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American Morning
Return to Normalcy in Egypt; Talks to Begin in Egypt; Super Bowl Seating Snafu; AOL Spends $315M for Huffington Post; Obama & O'Reilly Showdown; Egypt's Move Toward Transition; Australia Fires; NASDAQ Hacked
Aired February 07, 2011 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Coming up in just a minute on AMERICAN MORNING, important new developments in Egypt. The Mubarak government opening talks with the opposition, including the Muslim Brotherhood, a faction that has no love for America. The latest from Cairo ahead.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Also, Youngstown State dealing with a tragedy. A student killed at a frat house party. Also, 11 wounded. We'll give you the latest.
CHETRY: Also Brett who? Green Bay fans rejoicing. Aaron Rodgers delivered the Packers their fourth Super Bowl title last night. We're going to tell you what made his performance especially impressive.
HOLMES: Also, the day after, a lot of people talking about the ads. And one of the biggest stars from the ads last night is a little guy that you never, ever really get to see his face. We'll tell you about another ad that actually offended some people as well.
CHETRY: So we're going to have all of the Super Bowl post-game plus all the new developments from Egypt coming up on AMERICAN MORNING. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Super Bowl XLV, full of drama and spectacle, and even some controversy. We have the moments that you may have missed and the commercials that everybody will be talking about on this AMERICAN MORNING.
And good Monday morning to you. Glad you're with us on this February 7th. We're all waking up this morning after a late night watching the Super Bowl. Were you -- did you like the game?
HOLMES: Loved the game. The game could not have been better.
CHETRY: Well, if the Steelers won, it would have been better --
HOLMES: For some.
CHETRY: But it was very exciting. It was very exciting.
HOLMES: For a guy who didn't have a dog in the fight, yes, loved the game last night. I'm sure you did, as well. We'll be talking plenty about it. Like you just mentioned, there were some controversy last night having to do with the commercials, the halftime show, some seats, all kinds of things. We'll get you caught up and all of that.
But first, we do want to get you caught up on what's happening in Egypt. Some are saying this is a good thing. The two sides are at least talking. Talks between the government and opposition groups underway. At least six opposition groups involved. Also some signs there may be life beginning to turn back to normal on the streets of Cairo. There were still some anti-government folks sitting in. They're still refusing to leave Tahrir Square.
There was a bit of tension yesterday. Military at some point fired bullets over a surging crowd. But for the most part, things were peaceful. Now, those signs that things may be getting back to normal -- some banks opened for a few hours yesterday. People were able to get money out. Some malls and shops were still closed, but there were some signs that others were beginning to open again. Still some fears that this thing just is right on the edge and tensions could flare up again. Also some fears of looting. Opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei says, though, leadership, the change must be real.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MOHAMED ELBARADEI, OPPOSITION LEADER: You need to engage, you need to engage the civilians. You need to -- this should not be just the military, the outgoing regime running the process of change. People are not believing that. Any feeling it will get that there is an effort to abort the revolution, the peaceful resolution, it would turn violent.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Our Ivan Watson live for us in Cairo.
Ivan, we're starting to see some signs that maybe things could start to get back to normal in some ways. What does it look like today?
IVAN WATSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, T.J. I don't know if you can hear the sound of honking horns, traffic jammed on bridges that have been reopened over the Nile. Businesses, many of them back to work and people less scared about going into the streets. But schools are still closed for at least another week. And the stock market will not reopen until at least Wednesday. It's been closed for seven days.
As for the square, the site of the protests over my shoulder, well, there, the demonstrators are still refusing to take down their barricades. They're still forming a human chain against the Egyptian military which have asked them to reopen the square. And listen to this -- last night when tensions flared within the square between Egyptian soldiers and some of the protesters, take a quick listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(Gunfire)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATSON: A hail of warning gunshots from Egyptian soldiers who got nervous after some protesters tried to pull back some barbed wire. And one of the demonstrators was taken into detention briefly and then released. A mob of protesters surrounded, outnumbered the soldiers. It ended without injury and settled down. But it just shows you that there is still a faceoff there. The two sides still not in agreement about whether or not the demonstrators should stay there -- T.J.
HOLMES: Ivan, the government still taking people into custody?
WATSON: Well, yes. An Al Jazeera reporter detained yesterday. And also we just got word last night the government finally admitting after more than a week that it did have a senior executive for Google in the Middle East, an Egyptian by the name of Wael Ghonim (ph) in custody. He disappeared on the 28th of January, T.J. His family desperate to find him, searching the hospitals. No mention from the government. And finally last night, an announcement on Egyptian state television that they had him in custody. They hope to release him on Monday. I talked to his brother. He says it's great news, but it's just a sign for you of the human rights record in this country. This is an individual, just one of God knows how many people have been detained. You've heard about journalists who've been taken into custody, human rights activists, and men like this who flew back to Egypt to try to support the protesters here in the streets. This is one of the things they want to end in this country -- T.J.
HOLMES: All right. Ivan Watson in Cairo. Ivan, thank you.
CHETRY: And President Obama weighing in on Egypt's political future during an interview with FOX's Bill O'Reilly on Sunday. He reiterated his call for an orderly and meaningful transition saying that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak needs to know the time for change is now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Only he knows what he's going to do. But here's what we know is that Egypt is not going to go back to what it was. The Egyptian people want freedom. They want free and fair elections. They want a representative government. They want a responsive government.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: We'll have much more on President Obama's sit-down with Bill O'Reilly coming up in the next half-hour.
Well, with Egypt now taking the first steps toward a political transition, what could it mean for U.S. diplomacy? Our foreign affairs correspondent, Jill Dougherty, is live for us in Washington.
So two big developments. I mean, we heard the president as well as secretary of state give their take on the situation in Egypt and also that meeting yesterday between the vice president and some of the opposition groups. What is perhaps all of this moving toward, Jill? JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, the main thing, Kiran, is, and you're hearing it from everybody in the administration is that they want this to be number one, nonviolent, and number two, orderly, an orderly transition to elections. And the sooner the better. But what they're saying is this could take some time.
Secretary Clinton is really saying there have to be concrete milestones, things like creating political parties, changing the constitution, things like that that are really important before they can move to these elections. But she also talked about the risks. And let's listen to how she defined those risks.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON, SECRETARY OF STATE: There are risks. There are risks with the transition to democracy. It can be chaotic. It can cause short-term instability. Revolutions have overthrown dictators in the name of democracy only to see the political process hijacked by new autocrats who use violence, deception and rigged elections to stay in power or to advance an agenda of extremism.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DOUGHERTY: And another thing that the U.S. and others are looking at very carefully are the negotiations that are taking place between the vice president, Vice President Omar Suleiman, and the opposition because the opposition, as we know, includes the Muslim Brotherhood. They were outlawed, and there is some concern about where they are headed and what their agenda is.
You know, President Obama was asked about that in the interview. And he said you have to make sure, know, that they're one of many different factions. That they are not the majority in Egypt -- Kiran.
CHETRY: All right. Jill Dougherty for us with the latest on the diplomatic angle. Thanks so much.
Coming up at 6:40 Eastern, we're going to be speaking with Egyptian journalist Mona Eltahawy about the latest developments from Cairo.
HOLMES: It is called the Vince Lombardi trophy. That's what you get for winning the Super Bowl. And it's named after a legendary Green Bay coach.
Well, that trophy is going back to Green Bay. Packers, as you know by now, beat the Steelers, Super Bowl XLV yesterday -- 31-25. Turned out to be a great game. Too many mistakes for the Steelers in their turnover department to overcome last night.
CHETRY: And Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers threw for three touchdown passes. He was named Super Bowl MVP. Head coach says that the championship trophy is back where it belongs.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MIKE MCCARTHY, PACKERS HEAD COACH: We fully expected to win this game. This was our time. We talked about it since the first day we were watching film. You could see the confidence building as the preparation week went on and on and on. The last thing I told the team when we broke the meeting today. This is our time, Super Bowl XLV. It's time to take the Coach Lombardi trophy back home.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Their fourth Super Bowl victory in franchise history. Last time they won was in 1997, Brett Favre in his heyday.
HOLMES: It was his heyday. He was a young man at the time. Aaron Rodgers last night. He's only a few months younger than Favre was when he actually won one. So, great for Rodgers last night.
CHETRY: It was.
HOLMES: A rough start to all the Super Bowl festivities last night. In case you missed the "national anthem," it's always a big event, always a big star to sing. Christina Aguilera, the girl's got some pipes. We know this. Poor thing. She messed up the "national anthem." If you didn't notice, if you were watching and paying close enough attention, you may have heard something a little off. It was about 40 seconds in. The line she was supposed to say was "O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming." Here's what came out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTINA AGUILERA, SINGER: What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming. Who's broad stripes and bright stars.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: That was the right part.
CHETRY: OK.
HOLMES: No. It's coming up now -- though wait. This is the part she messed up right here.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTINA AGUILERA, SINGER: What so proudly we watched at the twilight last gleaming.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: You see them looking at each other. I love it when you see the players, they were singing along and they start looking at each other. I mean, that's a hard one.
HOLMES: Yes.
CHETRY: But, you know, that's also one that you might want to make sure -- you have it down.
HOLMES: Have to give her credit. She kept singing like nothing was wrong.
CHETRY: Yes. She didn't stop.
HOLMES: And she's defending it. She said, you know, I got caught up in the moment but hope everyone still realized the love of our country and that song, the moment was still felt. The crowd was still loving it at the same time. But big stage, big moment.
CHETRY: The pressure -- the pressure of the lyrics to the Star Spangled Banner. By the way, there was an over under bet on how long she do "brave," how long brave would go. I timed it, 11 1/2 seconds. So if you bet under six -- I don't think many people did.
HOLMES: Yes.
CHETRY: Well, a lot of critics are panning the halftime show as well. One of them said the Black Eyed Peas made Christina Aguilera look good. Well, that was a little harsh. But there were some technical problems. Microphones cut out a few times. Not only for Fergie but during a performance by Usher, as well. There's no denying, of course, Fergie sparkled in the wardrobe. She was wearing $2 million worth of Harry Winston diamonds. Congrats on that. She has to give them back, I'm sure.
The NFL is promising to investigate a Super Bowl seating snafu as well that left 400 ticket holders -- can you imagine paying all the money, getting there, and having them say, we're sorry, your seats aren't safe? You can't sit down.
HOLMES: The event of a lifetime was ruined for folks. We're talking about ten particular -- six sections of seats.
They weren't completely installed. They weren't installed in time for inspection to take place. You know, you got them coming to make sure it's safe. Things weren't done in time. So we're talking about 1,250 ticket holders, 850 of those folks were relocated to other, frankly, crappier places to watch the game. Some had to watch it on TV screens, and others said they had to just -- have a view of nothing but the backside of some of the players. Four hundred, though, other folks were told we just don't have anywhere for you.
Our Mark McKay live in Arlington, Texas. Mark, did you have a seat?
MARK MCKAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I did have a seat. But amongst me, T.J., in the auxiliary press seating were many of those displaced Steeler and Packer fans who literally, as you said, showed up here at Cowboys Stadium Sunday afternoon hoping to watch their team play in the Super Bowl only to find out the tickets that they had didn't get them a seat inside the stadium. We were amongst the 400 that did not get accommodated. And as you can imagine, they were not happy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No seats! No seats. They don't even have my row, let alone the section we're supposed to be in.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was terribly mismanaged, and we're just beside ourselves. I don't know how this is going to come out. We can't see the game. They've -- they've shuttled us into this area. I can't see a positive outcome.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Head of security almost kicked me out because I don't know where I'm going. So I don't know who's all in charge of this, but never again will I come back to Dallas stadium.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCKAY: Now think about this. This was all happening about an hour before kickoff. We watched Christina Aguilera walk by the same time we're watching fans put into this lounge area adjacent to the field. T.J. and Kiran, the NFL said that it would triple the cost of refund of the face value of the tickets involved, but the people that we spoke to said it wasn't necessarily about the money, it was about the experience -- an experience that was ruined.
CHETRY: Yes. And I felt bad for that last guy. Carried that hat and hair the whole entire way from Pittsburgh to Dallas, not to be able to watch his team lose unfortunately.
By the way, what did you think of the game, Mark?
MCKAY: I think the NFL, Kiran, got what it wanted. It got a game that went within, you know, midway through the final period still was within doubts. What a game for Aaron Rodgers. Three touchdowns. Can we finally say that this guy has come out of the shadow of Brett Favre? What Aaron Rodgers did last night at Cowboys Stadium was something that Brett Favre has never done. That's when the Super Bowl Most Valuable Player award, the Lombardi trophy, heading back to what they call title town, USA, Green Bay, Wisconsin, guys.
CHETRY: Yes. Great, great day for them. They're going to have a blast this week. Thanks so much, Mark.
HOLMES: Want to turn to our Rob Marciano. He is in Atlanta for us this morning, keeping an eye on weather.
Rob, you stay up for the game, as well?
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Oh, yes.
HOLMES: Of course, you did.
MARCIANO: Of course. You know, and it was -- the Steelers made a nice comeback there towards the end to make it a game. You know, as far as the safety measures are concerned, I mean, that Steeler fan had a steel beam going through his forehead. The fact that -- that guy can handle anything. Just put him in the seats. If they collapse, they collapse, it will be fine. Poor guy. I feel bad for those people.
HOLMES: Yes. MARCIANO: They went for the record and that's the risk you take, unfortunately.
We do have some risky weather in the form of some snow and some rain across the south. How big is this going to get? We'll talk about that.
We're getting some snow across parts of Arkansas. Some heavy rains moving in to the gulf states and the Florida panhandle there. Could see some thunderstorms later on today as these two systems try to converge, try to get their act together. I don't think it's going to have too much punch to it.
Heading to the northeast, temperatures right around the freezing mark from D.C. to Boston. So as this precip comes in, it's going to be right on the border. It's going to be a rain/snow mix. Probably see, maybe see an inch or two tonight. But I think that's about it. Watching another system drop into the Rockies. We'll talk more about that in our week's weather forecast later on in the program -- T.J., Kiran.
CHETRY: All right. Rob Marciano. Thanks so much.
MARCIANO: OK.
HOLMES: Still to come on this AMERICAN MORNING, WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange with another court date. What this could mean for him moving forward.
CHETRY: Also, it's the first time she's talked publicly about the situation. Sarah Palin weighing in and slamming President Obama on his handling of the crisis in Egypt.
HOLMES: And I'm sure you have a favorite Super Bowl ad already. Well, there is one that everybody is talking about. Little Darth Vader is a superstar.
It's 15 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Nineteen minutes past the hour.
New this morning, WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange is back in a London courtroom today. He's appearing at a two-day hearing. This will determine whether or not he has to be extradited to Sweden to face allegations of molesting, rape in one case two Swedish women. Assange is out on bail and has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing saying that both of the encounters were consensual.
HOLMES: Turning to Iran now with the trial for three Americans is underway. These three Americans were the hikers accused of spying. The report is out that say they have entered not guilty pleas. The trial is closed to the press, however.
The three hikers - Shane Bauer, Josh Fattal, and Sarah Shourd, they were detained back in 2009. Shourd, you may remember, was released on bail in September because of a medical condition.
CHETRY: NASA astronaut Mark Kelly will resume training today as commander of the shuttle Endeavour's final mission. He says it's been a tough decision, but that his wife, Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, would support that decision. Giffords was shot in the head during the rampage in Tucson last month. The shuttle launch is expected to happen in April.
HOLMES: And a Youngstown State University student is dead after a shooting at a frat house there. Two men have now been arrested, though they have yet to be charged. But the one dead student is a senior named Jamail Johnson. The shooting happened at the Omega Psi Phi House which was off campus. Another 11 people were wounded.
According to police, the suspects were kicked out of the party, then returned a short time later and opened fire.
CHETRY: Well, also in Ohio, a freight train carrying 320,000 gallons of ethanol jumped the tracks. It sparked a huge fire. This happened in Hancock County, Ohio. Firefighters say that two workers were on the train at the time. No one was hurt. That's amazing when you look at the pictures. Close to two dozen homes in the area had to be evacuated. Officials say about three cars are still burning. They had to call out I think 200 emergency officials responding to that. But they say that the fire should be out by this morning.
HOLMES: And next on this AMERICAN MORNING, AOL is betting on the news, deciding to purchase one of the most popular news websites out this.
CHETRY: Also, Former President George W. Bush was scheduled to make a speech in Switzerland this weekend. We'll tell you why it was canceled suddenly.
Twenty-one minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Twenty-four minutes past the hour.
A new deal pairs two online giants, AOL and the "Huffington Post." Our Christine Romans is "Minding Your Business". This is interesting to see AOL trying to jump into the content game online.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: That's right. And they've done this with - to other company so far.
The "Huffington Post" is the biggest sort of high-profile purchase so far. $315 million, 300 of it cash, which means Arianna Huffington who started a liberal blog in 2005 with a very small staff and I think maybe a million dollars of investment has really turned that thing into a thought leader and powerhouse in just a short amount of time, and AOL took notice.
AOL is a dial-up Internet business, remember, in its very - in its creation. And you can see what kinds of - what kinds of subscribers should it had. Look at that. For more than 25 million subscribers, you know, about a decade ago to 3.8 million right now.
Here's what I can tell you about "Huffington Post." It goes on top of TechCrunch, Engadget, Patch. These are some of the other content providers that AOL has been buying. AOL clearly making this pivot toward the stuff that we read as a way to - to make money, unclear exactly how they're going to try to turn this into more of a moneymaker, although 25 million people every month view "Huffington Post."
Arianna Huffington will be president and the editor-in-chief of all content. They also have MapQuest and Moviefone, by the way. And I e- mailed her at - like 5:02 this morning and she e-mailed back at 5:02 and 30 seconds to say they've been up all night. She's sleep deprived. But the deal's got done just I guess a little bit after midnight.
This is what she told us for AMERICAN MORNING. She's excited about all the possibilities. She wants to expand locally through AOL's Patch.com. That's something that's -
CHETRY: The community has one. We have -
ROMANS: That's right.
CHETRY: It's sort of a local online newspaper that's really oriented to your community. And they - it's very interesting. They have a lot of job openings. Let's put it that way.
ROMANS: Yes. Oh, interesting. It also kind of replace the sort of the lost local newspaper. She's interested about that. She wants to double down on video. She wants to do more in the living space, especially for women she says. She wants more original reporting on AOL and "Huffington Post" to tell the stories of our time and put flesh and blood on the economic data, which is, you know, something that we also try to do here.
So, interesting move for AOL, try to embolden itself as a content provider as the subscriber base has really dwindled.
HOLMES: And priced about right, $315. Is that what a website -
ROMANS: I don't know.
HOLMES: - going for this thing?
ROMANS: I don't know. You know, that's the thing. I mean, content is so hard - just so hard to value. And this is a private company - "Huffington Post" is a private company. We know 25 million visitors every month, we don't know how much money they make.
HOLMES: All right. Christine, thank you.
ROMANS: You're welcome.
HOLMES: As always. We'll talk to you again here shortly. To our viewers, we're keeping a close eye, of course, on what's been happening in Egypt. There were some tensions over the weekend in Tahrir Square, but also some signs of normalcy this morning. But still, people demanding that President Mubarak go. We'll have the very latest.
CHETRY: Also, President Obama looking into Egypt's political future and calling for some big changes. We're going to hear the president, how he weighed in on the issue over the weekend.
Twenty-seven minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: With the bottom of the hour here on this AMERICAN MORNING, thank you for being with us.
Giving update on what's happening in Egypt right now. The demonstrators are back in Tahrir Square, spent the weekend there. For the most part, things were peaceful however. And we are seeing some signs of things getting back to normal today.
Let's check in with our Ivan Watson a short time, and just hearing car horns in the background of his live shot. He says that's a sign that there's traffic. People are back on the street. That's something we haven't seen for days.
Meanwhile, the government has started talks with at least six opposition groups, as well.
CHETRY: And the Pack is back. Green Bay Packers defeating the Pittsburgh Steelers. It was 31-25. It stayed interesting all the way into the fourth quarter to win Super Bowl XLV.
Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers threw touchdown passes. He was named the game's most valuable player, emerging from the shadow of Brett Favre. Championship Lombardi trophy named for the legendary Packers coach. And as they said, it's feeling home again.
HOLMES: And former President Bush has canceled a trip to Switzerland. He was scheduled to go on Saturday to speak. However, there was a group there called the Center for Constitutional Rights. It says it was prepared to file a legal complaint against the former president if he went to Switzerland. They also want him to be prosecuted for, quote, "approving torture of terror suspects."
CHETRY: And before last night's big game, President Obama sat down with FOX News Channel's Bill O'Reilly. The president weighing in on the uprising in Egypt and health care reform. Were there any fireworks?
Our Jim Acosta is live in Washington. They were billing it as B.O. versus B.O.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it sure was, Kiran. And this was a pretty smart move for the White House. Remember, the president is thinking re-election. And it's safe to say the people who watch FOX News are not all Obama supporters. And remember, the two teams in the Super Bowl, Green Bay and Pittsburgh, hail from states that are traditionally Democratic but elected Republican senators in the midterms.
So, in front of that big pregame audience, the president was asked by Mr. O'Reilly about the crisis in Egypt and whether it's embattled leader, Hosni Mubarak, should go.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Egypt is not going to go back to what it was. The Egyptian people want freedom. They want free and fair elections. They want a representative government. They want a responsive government.
And so, what we've said is, you have to start a transition now. The United States can't absolutely dictate what happens, but what we can -- what we can do, Bill, is we can say that the time is now for you to start making a change, trying to suppress your own people is something that is not sustainable. And part of the message that I think we're seeing around the world is when you resort to suppression, when you resort to violence, that does not work.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: The president said only Mubarak knows what he's going to do, and Mr. Obama did not insist on a specific timetable for Mubarak to step down.
CHETRY: Also, the president did speak about health care, as well.
ACOSTA: He did. Ever since a federal judge down in Florida said the new health care law was unconstitutional, it's become pretty clear that this case is headed to the Supreme Court. So, this was a pretty testy exchange. Bill O'Reilly tried to press the president on what he would do if the Supreme Court struck down the law.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL O'REILLY, FOX NEWS: If it gets thrown out, what are you going to do?
OBAMA: Here's what I'm not prepared to do: I'm not prepared to go back to a day when the American people, if you've got a pre-existing condition, if you had a heart attack then you can't get help.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: Yes, what was revealing about the exchange over health care is that the president did not offer up a plan B, Kiran, if the Supreme Court agrees this law is unconstitutional. Just didn't go there.
CHETRY: Interesting stuff. All right. Jim Acosta for us this morning -- thanks. HOLMES: Also, the former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, she is making comments about Egypt. Not just talking about what she would do but saying what the president, President Obama, is doing wrong.
Take a listen to her and the comments were kind of a throwback to the campaign season. This will sound familiar to you.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SARAH PALIN (R), FORMER ALASKA GOVERNOR: This is a difficult situation. This is that 3:00 a.m. White House phone call. And it seems for many of us trying to get that information from our leader in the White House, it seems that that call went right to the answering machine.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: She's making a comment there, a reference back to the primary season when the president was going head to head against Hillary Clinton, making comments about, you know, what do you do when that red phone rings at the White House at 3:00 a.m. That's what she was referring to. She did go on to make comments about the Muslim Brotherhood saying, quote, "We should not stand for that or with that or by that," end quote.
CHETRY: Paying tribute to our nation's 40th president, friends, family and former colleague celebrating Ronald Reagan's 100th birthday in Santa Barbara, California, yesterday. Former First Lady Nancy Reagan placed a wreath on her husband's grave and greeted the 1,200 guests. Sarah Palin, former cabinet Secretary James Baker, actor Gary Sinise all spoke. Grammy winner Lee Greenwood sang his hit song, "God Bless the USA," and the Beach Boys also performed as well.
While Australia is in the grip of disaster, as we know, dealing with the heavy flooding, the rains, flash flooding, raging wildfires now, we're going to have more details on what's going on Down Under.
HOLMES: Also, we told you, Egypt's government now talking with opposition groups. Does this mean an agreement, or some kind of peace is in the near future? We're talking to an Egyptian journalist, coming up.
It's 34 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Thirty-seven minutes past the hour now.
There's relative calm in Cairo this morning. It could signal a turning point in this two-week-old uprising. Sunday, Egypt's new vice president met with opposition groups, including an unprecedented meeting with the representatives of the Muslim Brotherhood. How significant was this?
CHETRY: Well, we're joined now by Mona Eltahawy. She's a journalist born in Egypt. Spent a lot of years there, has family in Cairo. And they've been giving you, you know, sort of an unvarnished view of what people think. What do you make of this meeting? Are you skeptical that this is really a move toward change?
MONA ELTAHAWY, JOURNALIST: Many of the pro-democracy demonstrators in Tahrir Square, especially, are very suspicious of the meeting that took place for two reasons. They feel that the U.S. administration is pushing Omar Suleiman as an alternative to Mubarak and they see Suleiman as very much part of the regime that they want to topple.
And, secondly, Omar Suleiman met, as you mentioned, with opposition, including the Muslim Brotherhood. And yet, he continues to use this alarmist tone, vis-a-vis the Brotherhood, when he speaks to the American media. So, they're really wondering what his agenda is and they don't trust him at all.
HOLMES: But even the folks sitting at the table with the government, are they necessarily representative of the folks down at Tahrir Square?
ELTAHAWY: Yes, that's another great question, too, because Mubarak for all these years -- for 30 years, he has never really allowed a good alternative to him. So, we don't have a really strong, robust opposition. What we need is people who represent those demonstrators in Tahrir Square and across different parts of Egypt --
HOLMES: But do we have that right now?
ELTAHAWY: We don't. Right. So, what they're trying to do is they're trying to present names, especially young people, and they're trying to form committees that will represent them. So, for now, they're saying, OK, you guys must remember you did not start this uprising.
So, they're also feeling very wary about what kind of concessions are being made in their name.
CHETRY: And meanwhile, while all of this is taking place, Hosni Mubarak is still there.
ELTAHAWY: Exactly.
CHETRY: I mean, he has resisted calls to leave the country or even to step down as president. And so, what needs to be the tipping point I guess in terms of this because people still say they're going to come out and protest. But at the same time, their key demand has still not been met.
ELTAHAWY: Absolutely. And, you know, the independent newspaper in the U.K. yesterday came out with a story that was quite shocking to many Egyptians I know. That the U.S. administration's envoy to Cairo last week, Frank Wisner, who was supposed to go there and talk to Mubarak and kind of speak about this transition of power, is actually employed by a company that the Mubarak regime employs.
So, lot of people are certainly thinking, what's going on, you know? Whose side is everybody on? And as you said, Mubarak is still there, and the demonstrators insist they will not go.
So, it feels like it's some kind of delaying tactic that the regime is using to try to divide Egyptians.
HOLMES: Are you getting any signals that some people maybe two weeks into this are getting protest weary and say, hey, at some point, I have to feed my family and I need to get back to work?
ELTAHAWY: That's exactly what the regime wants and that's exactly what the pro-democracy demonstrators are worried about, that the more Mubarak digs in his heels, the more people will say, look, he said he's going to leave in September, why don't you go? But the thing is, as he says I'm going to leave in September and tries to make all these concessions, the military police, his military police, continue to arrest activist and human rights activists and bloggers.
So, there's a general air of distrust and people just want him to go. And they want to get on with this peaceful transition. But they don't know who to trust because so many people have different agendas basically.
CHETRY: And I want to ask you because we're hearing that the first journalist died as a result of the conflict from gunshot wounds sustained during the riots. We are also hearing about this Google executive who had been detained, Wael Ghonim. He I expected to be released today.
But, again, there's question about whether or not this crackdown, the worst of this government crackdown is over or whether it's continuing? What's your take?
ELTAHAWY: I definitely feel it's continuing from the number of names I hear of people being detained. I mean, the youngest person to have died so far during the uprising is a 10-year-old from two bullets. So, it just makes you wonder.
You know, I sometimes feel the Mubarak regime gives with one hand and takes with the other because while they're promising Wael Ghonim is going to be released, this Google exec that you mentioned, everybody is just saying, wait until we actually see him released because they've made so many promises they have not kept.
So, until people see actual concessions, you know, here's the real concessions the Mubarak regime can make, they can say, we'll lift the emergency law that has been in place for 30 years. Why isn't the administration pushing for this? So, we need to see concrete concessions before we can trust the Mubarak regime.
HOLMES: All right. But that's on the table right now, at least being talked about. That's been in place for three decades.
ELTAHAWY: That's a start.
HOLMES: That's a start. That's a huge start.
All right. Mona Eltahawy, it's great to have your perspective. We appreciate you coming in once again for us this morning, thanks so much.
ELTAHAWY: Thanks.
CHETRY: Good to see you, Mona.
ELTAHAWY: Thank you.
CHETRY: Still ahead on AMERICAN MORNING: a storm in the South is now taking aim at the Northeast. Rob's going to be along with the travel forecast, let you know the hot spots around the country right after the break.
HOLMES: Also, it wasn't just a super game, some super commercials. That little guy, you can't see his face, but he's a huge star today -- little Darth Vader. We'll show you some of the best and the worst from last night.
It's 42 minutes past the hour.
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CHETRY: A beautiful shot this morning of Green Bay, Wisconsin, Lambeau Field, 16 degrees right now. But that's OK. It's going up to a high of 21 degrees.
And, hey, if they could deal with the Dallas weather, they're experts now, the Packers. Coming home --coming home winners, champions, bringing the Lombardi trophy back. The Cheeseheads are thrilled this morning.
HOLMES: Congrats to the folks of Green Bay, a little town of 100,000 people, able to pull off that victory last night. Publicly owned team. They're setting an example for maybe some other cities, other teams around the country. Hello to you all. Quarter to the top of the hour here. I want to check in with Rob Marciano. Give us a look at weather. Another week, so I assume you got to tell us about another storm.
MARCIANO: Yes. It's going to be -- by the way, have you, guys, seen the play on Broadway Lombardi?
CHETRY: No.
MARCIANO: You got to go check it out.
CHETRY: He saw "Memphis" this weekend though.
HOLMES: Oh, "Memphis" this weekend.
MARCIANO: OK. In honor of the Packers' win, you got to go watch Lombardi.
HOLMES: All right.
MARCIANO: Really nicely done.
CHETRY: I love -- he's our stage critic, as well, Rob. I love that.
MARCIANO: Yes. You know, I'll take free tickets, too, if you can get them to me. I paid full price for those.
We're looking at snow across parts of the northeast and some rain across the south. How much is the question? And yes, we've got another storm that's -- boy, it's just been quite a winter, hasn't it? I mean, now Chicago is up and over in record territory. They had over 50 inches of snow total after the blizzard last week. The New York City area and tri-state region just absolutely hammered with snow and then the ice last weekend. And now a little bit more coming your way.
We got heavy rain across parts of the Pensacola and some snow across parts of Arkansas. These two systems, if they were to combine and phase and kind of blow up like these systems have been doing a lot of across the northeast, we'd have ourselves a big hurting on our hands. Doesn't look like that's going to happen at this point, but we also have some heavy rains, and some of this is beneficial down across parts of the Florida panhandle. Here's your heavier snow. Memphis, speaking of, we'll see a little bit of snow after the changeover, the back side of this.
Just enough to maybe wet the roadways in a slushy-type of manner. If you are traveling today, Dallas, 30 to 60-minute delays because of volume. Atlanta, rain, 30 to 60-minute delays there. Cleveland, Chicago, and Memphis, 60-minute delays, as well. All right. Let's talk about these two storms as they kind of try to phase together. This is going to ride up the Appalachians and then get to about D.C. Notice it's going to be kind of rain/snow mix along i-5 tonight, and then the back side will bring a little bit of snow.
You know, maybe an inch or two of slushy stuff at this point. That's about all we think. There is another weaker system -- another system that's coming in later in the week, but at this point, that one doesn't look like it's getting its acts together all that well. Things in the atmosphere have kind of switched gears as far as what's going on in the Atlantic and the Pacific, and that's a good thing.
Try to switch this trend there, cycle that we've been on for the past two months. And now, what include warmer temperatures or slightly warmer temperatures, 41 degrees in New York for the high temperature today, 50 in D.C., and 52 degrees in Atlanta, Georgia. T.J., Kiran, back to you.
CHETRY: Fifty-two in Atlanta, finally feeling a little bit normal, right?
MARCIANO: Yes. That's about where we should be for this time of year. So, we'll take it.
HOLMES: Sounds great, Rob. Rob, appreciate you as always, buddy. Talk to you again soon.
CHETRY: Yes. I'm sweating now. We're in the 30s. I mean, come on. All we can expect this winter.
HOLMES: Still wearing Long Johns today.
CHETRY: At 47 minutes past the hour, we're talking about Australia, and they have had it rough with the disasters, weather-related disasters. Now, there are raging wildfires to add to the trouble. Destroyed more than 50 homes on the west coast city of Perth, dealing with dry conditions along with 50 mile-per-hour wind gusts making it difficult for firefighters to get a handle on the planes. Investigators say the fire was started accidentally by a man using a power tool. And of course, all of this comes after the recent devastating flooding and a severe cyclone, as well.
HOLMES: Also, the NASDAQ has been hacked, repeatedly. This is coming to us from the "Wall Street Journal." reporting that these hacks have happened in a web application that's called directorsdesk. It's part of the NASDAQ communications tool. Now, it's not clear whether other systems of the NASDAQ were compromised, and apparently, the hackers were just looking around. Don't know of any damage necessarily was done. Officials say part of the system that deals with the actual trades, though, was not breached.
CHETRY: That's good news.
Still ahead on AMERICAN MORNING, pro-Democracy demonstrations in Egypt. Protesters are continuing to come out defiant against the government, but there are signs also that life may be slowly returning to normal, at least, for now for many Egyptians. We'll have details on that.
HOLMES: Companies are hiring, and many of them are looking for someone in particular. A baby-boomer. We'll tell you why more and more companies want the baby-boomers to get their jobs done.
CHETRY: Also, President Obama hosting the ultimate Super Bowl party. White House shots cooking up quite a feast. We're going to tell you what the guests were eating and drinking.
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HOLMES: Everybody's talking about the football game last night. We've got a basketball highlight for you. Right now, this one coming to us out of California. Take a look here. You don't see this every day, necessarily. Did you see the heave-ho?
CHETRY: Wow.
HOLMES: That's a 90-footer.
CHETRY: All right. There we go.
HOLMES: I said heave-ho. It's a technical term, Jason. It's a heave-ho. A 90-footer, and it's in. This is at a high school junior made this toss after rebounding the ball. Now, I wish I could have more of a dramatic story for you than I do. This wasn't to win the game.
CHETRY: What? HOLMES: They were already -- they blew the team out 69-52. This was just for the fun of it. So, if this was a last-second shot, that actually won the game --
CHETRY: That's amazing, though.
HOLMES: Yes, but still.
Let's turn to the game last night. We're still not going to be talking about game highlights. We're talking about commercial highlights now.
CHETRY: Yes. The year of the animals. I mean, there was a bunch of funny animals. Advertisers rolled out all sorts of goodies. They had rock stars, they had babies, they had many, many car commercials. I liked this one. It's funny. Jason Carroll joins us live to break down some of the best. Throw Ozzy Osbourne in there. You saw Roseanne Barr getting knocked down. There was some good one.
JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Did you have a favorite?
HOLMES: Everybody loved the kid, little Darth Vader.
CHETRY: The Doritos was funny.
CARROLL: The Doritos, yes. I liked the pug (ph), too. You know, there were two bowls going on. We had the Super Bowl, right? But also the ad bowl. We know it comes every single year. This year, over 100 million people watched the bowl last night. Fifteen percent tuned in strictly to see the commercials. That's according to a marketing study.
Overall, celebrities and humor dominated. Snickers tried to repeat the success of last year's Betty White commercial. Don't know if they did it this time. This time, with comedians Richard Lewis and Roseanne Barr as hungry loggers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Back hurts. Now, my front hurts.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARROLL: Another fan favorite, a pug, there he is right there, getting back at a man for taunting him with Doritos. Obviously, we know the pug wins in that one. A wife calling the shots over her husband's diet in a Pepsi ad, and Ozzy Osbourne teaming up with Justin Bieber in a futuristic Best Buy commercial.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's Bieber 6G fever.
SHARON OSBOURNE, WIFE OF OZZY OSBOURNE: What's the 6G?
OZZY OSBOURNE, SINGER: What's a Bieber? JACK OSBOURNE, SON OF OZZY OSBOURNE: I don't know. Kind of looks like a girl.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARROLL: We all know what a Bieber is now. An interesting trend this year, some of the advertisers didn't even wait for game day to premiere their commercials. Instead, releasing them online a few days early in order to generate some buzz. That's what Volkswagen did with one of the most popular spots of the night. There he is. The boy dressed as Darth Vader trying to conjure up the force. So far, I checked this morning, it's received more than 14 million views on YouTube.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(ENGINE REVVING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARROLL: That's a good one. Another standout among the auto ads, as you said, Kiran, there were a lot of them last night. Chrysler with one of the longest commercials of the night featuring Eminem in a salute to the Motor City. You know, with high points, there are going to be some low points, too, right? Some, according to ad experts, godaddy.com's commercial featuring Joan Rivers, don't know if that hit the mark.
Some, according to ad experts, godaddy.com's commercial featuring Joan Rivers, don't know if that hit the mark. Also, Groupon spot also missing the mark with some of critics. The online discount site aired an ad with actor, Timothy Hutton, mocking a press people in Tibet.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TIMOTHY HUTTON, ACTOR: The people of Tibet are in trouble. Their very culture is in jeopardy. But they still whip up an amazing fish curry. And since 200 of us bought at groupon.com, we're each getting $30 with a Tibetan food for just $15 --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARROLL: Yes, that was a little odd, wasn't that one?
CHETRY: Yes.
CARROLL: We also saw the return of fan favorites like the Budweiser's Clydesdale horses and the E-trade baby. Also interesting last night counted, we saw a lot of movie spots. Some of the blockbuster that could be blockbusters coming out this summer. Let's see "Thor," "Captain Avengers," super-rate (ph) the sci-fi flick, "Transformers," and the "Pirates of the Caribbean." What is four, three?
HOLMES: Fourth one.
CARROLL: Fourth one, yes. So, a lot of those, as well. HOLMES: The E-trade baby, is that still working? Talking babies --
CARROLL: You know, it might be time for that baby to sort of grow up and move on.
(LAUGHTER)
HOLMES: In kindergarten --
(CROSSTALK)
CHETRY: We've got a problem.
(LAUGHTER)
All right. We're going to take a quick break. Top of the hour, coming up, your stop stories. We'll be right back.
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