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Al Qaeda Leader in U.S. Custody; Popular Indy Car Driver Injured in Crash; Boehner: Let's Have a Conversation; What's the End Game of Government Shutdown?; Al Qaeda Operative in U.S. Custody; Peyton Manning Poised to Have Great Season Ever; Interview with Cicely Tyson

Aired October 06, 2013 - 18:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: So glad you're tuning in. Top of the hour. I'm Don Lemon.

We are hearing incredible details of the U.S. Special Forces raid in Libya, straight from the wife of Abu Anas al Libi. U.S. officials confirmed the commando is credited with snatching the top al Qaeda leader in Libya, where members of the elite U.S. Army Delta Force.

Al Alibi's wife watched it all unfold from inside her home. She spoke exclusively to CNN just a short time ago about what she saw.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UMM ABDUL RAHMAN, WIFFE OF CAPTURED AL QAEDA LEADER (through translator): What I saw were Libyans. Maybe they had Americans with them but I didn't see them because there was more than one car. They say they were 10 people but I believe there were more than 10. I couldn't count them because there were many of them. I couldn't confirm if they were Americans or not. What I saw were Libyans.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Libya, at least publicly, deemed his capture a kidnapping.

Abu Anas al Libi's wife spoke exclusively to CNN's Jomana Karadsheh. Jomana joins us now by phone from Tripoli, what did she have to say? What was that conversation like?

JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Don, she was insisting that her husband is an innocent man, saying all of the accusations against him are fabrications, that it's not true, that she says was not involved in the bombings in Kenya or Tanzania in the 1990s. She claims that her husband, yes, was a member of al Qaeda. She says that he left the group in 1996.

But -- and she has not had any contact with any members of al Qaeda. She did say that he was an associate of Osama bin Laden. But she says that he has not been involved in the group. He returned back to Libya, she said, in 2011 to take part in the revolution here to work to oust the regime of Moammar Gadhafi.

And since then she said that they have had a pretty normal life. She said that he was not in hiding. Their house, Don, that we went to is in an upscale Tripoli neighborhood. It didn't look like it was the house of anyone trying to hide a most wanted man like al Libi.

So, she says for years they were concerned about possible drone strikes. That they were worried they could be taken out somehow. But she says over the past few months, they felt like they were no longer in the -- like she said, less tension and less focus. They always felt they were under some sort of surveillance, but she said what happened on that Saturday morning, the way he was captured, did kind of take them by surprise.

LEMON: Jomana Karadsheh, we appreciate your reporting. Thank you very much.

You know, this is raising a lot of questions about what exactly happened in Libya. What happened?

I want to bring in CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr. Barbara has been covering this from the beginning and doing some really terrific looking into this.

Listen, let's talk about responding to these claims that Libyans possibly worked in conjunction with U.S. forces to get al Libi, is that so?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, the way this U.S. Special Operation teams work, they will take maybe a translator, or a communications specialist, or an intelligence specialist, who is very familiar with the local language culture and customs with them. But a joint operation, these kinds of covert U.S. military units typically don't operate jointly because when they go into an area that is so dangerous that they are required to be there.

Usually, it means they don't trust the local government or there is no local government even there. So maybe they have somebody there who spoke in a local way. But working with the Libyans, officially, a little doubtful there was any kind of real formal arrangement based on what we see.

Just think of it this way. You know, if one of these operatives was on the streets of Libya in the middle of one of these operations, surely they would have been disguised. They wouldn't allow their face to be shown in a way without some sort of disguise or make-up or wig possibly -- Don.

LEMON: Absolutely. You know, he was wanted for the twin U.S. embassy bombings in Africa. So we always talk about, oh, this is a big get, this is a big get. How big a deal is this?

STARR: Well, it is 15 years later. It's a big get for families of the Americans and the Kenyans and others who lost their lives in those attacks certainly. Because 15 years later, they still, and the U.S. still, wants to see justice done in this case.

The question will be now, how much does he really know all this later about current al Qaeda operations? Does he know about al Qaeda and al Qaeda network in the Libya perhaps or other al Qaeda operatives across North Africa? Does he have any information about that core al Qaeda group still left back in Pakistan that he associated with back in the old days, so to speak, 12, 15 years ago? How much current information does he have?

That's what they're gong to really want to know -- Don.

LEMON: All right. Barbara, listen. I want to turn now to Somalia, SEAL Team 6, same unit that got Osama bin Laden, stormed the home of one of the top leaders of al Shabaab in Somalia. The group that carried out that recent terror attack at the Kenya mall. The SEAL team killed at least one person but had to retreat.

I mean, is this a success? Is it a failure? What is it?

STARR: Well, we may not know yet because it's not clear exactly what happened there. What we have now in the last 24 hours is when the SEALs landed, their target was a villa, seaside villa, said to be the home or the headquarters of a major figure in the al-Shabaab network, the al Qaeda inside of Somalia.

They ran into a big fire fight. There are civilians there. We're told the Navy commander on the ground made the decision that they would basically bug out of there, rather than risk some large number of civilian casualties perhaps that was a big worry.

So they got out pretty fast. What we don't know, what they're not able to say yet, we're told, is whether they got the man they were looking for. And in fact, the U.S. is not even yet saying who exactly the target was.

LEMON: Barbara Starr, appreciate that.

Other news to report now:

One of the most popular Indy car drivers was injured in a crash this afternoon in Houston. I want you to take a look at exactly what happened. Another driver bumped Dario Franchitti during the final lap of the race. Then you saw him hit the fence. The team owner says Franchitti suffered back and ankle injuries.

Thirteen spectators were also hurt when debris flew into the stand. Two were taken to the hospital. No word on the extent of their injuries but we are checking on that.

We're going to talk to a witness to this accident right after the break here on CNN.

In the meantime, you can see there, in the corner of your screen, five days, 18 plus hours now since the U.S. government shut down. Five days, plus 18 hours. Almost six days.

House Speaker John Boehner making an offer to the president, but will it make this clock stop ticking? Stop running? Live report from Washington. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: An update now on the breaking news here on CNN. We've been telling you about Dario Franchitti, one of the most popular race car drivers in the world, injured in a crash this afternoon in Houston. We're going to take a look at that video now. That's what happened.

And we're going to get to a person who was there, standing very close to that. His name is Carl Daniel.

Carl, with you were hit by some of the debris. Tell us where you were standing and what happened.

CARL DANIEL, INDY CAR CRASH WITNESS (via telephone): I was standing track side when they were coming out of one of the turns. And they allow you to stand there behind one of the barricades. And as the cars were coming out of the turn, I noticed that one driver was attempting to pass the other driver and his right front tire actually came and rolled up on to the left rear tire of the other driver and his car was launched into the barricade that was directly in front of me. And that barricade just imploded in front of me.

And there was no time to run, move left, right. I mean, actually at that time, the car literally exploded into pieces. It disintegrated in front of me. And I was pelted from head to toe with what I thought was just confetti, but it was actually pieces of the car that were pelting me.

I mean, at the time, I was literally amazed, yet shocked. But I was transfixed in a moment where there was nothing, nothing that I or anyone around us could do. Because the fence literally went away, and was thrown over my head, into the grandstands behind me and actually struck the patients that were in the grandstand behind me.

LEMON: Carl, Carl -- pause right there. Pause right there.

If you guys can rerack this video. I want to watch it from the beginning and then we'll just let our viewers hear it, then I'll continue my conversation with Carl.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

LEMON: My goodness, Carl, you're right. An just in an instant, you didn't even have time to react.

And, by the way, this is the video you shot. What were you thinking here? Or did you even have time to think?

DANIEL: Actually, people think about how much time you have to think about something. The biggest thing I thought at that time was, life is over. There is no way that I can survive this barricade coming down in front of me. It is no way that any of us are going to make it.

And literally, the car, which was one piece, became nothing more than confetti pelting all of us, pieces of it were all around of us. I was literally, literally thinking that my life is over. But there was no time to say, can you duck? Can you run? Can you get away? It was like, this is it.

And it was shocking. But at the same time, when I found out I was OK, I could not bring myself to stop videoing to stop screening what was going on around me. It was like, again, I was shocked but I was transfixed. I was amazed. I could not move.

And it was something that I will never forget. But it's amazing how that --

LEMON: I'm being told by my producers that you are a nurse practitioner. Thirteen spectators were hurt by debris, including you, when it flew into the stands. And then he has suffered an injury, I'm told, to the back and to his ankle.

So what were your injuries? Did you help anybody else out? And what were the extent of the other injuries around you?

DANIEL: The majority of the injuries, I looked at a spectator that was to the left of me. He had fragments that were in his chest.

But basically, most of the injuries around me were very superficial. The majority of the injuries, if you can see that entire fence, it looks like it's very fragile. That is heavy gauge steel that is just bent like tooth picks.

That fence was launched into the air, into the grandstand, which is where the majority of the injuries are. The people around me, we're so lucky that the concrete barrier, if you can tell, is angled to form a point at the top.

It acted like a ramp to throw the car up and to throw the barricade up over us so those cement barricades at the bottom actually catapulted the debris at an angle. The same way the bars are up at an angle is the same way the guard rail went up into the stand. It is just by a matter of chance that it didn't come straight at us, because I wouldn't be talking to you right now.

LEMON: Carl Daniel, unbelievable. And this video captured by him. You were injured as well. You said your injuries are minor. We're glad that you're OK.

DANIEL: Very minor. Very minor. But I tell you one thing it does teach you. It teaches you that when you leave your house everyday, you never know what exactly will happen or when it does.

LEMON: Amen. Absolutely. You never know.

Carl Daniel, thank you. Appreciate it.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: House Speaker John Boehner says it's time for Republicans to stand and fight against Obamacare and he wants President Obama to negotiate with congressional Republicans. Boehner says don't expect a clean spending bill without ties to Obamacare because he does not have the votes in the House to get it.

So, what exactly were those negotiations with President Obama cover? My report from Washington coming up. We'll tell you about that.

Meanwhile, Republican Senator Ted Cruz floated a new idea right here on CNN about how to fight Obamacare funding.

And the nation's treasury secretary says without a debt ceiling increase by October 17th, the U.S. won't be able to pay its bills for the first time in 224 years.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JACK LEW, TREASURY SECRETARY: We have never gotten to the point where the United States government operated without the ability to borrow. It's very dangerous. It's reckless. It would mean that the United States for the first time since 1789 would not be paying its bills, hurting the full faith and credit, because of a political decision.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Well, Erin McPike is tracking the shutdown stalemate.

House Speaker, Erin, says he does not have the votes to pass the spending bill without concessions on Obamacare. So, how does the White House responding or how is it responding to that? Are they?

ERIN MCPIKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Don, the president's political organization directly contradicted that this afternoon. The group, which is called Organizing for Action used @BarackObama, that's one of the group's Twitter handles, and tweeted there are enough votes in the House to end the shutdown, Speaker Boehner, just vote.

That's not exactly the kind of communicating Speaker Boehner was calling for. And in an interview this morning, his main message to the country is that he wants to sit down and talk to the president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R-OH), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: The American people expect in Washington, when we have the crisis like this, that the leaders will sit down and have a conversation. It begins with a simple conversation. It's about having a conversation. It's time for us to sit down and have a conversation. That's what the American people expect.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCPIKE: Now, that was the main message from John Boehner this morning, that he just wants President Obama to pick up the phone and call him. So, Don, if people are looking for a quick end in sight to this shutdown, doesn't look like there are going to get one.

The president and the speaker of the House need to have a conversation first.

LEMON: OK. So, Erin, let's talk about this. We are getting tied up in technicalities. This tweet came from Barack Obama's official Twitter account. But when he writes his own tweets, he signs it, B.O.

MCPIKE: Right.

LEMON: This tweet was not signed B.O., so it is assumed someone was tweeting on his behalf, as if one of my producers or one of your producers were tweeting for you, correct?

MCPIKE: That's correct. But, Don, the overarching thing we are hearing today that there are about 20-some-odd House Republicans who are starting to say they would vote on a clean spending bill. That would be a bill that would fund the government through the middle of December -- that would fund the government through the middle of December without defunding Obamacare.

So the White House is saying, and Democrats are saying, they think they have the votes to pass this clean spending bill.

LEMON: So, just vote on it and see what happens. OK, thank you, Erin. Appreciate that.

One of the nation's most wanted terrorists is now in U.S. custody after a Delta Team strike in Libya. Some are asking about the timing of this. Is there political angle here? That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: U.S. Special Forces nabbed an al Qaeda leader wanted for the 1998 bombing of two U.S. embassies. Now, what will the U.S. do with Abu Anas al-Libi?

Previously, officials have said they would like al-Libi to stand trial in the U.S., but the idea of trying terrorists on U.S. soil, not been very popular in the past. Remember the failed effort to try 9/11 planner in Manhattan?

I want to bring in now our political panel, CNN analyst and Republican strategist, Ana Navarro, joins us in Miami. And CNN analyst L.Z. Granderson joins us in Chicago.

Hello to you. Both of you, L.Z., you first. Al Libi stand trial in the U.S., should he?

L.Z. GRANDERSON, CNN ANALYST: I think so. Let me back up -- it depends upon what is the goal of having this trial. You know, what's been seen is that in civilian cases, they are convicted much quicker and much more effectively.

I think a New York University did a recent study since 2001. There's been 90 percent prosecution rate in terms of terrorists brought in on U.S. soil and being prosecuted, where we've only had seven in the military fashion. But I think the key difference here is, in the military trial, the main purpose is to extract information. Not necessarily to get a conviction. Whereas in civilian trial, they're trying to get a conviction.

And so, I think ultimately, the question is, what is the purpose of him coming here? I it to convict him or is it to try to figure out how much he knows?

LEMON: And, Ana, I spoke wrong there. You're actually in Boston, correct? Do you think he should stand trial in the U.S.?

ANA NAVARRO, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: I hope he does. I hope he does, because I think here we have reasonable expectation that there will be a fair and effective trial. I think that's what the American people want. He's been nabbed. He's been detained under the law of war. And I think, yes, we should have this trial in the United States.

LEMON: The question is, you know, the al Libi mission scores a victory for President Obama really at a time when the president is mired down at home with a government shutdown. Some say this may help save America's dented image from the government shutdown stalemate. I want you to listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID RENNIE, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, THE ECONOMIST: It's a reminder and it's a useful reminder that America is still the world's most powerful country. And even an American president who is domestically very frustrated wields extraordinary executive powers. That kind of global SWAT team role, American presidents do wield extraordinary ability to strike across the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: So, Ana, do you think this mission was politically timed to take the glare off the Republican shut down, this stalemate at home for the American president?

NAVARRO: No, I don't. I think all-Americans should celebrate when somebody who is allegedly committed terrorism against our embassies, against our people. Where over 220 people lost their lives, we should celebrate when somebody like that should stand trial and have to respond for those type of attacks against the U.S. and U.S. embassies.

So you know, I don't think it's politically timed. I don't think that Delta Teams, I don't think the Navy SEAL Teams respond to politics. I think they do so when the time is right, when the operation can work.

LEMON: L.Z., how does this Special Ops victory going to play politically here at home?

GRANDERSON: Well, you know, hopefully, you know, they follow what Ana just said, which is, as a nation celebrate the fact that already got this person. You know, when you think about the fact he was living comfortably and publicly back in Libya, that sends a very dangerous message that if you do something with this nation and you can wait it out, you might just be able to get away with it and go back to living normally. This tells possible terrorists, that's not possible, that we will hunt you over decades until we capture you. That's a very important message to send, and I'm very glad that it happened, and the entire nation should be embracing this. I would hate for this to become politicized.

LEMON: All right. Ana and L.Z., stay right there because I want to get more from each of you really about the government shutdown, what's going on in Washington. Senator Ted Cruz today trying -- tying Obamacare to the debt ceiling. I want to hear your thoughts on that after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: As long as you see that big clock right there over my shoulder and sometimes on the bottom of the screen, that means there is no solution on the horizon for a government shutdown. What is the end game for the political quagmire in Washington?

House Speaker John Boehner says he wants to chat with President Obama and Republicans. He says he doesn't have the votes to pass a clean spending bill without concessions on Obamacare. Democrats say, hold the vote and find out.

Ana, I mean, why won't he just vote? It makes sense to me if you don't -- why -- just see if you have them.

NAVARRO: Because I think they see this as the vehicle to be able to get some concessions on Obamacare that otherwise there is no vehicle, no legislative vehicle to be able to get. But you know, Democrats often say, and it's true, that elections have consequences. Well, the same would be -- would hold true for the House of Representatives.

When they pass something, it is according to the Republican agenda. And we're not seen bipartisanship in Washington when the ACA passed. It was with no Republican votes. It was the Democrat agenda. They were in power. So this kind of thing should not surprise us. It's what's become the modus operandi in Washington that the people in power are the ones who want to pass it according to what they believe.

LEMON: Let's talk about the debt ceiling now, because that is come up. That battle. The nation's Treasury Secretary says without a debt ceiling increase by October 17th, the U.S. won't be able to pay its for the first time in 224 years. Listen and then we'll talk.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JACK LEW, TREASURY SECRETARY: We've never gotten to the point where the United States government has operated without the ability to borrow. It's very dangerous. It's reckless. It would that the United States for the first time since 1789 would be not paying its bills, hurting the full faith and credit because of a political decision. (END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: And meanwhile, Senator Ted Cruz came out today and said he'd like the debt ceiling fight to battle over -- to be the battle instead of health care. So what is your reaction? Will Cruz's idea attract other Republicans? L.Z.?

L.Z. GRANDERSON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Oh, thank you. I'm not sure you were asking me.

(LAUGHTER)

LEMON: Sorry. Yes.

GRANDERSON: It's quite all right. You know, I'm just amazed. This is an individual who last I saw was quoting "Green Eggs and Ham" during his filibuster. And somehow he's leveraged all of this to grind this country to a standstill because John Boehner lacks the guts to hold a vote and remove the political cover from some of his moderate colleagues.

It's extremely frustrating. And now he's setting this sort of agenda in which he's tying affordable health care for millions of Americans to paying our bills. Why are we allowing this individual who has proven not to be this -- the most intellectual individual that we have in Congress, to dictate this conversation?

I'm all for holding the president's feet to the fire. I'm all for having an intelligent conversation about our spending. What I'm not for is for an individual who has proven to be more of a jokester than an actual intellectual, being the person spearheading this conversation on the Republican side. It is very shameful.

LEMON: Ana, should Obamacare be linked to the debt ceiling fight?

NAVARRO: No, it should not. But I think it may end up being, frankly because of the timing. Because we're now 10 days away from the debt ceiling fight and there is no end in sight to the shutdown issue. So I -- you know, I just think that this is going to end up turning into the perfect political storm where you've got the debt ceiling, where you've got the budget and the government shutdown and where you've got the implementation of Obamacare which is facing enormous problems as they went live online.

In fact, it's not live online this weekend. They had to take it down to fix the glitches which are turning to be more than glitches. They are very problematic. So you've got a perfect political storm all within the first 17 days of October, and so I think yes, it's going to end up being all balled up into one.

And the big problem, Don, is that we -- we keep doing this. We keep doing short-term fixes. Whether it's a yearly debt ceiling fight or a yearly budget fight. And we don't get to the underlying problems that need to be addressed at some point or other. But that would take enormous responsibility and cooperation by our elected officials and frankly I think that's too much to hope for these days. LEMON: All right, you guys, thank you.

GRANDERSON: And I don't think, Ana -- in all seriousness.

LEMON: We've got to run.

GRANDERSON: I was going to say I really don't think that it really matters what the Democrats or President Obama say because what we've seen that the Tea Party Republicans are just going to say the opposite. So if you say up, they're going to say down because they are hell bent on being opposite of whatever his agenda happens to be.

LEMON: All right. Thank you, guys. That will have to be it.

I need to move on now and talk about a raid by an elite U.S. Army Delta Force. It pays off. A wanted al Qaeda leader is now in custody. So who was Abu Anas al-Libi? His wife is speaking and contradicting both the U.S. and the Libyan government. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Want to get you caught up now on the developments on the two U.S. Special Forces raids in Africa. Here's what we know right now. Al Qaeda leader Abu Anas al-Libi is in U.S. custody. His exact whereabouts unknown after his capture yesterday outside his home in Tripoli. In an exclusive interview with al-Libi's wife, she told CNN that the men she saw snatched her husband were Libyan. She says there were other men involved but she couldn't confirm if they were Americans.

Libya's government publicly has deemed his capture missing a kidnapping. U.S. Special Forces conducted a separate operation 3,000 miles away in Somalia. One suspect was killed before U.S. commandos came under fire and were forced to retreat. Their target was a top leader of al-Shabaab blamed for the deadly mall siege in Kenya.

Back to the operation in Libya now. The plan now is to bring Abu Anas al-Libi to New York to face terrorism charges.

CNN's senior international correspondent Nic Robertson takes a closer look at al-Libi's role in al Qaeda.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's a big deal, 15 years on the run, a $5 million bounty on his head. Abu Anas al-Libi captured in less than a minute. The former senior al Qaeda operative picked up in a dorm raid by U.S. authorities in his native Libya.

Believed to be a mastermind of the al Qaeda attacks on the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in August 1998, he is accused of conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals. Murder, destruction of American buildings, and government destruction of national defense utilities of the United States. (On camera): According to al-Libi's wife, who saw the takedown outside their house in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, he was on his way back from prayers early Saturday morning when 10 men rushed his car. And before he could snatch his pistol from the glove box, he was overpowered. It was all over in seconds, driven away in three cars.

(Voice-over): U.S. officials describe it as a lawful arrest under the terms of war.

JOHN KERRY, SECRETARY OF STATE: The United States of America will never stop in its effort to hold those accountable two conduct acts of terror. And those members of al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations. You can literally run, but you cannot hide.

ROBERTSON: But it may not be so simple. The Libyan government is demanding answers, calling al-Libi's capture a kidnapping. Questions also about al-Libi's current al Qaeda credentials believed by this former colleague to be retired from terrorism.

NOMAN BENOTMAN, QUILLIAM FOUNDATION: I don't think in Libya he's a valuable source of information because until now I still believe he was a very low profile.

ROBERTSON: Benotman, himself a former jihadist, says al-Libi returned to Tripoli two years ago. Living in plain sight of the weak Libyan authorities. At a time when al Qaeda was setting up training camps ramping up operations in the aftermath of the overthrow of Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi. According to Benotman, there is no known ties between al-Libi and the 2012 U.S. consulate attack in Benghazi that killed four U.S. officials, including U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens.

Nevertheless, he says a warning for al Qaeda. The U.S. now on the offensive in Libya.

BENOTMAN: It goes against, you know, a kind of narrative, you know. They're trying to convince people, Muslims and the youth, America is soft. Americans did not want war. Americans, they are cowards. That's exactly what they are teaching them the last 20 years.

ROBERTSON: Nic Robertson, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: All right, Nic.

Payton Manning is in the early stages of a season to remember. But is his rep for tripping up in the post season valid or trash talk? Next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Football fans are seeing something special this year. Quarterback Peyton Manning had one heck of a month. Four wins, 16 touchdowns, no interceptions. He's already a slam dunk. First ballot Hall of Famer. But this season, this is something else, I have to say. Terence Moore is here to talk about it. He is a sports contributor to CNN.com and he is a columnist for MLB.com.

Terence, is it too soon to say that we are seeing a season for the ages here?

TERENCE MOORE, CNN.COM SPORTS CONTRIBUTOR: You know what, in this war, any other quarterback, you would say, there's going to be an early season fluke. But this guy right here, I mean, this is fairy tale stuff. He's got four more touchdowns already in the third quarter of today's game. You've got to say that Peyton Manning -- and this is all about it, Don -- could very well be the most prepared quarterback in history of the National Football League.

This guy can probably tell you how many steps it takes to get from the edge of his bed to the middle of his shower every day. And here's the scary part if you're a defensive coordinator, it's only going to get better or worse, depending on which side of the fist you're on with this, this guy (INAUDIBLE).

LEMON: OK. All right. So that's the thing that I always say, Terence, about wisdom, time on the planet, experience. Because he knows, because the first hundred times he did it and it didn't work, here is how he fixed it or it did work. He knows it's experience, isn't it?

MOORE: Well, that's true. But here's the flipside, though, Don. The flip side of this is that he is brutal in the post season.

LEMON: Right.

MOORE: We are talking about one Super Bowl ring, but -- it gets worse than that. OK. This is a guy -- he almost has got to do it this year because he's 37, he's running out of time. His record in the post season is 9-11. The worst part of that is his pass rating is 10 points lower in the post season than in the regular season and that is not good.

LEMON: Why are you hating on the brother like that?

(LAUGHTER)

MOORE: Yes. He's otherwise a great guy.

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: Yes, I know. I'm just -- I'm just messing with you. On the flipside of the QB equation, though, we have Josh Freeman, once considered a rising star in the game. This year he has gone from starter to second string, to unemployed. I mean, has he proved that players are disposable in the NFL that you'd better make your money while you can?

MOORE: Well, I mean, there's some of that. You know, you have this former NFL coach named Jerry Grandville that had this famous saying that NFL stands for not for long. OK. But to put this in perspective, Josh Freeman brought a lot of this on himself. He missed a slew of meetings when he was with Tampa Bay and one time he even missed the team photo shoot which is never good. But the good thing for him is he's getting a second chance, it looks like. He's got three teams out there that are interested in him including the 49ers. So let's just hope he has a good alarm clock this time.

LEMON: all right. Finally, NCAA picking the committee that decides which teams make the college football playoff beginning next year. One name being mentioned is Condoleezza Rice?

(LAUGHTER)

Knowing down to the former Secretary of State's accomplishments -- no one doubts her accomplishments but I mean, really? Do you think that she's right for this decision? Is she qualified?

MOORE: I'm going to be honest with you, Don. My first reaction was the NCAA is losing its mind. You know, my Aunt Willowby (ph) lives in South Bend, Indiana, the home of the University of Notre Dame. And I don't think the NCAA has called her to be on this committee. But to put this in perspective, Condoleezza Rice was on the medium list and not the short list in the NFL commissioner is about five or six seven years ago.

She also was an assistant golf coach at Stanford where she is an economics professor now and she's one of two women to be selected to be at Augusta National so maybe they might call my Aunt Willowby, I don't know.

(LAUGHTER)

LEMON: Aunt Willowby. Archie Manining no mentioning Archie Manning. That makes sense. Right?

MOORE: Yes.

LEMON: Yes.

MOORE: One of the few (INAUDIBLE) out there. But, you know, and they might call you, too, Don.

LEMON: Thank you, nephew of Willowby. We appreciate it.

MOORE: Thank you.

LEMON: Up next --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CICELY TYSON, ACTRESS: For the longest time, chosen may roles by reading a script over and over and over again, and one of two things happened, either my skin tingles or may stomach churns.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: May conversation with the legendary Cicely Tyson next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Legend and icon. These words can't even begin to describe actress Cicely Tyson. Her latest performance in the "Trip to Bountiful" has earned her a Tony Award. And just days before the show's final performance on Wednesday, she sat down with me in a rare interview and she said it might be her last.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TYSON: What gets me today is the fact that I feel somewhat guilty about the state of young people today. I feel guilty because I think that my generation gave them too much. Left them nothing to fight for.

LEMON: You know I talk about that in my journalism a lot.

TYSON: Really?

LEMON: Yes.

TYSON: I mean, it's -- when I hear young people deny the fact that Rosa Parks could not sit on the bus, or that I could not go to the soda -- to the ice cream parlor and sit at a lunch counter, they don't believe that. They don't believe it because it's not tangible. It's not real to them. They hear tell of it. They don't believe it.

And so I sit, you know, we hand -- we fought for everything so that the next generation wouldn't have to do that.

LEMON: It could be better.

TYSON: That's right.

LEMON: (INAUDIBLE)

TYSON: That's right.

LEMON: Right.

TYSON: That's right. And we handed them everything on a silver platter. And so what's the matter? What's the problem? What are you griping about? What's wrong? They don't understand it.

LEMON: They don't get it. Thank you for saying that. Because I feel the same way. Sometimes I hear young people when they're talking and they're thinking of the way they dress, the words that come out of their mouth, and how they carry (INAUDIBLE). And I say what are you doing? You know, I'm not -- I don't want to speak ill but I think that sometimes there is a disconnect out there.

TYSON: Yes. Well, because it's hard for them to feel that the freedom that they think they have, is not there. And it is not. They have become imbued? Is that the word? I don't know if that's the world. Tied up in a fallacy, OK? Because they think that to be able to -- pants down here, it's defiance. Right? To me. That's how I interpret it.

Here, or to swear at will, that's frustration. And do they really understand the emotion that they're expelling? Do they really understand why they're doing it? Do they? I don't know.

LEMON: I don't think so.

TYSON: I don't think so either.

LEMON: Right. It is a misplaced frustration or emotion.

TYSON: Yes. Yes.

LEMON: That is often sometimes tied up in, well, what about racism? And that has nothing to do when you say about wearing your pants and all that.

TYSON: Yes. Yes.

LEMON: That has nothing to do with curing racism.

TYSON: No. No.

LEMON: Nothing to do with racism. It's about you.

TYSON: I mean, you take care of yourself and the world will take care of itself.

LEMON: There's a difference now.

TYSON: Well, if you're comparing today's, and I don't think of Hollywood. I think of what they're projecting to people, especially young people. There is a vast difference in the quality of the work that is being given today as opposed to -- you mentioned Betty Davis. Good for her. Those were real actors. With the exception of one or two, you might find someone who is serious enough about their work, not to blaspheme it, or bastardize it. You know? And those are few and far between. You can't find too many of them.

LEMON: See, part of the reason I ask you is because you don't like -- you won't take no for an answer. You won't take a role if you think it's -- it portrays someone in the wrong way. If it portrays African- Americans or women in the wrong light. You won't do it.

TYSON: No, I haven't. And I feel, there are plenty of people out there who don't mind doing it. I for the longest time chose my roles by reading the script over and over and over again. And one of two things happened. Either my skin tingles or my stomach churns. And when my stomach churns, I know I can't do it. When my skin tingles, I can't wait to do it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Next hour, one word. Tumultuous. More on how actress Cicely Tyson describes her relationship with Miles Davis. You won't want to miss this.