENNEDY JR: I didn't know, emotionally, how I was going to be able to handle some of the -- you know, since he had just died a couple of days before, I knew I would want to be telling the world about this story, like we are here this morning.
And so --- but it was a riveting book. It was a riveting book, because he really got into, you know, telling me about how he experienced a lot of these very personal things in his life.
And a big part of his life was his spiritual life. And that's, I think, what readers will really may be surprised about, because he didn't really like to talk about his spirituality. But he was an incredibly spiritual person, and that was the bedrock of his eternal optimism.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: Ted Kennedy Jr. and Patrick Kennedy, the congressman.
And coming up in our next hour, more about the life of Ted Kennedy, including a lesson passed on to him from the patriarch of the family, Joe Kennedy, and his thoughts on Chappaquiddick 40 years later.
CHETRY: It was really touching to hear from Patrick and just to say that finally we felt he needed us, and that for so long in his life he was moving so fast and how important that was to them.
ROBERTS: There is so much personal reflection and emotion in this book as well.
And what's really extraordinary is a number of months ago, back in March, I believe it was, the publisher of the book sat down and did an interview with Ted Kennedy. So there's video of him. And you see it now after his passing, and it's kind of like, wow, he's speaking about the most intimate things in his life.
So we'll play some of that coming up for you as well.
And to read an excerpt of Senator Kennedy's memoir, you can go to our blog at CNN.com/amfix.
Crossing the half hour, and here are this morning's top stories. A U.S. special forces in raid in Somalia may have killed a wanted Al Qaeda terrorist. Sources inside the Pentagon tell us a helicopter fired on a car, killing several people, including one the military believes was an Al Qaeda leader tied to the 1988 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, may have also been behind a bombing of a hotel on the coast popular with Israeli tourists.
CHETRY: Also, President Obama continuing to push his message of economic recovery this morning from Wall Street yesterday to Main Street today. He's touring a G.M. plant in Ohio. After that, he heads to Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. He's expected to speak in both cities.
Our Ed Henry is on Air Force One with the president.
ROBERTS: First Serena, and now this. Tennis superstar Roger Federer caught on an open microphone arguing and cursing to an umpire at the U.S. Open yesterday. Federer was upset because he said his opponent was giving too much time to challenge the line call. After saying, "don't tell me to be quiet," he used the "s" word. All of it on live television. Here it is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: ... considering a challenge, it's too late now.
ROGER FEDERER: No, no, no.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shouldn't be allowed that much time.
FEDERER: Come on! I wasn't allowed to challenge like that for two seconds. The guy takes like 10. Every time. You can't allow that stuff to happen.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The review reveals it was out.
FEDERER: Do you have any rules in there? Don't tell me to be quiet, OK. When I want to talk, I'll talk. I don't give a (EXPLETIVE DELETED), all right?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Now, then, according to the Grand Slam rules, an audible curse word is actually a violation. But it doesn't look like they're going to press the point. The five-time open champ was just two points away from his sixth straight title, but was upset by Juan Martine Del Potro who has a forehand like a cannon.
CHETRY: Yes. And when you're 6'6", that's helpful on the court.
ROBERTS: His reach is like 12 feet, and can just - Federer, he just wore him out. I've never seen Federer worn out, but he was worn out.
CHETRY: Well, congrats to him. I mean, you know...
ROBERTS: Yes, he's going to be big. I think this is just the beginning of his career.
CHETRY: Well, speaking of what's been going on, Federer's little outburst was probably the least of it, because of what we've seen all week. And in the past several days, these public displays of rudeness from Congressman Joe Wilson to Serena Williams to Kanye West, some are asking, why aren't these prominent people getting a clue about when it's time to zip it?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SERENA WILLIAMS: (INAUDIBLE)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The reforms I'm proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally.
REP. JOE WILSON (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: You lie!
KANYE WEST, SINGER: Yo, Taylor, I'm really happy for you. I'm going to let you finish, but Beyonce had one of the best videos of all time! One of the best videos of all time!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: And who can -- so after all of those public displays of rudeness, a lot of people asking, has America lost its manners. Who can answer that better than Peggy Post? She is the great granddaughter-in-law of famous Emily Post. She penned her famous book on etiquette 87 years ago. And Peggy is the director of the Emily Post Institute, the author of the 17th edition of "Emily Post Etiquette." She joins us now from Connecticut. Great to see you this morning, Peggy.
PEGGY POST, GREAT-GRANDDAUGHTER-IN-LAW OF EMILY POST: Well, great to join you. Thank you for having me.
CHETRY: You know, a lot of people are asking this question. We were talking about it yesterday and today it's on the cover of "USA Today." What happened to civility? Has it become more acceptable to be rude nowadays?
POST: It actually has not become more acceptable. In a way, all of these happenings have converged at the same time to bring this incivility right up there in the forefront. And it sets a backlash, that's really the good news, and that people, Americans are really upset about rudeness. And even the -- all the blogs that have been flying back and forth and all of the conversations, people are really outraged by rude behavior. So it's not acceptable.
CHETRY: Yes and you're right. And there has been a lot of public outcries, and that's led to at least the three that we showed you, the three instances, every single one of those people has issued an apology. In fact, last night on Jay Leno's show, Kanye West actually apologized for his behavior. Let's listen to what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) WEST: I immediately knew in this situation that it was wrong and it wasn't a spectacle or just -- you know, it's actually someone's emotions, you know, that I stepped on. And it was very -- it was just rude, period.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Is an apology enough to make it all better?
POST: Sometimes. If an apology is sincere, that certainly is important. Also, a face-to-face apology with a person, you know, face to face or on the phone, much better than sending it off into space in the world of the internet.
CHETRY: Right. You're saying going to your Twitter account is not an acceptable venue to apologize.
POST: No, it doesn't really cover it. It's a start, but definitely face-to-face is the way to go. And be sincere. Don't do it just because of pressure. Do it because you know it's the right thing to do.
CHETRY: Yes. Well, some say if you knew it was the wrong thing to do, why id you do it in the first place? There you go. But, you know, this is the other thing, are we rewarding bad behavior in some ways? You look at South Carolina congressman, Joe Wilson, after that outburst where he screamed "You lie" to the president, there as he was addressing the joint session of Congress.
Since then, his donations have come pouring into his Web site. So in a way -- and Kanye West, also somebody who's known and has a lot of notoriety/popularity because of being known for being rude at times. So are we, as a culture, in some ways rewarding bad behavior?
POST: Well, publicity is one thing and these behaviors have brought a lot of attention. Sure, that's for sure. But so many people do not condone this kind of behavior. So that's really what we focus on and think about how it is wrong. Attention for a while, but at the end of the day, it's really being considered respectful and not being rude. That matters.
CHETRY: What are the consequences though of rudeness just in everyday life and really the long-term impact on a society as a whole?
POST: Sure. Every day, rudeness can just really shatter relationships. And it's not right. And it's important, as I said, to sincerely apologize. People do get frustrated, yes, but step back, think first and go forward. And if you do say something wrong and you haven't thought about it first, be -- step up to the plate and be sincere, as I said. It's important to fess up to what you've done.
CHETRY: You know, you even talk about how much things have changed from even 100 years ago. Eighty-seven years since your great grandmother-in-law wrote the book. But you know, playing devil's advocate, a lot of social change or, you know, someone argue a lot of good has happened from not being the polite one, by speaking out, by causing a ruckus in some way or another and affecting change. Is there something to be said, perhaps, for the benefit of rudeness in some instances?
POST: No, rudeness isn't great. But even back in Emily Post's days, over 80 years ago, people were saying then we're ruder than we were in years past. This has been going on for generations. Our world changes all the time, but we can still apply those principles of being respectful and considerate and kind, and rudeness is not acceptable, but our world changes. So we adapt those principles to our world of digital communication or whatever it is, we can still be considerate.
CHETRY: All right. Well, Peggy Post, great to talk to you this morning. Thanks for being with us.
POST: Thank you.
CHETRY: Thirty-eight minutes past the hour.
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CHETRY: All right. Welcome back to the "Most News in the Morning". Thirty-nine minutes past the hour right now. Our Rob Marciano joins us. He's been tracking extreme weather for us this morning. And we have what some bad weather from the south moving a little east, huh?
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Slowly. That's the problem, John and Kiran. We're looking at this slow-moving system which has caused flooding problems across northern parts of Texas. And because it's moving slowly, you get the issues with flooding. The good news with Dallas is that all the rain, for the most part is over, and now it's moving further to the east. But that means that there's problems for parts of Arkansas and northern Louisiana and with that, we could see several more inches of rain falling in a short amount of time.
Here's the forecast models for Texarkana and Little Rock. You can see the swirl, see that rotation of that low pressure, almost like a tropical system. And here it is centered over Louisiana later on today. The other big weather story will be parts of the northeast, which we will see decent weather today, actually above-normal temperatures. 81 degrees. 88 degrees in D.C. that's well above normal for the middle of September. And then you've got some rain moving into your area with potentially some record-breaking cold temperatures.
All right. If you're doing some travel today, Atlanta may see some delays, more so in the afternoon with the showers and thunderstorms. Could see a steady rain at some point. And Dallas, the rain coming to an end. Memphis and low clouds, Miami, Tampa, and Orlando also looking at some scattered thunderstorms there. So in all my politeness, John, Kiran, Mr. John, Miss Kiran...
CHETRY: Why, thank you, Rob and a pleasure to have you give us the forecast this morning. MARCIANO: It's my honor to do so. We'll see you 60 minutes from here.
ROBERTS: Now, let's not start sounding like those chipmunks, you know. Oh no, you please. No, no, no, after you now, after you, please, after you.
CHETRY: Don't forget to send a thank you note to Rob after the show.
ROBERTS: Exactly. I'll do that.
Thanks, Rob. We'll see you again soon.
MARCIANO: All right. My pleasure.
ROBERTS: So all of these protests against the Obama administration, the tea parties and all of that, well some Democrats are charging it all has racist overtones, but does it? Our Elaine Quijano looking into that for us this morning. 41 minutes after the hour.
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CHETRY: It's 44 minutes past the hour. Welcome back to the "Most News in the Morning". And that's it. No more tears, no more lies, no more drama. We're either canceling this show -- just kidding.
This week, "Guiding Light," the longest-running drama show in broadcast history is going to be signing off after 72 years. And Alina Cho is here now, fresh from the "Guiding Light" set.
Wow, were you a walk on?
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No. I wasn't but I was there as an observer. It was pretty cool to be there. I mean, to be on that set. You know, when people come here, they always say, it's amazing to see it in person and it really was amazing to be there. 72 years, guys, it's incredibly.
Just think about it when "Guiding Light" debuted back in 1937, FDR was president, a first class stamp was three cents and the Golden Gate Bridge was just opening. But after 72 years, this Friday, "Guiding Light" is signing off for good. You don't have to be a fan of the show to know that when the show goes, so does a little piece of television history.
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CHO (voice-over): Some might say it's ridiculous to call this...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) what a big deal.
CHO: ... an institution. But "Guiding Light" is an institution. The longest running drama in history.
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CHO: The CBS soap opera started on the radio back in 1937 and moved to TV in 1952. Seventy-two years of over the top lies...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If this is some kind of plan to extort money, you can forget it.
CHO: ... cheating ...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You, me, sex, now.
CHO: ... and pure drama.
GRANT ALEKSANDER, "PHILIP SPAULDING," "GUIDING LIGHT" ACTOR: Even if you see the body, even if you see the body cut up, it doesn't really matter. Nobody's ever really dead.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not hooked on alcohol.
CHO: "Guiding Light" also helped launch more than a few careers. It was one of the first soap operas to introduce leading African- American actors and tackle social issues that once were taboo.
ELLEN WHEELER, EXECUTIVE PRODUCER, "GUIDING LIGHT": This show was doing uterine cancer stories when you couldn't say uterus on television.
CHO: But the show is ending. "Guiding Light" is the latest victim of low ratings and increased competition. So later this month, the soap will sign off for the last time.
KIM ZIMMER, "REVA," "GUIDING LIGHT" ACTRESS: The show is an heirloom. It gets passed down from generation to generation.
CHO: Like the King family in Connecticut. Four generations of "Guiding Light" fans.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Some people knit together, some people drink together. Some people (INAUDIBLE) watch "Guiding Light."
CHO: This family has never missed an episode.
DEBBIE KING, "GUIDING LIGHT" FAN: You know, when you watch every day like we do, you know, it becomes a part of your life.
CHO: For the actors, too. Many have been with the show for decades.
ROBERT NEWMAN, "JOSH LEWIS," "GUIDING LIGHT" ACTOR: I signed a three-year deal 28 years ago. I got no complaints.
CHO: No regrets.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Twenty-six years! ALEKSANDER: Whatever anybody may feel about soap operas and where they rank in the artistic pantheon, to have any enterprise like this for a 72-year period, I don't think anybody will ever beat that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's a wrap!
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHO: Seventy-two years, a long, long history. Now, there had been some hope earlier on that "Guiding Light" would find a new home on another network or maybe even on the web, but now we know that CBS is going to replace "Guiding Light," guys, with a game show, "Let's Make a Deal."
So, you know, the fans were hoping for a reprieve or something, but, anyway, the last show will be on on Friday. You know, I talked to several of the actors, you know, Kim Zimmer, who plays Reva. She said, you know, on the last day of taping, I looked at one of the crew guys and I just started crying, because I thought, here's a guy I'm probably never going to see again. You know, this is a real family, both on screen and off.
ROBERTS: When you look at that family photograph at the end there, it's definitely a big family.
CHO: It is. They've been together for a long time.
CHETRY: So they're going to wrap it up in a tidy little package?
CHO: That's what we all want to know. Fans are waiting. They've been watching for years. So we have to wait and see. Friday's the last episode.
ROBERTS: All right. Alina Cho for us this morning. Alina, thanks so much.
So you see people walking around with those little things in their ears, you know, the bleeping blue light. (INAUDIBLE) walk with one of those. Apparently they're the smart folks.
Our Brian Todd has got the results of a dramatic new study on cell phones and radiation. Stay with us. It's forty-eight and a half minutes after the hour.
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ROBERTS: Welcome back to the "Most News in the Morning". Just about everyone's got one these days, a cell phone, an iPhone, a Blackberry, something like that. But is the radiation that those devices emit putting your health at risk? Our Brian Todd has got some new information on a study that may give you second thoughts when it comes to picking up that cell phone.
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John and Kiran. This new information is from an environmental advocacy group. It's got fresh warnings about wireless devices. Warnings aimed at so many of us who've used them for long periods of time.
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TODD (voice-over): Ellie Marks thinks it may be too late to save her husband, but she's determined to tell his story in Washington. Alan Marks has brain cancer and Ellie says his doctors pin it on one device.
(on camera): About how much did Alan use his cell phone?
ELLEN MARKS, HUSBAND HAS BRAIN CANCER: Alan used his cell phone a lot. It was glued to his ear. He's in the real estate industry. He used it probably about average about of 22 hours a month.
TODD (voice-over): Marks concedes this was in the 1990s, when cell phones were bigger and emitted more radiation, but she's also concerned about current cell phones and so-called PDAs, personal digital assistants. And she's not alone. A new report from the Environmental Working Group warns of radiation risks and has a top 10 list.
Motorola has five models on it, Blackberry has two.
(on camera): This is a Blackberry bold, one of the top 10 emitters of radiation on your list. What is wrong with phones like this, basically, according to your study?
RICHARD WILES, ENVIRONMENTAL WORKING GROUP: Those phones emit high levels of radiation which have been associated with increases in brain cancer in the most recent studies that looked at people who have used cell phones for more than 10 years.
TODD (voice-over): The Environmental Working Group says it didn't test the phones itself, instead, used existing data. And it admits the science is not definitive. To clarify, the study says these phones emit higher levels of radiation, but does not assert the phones themselves increase the risk of cancer.
Contacted by CNN, Motorola issued a statement saying radiation levels in it's products "are within safe exposure limits." A representative for the Blackberry manufacturer did not respond to our calls and e-mails.
The Wireless Trade Association cites FDA and American Cancer Society studies showing no adverse health effects from wireless phones. A researcher from the National Institutes of Health, who studied the risks, said some data concerns him, but when pressed -
(on camera): taken as a whole, with the studies that we're talking about and the ones that you've done, are these devices really emitting radiation levels that are concerning or unsafe?
JOHN BUCHER, NATIONAL TOXICOLOGY PROGRAM, NIH: Right now, I cannot answer that question. We just don't have the data to answer that question yet.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TODD: But the Environmental Working Group also has an issue with the safety standards put out by the federal government. It says the standards set by the Federal Communications Commission are based on 1992 recommendations and are very outdated. Contacted by CNN, the FCC said it has always relied on the advice of government health agencies for its safety standards and so far, it says, no agency has recommended that those standards be changed. John and Kiran, back to you.
CHETRY: Brian Todd for us this morning. Thanks so much.
Meanwhile...
ROBERTS: Oh.
CHETRY: For you. It's pink.
ROBERTS: Yes, it's a lovely color. I mean, it's a lovely color, you know, it's not a lovely color for me.
CHETRY: You're not going to use it.
ROBERTS: It kind of clashes with the tie. But thank you. In the end, it may be safer.
CHETRY: All right. Well, we have much more coming up. Our next hour starts in just a few minutes. Meanwhile, it's 55 minutes after the hour.
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ROBERTS: Good morning, Washington. Well, right now, it's mostly cloudy and 68 degrees. Later on today, should be a pretty nice day. Partly cloudy with a high of 87. And the warmth is coming back again. Welcome back to the "Most News in the Morning".
The so-called tea party protesters, they're angry about government spending and dead set against President Obama's health care reform plan. But is their rage tipping over into racism? Elaine Quijano is digging into that story for us this morning.
ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: John and Kiran, we have to emphasize, by far, most tea party protesters are not casting their arguments in what could be seen as a racial light. But a small group of demonstrators is using a controversial image that's been circulating on the web since July.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
QUIJANO (voice-over): Within the larger tea party movement that's gained steam across the country, a small but passionate minority is also voicing what some see as racist rhetoric, including this doctored image circulating on the internet, and even some protesters' signs like this one in Brighton, Michigan, portraying President Obama as a witch doctor. We took to the streets of Washington to get reaction.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it's disrespectful to the office of the president to portray him in this manner. It's racist.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is appalling.
QUIJANO: Just how prevalent were the protesters carrying racially charged messages? Difficult to quantify. CNN all-platform journalist Jim Spellman spent weeks covering the tea party demonstrators as a whole.
JIM SPELLMAN, ALL PLATFORM JOURNALIST: Only a handful of people seemed to outwardly have racial issues with the president, but the more you could talk to people, you could sense that it was part of a larger distrust.
QUIJANO: For their part, tea party leaders disavowed any racist views.
MARK WILLIAMS, TEA PARTY ORGANIZER: I saw very little overt racism or anger, and those were on the fringes and were marginalized.
QUIJANO: They want attention focused on the role and reach of government into people's lives, but say that controversial protesters have the right to speak their mind.
WILLIAMS: Part of America is that there are people who are bigoted. And, you know, you're never going to convince them not to be. You don't have to embrace them, but in this country, you can't shut them up, either.
QUIJANO: "Chicago Tribune" columnist Clarence Page sees the Obama presidency as a chance for some to lash out.
CLARENCE PAGE, "CHICAGO TRIBUNE": People are not just mad at Obama, they're mad at Jesse Jackson. They're mad at Reverend Wright. They're mad at Al Sharpton. They're mad at people who have nothing to do with Obama, except they all happen to be black.
QUIJANO: Page says the vehemently racial resistance that's emerged is another sign any notion of a post racial society after Barack Obama's election was wishful thinking.
PAGE: It's only the beginning of the process that we are able to live with leadership that may not look like us, may not come from the same background as us, but it's still part of this very diverse society.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUIJANO: Mark Williams, the tea party organizer we talked to notes that there's been some inflammatory rhetoric and statements at events like anti-war protest events in the past - burning flags and hanging effigies, he says. His point, like other grassroots movements, the tea party protesters are a cross section of America. John, Kiran.
ROBERTS: Elaine Quijano for us this morning.
