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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
More Than Two Million Florida Residents Fleeing Frances; Interview With White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan
Aired September 02, 2004 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, HOST: Good evening from New York. I'm Anderson Cooper.
Anticipation here for a major speech, while in Florida there is fear of a monster hurricane.
360 starts now.
'Tis the night to shine for George W. Bush as the Republican National Convention comes to an end. The president takes center stage. His vision, his plan, his quest for four more years in the White House.
Blasting Kerry. Democratic nominee John Kerry shredded by Republican speakers. Is he in need of some damage control? 360 brings you reaction from the Kerry camp.
How will President Bush make his case tonight? Will he go after John Kerry? We go 360 with the president's press secretary, Scott McClellan, and an exclusive interview with "Nightline"'s Ted Koppel.
A state of emergency in the Sunshine State. A massive, menacing hurricane threatens the coast of Florida. Will this be the storm of the century? A 360 look at the path of Hurricane Frances.
Rape charge dropped against NBA superstar Kobe Bryant. He says he's sorry to his accuser. But how will this affect the civil suit? Will they settle?
He's on no one side, he's just here to insult anyone and anything. I go 360 with Triumph, the insult comic dog.
And it's not all political fever here. There's also dance fever. Don't they know we're watching? 360 takes you inside the box.
ANNOUNCER: This is a special edition of "ANDERSON COOPER 360," live from the Republican National Convention in New York.
COOPER: And a good evening to you.
While the thousands of delegates here are eagerly looking forward to President Bush's speech, tonight a small group of them, the delegates from Florida, have something else to look forward to, and not so eagerly. Tonight more than 2 million Florida residents are fleeing Frances. You see it there, a massive hurricane. How big? Right now, it's about the size of Texas, and it is still gathering strength. Experts said it could reach catastrophic proportions.
The category four storm is expected to make landfall late tomorrow night, early Saturday morning. It is packing winds of up to 145 miles an hour, at this hour, releasing its destructive force over the Bahamas. In many Florida towns right now, mandatory evacuation orders are in effect.
You see there residents and tourists on the move. This is a live picture of Interstate 95 going north, with hurricane warnings in effect from Florida City to Flagler Beach. People are getting out of harm's way.
CNN's John Zarrella is in Miami with the latest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): More than 2 million people from one end of the state of Florida to the other have been told to evacuate.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) as you can see, traffic has already stacked up approaching the Golden Glade interchange.
ZARRELLA: Interstate highways and major arteries from Miami to Palm Beach County, and into north Florida, are snarled with traffic, people heading inland. Airports are packed with the lucky ones, putting a lot of distance between themselves and Frances.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're trying to get out of Dodge City here.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We just want to get out of here. We're not used this kind of hurricanes.
ZARRELLA: Who is? These kinds of hurricanes are rare events. At least, they are supposed to be. And they ratchet up everyone's anxiety level.
ALEX PINELAS, FLEEING HURRICANE FRANCES: We need to prepare for the worst, pray for the best.
ZARRELLA: Local television stations broke from regular programming.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The consensus of the computer programs is a Florida landfall.
ZARRELLA: To provide continuous coverage of the storm's march towards Florida. You wonder how many people were watching. If they weren't trying to leave, they were standing in last-minute lines, long, long lines.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We've been out here for two hours.
COOPER: Waiting to buy plywood.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We got three-quarters right now. ZARRELLA: Or waiting to fill up their cars.
And with every passing hour, with Frances getting closer all the time, the heart beats a bit faster. If you blink, maybe it will go away. But it doesn't.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ZARRELLA: And even here, at the 11th hour, with Frances literally breathing down our necks, people are here at a Home Depot in north Miami buying plywood. A new truckload came in just a little while ago.
Over to my left, you can see the line of traffic, Anderson. The cars lined up down that side of the Home Depot, around the back of the Home Depot, and back out the other side.
Even here in south Florida, with so many bad images from the past to remember from Andrew and other hurricanes, people still wait to the 11th hour, Anderson.
COOPER: And they're still cleaning up from Charley. John Zarrella, I'll see you tomorrow.
On to the big story here. Tonight is the night to which all the others have been building up. For a man who needs no introduction, George W. Bush, he has gotten plenty of it and stands to get a bit more before he officially takes the stage later on. He's just getting the feel of it here earlier today.
The delegates have been shouting the president's name all week, of course. No reason to think there won't be even more shouting tonight.
As for the substance of this culminating evening at the Republican National Convention, we'll get an overview in a moment from John King. We'll also talk to White House, to President Bush's press secretary, Scott McClellan. And from Candy Crowley, a day-after report on how the Democrats are contriving not to look too terribly bloodied.
First, our White, our senior White House correspondent, John King. John?
JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, a sense of excitement building already in the hall, although also a bit of tension. The delegates know this race right now is a dead heat. They're counting on the president tonight.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Tax relief is on the way.
KING: The president at center stage. This is a warmup for a defining moment, his convention appeal for four more years. Mr. Bush will say he went to war in Afghanistan and then Iraq not for pride, not for power, but because the lives of our citizens are at stake. The president will wrap new domestic initiatives in what he calls a liberty agenda aimed at answering economic anxiety with new plans to simplify taxes, expand health care access, and add retirement saving options.
The domestic focus is just one speech imperative.
KARL ROVE, SENIOR BUSH ADVISER: It's important to talk about Iraq, to help people understand it, and know the differences between the two candidates. It's important to talk about the values that are ingrained in his heart and soul.
KING: The backdrop supports the liberty agenda theme, give citizens more power and government less. But it also is an unmistakable reminder of the city hardest hit by the 9/11 attacks.
Mr. Bush will add his voice to the Republican convention chorus, that his Senate votes and shifting positions make Democrat John Kerry unfit to command the war on terror, and add this, "I believe this nation wants steady, consistent, principled leadership. And that is why, with your help, we will win this election."
The president believes he has momentum in an extraordinarily tight race. But there are plenty of warning signs for an incumbent. Recent job growth has been modest. A majority of Americans believe the country is on the wrong track. And the continuing insurgency in Iraq is a campaign wild card. Democrats attribute relentless attacks on Senator Kerry to a White House that believes demonizing its opponent is the only way to win.
The first lady suggests perhaps the Democrats are thin-skinned.
LAURA BUSH: That's what happens when you run for office. And, you know, it happens to everybody. You get criticized, and that's just a fact of life in American politics.
KING: And top aides dismiss Democratic complaints that President Bush taps fear of more terrorism for political gain.
MICHAEL GERSON, CHIEF WHITE HOUSE SPEECHWRITER: I don't know how it's possible to overplay the defense of the American people.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KING: Mr. Bush will leave the convention hall tonight after the balloons and the confetti fall. He will not sleep here in New York. It's on to battleground Pennsylvania. Look also for the Bush campaign to quickly launch a multimillion-dollar national advertising buy. And Anderson, on Friday, they also will announce that James Baker, the former secretary of state, will lead their debate negotiating team. Those debates now the next defining moment in this campaign after tonight's speech.
COOPER: Certainly will be. John King, thanks for that. A couple of last night's speakers launched some haymakers at the Democrats. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) if John Kerry and company don't come out with Band-Aids and bruises and black eyes, they can always claim the punches never landed. All it takes is makeup.
Senior political correspondent Candy Crowley has been watching the Democrat apply some.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Ohio delegation, apparently getting more traffic than JFK International, drew a big dog this morning.
DICK CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't have a lot of new material to use. I used it up last night. And of course, what I didn't use, Zell Miller sure worked over pretty good for the (UNINTELLIGIBLE)..
CROWLEY: Over on the other side, they are not amused by last night's rough-and-tumble take on the Kerry record.
TERRY MCAULIFFE, CHAIRMAN, DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE: I feel bad for many parents who had to have their children walk away from the television and not watch it with all the anger and venom that they spewed out with last night.
CROWLEY: It's hard to know how the Zell Miller-Dick Cheney one- two punch plays outside the Garden, so Democrats are planting seeds. They call them angry old men. They called the speeches vitriolic, hate-filled, caustic, obnoxious. What swing voter likes that?
Camp Kerry doesn't like the president's speech either, not that he's given it yet, but why stand on formality?
GOV. TOM VILSACK, (D), IOWA: We won't hear about a record that's been characterized by failure, deception, and an inability to lead.
CROWLEY: Which is probably a safe bet.
Despite the tough talk, there are traces of queasy among some Democrats, who fret over recent poll numbers and fear the Kerry campaign has lost its edge. Aggravated by reports of staff changes, Kerry strategists insist everything is going according to the plan, though the plan has been altered to include an Ohio rally at midnight, just an hour after the president closes the Republican Party convention.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CROWLEY: So how badly, so how badly does the Democratic candidate want to get back into this fray? Very badly. We have been given some excerpts from the rally tonight, something sort of rare.
And in part, the Democratic candidate, John Kerry, will answer last night this way, "I am not going to have my commitment to defend this country questioned by those who refused to serve when they could have, and by those who have misled the nation into Iraq." A very clear challenge, both to Dick Cheney and, of course, to the president tonight, Anderson.
COOPER: All right, Candy Crowley, thanks for that.
Four years ago in Philadelphia, when he accepted the Republican nomination for president, Governor George W. Bush of Texas needed to deliver a speech explaining really to voters why he should be elected president. Tonight's address may be the more important of the two speeches. The president will need to outline for the electorate why he should be given a second term.
So what will voters hear tonight? Joining me for that, President Bush's press secretary, Scott McClellan.
Scott, thanks very much for being with us.
SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Anderson, great to be with you in New York tonight.
COOPER: We heard a little bit from John King about the substance of tonight's speech. The tone of it, though, is it going to be closer to a Zell Miller speech, or closer to a more, perhaps, positive, smiling speech?
MCCLELLAN: Well, tonight's speech is very forward looking. It's an optimistic and hopeful speech for where the president wants to lead America. He's going to talk about what he believes. He's going to talk about what we've accomplished over the last four years. And then he's going to talk about where he wants to lead the country for the next four years. He will outline a robust agenda for the future.
COOPER: (UNINTELLIGIBLE), before this convention, the Republicans had been saying, You're going to hear a lot of optimism, you're going to hear positive speeches. They criticized the Democrats for what they said was negativity, though they hardly mentioned President Bush by name very much. Was Zell Miller's speech last night, was that positive, optimistic?
MCCLELLAN: Well, I think so. Miller is disappointed in the direction the Democratic Party has moved over the last couple of decades. They've moved out of the mainstream, they've moved to the left. And Zell miller was talking about the high stakes that are involved in this election.
COOPER: But you wouldn't categorize it as...
MCCLELLAN: We live in very dangerous times.
COOPER: ... you wouldn't categorize it as optimistic or, or, or...
MCCLELLAN: Well, he was talking about the issues, and there are some clear choices in this election. And he was talking about the record. He knows both candidates very well. He knows Senator Kerry. He knows President Bush. And he also has grandchildren that he wants to live, grow up, see, grow up and live in a safe world.
COOPER: Yes, he was basically saying that John Kerry cannot keep his family safe. Do you believe that? Do you believe John Kerry couldn't keep your family safe?
MCCLELLAN: Well, I think it's the wrong approach for America that Senator Kerry has outlined. The president has outlined an approach for America that will lead us into this 21st century and lead us as we address the serious threats that we face. We live in dangerous times. This is a dramatically changing world.
COOPER: It's pretty (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...
MCCLELLAN: The president will talk about that tonight.
COOPER: ... pretty tough talk, though, for -- coming out of last night. I mean, basically saying...
MCCLELLAN: Well, it...
COOPER: ... saying, you can't him, keeping your family safe.
MCCLELLAN: I think the Democrats say that anytime you bring up the issues and bring up the record. And I think he was talking about the record. The Democrats at their convention had little to offer in terms of a vision. They talked about 30 years ago. Tonight you're going to see the president talk about the next decade and the decade beyond...
COOPER: With the...
MCCLELLAN: ... where he wants to lead for the next...
COOPER: ... with these deficits...
MCCLELLAN: ... four years.
COOPER: ... though, huge deficits, how many new programs can he really come up with?
MCCLELLAN: Well, that's why I said we've been through a lot. We've overcome some serious challenges. We've overcome the recession. We overcame the September 11 attacks here in New York City that cost us a million jobs in the aftermath of that, in the first three months. And this president has led to create 1.5 million new jobs over the last year.
He's led to get us through the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) lowest -- (UNINTELLIGIBLE) -- to the unemployment rate of 5.5 percent. That's lower than the average of the '70s, '80s, and '90s. And he's going to continue to talk about the economy and how he wants to move that economy forward tonight.
COOPER: There are those who looked at last night's speeches and said that you guys must be pretty confident about either that they, swing voters don't exist, or there are not many undecideds out there, that you're really going to try to energize your base. Is that what President Bush (UNINTELLIGIBLE) is going to try to do tonight?
MCCLELLAN: No, the president is reaching out to all Americans tonight. This is a hopeful agenda. This is an agenda that talks about where he wants to take this country...
COOPER: Do you, do you believe there are a lot...
MCCLELLAN: ... for the next four years.
COOPER: ... of undecided voters, though, still?
MCCLELLAN: Oh, I wouldn't say that there are a lot. I think a lot of people know that -- know, know where the president stands, and they know the -- they know Senator Kerry and they've heard about his record, although he hasn't talked about it. And so there are some clear differences before the American people.
And so I think it's a smaller segment that they're going to be reaching out to in terms of independent voters. But I think what you're seeing is, a lot of momentum is moving our way, there's a lot of energy and enthusiasm out there for the president's agenda. And they're going to hear more from him tonight about that agenda.
COOPER: Well, there's certainly a lot of enthusiasm in this room. And there will be later tonight. Scott McClellan, thanks very much.
MCCLELLAN: Thanks, Anderson.
COOPER: All right.
360 next, Kobe Bryant accused -- apologizes to his accuser. Rape charges dropped, a civil suit pending. But has permanent damage been done to his reputation?
And live from the Republican convention, we'll talk with Paul Begala, Tucker Carlson, Ted Koppel, P. Diddy, and Triumph, the insult comic dog.
First, a look at who's at the podium tonight.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: And welcome back to the Republican National Convention, the last night of the convention. We'll talk more about what's happening here in just a moment.
Right now, in Colorado, repercussions in the stunning end to the Kobe Bryant trial. Less than one week before opening statements were set to begin, the judge dismissed the sexual assault charge against the NBA star after his 20-year-old accuser said she could not go forward with the trial.
With the criminal case gone, Bryant still faces a civil lawsuit. The L.A. Laker star has issued a statement apologizing to his accuser.
CNN's Chris Lawrence has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The key to ending the civil suit may be in Kobe Bryant's written apology to the woman who accused him of rape. Bryant writes, "Although I truly believed this encounter between us was consensual, I now understand how she sincerely feels she did not consent to this encounter."
The woman has agreed not to use this statement against him in the civil case, which suggests the possibility of an out-of-court settlement.
MARK HURLBURT, EAGLE COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: Today justice is sadly interrupted.
LAWRENCE: Prosecutors asked the judge to dismiss criminal charges halfway through jury selection, with opening statements less than a week away. On Thursday, the sheriff of Eagle County spoke out about the case.
SHERIFF JOSEPH HOY, EAGLE COUNTY, COLORADO: I felt that we did the right thing from the beginning. I felt that my investigators did an excellent job. And if we did not have the evidence that we had, we wouldn't have gone forward.
LAWRENCE: But the prosecution's problems had been building for months.
(on camera): This was always going to be a he said-she said case in which credibility is everything. The defense was ready to argue that the woman's injuries could have been caused by sex with another man, not Kobe Bryant. And a forensic expert initially endorsed by prosecutors contradicted the woman's account of her injuries.
(voice-over): It was a knee injury that initially brought Bryant to Colorado for surgery, in the lodge where the woman was working. But in the 14 months this case has been in the courts, nearly everyone involved has been hurt.
Chris Lawrence, CNN, Eagle, Colorado.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Well, there have been nearly 2,000 protesters arrested in New York City this week. And tonight, a developing story on the last-minute release of hundreds of them just hours before President Bush is set to speak.
CNN's Jason Carroll is live outside Madison Square Garden with more. Jason?
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And Anderson, right now, an antiwar rally under way across from the Garden. They are very vocal, and they are certainly celebrating as well. As you said, a New York State Supreme Court judge has ordered the immediate release of almost 500 protesters, then fined the city $1,000 for every protester held past a 5:00 deadline, which, of course, expired about two hours ago.
Some have already been released, but it's unclear how many. Some detainees have been in custody for three days. The attorneys representing the protesters challenged that at a hearing. The judge determined that the city failed to comply with his release order. The city said the sheer volume of arrests, some 1,800 so far, created a backlog. The judge said he did not buy that.
The detainees being held at a temporary holding pen, not far from here. There were complaints about those conditions. New York City's mayor, Michael Bloomberg, said those conditions are just fine, not meant to be a Club Med. But he had no word yet on that judge's decision, Anderson.
COOPER: Jason, thanks for that.
360 next, Republicans on the attack, out strong against John Kerry, saying he can't keep your family safe. Fair play, or sucker punch? Paul Begala and Tucker Carlson go 360 in the "CROSSFIRE."
Also tonight, this man, media politics, where's the red meat of this convention? We'll talk with veteran newsman Ted Koppel.
And hip-hop vote has gone from media mogul to citizen change. P. Diddy joins us live. And there he is, live in this convention. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: And welcome back to the last night at the Republican National Convention.
There was an army of 10,000 police officers in and around the convention, a fortress of security blockades and heavily armed screening zones along the way. It would seem virtually impossible for anyone not invited to crash this grand old party. But some are. And they're not slipping by, they're actually walking in with the credentials to do it.
CNN's Jeanne Meserve has more, beginning with one man's story of an almost unbelievable amount of access.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Dan Pashman, a producer for the liberal radio network Air America, says a friendly stagehand approached him on Radio Row and offered to take him on a tour of Madison Square Garden Tuesday night, including under the stage where First Lady Laura Bush had spoken an hour before.
DAN PASHMAN, PRODUCER, AIR AMERICA RADIO: So we're directly beneath the podium?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, that's the podium right Here.
PASHMAN: That is the podium. The main podium is right there. We are directly underneath it at this time.
The thought went through my head that a different person at a different time with a different intent could possibly have done something that would -- we certainly none of us would like to see happen.
MESERVE: The area under the stage is supposed to be secure. In fact, Pashman was eventually asked to leave.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know there's no media on this part of the floor? Did you guys know that?
PASHMAN: I did not.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No media on the fifth floor. Like, in this, in the OP. No go.
PASHMAN: OK. We'll head out, then.
MESERVE: The only comment from the U.S. Secret Service was, quote, "We are aware of it," referring to the Web site where Pashman's interview was posted. But the Department of Homeland Security says it has doubts about the tape, because the description does not appear to match the area under the stage. Pashman insists it is not a hoax.
(on camera): Now, you actually did this?
PASHMAN: Absolutely.
MESERVE: You went down there with a stagehand?
PASHMAN: Yes.
MESERVE (voice-over): For three days in a row, activists in possession of credentials have disrupted convention proceedings. That is the last thing convention organizers want to see tonight during the president's speech.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MESERVE: Expect security personnel in and around Madison Square Garden to be hypervigilant tonight as they try to detect and remove any potential protesters.
Anderson, back to you.
COOPER: All right, Jeanne Meserve, thanks for that.
Tonight marks the end of the political conventions in this election cycle. These gatherings, some call them political dinosaurs, others say they are necessary events to promote the political parties and their top standard-bearers.
So is there red meat to be found at this year's conventions in Boston and the one here in Madison Square Garden? Earlier, I talked with Ted Koppel of ABC News' "Nightline." Have you been surprised by anything in this convention?
TED KOPPEL, HOST, "NIGHTLINE": No.
COOPER: Nothing?
KOPPEL: Nothing.
COOPER: So why stay? Because you've walked out before. You walked out in '96.
KOPPEL: I did. I walked in '96, walked out of the Republican convention. Didn't do the Democratic convention. Did not do the two conventions that followed.
And honestly, came up here, went up to Boston and came here, in large measure not because I thought anything surprising was going to happen at the conventions, but around the conventions. Security is potentially a huge story. We could not afford not to be here, given what might have happened. (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...
COOPER: I, I knew you -- that's one of the -- you did a "Nightline" this week with all the different security sort of levels and cordons.
KOPPEL: Right, right, right.
COOPER: What surprised you most about that?
KOPPEL: Just the absolute obsessiveness of it. I mean, this is probably -- you and I are sitting about 50 yards away from the most secure spot in the entire world. I mean...
COOPER: And yet, and yet protesters have been able to get onto the floor.
KOPPEL: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) I mean, a protester, you know, are immediately smothered by five security people as soon as they raise their voices. No, I mean, that doesn't surprise me.
But just the fact that this city -- I mean, this part of the city is about as obsessively cordoned off as I have ever seen anything in any country...
COOPER: And...
KOPPEL: ... be that the former Soviet Union, or China. I mean, this is sort of like Tiananmen Square in China after the 1989, you know...
COOPER: (UNINTELLIGIBLE), yes. The Republicans will be thrilled by that comparison.
KOPPEL: Well, I mean, the Democrats were no different up in Boston.
COOPER: Right.
KOPPEL: It's just, that's where we are today. That's whatever, that's what our lives have become.
COOPER: Do you think there's been a big difference in tone between the Republican and Democratic convention? I mean, I mean, the Democratic one, the, you know, everyone says, Well, well, you know, they didn't talk about President Bush by name too often. Here, you hear John Kerry mentioned all the time.
KOPPEL: Oh, I don't know. I would have said, in fact, that up in Boston, it was far less a pro-Kerry convention than it was an anybody-but-Bush convention. It may be that the president's name was not invoked very often. But I got the sense in Boston that there was just a desperation among Democrats to say, We have got to do something to get another president in there. Who's available? All right, John Kerry, bring him on. Doesn't really matter.
Here, I think the passion is less against Kerry than it is for Bush.
COOPER: Although, I mean, Zell Miller last night was very much -- I mean, he was a stiletto in that...
KOPPEL: He was tossing, he was tossing red meat out there. I mean, that was very much a sort of redolent of my first convention 40 years ago, when you had the Barry Goldwater people and the Nelson Rockefeller people going after each other with knives.
You know, that was, that was -- you know, you could see the juice dripping off the chins of the delegates as they listened to old Zell last night.
COOPER: Do you find viewers more angry today, more polarized than they have been?
KOPPEL: Yes.
COOPER: You hear that?
KOPPEL: Yes, absolutely. I mean, I think, I think viewers now just assume, you know, Don't give us that crap about being right down the middle about objectivity. They don't believe it even if they -- even if they see it.
They assume that there is a hidden agenda. They assume that each of us has got a little list of the candidates that we want to see elected, the issues that we want to see passed in Congress, the wars that we should get into, we shouldn't get into, and that we devote our entire lives to picking up the phone and all of us getting on a conference call in the morning and deciding what the issue is going to be.
That it is not true is less important than that they perceive it to be true. And that's painful.
COOPER: I missed the conference call this morning also.
KOPPEL: I did too. I was sleeping in.
COOPER: Ted Koppel, thanks very much.
KOPPEL: See you.
COOPER: He's on no one's side, he's just here to insult anyone and anything. I go 360 with Triumph, the insult comic dog.
And it's not all political fever here. There's also dance fever. Don't they know we're watching? 360 takes you inside the box.
360 continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Some of the many faces here at the Republican National Convention.
Welcome back to "360."
The final evening of the Republican National Convention at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
Let's check in with CNN's Judy Woodruff and Wolf Blitzer for a preview of what's to come. Good evening guys.
JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there.
COOPER: Judy, let me start off with you. What are you looking for tonight?
WOODRUFF: Well, we're not going to see Zell Miller again. I mean, there's not going to be the raw meat that was thrown out last night, we're not going to hear the kind of ridicule we heard from Guiliani.
COOPER: More optimistic, more upbeat?
WOODRUFF: You're going to hear more optimism. You're going to hear nicer, friendlier face on the Republican Party and on this president. You're going to hear more about the future. This president, this convention has not been about the future. It also hasn't been about domestic issues.
COOPER: Who do you think they're really trying reach tonight? There's some talk that they feel there are not that many undecided voters out there; that they're really just going for their base at this point.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I still think they're going for both. They're going for the undecided. Plus, they want to solidify the base and make sure those voters turn out and get out there and get their friends to vote as well. They're going for both of them. And I think what the president's going to do is try to lay out some specific agenda items for the next four years, show that he has a vision to try to fill in the blanks for what wasn't accomplished during these first four years, on domestic issues, as well as national security.
COOPER: Is any of that going to be really new though? I mean with these deficits, how many new programs can there be?
WOODRUFF: He'll talk a little bit. I mean, we'll hear a little bit about what he wants to do about retirement accounts. He won't get into any specifics though, that are going to cost money because they don't want to create any targets frankly, for the Democrats to shoot at.
BLITZER: I suspect that a great applause line will be when he says he wants to do away with the current tax system and simplify it and get some sort of new way in that everybody can understand a little bit better.
COOPER: All right. We'll be watching.
And then we're also going to see John Kerry at this midnight rally they're having.
WOODRUFF: He's already got some tough words. He's going to defend his service in Vietnam. In fact, he's going to go after the vice president by saying, "I think two terms at Vietnam qualifies one to be commander-in-chief more than five deferments."
BLITZER: Let me read to you a quote what Kerry's going to say at midnight tonight at his rally in Springfield, Ohio, which is unusual. Right afterwards, he's going to go out, he's going to say the vice president even called me unfit for office last night. I guess I'll leave it up to the voters whether five deferments makes someone more qualified to defend this nation than two tours of duty.
COOPER: Talking about Dick Cheney.
BLITZER: Yes, he's coming out swinging tonight.
COOPER: All right.
Wolf Blitzer, thanks Judy Woodruff. We'll be watching you at 8 o'clock.
BLITZER: Kerry's coming out swinging.
COOPER: Kerry is coming out swinging. We'll see about President Bush.
Tonight is President Bush's night at the convention. Last night belonged to John Kerry. The Democratic candidate was the focus of withering and unrelenting attacks to the loud cheers the delegates. Kerry was criticized, chastised, condemned and belittled. The delegates themselves, even got in on the action mocking Kerry by holding up flip-flops.
But hey, convention is no Sunday afternoon tea party. It's an exercise in raw politics.
Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: If Tuesday's theme at the Republican Convention was compassion, yesterday it sounded more like aggression.
ZELL MILLER, SENATOR, GEORGIA: For John Kerry, they get a yes, no, maybe bowl of mush, that can only encourage our enemies and confuse our friends.
COOPER: Primetime speakers lashed out at Democratic candidate John Kerry, and it was everything but hidden or subtle.
DICK CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Time and again Senator Kerry has made the wrong call on national security.
MILLER: This is the man who wants to be the commander-in-chief of the U.S. Armed Forces. U.S. forces armed with, what, spitballs?
COOPER: Yesterday alone, speakers refer to the Democratic candidate by name, by our count, 58 times.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE SPEAKER 1: ... John Kerry...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE SPEAKER 2: ... Senator Kerry...
CHENEY: ... Senator Kerry...
COOPER: Bringing the total to 91 times for the past three days. In comparison, at the Democratic Convention, speakers only mention President Bush's name 19 times during the first three days of their convention. But when they did, Republicans complained that Democrats were too negative and pledged their convention would be, well, positive.
MARC RACICOT, CHAIRMAN, BUSH-CHENEY 2004: I think what I'm telling you is that this president has a very positive agenda; that'll be the focus of our convention, and you'll hear us talk about that very positive agenda throughout the course of our convention.
COOPER: Why have Republicans decided to go on the offensive?
WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: The harsh rhetoric of this convention is really to fire up the base, to get them agitated, excited; to get them out to vote.
COOPER: And the base, experts say, is what President Bush is betting on to win this election, not the undecided voters.
SCHNEIDER: The Republicans believe that they can overwhelm the enemy by driving up a huge conservative vote. COOPER: Giving red meat to the red states. That's definitely raw politics.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: So, did the criticism of John Kerry cross the line? What do you think?
Well, joining me now are Paul Begala and Tucker Carlson, co-hosts of CNN's "Crossfire."
Paul, did it cross the line?
PAUL BEGALA, CO-HOST "CROSSFIRE": Yes. And I, for example, by contrast, Rudy Giuliani gave a tough speech, attacked Kerry by name, but it didn't cross the line. I mean I can disagree with this or that, but the tone and the content from Rudy's speech, very, very different from my old friend, my mentor, one of my heroes, Zell Miller.
COOPER: Tucker, Laura Bush though, today saying basically Democrats are kind of thin skinned if they're that upset about it.
TUCKER CARLSON, CO-HOST "CROSSFIRE": Yes, I mean, lighten up. Zell Miller's real sin was humorlessness. He lacked a certain lightness and ironic distance. He didn't crack a smile too much. Apparently he's a pretty funny guy. He looked a little scary last night.
But it's a convention, you know what I mean? The whole point of staging conventions, not simply to highlight the strengths of your guy, but to make the point that the other guy is kind of terrifying. And if you vote for him, America's going down the tubes. That's what happens at conventions. And the hand wringing and the whining, come on.
BEGALA: But Anderson, if I may, there's a back-story here that people don't know about.
About two years ago, James Carville and I, Barbra Streisand, Jane Fonda, the whole left wing conspiracy, Hillary Clinton, of course was there met with Zell and Zell said, "Look, I'm a loyal Democrat, what can I do to help defeat Bush?" And we came up with this plan, to go undercover, deep undercover, into the enemy and emerge at the convention and give a speech that would drive every swing voter in America away from Bush, and that they will run away from Bush like the devil runs from holy water.
And so Zell is actually a very loyal Democrat and I never saw a speech at a Republican Convention help Democrats more since Pat Buchanan declared a cultured, religious war back in 1992.
COOPER: Well, now, are you just trying to put a good face on this thing? I talked to a lot of people out there who were undecided and thought it was pretty effective.
Tucker?
CARLSON: I mean, look, of course it's hard to believe that Democrats could be more motivated to defeat Bush. They hate Bush. That's the whole point, that's the whole reason they chose John Kerry over Howard Dean. They dislike Bush: that is the beginning and the end of the Kerry campaign and its platform.
Bush is bad, Bush is evil. So, the idea that this speech is going to get them more fired up more than they already are is pretty silly, it seems, to me. Again, I don't know what the hand wringing is about. I mean, if there are things in the speech that are inaccurate or slurs in the speech that are deeply unfair, that's another question.
COOPER: Well, let me bring that up.
John Kerry at midnight is about to make a speech. He's already sent out some of the advance notice on it, which our Candy Crowley said is pretty rare. Paul, I want to read this to you.
"We all saw the anger and distortion at the Republican convention. For the past week they attacked my patriotism, my fitness to serve as commander-in-chief; well here's my answer. I'm not going to have my commitment to defend this country questioned by those who refused to serve when they could have and by those who misled the nation into Iraq."
Talking about Dick Cheney there and those five deferments. I have a sense we're going to be hearing a lot about that from John Kerry now.
BEGALA: Well, probably just for the next 24 hours or so. Welcome to the NFL.
But what Kerry needs to do then is take the next step. President Bush tonight is probably going to try to leapfrog ahead of this debate and give a positive speech about his future agenda. I tend to think it's too little, too late, but good for him. That should be the next move for Bush.
Meanwhile, Kerry is countering the last move for Bush, which was his attacks. Pretty soon I think Senator Kerry's going to have to get on the offense, get out ahead of Bush and attack him not over ads or swift boat medals, but in fact, over the president's stewardship of the economy in Iraq, which is where the election's going to be decided.
TUCKER: I agree. I think Paul makes a thoughtful point and I'm not mocking him, I'm serious. I think that's absolutely right. You do wonder who is running the John Kerry For President campaign? Again and again and again it's about, "Well, I served, you got deferments."
Do the Democrats really want to stage a campaign on the idea that people who served in Vietnam are noble and patriotic, those who didn't are not? I mean, come on. I don't think it gets you any votes, it doesn't make sense as a position and I don't think in the end, it helps Kerry.
He does need to articulate a position on Iraq. He's done a pretty good job explaining how he feels about Bush's stewardship of the economy. Where is John Kerry on Iraq? He needs to do that.
I think if he does that...
BEGALA: Wait, wait. He gave a big speech about it yesterday to the American Legion. And I do think he has a perfect right to stand up and smack back. I mean, we're sitting in a hall, a beautiful, air conditioned hall in New York City where these Republican plutocrats are wearing band-aids mocking braver men who bled in the desert and the jungle? That is an outrage, that is across any line decency and I think Kerry should call them on it, but then he should go back to issues.
CARLSON: So, does this mean that people who got deferments during Vietnam are sort of, unfit to comment on modern, national politics? It doesn't make any sense at all. And I think they're going to regret running a campaign on something that shallow and dumb. I really do. Not that they listen to me, but they ought to.
COOPER: We're going to leave it there. Paul Begala, Tucker Carlson, thanks very much.
Today's buzz is this: what do you think? Do you think Republican attacks on John Kerry are working? Log onto cnn.com/360, cast your vote. Results at the end of the program tonight.
I think they're still arguing.
360 next: citizen changed from rapper, media mogul to vote getter, P. Diddy joins me live on the hip hop vote. There he is.
Also tonight: dancing fools and knowing when to just stand still. We'll take you inside the box for some of the convention's more awkward funny moments.
And a little later, political bite, Triumph, the insult dog takes on the GOP. 360 next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: All right. There's a new effort to get out the youth vote this election year. Joining the ranks of "Choose or Lose" and "Rock the Vote" is the new slogan, "Vote or Die." The messenger: hip-hop and fashion mogul Sean P. Diddy Combs, who's launched the non- partisan group, Citizen Change. His mission: to empower the more than 42 million Americans aged 18 to 30 to vote on Election Day.
Sean P. Diddy is here at the Republican National Convention. Thanks very much for being with us.
SEAN P. DIDDY COMBS, RAPPER, CLOTHING DESIGNER: Thank you for having me.
COOPER: So, what is this about? Everyone thinks of you: music mogul, fashion mogul? Why do this?
COMBS: God's blessed me with a talent to be able to communicate and energize young people. We can't be a part of the change if we don't get out to vote, you know? We can't complain if we're not responsible. We can't hold those politicians responsible for us if we don't create a pool of voters, just like the NRA or AARP; just as strong.
COOPER: Why is it young people don't vote? The conventional wisdom is, you know, "Look, they don't have a mortgage, they don't have big taxes, so they're not plugged in like that."
COMBS: To be honest, politicians don't talk about issues that are dealing with us, that really apply to us. Whether it's young people or minorities, you don't hear an agenda that really applies to our world because we haven't voted, we're not a contingency of voters that really have flexed our power on these politicians to put them in office or take them out of office.
But that's all about to change on November 2nd: the youth of America and minorities -- I call them the forgotten ones -- will decide who's the next president of the United States. You all do not have a clue what's going on in these communities right now; how much energy is starting with the youth of America. MTV, my partners, MTV and BET, Clear Channel, Radio 1 are some of the most powerful organizations in the world to connect to young people.
COOPER: But look, if you look at youth voter turnout, 1972, that was the first time the age was 18.
COMBS: Yes.
COOPER: 1992, also big voter turnout. But since then, the numbers have kind of dropped.
COMBS: Yes, the time is now, you know. There's no time better than the present. We need change right now.
COOPER: So, you're groups non-partisan. You're not saying Republican, you're not saying Democratic? Just you want people to register.
COMBS: The only people I'm down with is the young people of America and the minorities and the people that want change in their communities. And the only way we could push for change is if we're a part of it, by voting, going out and voting.
And I promise you there's never been an energy like it is today with young people being so interested in the voting process, due to organizations like Citizen Change...
COOPER: I know you got like clothing lines coming out, you got stars wearing "Vote or Die."
COMBS: Yes. Leonardo DiCaprio, 50 Cent. These are the leaders.
COOPER: Does this work, though? We've got it on full screen.
Does that really work?
COMBS: It does work. It does work. It will work. You'll see on November 2nd.
Right now everything else that everybody else has tried hasn't worked. And we know this is going to work because young people, they want a change.
COOPER: Are you going to get 50 Cent to actually vote?
COMBS: Yes, he's going to vote.
COOPER: Yes?
COMBS: And I have this for your girlfriend. Your have a wife or girlfriend?
COOPER: I appreciate it.
COMBS: You have a wife or a girlfriend?
COOPER: I don't right now, so no.
COMBS: OK. Well, you could get one with this shirt. You give it out.
COOPER: I appreciate it.
Sean P. Diddy Combs. Thanks very much.
COMBS: November 2nd the revolution will be televised. You have until October 4th to register to vote, young people of America. We must invoke change. We are responsible; we do care; we're not lazy; we are going to show what we have November 2nd.
COOPER: There you go. All right.
If you've been watching the convention coverage closely, really closely, you might have picked up on a pretty strange phenomena.
It appears that seemingly sensible people get caught up in a crowd of the like-minded and when the music starts, they come down with a serious case of dance fever.
Only, not everyone has an inner Fred or Ginger and at this convention, every step and misstep is recorded inside the box. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Note to conventioneers: just because it has a great beat, doesn't mean everyone can dance to it.
Democrats tried tripping "The Light Fantastic" Boston, sometimes it looked more like, well, tripping.
Republicans are now rocking the Garden in New York. Maybe they were just missing the roll.
See, there's dancing that deserves to be preserved for posterity; there are moves that start movements; then there are those spur-of- the-moment, can't-possibly-be-choreographed, just-a-beat-behind blunders that should never be seen, but here usually are.
Next time you decide to dance to the music in public, you'll probably end up paying the piper with your pride, because at these conventions, there are cameras everywhere, and they capture you inside the box.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: All right. Get down.
On 360 next: political fight, Triumph, the insult comic dog, oh, I don't know what he's going to say about Michael Moore. All that ahead.
But first, tonight's buzz: do you think Republican attacks on John Kerry are working? Logon to cnn.com/360, cast your vote. Results when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: That's a view outside Madison Square Garden.
The convention is heating up. The convention so far has had plenty of elephants, at least one donkey, but we haven't seen any cigar-smoking dogs, until now, that is. No one, especially politicians, is safe from Triumph the insult comic dog. He's even got his own DVD, "The Best of Triumph the Insult Comic Dog."
Triumph joined me earlier in the press gallery and I began by asking him, what is he doing here.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRIUMPH THE INSULT COMIC DOG: Look, I'm the biggest star here. They're desperate. This is less exciting than a "CHIPs" reunion.
COOPER: Is that a "CHIPs" reunion?
TRIUMPH: Yes.
COOPER: Is Eric Estrada here?
TRIUMPH: They wish! They're stuck with me. Me and like, the fourth Baldwin.
COOPER: One of the Baldwins is here?
TRIUMPH: Yes, I think it's Schemp. COOPER: Schemp Baldwin?
TRIUMPH: Yes, Schemp was born again.
COOPER: I didn't know there was a Schemp Baldwin.
TRIUMPH: Well, there, yes.
COOPER: Ron Silver has been here and he spoke.
TRIUMPH: Ron Silver. Yes. He's about the wackiest one. They're hiding all the good wacky Republicans, too. Like, where's Tom DeLay. Or I love to see Condi Rice here, you know.
COOPER: What do you think about the speeches so far?
TRIUMPH: You know, John McCain, very dignified. And, you know, I have a lot of respect for John McCain. I mean, he spent all those years being, you know, locked up, and starved and brainwashed. Why would Karl Rove do that to him?
COOPER: It was Karl Rove that did that to him?
TRIUMPH: Yes.
COOPER: I think it was the North Koreans.
TRIUMPH: Here he is now, endorsing Bush.
Yes, I like Bush. "Beep"
I like Bush. "Beep"
He's a good sport, you know.
No, I joked with him earlier, he's a good sport. Whether it's taking a joke from me or a smear in South Carolina. He's a good sport.
COOPER: He'll take it all?
TRIUMPH: Yes.
COOPER: What about Michael Moore? Michael Moore was here. He was sitting right up here in the press gallery.
TRIUMPH: I know. Believe me, I can smell him. I can still smell the burrito he ate.
COOPER: What, are you not a fan of Michael Moore?
TRIUMPH: No, I love Michael Moore. But come on, that guy's a tough guy. He's not just going to come here and give up, you know. The Republicans want Michael Moore to eat his words. I suggest they deep fry them first.
Anyway, the only thing else that's missing here is the black people. You know, I see some onstage.
COOPER: Hey now, this is the most diverse Republican convention they've ever had.
TRIUMPH: And some black entertainer.
This is a diverse one, what? They're singing because they're up there singing "Celebrate?" Bad '80s music? What are you talking about? What's diverse about it?
COOPER: They say there are more African-Americans here than at any other Republican convention.
TRIUMPH: Who's kidding who? I saw two people in the whole building and they turned out to be Strom Thurmond's illegitimate kids.
COOPER: Hey Triumph. It's been a pleasure, thanks very much.
TRIUMPH: You got it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: I think he's had his security credentials revoked.
Time now for the buzz. Earlier we asked you: do you think Republican attacks on John Kerry are working? Twenty-eight percent of you said yes, 72 percent, no. It's not a scientific poll, but it is your buzz and we appreciate you voting.
Tonight taking the stray thought to the 'Nth Degree.
An apology first. After days spent steeped in hoopla and noise, not just here, but also in Boston, among the Democrats, we're finding coherence, temporarily we hope, just a little out of reach.
All we have to offer is an observation. It's this: we human beings sure do say an awful lot of things that aren't true, not just politicians, all of us. For instance, we say, "Talk is cheap." How did that get to be a cliche? The Republican and Democratic national conventions, which other than count of havoc and construction consisted mostly of talk, cost a bit more than $60 million and a bit less than $40 million, respectively.
In privately donated money, but add $50 million each in federal security grants and the total for the two conventions just tops $200 million. We don't know what that comes to per articulated and/or amplified word, up at the podium, down on the floor and in passing in washrooms and hallways, but we move that the phrase "talk is cheap" be permanently dropped from the language.
A thought.
As for those doing the talking here tonight, a lot of big names will be at the podium tonight: NFL Hall of Famer Lynn Swann, New York Governor George Pataki and the main event, of course, President George W. Bush. CNN will continue to have continuing live coverage. Stay with us. Back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Join me tomorrow on 360. I'll be live in Florida waiting for the arrivals of Hurricane Frances. I'll also show you the latest on the preparations Floridians are taking.
Right now, our coverage continues, live coverage of the Republican National Convention with Jeff Greenfield, Judy Woodruff and CNN's Wolf Blitzer.
Wolf.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired September 2, 2004 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, HOST: Good evening from New York. I'm Anderson Cooper.
Anticipation here for a major speech, while in Florida there is fear of a monster hurricane.
360 starts now.
'Tis the night to shine for George W. Bush as the Republican National Convention comes to an end. The president takes center stage. His vision, his plan, his quest for four more years in the White House.
Blasting Kerry. Democratic nominee John Kerry shredded by Republican speakers. Is he in need of some damage control? 360 brings you reaction from the Kerry camp.
How will President Bush make his case tonight? Will he go after John Kerry? We go 360 with the president's press secretary, Scott McClellan, and an exclusive interview with "Nightline"'s Ted Koppel.
A state of emergency in the Sunshine State. A massive, menacing hurricane threatens the coast of Florida. Will this be the storm of the century? A 360 look at the path of Hurricane Frances.
Rape charge dropped against NBA superstar Kobe Bryant. He says he's sorry to his accuser. But how will this affect the civil suit? Will they settle?
He's on no one side, he's just here to insult anyone and anything. I go 360 with Triumph, the insult comic dog.
And it's not all political fever here. There's also dance fever. Don't they know we're watching? 360 takes you inside the box.
ANNOUNCER: This is a special edition of "ANDERSON COOPER 360," live from the Republican National Convention in New York.
COOPER: And a good evening to you.
While the thousands of delegates here are eagerly looking forward to President Bush's speech, tonight a small group of them, the delegates from Florida, have something else to look forward to, and not so eagerly. Tonight more than 2 million Florida residents are fleeing Frances. You see it there, a massive hurricane. How big? Right now, it's about the size of Texas, and it is still gathering strength. Experts said it could reach catastrophic proportions.
The category four storm is expected to make landfall late tomorrow night, early Saturday morning. It is packing winds of up to 145 miles an hour, at this hour, releasing its destructive force over the Bahamas. In many Florida towns right now, mandatory evacuation orders are in effect.
You see there residents and tourists on the move. This is a live picture of Interstate 95 going north, with hurricane warnings in effect from Florida City to Flagler Beach. People are getting out of harm's way.
CNN's John Zarrella is in Miami with the latest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): More than 2 million people from one end of the state of Florida to the other have been told to evacuate.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) as you can see, traffic has already stacked up approaching the Golden Glade interchange.
ZARRELLA: Interstate highways and major arteries from Miami to Palm Beach County, and into north Florida, are snarled with traffic, people heading inland. Airports are packed with the lucky ones, putting a lot of distance between themselves and Frances.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're trying to get out of Dodge City here.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We just want to get out of here. We're not used this kind of hurricanes.
ZARRELLA: Who is? These kinds of hurricanes are rare events. At least, they are supposed to be. And they ratchet up everyone's anxiety level.
ALEX PINELAS, FLEEING HURRICANE FRANCES: We need to prepare for the worst, pray for the best.
ZARRELLA: Local television stations broke from regular programming.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The consensus of the computer programs is a Florida landfall.
ZARRELLA: To provide continuous coverage of the storm's march towards Florida. You wonder how many people were watching. If they weren't trying to leave, they were standing in last-minute lines, long, long lines.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We've been out here for two hours.
COOPER: Waiting to buy plywood.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We got three-quarters right now. ZARRELLA: Or waiting to fill up their cars.
And with every passing hour, with Frances getting closer all the time, the heart beats a bit faster. If you blink, maybe it will go away. But it doesn't.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ZARRELLA: And even here, at the 11th hour, with Frances literally breathing down our necks, people are here at a Home Depot in north Miami buying plywood. A new truckload came in just a little while ago.
Over to my left, you can see the line of traffic, Anderson. The cars lined up down that side of the Home Depot, around the back of the Home Depot, and back out the other side.
Even here in south Florida, with so many bad images from the past to remember from Andrew and other hurricanes, people still wait to the 11th hour, Anderson.
COOPER: And they're still cleaning up from Charley. John Zarrella, I'll see you tomorrow.
On to the big story here. Tonight is the night to which all the others have been building up. For a man who needs no introduction, George W. Bush, he has gotten plenty of it and stands to get a bit more before he officially takes the stage later on. He's just getting the feel of it here earlier today.
The delegates have been shouting the president's name all week, of course. No reason to think there won't be even more shouting tonight.
As for the substance of this culminating evening at the Republican National Convention, we'll get an overview in a moment from John King. We'll also talk to White House, to President Bush's press secretary, Scott McClellan. And from Candy Crowley, a day-after report on how the Democrats are contriving not to look too terribly bloodied.
First, our White, our senior White House correspondent, John King. John?
JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, a sense of excitement building already in the hall, although also a bit of tension. The delegates know this race right now is a dead heat. They're counting on the president tonight.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Tax relief is on the way.
KING: The president at center stage. This is a warmup for a defining moment, his convention appeal for four more years. Mr. Bush will say he went to war in Afghanistan and then Iraq not for pride, not for power, but because the lives of our citizens are at stake. The president will wrap new domestic initiatives in what he calls a liberty agenda aimed at answering economic anxiety with new plans to simplify taxes, expand health care access, and add retirement saving options.
The domestic focus is just one speech imperative.
KARL ROVE, SENIOR BUSH ADVISER: It's important to talk about Iraq, to help people understand it, and know the differences between the two candidates. It's important to talk about the values that are ingrained in his heart and soul.
KING: The backdrop supports the liberty agenda theme, give citizens more power and government less. But it also is an unmistakable reminder of the city hardest hit by the 9/11 attacks.
Mr. Bush will add his voice to the Republican convention chorus, that his Senate votes and shifting positions make Democrat John Kerry unfit to command the war on terror, and add this, "I believe this nation wants steady, consistent, principled leadership. And that is why, with your help, we will win this election."
The president believes he has momentum in an extraordinarily tight race. But there are plenty of warning signs for an incumbent. Recent job growth has been modest. A majority of Americans believe the country is on the wrong track. And the continuing insurgency in Iraq is a campaign wild card. Democrats attribute relentless attacks on Senator Kerry to a White House that believes demonizing its opponent is the only way to win.
The first lady suggests perhaps the Democrats are thin-skinned.
LAURA BUSH: That's what happens when you run for office. And, you know, it happens to everybody. You get criticized, and that's just a fact of life in American politics.
KING: And top aides dismiss Democratic complaints that President Bush taps fear of more terrorism for political gain.
MICHAEL GERSON, CHIEF WHITE HOUSE SPEECHWRITER: I don't know how it's possible to overplay the defense of the American people.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KING: Mr. Bush will leave the convention hall tonight after the balloons and the confetti fall. He will not sleep here in New York. It's on to battleground Pennsylvania. Look also for the Bush campaign to quickly launch a multimillion-dollar national advertising buy. And Anderson, on Friday, they also will announce that James Baker, the former secretary of state, will lead their debate negotiating team. Those debates now the next defining moment in this campaign after tonight's speech.
COOPER: Certainly will be. John King, thanks for that. A couple of last night's speakers launched some haymakers at the Democrats. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) if John Kerry and company don't come out with Band-Aids and bruises and black eyes, they can always claim the punches never landed. All it takes is makeup.
Senior political correspondent Candy Crowley has been watching the Democrat apply some.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Ohio delegation, apparently getting more traffic than JFK International, drew a big dog this morning.
DICK CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't have a lot of new material to use. I used it up last night. And of course, what I didn't use, Zell Miller sure worked over pretty good for the (UNINTELLIGIBLE)..
CROWLEY: Over on the other side, they are not amused by last night's rough-and-tumble take on the Kerry record.
TERRY MCAULIFFE, CHAIRMAN, DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE: I feel bad for many parents who had to have their children walk away from the television and not watch it with all the anger and venom that they spewed out with last night.
CROWLEY: It's hard to know how the Zell Miller-Dick Cheney one- two punch plays outside the Garden, so Democrats are planting seeds. They call them angry old men. They called the speeches vitriolic, hate-filled, caustic, obnoxious. What swing voter likes that?
Camp Kerry doesn't like the president's speech either, not that he's given it yet, but why stand on formality?
GOV. TOM VILSACK, (D), IOWA: We won't hear about a record that's been characterized by failure, deception, and an inability to lead.
CROWLEY: Which is probably a safe bet.
Despite the tough talk, there are traces of queasy among some Democrats, who fret over recent poll numbers and fear the Kerry campaign has lost its edge. Aggravated by reports of staff changes, Kerry strategists insist everything is going according to the plan, though the plan has been altered to include an Ohio rally at midnight, just an hour after the president closes the Republican Party convention.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CROWLEY: So how badly, so how badly does the Democratic candidate want to get back into this fray? Very badly. We have been given some excerpts from the rally tonight, something sort of rare.
And in part, the Democratic candidate, John Kerry, will answer last night this way, "I am not going to have my commitment to defend this country questioned by those who refused to serve when they could have, and by those who have misled the nation into Iraq." A very clear challenge, both to Dick Cheney and, of course, to the president tonight, Anderson.
COOPER: All right, Candy Crowley, thanks for that.
Four years ago in Philadelphia, when he accepted the Republican nomination for president, Governor George W. Bush of Texas needed to deliver a speech explaining really to voters why he should be elected president. Tonight's address may be the more important of the two speeches. The president will need to outline for the electorate why he should be given a second term.
So what will voters hear tonight? Joining me for that, President Bush's press secretary, Scott McClellan.
Scott, thanks very much for being with us.
SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Anderson, great to be with you in New York tonight.
COOPER: We heard a little bit from John King about the substance of tonight's speech. The tone of it, though, is it going to be closer to a Zell Miller speech, or closer to a more, perhaps, positive, smiling speech?
MCCLELLAN: Well, tonight's speech is very forward looking. It's an optimistic and hopeful speech for where the president wants to lead America. He's going to talk about what he believes. He's going to talk about what we've accomplished over the last four years. And then he's going to talk about where he wants to lead the country for the next four years. He will outline a robust agenda for the future.
COOPER: (UNINTELLIGIBLE), before this convention, the Republicans had been saying, You're going to hear a lot of optimism, you're going to hear positive speeches. They criticized the Democrats for what they said was negativity, though they hardly mentioned President Bush by name very much. Was Zell Miller's speech last night, was that positive, optimistic?
MCCLELLAN: Well, I think so. Miller is disappointed in the direction the Democratic Party has moved over the last couple of decades. They've moved out of the mainstream, they've moved to the left. And Zell miller was talking about the high stakes that are involved in this election.
COOPER: But you wouldn't categorize it as...
MCCLELLAN: We live in very dangerous times.
COOPER: ... you wouldn't categorize it as optimistic or, or, or...
MCCLELLAN: Well, he was talking about the issues, and there are some clear choices in this election. And he was talking about the record. He knows both candidates very well. He knows Senator Kerry. He knows President Bush. And he also has grandchildren that he wants to live, grow up, see, grow up and live in a safe world.
COOPER: Yes, he was basically saying that John Kerry cannot keep his family safe. Do you believe that? Do you believe John Kerry couldn't keep your family safe?
MCCLELLAN: Well, I think it's the wrong approach for America that Senator Kerry has outlined. The president has outlined an approach for America that will lead us into this 21st century and lead us as we address the serious threats that we face. We live in dangerous times. This is a dramatically changing world.
COOPER: It's pretty (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...
MCCLELLAN: The president will talk about that tonight.
COOPER: ... pretty tough talk, though, for -- coming out of last night. I mean, basically saying...
MCCLELLAN: Well, it...
COOPER: ... saying, you can't him, keeping your family safe.
MCCLELLAN: I think the Democrats say that anytime you bring up the issues and bring up the record. And I think he was talking about the record. The Democrats at their convention had little to offer in terms of a vision. They talked about 30 years ago. Tonight you're going to see the president talk about the next decade and the decade beyond...
COOPER: With the...
MCCLELLAN: ... where he wants to lead for the next...
COOPER: ... with these deficits...
MCCLELLAN: ... four years.
COOPER: ... though, huge deficits, how many new programs can he really come up with?
MCCLELLAN: Well, that's why I said we've been through a lot. We've overcome some serious challenges. We've overcome the recession. We overcame the September 11 attacks here in New York City that cost us a million jobs in the aftermath of that, in the first three months. And this president has led to create 1.5 million new jobs over the last year.
He's led to get us through the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) lowest -- (UNINTELLIGIBLE) -- to the unemployment rate of 5.5 percent. That's lower than the average of the '70s, '80s, and '90s. And he's going to continue to talk about the economy and how he wants to move that economy forward tonight.
COOPER: There are those who looked at last night's speeches and said that you guys must be pretty confident about either that they, swing voters don't exist, or there are not many undecideds out there, that you're really going to try to energize your base. Is that what President Bush (UNINTELLIGIBLE) is going to try to do tonight?
MCCLELLAN: No, the president is reaching out to all Americans tonight. This is a hopeful agenda. This is an agenda that talks about where he wants to take this country...
COOPER: Do you, do you believe there are a lot...
MCCLELLAN: ... for the next four years.
COOPER: ... of undecided voters, though, still?
MCCLELLAN: Oh, I wouldn't say that there are a lot. I think a lot of people know that -- know, know where the president stands, and they know the -- they know Senator Kerry and they've heard about his record, although he hasn't talked about it. And so there are some clear differences before the American people.
And so I think it's a smaller segment that they're going to be reaching out to in terms of independent voters. But I think what you're seeing is, a lot of momentum is moving our way, there's a lot of energy and enthusiasm out there for the president's agenda. And they're going to hear more from him tonight about that agenda.
COOPER: Well, there's certainly a lot of enthusiasm in this room. And there will be later tonight. Scott McClellan, thanks very much.
MCCLELLAN: Thanks, Anderson.
COOPER: All right.
360 next, Kobe Bryant accused -- apologizes to his accuser. Rape charges dropped, a civil suit pending. But has permanent damage been done to his reputation?
And live from the Republican convention, we'll talk with Paul Begala, Tucker Carlson, Ted Koppel, P. Diddy, and Triumph, the insult comic dog.
First, a look at who's at the podium tonight.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: And welcome back to the Republican National Convention, the last night of the convention. We'll talk more about what's happening here in just a moment.
Right now, in Colorado, repercussions in the stunning end to the Kobe Bryant trial. Less than one week before opening statements were set to begin, the judge dismissed the sexual assault charge against the NBA star after his 20-year-old accuser said she could not go forward with the trial.
With the criminal case gone, Bryant still faces a civil lawsuit. The L.A. Laker star has issued a statement apologizing to his accuser.
CNN's Chris Lawrence has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The key to ending the civil suit may be in Kobe Bryant's written apology to the woman who accused him of rape. Bryant writes, "Although I truly believed this encounter between us was consensual, I now understand how she sincerely feels she did not consent to this encounter."
The woman has agreed not to use this statement against him in the civil case, which suggests the possibility of an out-of-court settlement.
MARK HURLBURT, EAGLE COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: Today justice is sadly interrupted.
LAWRENCE: Prosecutors asked the judge to dismiss criminal charges halfway through jury selection, with opening statements less than a week away. On Thursday, the sheriff of Eagle County spoke out about the case.
SHERIFF JOSEPH HOY, EAGLE COUNTY, COLORADO: I felt that we did the right thing from the beginning. I felt that my investigators did an excellent job. And if we did not have the evidence that we had, we wouldn't have gone forward.
LAWRENCE: But the prosecution's problems had been building for months.
(on camera): This was always going to be a he said-she said case in which credibility is everything. The defense was ready to argue that the woman's injuries could have been caused by sex with another man, not Kobe Bryant. And a forensic expert initially endorsed by prosecutors contradicted the woman's account of her injuries.
(voice-over): It was a knee injury that initially brought Bryant to Colorado for surgery, in the lodge where the woman was working. But in the 14 months this case has been in the courts, nearly everyone involved has been hurt.
Chris Lawrence, CNN, Eagle, Colorado.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Well, there have been nearly 2,000 protesters arrested in New York City this week. And tonight, a developing story on the last-minute release of hundreds of them just hours before President Bush is set to speak.
CNN's Jason Carroll is live outside Madison Square Garden with more. Jason?
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And Anderson, right now, an antiwar rally under way across from the Garden. They are very vocal, and they are certainly celebrating as well. As you said, a New York State Supreme Court judge has ordered the immediate release of almost 500 protesters, then fined the city $1,000 for every protester held past a 5:00 deadline, which, of course, expired about two hours ago.
Some have already been released, but it's unclear how many. Some detainees have been in custody for three days. The attorneys representing the protesters challenged that at a hearing. The judge determined that the city failed to comply with his release order. The city said the sheer volume of arrests, some 1,800 so far, created a backlog. The judge said he did not buy that.
The detainees being held at a temporary holding pen, not far from here. There were complaints about those conditions. New York City's mayor, Michael Bloomberg, said those conditions are just fine, not meant to be a Club Med. But he had no word yet on that judge's decision, Anderson.
COOPER: Jason, thanks for that.
360 next, Republicans on the attack, out strong against John Kerry, saying he can't keep your family safe. Fair play, or sucker punch? Paul Begala and Tucker Carlson go 360 in the "CROSSFIRE."
Also tonight, this man, media politics, where's the red meat of this convention? We'll talk with veteran newsman Ted Koppel.
And hip-hop vote has gone from media mogul to citizen change. P. Diddy joins us live. And there he is, live in this convention. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: And welcome back to the last night at the Republican National Convention.
There was an army of 10,000 police officers in and around the convention, a fortress of security blockades and heavily armed screening zones along the way. It would seem virtually impossible for anyone not invited to crash this grand old party. But some are. And they're not slipping by, they're actually walking in with the credentials to do it.
CNN's Jeanne Meserve has more, beginning with one man's story of an almost unbelievable amount of access.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Dan Pashman, a producer for the liberal radio network Air America, says a friendly stagehand approached him on Radio Row and offered to take him on a tour of Madison Square Garden Tuesday night, including under the stage where First Lady Laura Bush had spoken an hour before.
DAN PASHMAN, PRODUCER, AIR AMERICA RADIO: So we're directly beneath the podium?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, that's the podium right Here.
PASHMAN: That is the podium. The main podium is right there. We are directly underneath it at this time.
The thought went through my head that a different person at a different time with a different intent could possibly have done something that would -- we certainly none of us would like to see happen.
MESERVE: The area under the stage is supposed to be secure. In fact, Pashman was eventually asked to leave.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know there's no media on this part of the floor? Did you guys know that?
PASHMAN: I did not.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No media on the fifth floor. Like, in this, in the OP. No go.
PASHMAN: OK. We'll head out, then.
MESERVE: The only comment from the U.S. Secret Service was, quote, "We are aware of it," referring to the Web site where Pashman's interview was posted. But the Department of Homeland Security says it has doubts about the tape, because the description does not appear to match the area under the stage. Pashman insists it is not a hoax.
(on camera): Now, you actually did this?
PASHMAN: Absolutely.
MESERVE: You went down there with a stagehand?
PASHMAN: Yes.
MESERVE (voice-over): For three days in a row, activists in possession of credentials have disrupted convention proceedings. That is the last thing convention organizers want to see tonight during the president's speech.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MESERVE: Expect security personnel in and around Madison Square Garden to be hypervigilant tonight as they try to detect and remove any potential protesters.
Anderson, back to you.
COOPER: All right, Jeanne Meserve, thanks for that.
Tonight marks the end of the political conventions in this election cycle. These gatherings, some call them political dinosaurs, others say they are necessary events to promote the political parties and their top standard-bearers.
So is there red meat to be found at this year's conventions in Boston and the one here in Madison Square Garden? Earlier, I talked with Ted Koppel of ABC News' "Nightline." Have you been surprised by anything in this convention?
TED KOPPEL, HOST, "NIGHTLINE": No.
COOPER: Nothing?
KOPPEL: Nothing.
COOPER: So why stay? Because you've walked out before. You walked out in '96.
KOPPEL: I did. I walked in '96, walked out of the Republican convention. Didn't do the Democratic convention. Did not do the two conventions that followed.
And honestly, came up here, went up to Boston and came here, in large measure not because I thought anything surprising was going to happen at the conventions, but around the conventions. Security is potentially a huge story. We could not afford not to be here, given what might have happened. (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...
COOPER: I, I knew you -- that's one of the -- you did a "Nightline" this week with all the different security sort of levels and cordons.
KOPPEL: Right, right, right.
COOPER: What surprised you most about that?
KOPPEL: Just the absolute obsessiveness of it. I mean, this is probably -- you and I are sitting about 50 yards away from the most secure spot in the entire world. I mean...
COOPER: And yet, and yet protesters have been able to get onto the floor.
KOPPEL: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) I mean, a protester, you know, are immediately smothered by five security people as soon as they raise their voices. No, I mean, that doesn't surprise me.
But just the fact that this city -- I mean, this part of the city is about as obsessively cordoned off as I have ever seen anything in any country...
COOPER: And...
KOPPEL: ... be that the former Soviet Union, or China. I mean, this is sort of like Tiananmen Square in China after the 1989, you know...
COOPER: (UNINTELLIGIBLE), yes. The Republicans will be thrilled by that comparison.
KOPPEL: Well, I mean, the Democrats were no different up in Boston.
COOPER: Right.
KOPPEL: It's just, that's where we are today. That's whatever, that's what our lives have become.
COOPER: Do you think there's been a big difference in tone between the Republican and Democratic convention? I mean, I mean, the Democratic one, the, you know, everyone says, Well, well, you know, they didn't talk about President Bush by name too often. Here, you hear John Kerry mentioned all the time.
KOPPEL: Oh, I don't know. I would have said, in fact, that up in Boston, it was far less a pro-Kerry convention than it was an anybody-but-Bush convention. It may be that the president's name was not invoked very often. But I got the sense in Boston that there was just a desperation among Democrats to say, We have got to do something to get another president in there. Who's available? All right, John Kerry, bring him on. Doesn't really matter.
Here, I think the passion is less against Kerry than it is for Bush.
COOPER: Although, I mean, Zell Miller last night was very much -- I mean, he was a stiletto in that...
KOPPEL: He was tossing, he was tossing red meat out there. I mean, that was very much a sort of redolent of my first convention 40 years ago, when you had the Barry Goldwater people and the Nelson Rockefeller people going after each other with knives.
You know, that was, that was -- you know, you could see the juice dripping off the chins of the delegates as they listened to old Zell last night.
COOPER: Do you find viewers more angry today, more polarized than they have been?
KOPPEL: Yes.
COOPER: You hear that?
KOPPEL: Yes, absolutely. I mean, I think, I think viewers now just assume, you know, Don't give us that crap about being right down the middle about objectivity. They don't believe it even if they -- even if they see it.
They assume that there is a hidden agenda. They assume that each of us has got a little list of the candidates that we want to see elected, the issues that we want to see passed in Congress, the wars that we should get into, we shouldn't get into, and that we devote our entire lives to picking up the phone and all of us getting on a conference call in the morning and deciding what the issue is going to be.
That it is not true is less important than that they perceive it to be true. And that's painful.
COOPER: I missed the conference call this morning also.
KOPPEL: I did too. I was sleeping in.
COOPER: Ted Koppel, thanks very much.
KOPPEL: See you.
COOPER: He's on no one's side, he's just here to insult anyone and anything. I go 360 with Triumph, the insult comic dog.
And it's not all political fever here. There's also dance fever. Don't they know we're watching? 360 takes you inside the box.
360 continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Some of the many faces here at the Republican National Convention.
Welcome back to "360."
The final evening of the Republican National Convention at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
Let's check in with CNN's Judy Woodruff and Wolf Blitzer for a preview of what's to come. Good evening guys.
JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there.
COOPER: Judy, let me start off with you. What are you looking for tonight?
WOODRUFF: Well, we're not going to see Zell Miller again. I mean, there's not going to be the raw meat that was thrown out last night, we're not going to hear the kind of ridicule we heard from Guiliani.
COOPER: More optimistic, more upbeat?
WOODRUFF: You're going to hear more optimism. You're going to hear nicer, friendlier face on the Republican Party and on this president. You're going to hear more about the future. This president, this convention has not been about the future. It also hasn't been about domestic issues.
COOPER: Who do you think they're really trying reach tonight? There's some talk that they feel there are not that many undecided voters out there; that they're really just going for their base at this point.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I still think they're going for both. They're going for the undecided. Plus, they want to solidify the base and make sure those voters turn out and get out there and get their friends to vote as well. They're going for both of them. And I think what the president's going to do is try to lay out some specific agenda items for the next four years, show that he has a vision to try to fill in the blanks for what wasn't accomplished during these first four years, on domestic issues, as well as national security.
COOPER: Is any of that going to be really new though? I mean with these deficits, how many new programs can there be?
WOODRUFF: He'll talk a little bit. I mean, we'll hear a little bit about what he wants to do about retirement accounts. He won't get into any specifics though, that are going to cost money because they don't want to create any targets frankly, for the Democrats to shoot at.
BLITZER: I suspect that a great applause line will be when he says he wants to do away with the current tax system and simplify it and get some sort of new way in that everybody can understand a little bit better.
COOPER: All right. We'll be watching.
And then we're also going to see John Kerry at this midnight rally they're having.
WOODRUFF: He's already got some tough words. He's going to defend his service in Vietnam. In fact, he's going to go after the vice president by saying, "I think two terms at Vietnam qualifies one to be commander-in-chief more than five deferments."
BLITZER: Let me read to you a quote what Kerry's going to say at midnight tonight at his rally in Springfield, Ohio, which is unusual. Right afterwards, he's going to go out, he's going to say the vice president even called me unfit for office last night. I guess I'll leave it up to the voters whether five deferments makes someone more qualified to defend this nation than two tours of duty.
COOPER: Talking about Dick Cheney.
BLITZER: Yes, he's coming out swinging tonight.
COOPER: All right.
Wolf Blitzer, thanks Judy Woodruff. We'll be watching you at 8 o'clock.
BLITZER: Kerry's coming out swinging.
COOPER: Kerry is coming out swinging. We'll see about President Bush.
Tonight is President Bush's night at the convention. Last night belonged to John Kerry. The Democratic candidate was the focus of withering and unrelenting attacks to the loud cheers the delegates. Kerry was criticized, chastised, condemned and belittled. The delegates themselves, even got in on the action mocking Kerry by holding up flip-flops.
But hey, convention is no Sunday afternoon tea party. It's an exercise in raw politics.
Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: If Tuesday's theme at the Republican Convention was compassion, yesterday it sounded more like aggression.
ZELL MILLER, SENATOR, GEORGIA: For John Kerry, they get a yes, no, maybe bowl of mush, that can only encourage our enemies and confuse our friends.
COOPER: Primetime speakers lashed out at Democratic candidate John Kerry, and it was everything but hidden or subtle.
DICK CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Time and again Senator Kerry has made the wrong call on national security.
MILLER: This is the man who wants to be the commander-in-chief of the U.S. Armed Forces. U.S. forces armed with, what, spitballs?
COOPER: Yesterday alone, speakers refer to the Democratic candidate by name, by our count, 58 times.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE SPEAKER 1: ... John Kerry...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE SPEAKER 2: ... Senator Kerry...
CHENEY: ... Senator Kerry...
COOPER: Bringing the total to 91 times for the past three days. In comparison, at the Democratic Convention, speakers only mention President Bush's name 19 times during the first three days of their convention. But when they did, Republicans complained that Democrats were too negative and pledged their convention would be, well, positive.
MARC RACICOT, CHAIRMAN, BUSH-CHENEY 2004: I think what I'm telling you is that this president has a very positive agenda; that'll be the focus of our convention, and you'll hear us talk about that very positive agenda throughout the course of our convention.
COOPER: Why have Republicans decided to go on the offensive?
WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: The harsh rhetoric of this convention is really to fire up the base, to get them agitated, excited; to get them out to vote.
COOPER: And the base, experts say, is what President Bush is betting on to win this election, not the undecided voters.
SCHNEIDER: The Republicans believe that they can overwhelm the enemy by driving up a huge conservative vote. COOPER: Giving red meat to the red states. That's definitely raw politics.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: So, did the criticism of John Kerry cross the line? What do you think?
Well, joining me now are Paul Begala and Tucker Carlson, co-hosts of CNN's "Crossfire."
Paul, did it cross the line?
PAUL BEGALA, CO-HOST "CROSSFIRE": Yes. And I, for example, by contrast, Rudy Giuliani gave a tough speech, attacked Kerry by name, but it didn't cross the line. I mean I can disagree with this or that, but the tone and the content from Rudy's speech, very, very different from my old friend, my mentor, one of my heroes, Zell Miller.
COOPER: Tucker, Laura Bush though, today saying basically Democrats are kind of thin skinned if they're that upset about it.
TUCKER CARLSON, CO-HOST "CROSSFIRE": Yes, I mean, lighten up. Zell Miller's real sin was humorlessness. He lacked a certain lightness and ironic distance. He didn't crack a smile too much. Apparently he's a pretty funny guy. He looked a little scary last night.
But it's a convention, you know what I mean? The whole point of staging conventions, not simply to highlight the strengths of your guy, but to make the point that the other guy is kind of terrifying. And if you vote for him, America's going down the tubes. That's what happens at conventions. And the hand wringing and the whining, come on.
BEGALA: But Anderson, if I may, there's a back-story here that people don't know about.
About two years ago, James Carville and I, Barbra Streisand, Jane Fonda, the whole left wing conspiracy, Hillary Clinton, of course was there met with Zell and Zell said, "Look, I'm a loyal Democrat, what can I do to help defeat Bush?" And we came up with this plan, to go undercover, deep undercover, into the enemy and emerge at the convention and give a speech that would drive every swing voter in America away from Bush, and that they will run away from Bush like the devil runs from holy water.
And so Zell is actually a very loyal Democrat and I never saw a speech at a Republican Convention help Democrats more since Pat Buchanan declared a cultured, religious war back in 1992.
COOPER: Well, now, are you just trying to put a good face on this thing? I talked to a lot of people out there who were undecided and thought it was pretty effective.
Tucker?
CARLSON: I mean, look, of course it's hard to believe that Democrats could be more motivated to defeat Bush. They hate Bush. That's the whole point, that's the whole reason they chose John Kerry over Howard Dean. They dislike Bush: that is the beginning and the end of the Kerry campaign and its platform.
Bush is bad, Bush is evil. So, the idea that this speech is going to get them more fired up more than they already are is pretty silly, it seems, to me. Again, I don't know what the hand wringing is about. I mean, if there are things in the speech that are inaccurate or slurs in the speech that are deeply unfair, that's another question.
COOPER: Well, let me bring that up.
John Kerry at midnight is about to make a speech. He's already sent out some of the advance notice on it, which our Candy Crowley said is pretty rare. Paul, I want to read this to you.
"We all saw the anger and distortion at the Republican convention. For the past week they attacked my patriotism, my fitness to serve as commander-in-chief; well here's my answer. I'm not going to have my commitment to defend this country questioned by those who refused to serve when they could have and by those who misled the nation into Iraq."
Talking about Dick Cheney there and those five deferments. I have a sense we're going to be hearing a lot about that from John Kerry now.
BEGALA: Well, probably just for the next 24 hours or so. Welcome to the NFL.
But what Kerry needs to do then is take the next step. President Bush tonight is probably going to try to leapfrog ahead of this debate and give a positive speech about his future agenda. I tend to think it's too little, too late, but good for him. That should be the next move for Bush.
Meanwhile, Kerry is countering the last move for Bush, which was his attacks. Pretty soon I think Senator Kerry's going to have to get on the offense, get out ahead of Bush and attack him not over ads or swift boat medals, but in fact, over the president's stewardship of the economy in Iraq, which is where the election's going to be decided.
TUCKER: I agree. I think Paul makes a thoughtful point and I'm not mocking him, I'm serious. I think that's absolutely right. You do wonder who is running the John Kerry For President campaign? Again and again and again it's about, "Well, I served, you got deferments."
Do the Democrats really want to stage a campaign on the idea that people who served in Vietnam are noble and patriotic, those who didn't are not? I mean, come on. I don't think it gets you any votes, it doesn't make sense as a position and I don't think in the end, it helps Kerry.
He does need to articulate a position on Iraq. He's done a pretty good job explaining how he feels about Bush's stewardship of the economy. Where is John Kerry on Iraq? He needs to do that.
I think if he does that...
BEGALA: Wait, wait. He gave a big speech about it yesterday to the American Legion. And I do think he has a perfect right to stand up and smack back. I mean, we're sitting in a hall, a beautiful, air conditioned hall in New York City where these Republican plutocrats are wearing band-aids mocking braver men who bled in the desert and the jungle? That is an outrage, that is across any line decency and I think Kerry should call them on it, but then he should go back to issues.
CARLSON: So, does this mean that people who got deferments during Vietnam are sort of, unfit to comment on modern, national politics? It doesn't make any sense at all. And I think they're going to regret running a campaign on something that shallow and dumb. I really do. Not that they listen to me, but they ought to.
COOPER: We're going to leave it there. Paul Begala, Tucker Carlson, thanks very much.
Today's buzz is this: what do you think? Do you think Republican attacks on John Kerry are working? Log onto cnn.com/360, cast your vote. Results at the end of the program tonight.
I think they're still arguing.
360 next: citizen changed from rapper, media mogul to vote getter, P. Diddy joins me live on the hip hop vote. There he is.
Also tonight: dancing fools and knowing when to just stand still. We'll take you inside the box for some of the convention's more awkward funny moments.
And a little later, political bite, Triumph, the insult dog takes on the GOP. 360 next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: All right. There's a new effort to get out the youth vote this election year. Joining the ranks of "Choose or Lose" and "Rock the Vote" is the new slogan, "Vote or Die." The messenger: hip-hop and fashion mogul Sean P. Diddy Combs, who's launched the non- partisan group, Citizen Change. His mission: to empower the more than 42 million Americans aged 18 to 30 to vote on Election Day.
Sean P. Diddy is here at the Republican National Convention. Thanks very much for being with us.
SEAN P. DIDDY COMBS, RAPPER, CLOTHING DESIGNER: Thank you for having me.
COOPER: So, what is this about? Everyone thinks of you: music mogul, fashion mogul? Why do this?
COMBS: God's blessed me with a talent to be able to communicate and energize young people. We can't be a part of the change if we don't get out to vote, you know? We can't complain if we're not responsible. We can't hold those politicians responsible for us if we don't create a pool of voters, just like the NRA or AARP; just as strong.
COOPER: Why is it young people don't vote? The conventional wisdom is, you know, "Look, they don't have a mortgage, they don't have big taxes, so they're not plugged in like that."
COMBS: To be honest, politicians don't talk about issues that are dealing with us, that really apply to us. Whether it's young people or minorities, you don't hear an agenda that really applies to our world because we haven't voted, we're not a contingency of voters that really have flexed our power on these politicians to put them in office or take them out of office.
But that's all about to change on November 2nd: the youth of America and minorities -- I call them the forgotten ones -- will decide who's the next president of the United States. You all do not have a clue what's going on in these communities right now; how much energy is starting with the youth of America. MTV, my partners, MTV and BET, Clear Channel, Radio 1 are some of the most powerful organizations in the world to connect to young people.
COOPER: But look, if you look at youth voter turnout, 1972, that was the first time the age was 18.
COMBS: Yes.
COOPER: 1992, also big voter turnout. But since then, the numbers have kind of dropped.
COMBS: Yes, the time is now, you know. There's no time better than the present. We need change right now.
COOPER: So, you're groups non-partisan. You're not saying Republican, you're not saying Democratic? Just you want people to register.
COMBS: The only people I'm down with is the young people of America and the minorities and the people that want change in their communities. And the only way we could push for change is if we're a part of it, by voting, going out and voting.
And I promise you there's never been an energy like it is today with young people being so interested in the voting process, due to organizations like Citizen Change...
COOPER: I know you got like clothing lines coming out, you got stars wearing "Vote or Die."
COMBS: Yes. Leonardo DiCaprio, 50 Cent. These are the leaders.
COOPER: Does this work, though? We've got it on full screen.
Does that really work?
COMBS: It does work. It does work. It will work. You'll see on November 2nd.
Right now everything else that everybody else has tried hasn't worked. And we know this is going to work because young people, they want a change.
COOPER: Are you going to get 50 Cent to actually vote?
COMBS: Yes, he's going to vote.
COOPER: Yes?
COMBS: And I have this for your girlfriend. Your have a wife or girlfriend?
COOPER: I appreciate it.
COMBS: You have a wife or a girlfriend?
COOPER: I don't right now, so no.
COMBS: OK. Well, you could get one with this shirt. You give it out.
COOPER: I appreciate it.
Sean P. Diddy Combs. Thanks very much.
COMBS: November 2nd the revolution will be televised. You have until October 4th to register to vote, young people of America. We must invoke change. We are responsible; we do care; we're not lazy; we are going to show what we have November 2nd.
COOPER: There you go. All right.
If you've been watching the convention coverage closely, really closely, you might have picked up on a pretty strange phenomena.
It appears that seemingly sensible people get caught up in a crowd of the like-minded and when the music starts, they come down with a serious case of dance fever.
Only, not everyone has an inner Fred or Ginger and at this convention, every step and misstep is recorded inside the box. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Note to conventioneers: just because it has a great beat, doesn't mean everyone can dance to it.
Democrats tried tripping "The Light Fantastic" Boston, sometimes it looked more like, well, tripping.
Republicans are now rocking the Garden in New York. Maybe they were just missing the roll.
See, there's dancing that deserves to be preserved for posterity; there are moves that start movements; then there are those spur-of- the-moment, can't-possibly-be-choreographed, just-a-beat-behind blunders that should never be seen, but here usually are.
Next time you decide to dance to the music in public, you'll probably end up paying the piper with your pride, because at these conventions, there are cameras everywhere, and they capture you inside the box.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: All right. Get down.
On 360 next: political fight, Triumph, the insult comic dog, oh, I don't know what he's going to say about Michael Moore. All that ahead.
But first, tonight's buzz: do you think Republican attacks on John Kerry are working? Logon to cnn.com/360, cast your vote. Results when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: That's a view outside Madison Square Garden.
The convention is heating up. The convention so far has had plenty of elephants, at least one donkey, but we haven't seen any cigar-smoking dogs, until now, that is. No one, especially politicians, is safe from Triumph the insult comic dog. He's even got his own DVD, "The Best of Triumph the Insult Comic Dog."
Triumph joined me earlier in the press gallery and I began by asking him, what is he doing here.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRIUMPH THE INSULT COMIC DOG: Look, I'm the biggest star here. They're desperate. This is less exciting than a "CHIPs" reunion.
COOPER: Is that a "CHIPs" reunion?
TRIUMPH: Yes.
COOPER: Is Eric Estrada here?
TRIUMPH: They wish! They're stuck with me. Me and like, the fourth Baldwin.
COOPER: One of the Baldwins is here?
TRIUMPH: Yes, I think it's Schemp. COOPER: Schemp Baldwin?
TRIUMPH: Yes, Schemp was born again.
COOPER: I didn't know there was a Schemp Baldwin.
TRIUMPH: Well, there, yes.
COOPER: Ron Silver has been here and he spoke.
TRIUMPH: Ron Silver. Yes. He's about the wackiest one. They're hiding all the good wacky Republicans, too. Like, where's Tom DeLay. Or I love to see Condi Rice here, you know.
COOPER: What do you think about the speeches so far?
TRIUMPH: You know, John McCain, very dignified. And, you know, I have a lot of respect for John McCain. I mean, he spent all those years being, you know, locked up, and starved and brainwashed. Why would Karl Rove do that to him?
COOPER: It was Karl Rove that did that to him?
TRIUMPH: Yes.
COOPER: I think it was the North Koreans.
TRIUMPH: Here he is now, endorsing Bush.
Yes, I like Bush. "Beep"
I like Bush. "Beep"
He's a good sport, you know.
No, I joked with him earlier, he's a good sport. Whether it's taking a joke from me or a smear in South Carolina. He's a good sport.
COOPER: He'll take it all?
TRIUMPH: Yes.
COOPER: What about Michael Moore? Michael Moore was here. He was sitting right up here in the press gallery.
TRIUMPH: I know. Believe me, I can smell him. I can still smell the burrito he ate.
COOPER: What, are you not a fan of Michael Moore?
TRIUMPH: No, I love Michael Moore. But come on, that guy's a tough guy. He's not just going to come here and give up, you know. The Republicans want Michael Moore to eat his words. I suggest they deep fry them first.
Anyway, the only thing else that's missing here is the black people. You know, I see some onstage.
COOPER: Hey now, this is the most diverse Republican convention they've ever had.
TRIUMPH: And some black entertainer.
This is a diverse one, what? They're singing because they're up there singing "Celebrate?" Bad '80s music? What are you talking about? What's diverse about it?
COOPER: They say there are more African-Americans here than at any other Republican convention.
TRIUMPH: Who's kidding who? I saw two people in the whole building and they turned out to be Strom Thurmond's illegitimate kids.
COOPER: Hey Triumph. It's been a pleasure, thanks very much.
TRIUMPH: You got it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: I think he's had his security credentials revoked.
Time now for the buzz. Earlier we asked you: do you think Republican attacks on John Kerry are working? Twenty-eight percent of you said yes, 72 percent, no. It's not a scientific poll, but it is your buzz and we appreciate you voting.
Tonight taking the stray thought to the 'Nth Degree.
An apology first. After days spent steeped in hoopla and noise, not just here, but also in Boston, among the Democrats, we're finding coherence, temporarily we hope, just a little out of reach.
All we have to offer is an observation. It's this: we human beings sure do say an awful lot of things that aren't true, not just politicians, all of us. For instance, we say, "Talk is cheap." How did that get to be a cliche? The Republican and Democratic national conventions, which other than count of havoc and construction consisted mostly of talk, cost a bit more than $60 million and a bit less than $40 million, respectively.
In privately donated money, but add $50 million each in federal security grants and the total for the two conventions just tops $200 million. We don't know what that comes to per articulated and/or amplified word, up at the podium, down on the floor and in passing in washrooms and hallways, but we move that the phrase "talk is cheap" be permanently dropped from the language.
A thought.
As for those doing the talking here tonight, a lot of big names will be at the podium tonight: NFL Hall of Famer Lynn Swann, New York Governor George Pataki and the main event, of course, President George W. Bush. CNN will continue to have continuing live coverage. Stay with us. Back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Join me tomorrow on 360. I'll be live in Florida waiting for the arrivals of Hurricane Frances. I'll also show you the latest on the preparations Floridians are taking.
Right now, our coverage continues, live coverage of the Republican National Convention with Jeff Greenfield, Judy Woodruff and CNN's Wolf Blitzer.
Wolf.
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