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Unemployment Rate Falls; Greek Crisis Dominates G-20 Summit; Cain Accuser May Go Public; Perry Denies Harassment Leaks; Cain Harassment Controversy; Conrad Murray Trail To Go To Jury; Corzine Resigns as MF Global CEO; Jobs Report: Wall Street Reacts; Interview with Bill Cosby
Aired November 04, 2011 - 08:59 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: We want to begin this hour with brand new numbers on the economy and for once it's upbeat. Just minutes ago we learned that the nation's unemployment fell 9 percent last month. 80,000 jobs were created; that's actually fewer than expected, but here's the good news.
We've now learned that there was more job creation in August and September than first reported. Here's the bottom line. The new numbers help tap down those fears of a double dip recession.
Also impacting your wallet and the world economy -- two things that we've been talking so much about. Ali Velshi is in France where the G-20 economic summit may hinge on one country and a government that's actually teetering on collapse.
Also, Zain Verjee has the global reaction to the crisis in Greece.
Ali, let's go ahead and begin with you. Just about an hour from now President Obama is due to hold this news conference right there at the summit. Greece, as we know, it's going to be a linchpin. You know before you tell us why Americans really need to pay attention to this, if you don't mind, just give us some perspective on this morning's new jobless numbers that I just talked about.
ALI VELSHI, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: OK, well -- because I love you, Kyra, and we've worked so long, I'm going to make this a choose-your-own adventure. What do you want from me? Do you want me to be upbeat and positive or do you want me to be down beat and pessimistic? Because I can do both with the --
PHILLIPS: I want you to be -- I want you to be balanced. I want you to give me both.
VELSHI: OK. I'll be balanced.
PHILLIPS: Give me the reality check, no nonsense Ali Velshi.
VELSHI: OK. Yes. OK. So here's what we got. We were expecting about 100,000 jobs to be created, we got 80,000. In my world, that's not that big a deal. We're OK. The unemployment rate went down to 9 percent, again, not a big deal because at this point the unemployment rate tells us less about the economy than a whole bunch of other indicators.
But as you said, the big deal was the numbers for the previous two months always get revised and they were revised up. So the bottom line is, we are a little step closer to not feeling as bad about the economy as we were, let's say, a month or two months ago. That's the good news.
The perspective on the jobs numbers is that they are -- they're growing, economic growth is present in the United States in about 2.5 percent. That's not much. India is growing at about 7 percent, and China at about 8. But the bottom line is we are moving forward slowly. Not great news, not enough to really bring the unemployment number down, but not bad -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right, now, let's talk about Greece and where you are there in the beautiful spot in the south of France. We're really paying close attention to what President Obama has to say. How he is hoping that leaders rally.
VELSHI: Right.
PHILLIPS: And that this debt crisis can be solved because bottom line it impacts us here in the United States tremendously.
VELSHI: Sure. And I'll tell you how it does that. There are three ways that what's going on here in Cannes and in Athens will have an impact on everyone. Number one, if Greece doesn't get its act together and solve its debt problems which it now looks like it will, it could slow down the European economy.
I told you that the U.S. is growing at a rate of about 2.5 percent. Europe is not. Europe is close to flat right now. That means that it can be tipped into a recession. What happens if you're in a recession? People lose jobs and they don't buy things.
Some of the things that Europeans spend money on are made or produced or they're services offered by Americans. Look, when you walk around New York, even Atlanta, you'll run into a lot of Europeans. When they're in a recession, they won't travel as much, they won't buy as much stuff, that affects jobs in the United States.
Number two, look at how these markets have been going up and down day after day based on what's going on in Europe. So what goes on in Europe affects your 401(k).
Number three, and this is probably the most important, if a country defaults like Greece could have or like Italy might, it makes lenders, big lenders around the world say, I don't know if it's safe to be lending money at it. Reminds us of 2008 and the whole Lehman Brothers situation. And that will have an effect on the United States on people trying to get mortgages or small business loans because money will just kind of start to freeze up again.
So everybody in the world should have all eyes on Athens today to make sure that the government survives its no confidence vote later on this evening and that this thing doesn't go to a referendum and actually gets implemented.
That's why this is so important. We're all breathing a sigh of relief here in Cannes that the Greeks seemed to be getting their house in order. But it's not over now. In fact as soon as this is over, Kyra, the attention is going to start to shift to Italy to see whether we have another problem brewing in a much bigger economy in Italy.
PHILLIPS: Got it. All right. We'll be talking a lot this morning, Ali. Thank you so much.
And of course, the G-2 summit is playing out on the international stage and within the international headlines.
Zain Verjee out of London for us now with some of the more notable points and thoughts from people as we are paying close attention to the final day of the summit.
ZAIN VERJEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hi, Kyra.
As Greece holds the rest of the world hostage, here's what the international news headlines are saying.
The "Wall Street Journal" in Europe has this, Kyra. "Europeans open a Cannes of worms." "For the first time," it says, "the euro zone has acknowledged a country could quit the euro. The referendum is dead, but Greece's euro membership is now firmly on the agenda."
"The Independent" talk of Greece leaving the euro is reckless. It says, "Amid all the confusion what's clear is that the effort to solve the eurozone's problems are far from over. Now is not the time for careless talk about Greece's exit. It's time for concerted efforts to find a solution. The alternatives are immeasurably worse."
And finally, Kyra, the "South China Morning Post," "No Cannes do." Consumed by seemingly unending troubles over Europe's debt woes, global leaders have barely begun to tackle the serious economic imbalances and other structural problems at the heart of the world's job crisis.
So all eyes on Athens right now to see what happens but the last 24 hours has seen a lot of political brinksmanship and a real power struggle within Greece. The question now is, will the Prime Minister George Papandreou win the confidence vote or not? Greece and the world is waiting -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Zain, thanks.
And President Obama is set to speak at the G-20 summit in just about an hour from now. We will carry it live right here on CNN.
Well, I'll tell you what, this could be a pivotal day for the troubled presidential campaign of Herman Cain. We could hear for the first time from one of the women who reportedly accused him of sexual harassment. She could issue a written statement at any time.
The Republicans contender, as you know, denies the claims and says the so-called smear campaign will not derail his candidacy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HERMAN CAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: But I can assure you this, Sean. This will not deter me. This businessman is not going to be deterred in his drive to basically do what I feel like I'm supposed to be doing which is to win this nomination and win the presidency.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Joe Johns is in Washington.
So, Joe, do we know what this woman is likely to say in her statement?
JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: We don't. I mean, all we know is the outlines. We know that she's filed or she complained about sexual harassment some 12 years ago. And if this happens, best case scenario is this would be the moment where we actually start to learn something about the actual allegations that were lodged against -- you know, the guy who is pretty much one of the two frontrunners in the presidential nomination.
I mean, the hope is for a one-page press release from a lawyer for one of the women accusers whose name we don't know. This is being described as an attempt to defend the woman's reputation. Expected to give us some sense of what she did, why she did it, and apparently the main goal of such a press release, if it happens, would be to rebut Herman Cain's assertion that sexual harassment allegations that were filed against him were false, which were made, as I said, 12 years ago.
The women said she was sexually harassed by Cain while she was working at the National Restaurant Association. So, all of this as we reported again and again is going on because of a confidentiality agreement that apparently she is not supposed to break it bars all sides from talking publicly about the details -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right. Joe Johns, we'll follow it.
Meanwhile Texas Governor Rick Perry says that his campaign -- his campaign, rather, played no part in leaking the sexual harassment story to the media. Cain actually accused a Perry campaign staffer of planting the story, a charge that his conservative rival strongly denies.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN KING, ANCHOR, "JOHN KING, USA": The Cain campaign and the candidate himself said that you and your campaign owe him an apology.
GOV. RICK PERRY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Yes.
KING: Do you?
PERRY: No apology needed. We found out about this the same time that I suppose the rest of America found out about it. Both on the Internet or the next day in the news. So, you know, I don't know how to tell any other way except knew nothing about it, sir.
KING: Do you think Mr. Cain owe you an apology? For pointing the finger to your campaign?
PERRY: There are going to be -- there's going to be more stuff floating around out there on the campaigns. You know, again, so I tell people, this isn't my first rodeo. They're going to say all kinds of things about folks. I'm going to stay focused on how does America get back to work and we've laid out a couple of really good plans both on the energy side and the tax side and how to cut spending and that's what Americans are interested in.
KING: It is what Americans are interested in, unfortunately, as you know this is not your first rodeo. Campaigns sometimes do get distracted by these things. Just lastly on this point, there have been some in your campaign when we called about this who say it's not us. Maybe you want to look over at Romney land. Is that fair?
PERRY: Look, again, I'm focused on my campaign on the issues that are important to the people and I'm -- this is over, it's gone, it's done with, and I'm pressing on.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Let's bring in our Candy Crowley. She's our chief political correspondent. She's joining us live out of Washington.
Candy, Herman Cain has said that even in the midst of all these allegations this week, his phone banks actually crashed. That he made more than $1 million in the midst of this scandal. What is your take away from this?
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think it's to be expected, frankly, because the folks that are around him that support him at this point circle the wagons. Here's what they saw.
The lane stream media, as they like to call it, using anonymous sources come out with this story, and Cain immediately says it's a -- you know, it's a hit job. They're after me because I'm a hit. They circle the wagons, they give him money, they say, go, go, go.
Now the question is, where does the story go from here, because these are people who are now vested in Herman Cain who believe him when he says, this is nothing. They're out to get me. These charges were not true at the time. Clearly, he's already said that there was some agreement or settlement or whatever you want to call it.
But, you know, what's next? Because now these folks who have been supporting him are doubly vested in it. Will they remain so if we see a face to this alleged scandal? If we see a woman with a credible story who comes out and says he did this and he did this and, you know, people recoil from it, then the circling of the wagons is no longer something that those supporters may want to do. So it is not played out yet, but I think the fact that they did gather around him, send him money, we're seeing a new poll out today from ABC/"Washington Post" that shows Cain pretty much tied with Mitt Romney for first. And those are polls -- most of the polls we've seen are, in fact, around this.
And this was taken wholly after this alleged scandal first broke. So, so far, we don't see a sign that it's hurting him. We see a sign that it's helped him in his fundraising. The problem is, what does next week bring? What does today bring?
PHILLIPS: Yes. It's amazing.
(CROSSTALK)
CROWLEY: Got to put (INAUDIBLE) somewhere.
PHILLIPS: One day things could be totally -- yes, right. One day things are totally calm.
CROWLEY: Exactly.
PHILLIPS: The next thing you know, yes, you've got these allegations.
All right, well, you just heard Governor Perry talking with our John King and he denied these accusations that it was his campaign that actually leaked this information about Herman Cain. So do you think that these allegations in any way hurt Perry in the eyes of voters?
CROWLEY: Here's how, it is exactly what you saw in that exchange which is Rick Perry doesn't want to talk about this. Rick Perry -- Rick Perry needs to regroup and fire up his campaign again. He's been sinking in the polls because people have seen him in these debates and thought, whoa, he doesn't look up to this job. He seems stumbling and rambling.
Now he's got some things he wants to sell, going, hey, here's how I get on top of the economy, here's what I do about jobs, here's what I have done. That's what he wants to talk about and yet he's been involved in this week in a back and forth, not him personally, but, you know, aides, et cetera, in back and forth when Herman Cain said, you know who did this? Somebody in Perry's camp.
So it's not good for Perry and I would also argue, it's just not good for the Republican field in general. Mitt Romney who's pretty much been clear of this saved some suggestion in Camp Perry that maybe the Mitt Romney people started this Cain stuff. Romney has kind of stayed above it. So it might marginally kind of still make him look like, quote, "the most electable."
But the people that are the happiest about this, I think, are probably the reelect Obama campaign folks. Because what it does, in general, we are in November, the first votes in the Republican primary will be taken in those caucuses when people have to stand up for their candidate in early January followed by a week later with the New Hampshire primary.
And all of a sudden, I think what this scandal does or this alleged scandal does is make the Republican ticket or the Republican slate, as we now see it, look weak. And I think that probably has created some smiles in Chicago at the reelect campaign.
PHILLIPS: Candy Crowley, we'll be talking next hour, but a totally different subject. The G-20 Summit.
CROWLEY: I know.
PHILLIPS: OK. Thanks, Candy.
CROWLEY: You bet. Thanks.
PHILLIPS: (INAUDIBLE) for us.
And of course, you can join Candy right here every Sunday ,"STATE OF THE UNION." 9:00 a.m. Eastern time.
Well, the manslaughter trial of Michael Jackson's doctor enters a crucial phase later this morning as jurors get ready to deliberate Dr. Murray's fate.
We're live at the latest next.
And Bill Cosby has got a new book. It's called, "I Didn't Ask to be Born, But I Was Glad I Was." He's going to join me in just a few minutes to talk about that, the bible and a cute girl named Bernadette.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Twenty-three days and 49 witnesses later, jurors in the Conrad Murray manslaughter trial are expected to begin deliberations a little more than two hours from now to decide whether or not he should be held accountable for the death of Michael Jackson. Casey Wian is live in Los Angeles with more for us this morning.
Hey, Casey.
CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, Kyra.
Yes. This trial has been going on for six weeks now and jurors are finally going to begin deliberations this morning on whether Conrad Murray is guilty of manslaughter in the death of Michael Jackson.
Now, yesterday, prosecutors and the defense gave their closing arguments to the jury, starting off with the prosecution, which delivered a very, very powerful closing argument -- contending that Dr. Conrad Murray is criminally negligent and is responsible for Michael Jackson's death, basically because he administered Propofol, that powerful anesthetic in Michael Jackson's bedroom not in a hospital setting.
Of course, the defense countered with its theory that Michael Jackson, himself, was to blame for injecting the drug.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)
DAVID WALGREN, PROSECUTOR: The evidence in this case is abundantly clear that Conrad Murray acted with criminal negligence. That Conrad Murray caused the death of Michael Jackson. That Conrad Murray left Prince, Paris and Blanket without a father.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What they're really asking you to do, just say it. What they're really asking you to do is convict Dr. Murray for the actions of Michael Jackson.
(END VIDEO CLIPS)
WIAN: Now, the defense also sought to poke holes in the prosecution's theory that Michael Jackson was hooked up to a continuous I.V. drip as Dr. Conrad Murray was absent from the room when Michael Jackson actually died because of that Propofol intoxication.
Now, the prosecution, though, countered with some very emotional arguments. You heard in that clip how the prosecutor invoked Michael Jackson's children being without a father. He also told the jury that in his words, Dr. Conrad Murray subjected Michael Jackson to what amounted to a -- sorry, an obscene pharmaceutical experiment. Very emotional closing arguments from both sides, Kyra, now in the hands of the jury.
PHILLIPS: All right. Well, any way to tell how long the deliberations will last?
WIAN: I think it's really difficult. Human nature, of course, it's Friday. These jurors have been on this case for six weeks. You'd think if there was any sort of consensus, they'd want to get it wrapped up today. But with so many witnesses, so many evidence, it could very easily go well into next week, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: OK. We're standing by, Casey, thanks.
Jon Corzine is out as CEO of MF Global. That's the investment term that collapsed and allegedly lost track of $600 million in customer money.
Christine Romans live in New York.
I mean, we're talking about man who used to be governor. He was once on the short list to be secretary-general. This really blew a lot of people away.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes. And this is what he's saying this morning. He's stepping down voluntarily from his position running MF Global. You know, this was seen as his come back to Wall Street after being in politics for 10 years. He's leaving pretty much here in disgrace with the company in shambles.
This is what he said, "I feel great sadness for what has happened and what has transpired at mf global and the impact it has had on the firm's clients, employees and many others."
What happened was the company, at his behests, made very big bets on European bonds, European debt. And you can see what's happening in Europe. He, in the end, may have rightly so thought that he could buy this stuff at very deep discount. It would be a good investment longer term.
But other people who worked with the company, lend money with the company and do business with the company, saw those big bets and got scared and then it all started to go down hill from there.
A little bit about his resume and what he's done before. You're right. He's the former governor of New Jersey for four years. He was a former New Jersey senator, as well.
He was Goldman Sachs CEO until 1999 when many say he was pushed out by Henry Paulson who then went out to become the secretary later. And he has been said to be on the short list before for being the treasury secretary himself.
So, this is someone with a very long, very, very high-profile resume. He's giving up his, what would have been technically a $12 million severance package. But it's unclear in bankruptcy if he's able to get that severance anyway. And, Kyra, he is a very wealthy man, he made a lot of money on Wall Street. So, it's not like he needs that severance anyway.
The problem here is he looked for a buyer for MF Global, so it wouldn't have to go bankrupt. And in that process, in that due diligence, it became clear that there might be money missing, maybe $600 million missing from customer accounts that may have been used to try to prop up the firm's own trading accounts. At least that's what they're investigating to find out what happened. That's illegal.
And so, now, you have got numerous federal investigations into just exactly what happened there -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: OK. Christine Romans, we'll continue to track it. Thanks so much. You got a lot of stuff going on today, Christine, a lot on your plate.
ROMANS: Sure do.
PHILLIPS: Well, a crew of astronauts back safely after their long trip to Mars -- and by Mars I mean the Moscow warehouse. Zain will explain.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Well, if you've ever been in a plane, stuck for hours on the tarmac, you can go a little stir crazy, right? Well, that's nothing compared to the astronauts 18-month mission to Mars.
Zain Verjee here with all the details.
I guess sort of a mission to Mars.
ZAIN VERJEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Sort of a mission to 35 million miles away, but they were just, you know, a few yards from mission control in Moscow.
Kyra, what would you do for 520 days in a tiny little module? What would you do?
PHILLIPS: OK. You know, I just had twins, I have already done that. Except it was a family room.
(LAUGHTER)
ZAIN: OK, yes. Good point. Well, these guys spent all this time in isolation because there was the study that was being done and the question is, can people survive in that short of physical space, physically and psychologically, and go all the way to Mars. They really just wanted to simulate a journey to Mars because you know what happened a few years ago is that a crew spent 420 days and they got really drunk, couple of them ended up fighting each other and then someone tried to kiss the female crew member. So, that ended in total disaster.
But it looks like these Marsanouts -- I like to call them -- from Europe, Russia and China actually ended up quite successfully and right now, they're in quarantine. They met with their family and what analysts are saying is that they're going to have a hard time adjusting to the noise and just a general, ordinary life. But they really did try and simulate everything there.
That was 24-hour surveillance in this module except when they went to the bathroom, thankfully. This has actually been a successful experiment.
What would you miss most if you were in a capsule for 520 days?
PHILLIPS: Oh, come on, that's easy. I'd miss you.
VERJEE: Oh, darling, thank you. I would miss "General Hospital" actually because it's getting really interesting with Lisa coming back. And --
PHILLIPS: Our life is a soap opera -- a drama and soap opera. Have a great weekend, Zain.
VERJEE: It is. It's not a Greek tragedy though, fortunately.
PHILLIPS: That's true. Oh, good segue.
We do have a new report on your biggest concern now, Zain gave me that segue, the job market. The economy is adding thousands of jobs, but is it really enough? We're going to go live to the New York Stock Exchange.
And Bill Cosby, he's got a new book. It's called "I Didn't Ask to be Born (But I'm Glad I Was)." He's actually going to join us in a few minutes to talk about that, the Bible and a fine girl named Bernadette.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Well, big economic report out this morning. The October jobs report, the economy adding 80,000 jobs last month and the unemployment rate dipped to 9 percent.
Alison Kosik at the New York Stock Exchange.
OK, the unemployment rate falling. We're adding jobs. So, will Wall Street consider all this good news?
ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, considering that stocks are falling right now, Kyra, I think the markets see it as nothing to really write home about, because when you look at the headline number, it's pretty mediocre. Eighty thousand jobs added in October when the expectation was closer to 100,000. But when you look deeper into this report, it's really not a bad, overall reading. Most jobs were added in the private sector. That's good.
The August and September numbers were revised higher. That's good, too.
Also good, the number of people who are out of work for a long time now, six months or more, that number is falling. Still, though, what this shows is we're still in the middle of a sideways recovery, but, still, it is a recovery. That's a positive.
It's another signal, Kyra, that the U.S. is not headed back into a recession -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right. Of course, we've got Greece and the concerns there. That's factoring into the markets today.
KOSIK: Oh, yes. Keeping things interesting, to say the least. And it's been one heck of a volatile week here on Wall Street. You look at the S&P 500. It swung at least 1.5 percent in both directions every single day this week.
But we are seeing increasing confidence that the Greek bailout is going to get back on track after the Prime Minister Papandreou canceled the referendum. That means last week's European debt deal should go through.
But, you know, with all the back and forth we are seeing, you can bet, investors will still be on edge today, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right, Alison, we're watching the markets. Dow Industrials down 88 points. Now, or 89, 85 points. And we're following what's happening in Greece.
Alison, thanks. I know you're paying close attention, as well.
And just a reminder, President Obama is set to speak at the G-20 summit in roughly 45 minutes. We're going to carry the president's speech live right here on CNN.
And checking the top stories. The "Occupy" Oakland movement continuing their protests today after clashing with police. The city's port has reopened following demonstrations there.
And JetBlue is sending out refunds to passengers stranded for up to eight hours during last weekend's snow storm. Five JetBlue planes were stuck on the Bradley airport tarmac in Connecticut.
And one woman accusing Herman Cain of sexually harassing her in the 1990s, could put out a statement today.
The Republican presidential candidate denies any wrongdoing.
Well, Rick Perry tells CNN that his campaign had nothing to do with leaking those harassment allegations against Herman Cain. And Perry actually spoke exclusively to our John King about it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Now, the Cain campaign and the candidate himself say that you and your campaign owe him an apology. Do you?
GOV. RICK PERRY (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: No apology needed. We found out about this the same time that I suppose the rest of America found out about it, both on the Internet or next day in the news. So, you know, I don't know how to tell any other way except knew nothing about it, sir.
KING: Does Mr. Cain owe you an apology for pointing the finger at your campaign?
PERRY: There are going to be -- there's going to be more stuff floating around out there and campaigns, you know, again, I tell people, this isn't my first rodeo. They're going to say all kinds of things about folks. I'm going to stay focused on how does America get back to work? And we laid out a couple of really good plans both on the energy side and the tax side and how to cut spending and that's what Americans are interested in.
KING: It's what Americans are interested in. Unfortunately, as you know, this is not your first rodeo campaign, sometimes do get distracted by these things. Just lastly on this point, there have been some in your campaign when we call about this that say, "It's not us, maybe you want to look over at Romney land." Is that fair?
PERRY: Look, again, I'm focused on my campaign and the issues that are important to the people and I'm -- this is over, it's gone, it's done with. And I'm pressing on.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Perry also defended a recent speech where some thought that he was way off script.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)
KING: If you look at the speech online, a million hits on YouTube.
PERRY: If they print any more money over there in Washington, the goal is to going to be good. Live free or die, victory or death. Bring it.
Everybody's got a little slogan, right? Mine's "Cut, Balance and Grow." Get that. Yes.
The ones that want to stay in the old system pay the lawyers, pay the accountants and all that money is gone or -- that! You know, just pretty easy math, subtract, send it in. It's awesome.
I love Herman, is he the best?
Yes, I have no idea how -- I haven't seen it. I know the speech that I gave and it was well-received, had an appropriate number of applause lines and standing ovation at the end of it. You know, such people as Dan Balz with "The Washington Post" was there. He was tweeting about it, it's my understanding, and said, you know, "Spot on. He's hitting all the right."
So, I have no idea how these things get started, what have you. So, it was a good speech, well-received, and if I had the opportunity to do it, again, I would give it exactly like I gave it.
(END VIDEO CLIPS)
PHILLIPS: Perry says he's not worried about a recent drop in the national polls, saying he's used to tough elections.
Well, it seems like everyone in Hollywood is overpaid, right? Well, some more than others. Find out five stars who are banking way more than they're worth.
Showbiz with A.J. Hammer coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Well, country singer Keith Urban is getting surgery. It's hopefully to save his golden voice.
A.J. Hammer here with the details, rather, deejay. Taking me back to my days as a deejay. He's one of my favorites, A.J.
A.J. HAMMER, HOST, "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT": Well, if he can't sing for a little while, he could be a deejay. Rest his voice.
Yes, Keith Urban, Kyra, is going to undergo throat surgery later this month. Basically, he needs to have a polyp removed from his vocal cords. Now, according to his publicists, it's not a big deal, a minor, outpatient procedure, but his recovery will require complete vocal rest. Maybe a little deejay work on the side will be in order for him.
Now, before he has the operation, he will be performing at the CMA Awards next week, but Urban is going to have to postpone a benefit concert that he had planned for later this year.
Now, they say things happen in threes, Kyra. Think about this, the third major performer who announced their need for throat surgery. We have Adele, John Mayer also involved here. Now, Keith Urban.
I'm not sure there is an explanation for this epidemic. But it is actually really interesting. These people all rely and live by their voice, all dealing with major issues and having surgery.
PHILLIPS: Well, that's always, we definitely want to preserve. That's for sure.
All right. "Forbes" magazine saying that some of the biggest names in Hollywood are bad at the box office? What's going on here?
HAMMER: Yes. Well, this is very important science right here. The people at "Forbes" have another celebrity list out. This time, they're telling us who the most overpaid stars in Hollywood are.
Now, according to the magazine, Drew Barrymore delivers the worst bang at the box office, which is sad to me because I love Drew so much. They say Barrymore brings in around 40 cents at the box office for every $1 she's paid in salary.
Now, "Forbes" came up with this list by taking a look at the stars' last three movies and dividing the income from those films by the salary a star was paid.
So, doing that math, Barrymore panned out to be the worst. She was in the recent big moneymaker "He's Just Not That Into You." That didn't count because she wasn't consider the star of the film, so she doesn't get credit for this cinematic, mathematic science.
Other starts who round out the top five on the list of Hollywood's most overpaid stars, Kyra, Eddie Murphy, Will Ferrell, Reese Witherspoon and Denzel Washington.
The way I look at it is, if the studios are willing to shell out the big bucks for these guys, well, then, good for them.
PHILLIPS: Al right, A.J. I wish I could say we have you next hour, but we've got President Obama. It trumps headlinesl there in show business.
HAMMER: That's OK.
PHILLIPS: OK. But if you want to do everything breaking in the entertainment world, A.J. has always got it every night, "Showbiz Tonight," 11:00 p.m. on HLN.
Well, we're going to talk to Bill Cosby after the break. Now, he was a big part of my childhood. Maybe yours, too.
Now, he's a big part of my adulthood, maybe yours, too. We're going to talk about his new book and his take on what is happening to our world in 2011.
Hi, Bill.
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PHILLIPS: All right, so here's the deal. We were trying to think of a good way to introduce Bill Cosby. Actually, we're still thinking about it but the deadline is here and my brain is totally fried. But you've got to give me a break, because he's been around for decades telling jokes, stories, acting, babysitting me back in the '70s when mom plopped me down to watch "Fat Albert" on Saturday mornings.
And then here's Bill Cosby the amateur theologian. For years Bill has been trying to explain that the Bible has missing parts. Like that whole Noah's Ark thing. Look at 1968, Bill really tried to tell us what happened.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL COSBY, ACTOR: And just go out and collect all those animals by twos, male and female and put them into the ark. Right. Who is this really? What's going on? How come you want me to do all these weird things?
I'm going to destroy the world. Right. Am I on candid camera?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Now, here we are this morning and Bill is still trying to make sense of the Good Book in his new book. There is the cover. And guess what; here is the man.
Bill Cosby. Welcome.
COSBY: Good morning, thank you. That was -- that was very, very good. Because what I -- what I did when I wrote that routine was to say, well, what would happen if God came to a human being and you could dramatize a reality without it being Cecil B. and all the big moviemakers. Just what happens to a human being and how the human being responds?
And so, in this book, Genesis gives -- gives me a chance to say what everybody knows. The writer wasn't there. The editor wasn't there and the publisher wasn't there. Therefore, how do they cut, jump, cut, move, cut; they had a chance to write. Why didn't they fill things in instead of leaving us saying, what? What happened to --
(CROSSTALK)
PHILLIPS: So -- so let me ask you, Bill. Then -- then, you know, when you talk to God, because I know you have that conversation on a regular basis, have you explained to him or her how imperative nowadays it is to fill in the blanks to get those missing pages back in there?
COSBY: I think -- first of all, I've gotten no answer. But I am able to think about what happened and I am able to say to people, even though you have faith, that's great. But you've got to ask questions.
Now, one of the things that I love about the writer's viewpoint of God is that God walked. God walked around and then as a writer, I began to write that the two, God and Adam must have had a wonderful relationship.
But there are pages missing; things not filled in. I -- all I know is I'm guessing that no matter what God told Adam to do, Adam did it and did not say, "I'm tired. I don't want -- why do I have to do this?" And it's just, as far as I'm concerned, a great line up of Eve to today's woman and Adam to today's man and the help mate situation.
PHILLIPS: Ok, well this might be a good way to segue into romance because you do talk about your first date at the age of 15.
COSBY: That's not -- that's not my first date.
PHILLIPS: Oh it wasn't -- it wasn't Bernadette at 15? When was your first date?
COSBY: My first date, my first love, my first crush, obviously, is around age 12.
PHILLIPS: Oh really.
COSBY: Bernadette, Bernadette represents that girl that we all, the fellows, we all looked at. She was fine. And you knew looking at Bernadette that you had to, you had to be -- you had to have something going for yourself.
PHILLIPS: What did you have -- what did you have going? At the age of 12? What did you have going?
COSBY: No, no, no. At age 12 it was Doris Mann (ph).
PHILLIPS: Ok, then it moved up.
COSBY: Then it -- then it was Felmar Morris (ph) and then it was Muriel Gray (ph) --
PHILLIPS: Oh, jeez.
COSBY: But looking at Bernadette Johnson, all of us, all the boys -- none of us -- not one of us ever went to her and felt that we were worthy of asking her to go steady. She was just that fine and she was just that -- she was a wonderful, wonderful girl.
But I heard that she loved Miles Davis' music. So that's when I went to her. See, it gave me something. Even though I didn't really have anything, that gave me something that I felt comfortable I could go to her.
I didn't ask her to go steady. I just asked if she liked Miles Davis. She said yes. And I said well perhaps we can talk about Miles Davis' music. And what he is doing. And she said she would love to. Well, there it is.
PHILLIPS: There it is. We've talked God. We've talked dating. Now we're going to take a break and we're going to talk parenting. Bill Cosby live with us on his new book. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: We're talking with Bill Cosby and his new book and of course getting a little advice. All right, Bill. The last time we talked, ok, I was pregnant with twins. You told me it was going to be the most amazing thing in my life that parenting is wonderful.
Ok. I haven't slept in seven months and I smell dirty diapers even when I'm at Krispy Kreme doughnuts.
COSBY: So what's your problem?
PHILLIPS: I need some help.
COSBY: Look, look. Look. Look
PHILLIPS: Yes.
COSBY: Parenting. Hello? What is your job? You better do it every day every minute. Now, what about your mate? Is your mate present for any of these things?
PHILLIPS: Yes. He does a pretty good job.
COSBY: Is -- what's a pretty good job?
PHILLIPS: He does a stellar job.
COSBY: But is it according to your opinion?
PHILLIPS: Yes.
COSBY: Yes. See, we're getting into that Eve factor now. The point is, what did you name your twins?
PHILLIPS: Sage and Kellen.
COSBY: Beautiful. Don't dress them up the same way. It's not cute.
PHILLIPS: I agree.
COSBY: Let them have their own personality. But here's what you have to do. You have to stay with it.
Now, I have news for you. I'm 74 years old.
Remember the smell you have because they're going to grow up with your guidance and your mate's guidance and they're going to leave. Then they're going to multiply or beget. And when they come back, they're going to bring the begetted back to your house. Guess what you're going to remember?
PHILLIPS: What is that?
COSBY: The smell. Because the smell is the same when your grandchildren come back. And that's why there's death. So you can get rid of all that.
PHILLIPS: I've never looked forward to dying so much.
Now, wait. Before we let you go, Bill, very interesting. You're so high-tech. Within your book you actually have a QR code. Man, explain this.
COSBY: Well, you want to make it easy for people to buy your product. And if with this they want to take a little sample, billcosby.com with Smartphone. You can see the brilliant drawings of George Booth related to the chapters. You can hear Bill Cosby talking about the chapters; what he thought when he was writing them. So you can also purchase and you don't have to leave your seat.
PHILLIPS: Bill Cosby. I know you're ready to leave your seat. We had fun this morning. I'm glad you're up.
COSBY: But I dressed up for you.
PHILLIPS: And you know what? You look as handsome as you did back at the age of 12 when you fell in love with Doris. Bill, it was so good talking to you. There go the famous eyes back in the head. I'm going to hear about this later.
Love you, Bill. He loved Doris. I hope he loves me too. Bye, Bill.
COSBY: Even though you smell like sour you-know-what.
PHILLIPS: Exactly. I still have some of the formula in my hair. Bill Cosby, you take care of yourself.
Stay with us for special coverage of President Obama's news conference from the G-20 summit. That's coming up right after this.
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