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European Terror Plot; English With Tony Danza; Swap That Meal
Aired September 29, 2010 - 13:59 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: It's a new rundown, a new hour. Let me bring you what we've got, what we're covering right now.
If you're looking to change your diet or eat healthier or know more about what's in your food, we've got some revolutionary solutions. If you are what you eat, well, you'll never be the same again.
Plus, Tony Danza has got a new role in the real world. He's been learning a tough lesson on just how hard it is to be a teacher. Tony Danza joins me live this hour to talk about it.
And last hour we brought you the story of an openly gay college student who's the target of a personal an anti-gay Internet campaign. The person waging that campaign is an assistant state attorney general. I have some things to say about this in my "XYZ."
But first, a major terror plot uncovered in Europe, triggering concern around the world. A German counter-terrorist official says that U.S. banks, stock exchanges and other economic institutions were the targets. At the same time, developments on the battlefield in Afghanistan and Pakistan that are apparently linked to the plot.
Here's some key points for you.
Authorities say a German citizen of Afghan descent is in custody, and he spelled out the terror plan. He says it would be like the terror strike in Mumbai, India, two years ago that killed 164 people. Osama bin Laden apparently approved the plan. So far, though, no word if the threats were also made against the United States.
Now to the war zone in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
NATO says an airstrike killed a top al Qaeda commander in northern Afghanistan along the border with Pakistan. The U.S. recently increased the number of drone attacks in Pakistan, and this may be due in part to information on the terror plot. Drone targets in Pakistan include Taliban and al Qaeda forces and militants linked to al Qaeda. And the Taliban have been denying claims made by top U.S. commander in Afghanistan General David Petraeus that the Taliban was in contact with the Afghan government about possible peace talks.
Now, I know, it sounds a complicated story, and it is. Obviously it is. We've got it covered on several fronts.
Ivan Watson is in Kabul, Afghanistan. Fred Pleitgen is in Islamabad, Pakistan. Nic Robertson is in Abu Dhabi. And terrorism analyst Paul Cruickshank is in London.
Let's start in Kabul with Ivan Watson.
Ivan, bring us up to speed on what we know.
IVAN WATSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Let's see. I just lost audio connection, Ali.
If I understood you correctly, what took place here was an airstrike, an airstrike, according to NATO and an ISAF spokesmen that took place Saturday in a turbulent corner of eastern Afghanistan, in Kunar province. And U.S. military spokesmen have said that a senior al Qaeda operative was killed by the name of Abdullah Umar al-Quraishi (ph). They say he was a Saudi and he was involved in smuggling across foreign fighters from Pakistan into Afghan terror.
They also named a second victim of this airstrike, Abu Atta al- Kuwaiti (ph), a Kuwaiti explosives expert. Now, we've checked with Afghan officials and security officers on the ground in that province. They do say that at least two Arabs were killed in a strike that took place on Saturday.
We've talked to the Taliban. They will not confirm or deny whether or not these two Arabs who have been named were killed.
What's interesting here, Ali, is that this took place in the bloody Korengal Valley. It's a remote valley where U.S. forces fought for nearly five years to try gain control of it and then retreated, finally, last spring after losing at least 40 American lives there -- Ali.
VELSHI: All right, Ivan. Thanks very much.
We're going to talk a little about the effect of the killing of those two Taliban commanders.
Let's go to Fred Pleitgen right now. He's in Islamabad.
Fred, these drone attacks have been increasing in Pakistan. What's behind that?
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, they've been increasing in a massive way, Ali. We've already counted more than 20 drone attacks into Pakistan this month alone. That's easily more than twice as many as we would normally see.
And one of the reasons behind is exactly what Ivan's been talking about, is al Qaeda and Taliban operatives are moving from Pakistan into Afghanistan. It's long been a thorn for the U.S. to see that these operatives have somewhat of a safe haven in various areas here in Pakistan, especially in north Waziristan.
The U.S. military, U.S. government has been telling Pakistan to send its army into those areas to crack down on those militants. So far, that's happened to a certain extent, but not really in a lot of areas. So, right now, what we're seeing is the U.S. really taking matters into its own hand. And, of course, as more and more American troops get on the ground into Afghanistan, that mission becomes more and more urgent, because obviously these people are a massive threat to U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan -- Ali.
VELSHI: All right.
And then there's that complicated threat of terrorism, which brings us back to the other part of the story.
Fred, thanks very much.
Let's go to Nic Robertson. He's in Abu Dhabi -- Nic.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: According to German counterterrorism officials, Ahmed Sidiqi was picked up in Kabul in July, transferred to U.S. custody. That's when they say he began to talk a lot and began to talk about this Mumbai-style plot to attack different cities in Europe, in Great Britain, in France, and in Germany.
A Mumbai-style attack being gunmen with explosives going into hotels or other similar soft targets where they could shoot people up. That has caused, according to U.S. counterterrorism, U.S. intelligence officials, has caused an uptick in drone strikes in Pakistan targeting these would-be attackers.
And what we understand from British officials and from German officials is that there was no immediate threat -- there is no immediate threat in Britain or in Germany at this time. And that's because it appears that the information that Sidiqi has provided has been given while there's been enough time, sort of real-time intelligence, if you will, while many of the operatives who were planning this were still in the Pakistani tribal border regions, which is where he had gone to join a training camp.
Sidiqi is from Hamburg, in Germany. He left Hamburg in 2009 with a group of other individuals to go to these terror training camps in the Pakistani/Afghan border region.
One of the significant things we're learning about Sidiqi is that he attended this same mosque in Hamburg that Muhammad Atta, the lead 9/11 hijacker, attended and had a group of people around him back in the late '90s and in 2000. And indeed, we're learning from these same sources that Sidiqi had connections with Muhammad Atta at that time.
So, his sort of radical tendencies, if you will, go back quite a long way. But now it appears he's giving intelligence officials a lot of information, allowing them to learn a lot about these plans and about the people behind those plans.
Nic Robertson, CNN, Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VELSHI: All right. Thanks, Nic.
And Paul Cruickshank is live in London. He's a terrorism analyst.
Paul, give us some sense of the structure of what we think of as al Qaeda today. So, when we hear that top commanders have been killed, is there somebody in place to replace them, or does that matter less today, where al Qaeda operates in cells around the world? What's your sense of how big an accomplishment this is?
PAUL CRUICKSHANK, TERRORISM ANALYST: Well, the true headquarters of al Qaeda is still in Pakistan, and it's from Pakistan where this plot is being hatched. That shows al Qaeda is still resilient, it's still able to threaten the West.
This is yet another a plot. We saw last September the plot with Najibullah Zazi.
They've actually been able to decentralize their operations in the tribal areas of Pakistan to sort of avoid some of these drone strikes which has allowed them the capability to still plot against the West. There's been no ground offensive yet by Pakistani troops into north Waziristan, the real problem region in the tribal areas.
So all this is causing a lot of concern. There seems to be a very major plot which has been thwarted coming out of Pakistan. Al Qaeda central still seems to have quite a lot of resilience, Ali.
VELSHI: What is the -- what's the end game here, to continue to kill commanders of al Qaeda, or to deal with the fact that it does have these tentacles, cells that can operate independent of -- seemingly independent of connection to the central al Qaeda governance?
CRUICKSHANK: Well, it's both. It's both an ideological struggle against al Qaeda, the wider movement. But also, intelligence services are trying to target specific al Qaeda commanders, specific al Qaeda operatives.
The worrying thing here, of course, is that it doesn't take too many terrorist operatives to launch very big terrorist strikes. We saw that on 9/11, we saw that here in London in 2005. A few people can get through sometimes, and that's what keeps counterterrorism services awake at night. But this does seem to be a big success for western counterterrorism here, Ali.
VELSHI: Do you think they still have the capability to conduct something of the scale of 9/11?
CRUICKSHANK: 9/11 may be now beyond their capability, but they certainly, talking to officials, have the capability to launch a strike like they did here in London in 2005, a strike which could kill 50, 60 people, maybe more, in subways. But this sort of Mumbai-style attack is what the counterterrorism officials on both sides of the Atlantic are talking about as being very problematic, because they're very concerned that people can just go and buy guns.
Think of how easy it is to buy guns in the United States, for example. Go and buy guns and then launch attacks, and that's causing a lot of concern, Ali.
VELSHI: Paul, good to talk to you. Thanks very much for joining us.
Paul Cruickshank, terrorism expert, joining us from London.
OK. He is ready for prime time, he's wowed them on Broadway. But can Tony Danza cut it on the toughest stage of all? I'm going to ask him myself. He's coming in live here on "Chalk Talk."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: When people talk about fixing schools, they talk money, they talk class size, they talk curriculum. It often comes back to teachers though.
We praise a few, we slam a lot, but I'm here to tell you, teaching isn't easy. It's way tougher than, let's say, playing housekeeper in a 1980s sitcom.
Listen.
(MUSIC)
VELSHI: That's Tony Danza in the long-running comedy "Who's the Boss?" You know you watched it. Admit it. I watched it. In fact, my floor director said she watched it again last night.
His new project is light years, however, from a sound stage. Try a 10th grade classroom in Philadelphia.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TONY DANZA, ACTOR, TEACHER: What is your name?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Nagaya (ph).
DANZA: Nagaya (ph), welcome. I'm Mr. Danza.
Now, look, first of all, let's see. The guy through (ph) the door, what's your name?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Danny (ph).
DANZA: Danny (ph), let me show you something. I've got these hand sanitizers at the door. So the first thing you do when you come in just sanitize your hands.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: Clean hands, smart minds, or something like that. You can follow Danza's experience as a sophomore English teacher on the new A&E show "Teach," premiering on Friday.
But you do not have to wait for that. Tony Danza joins me now live from our studios in New York.
Tony Danza, what an honor to have you here. Thank you for being with us.
DANZA: My pleasure, Ali. Good to meet you as well, too.
VELSHI: Thank you. Listen --
DANZA: I don't know how you follow this terrorism stuff with my teaching. This is worrying me.
VELSHI: Listen, we put a lot into this show, and teaching is something we talk about. Education is something we talk about every day.
And I think for people who don't know, what is this project to you? Because it was described as your toughest assignment. It's not a drama.
DANZA: No. It's -- we like to think of it as responsible reality. You know?
It's just an attempt -- it's something -- I went to school to be a teacher. It's been a -- you showed "Who's the Boss?" At the end of "Who's the Boss?" I became a teacher, so it's been sort of something that's been on my mind.
And you look at what's going on in the country -- Arne Duncan, the secretary of education, said the other day that a kid drops out of high school in America every 11 seconds.
VELSHI: Wow.
DANZA: So, I mean, it's something that -- and I'm getting to be a little older. I'm closing in on 60. And so I want to do something. I wanted to do something.
And I was telling a friend of mine, which is one of the things I do when I want to do something. I tell people so that I can't back out.
I told a friends of mine who was a TV producer. He said, "I could sell that idea in 15 minutes." And so we got a chance to go to Philadelphia.
VELSHI: Well, let's talk about -- we talk about education every day, and sometimes it's how well the kids are prepared, or what kind of work their parents do with them, or how much they get to eat, or what the facilities are like at the school. But ultimately, so much of it comes back to teachers, for better or for worse. Sometimes teachers feel we're slamming them, and other times we're recognizing them.
Tell me, is this really a tough role for you?
DANZA: Oh, it's the hardest thing. Well, you know, Arne Duncan said the other day that this may be the most important job in the country. And I'm thinking about it.
You know, the difference you can make, that one kid that says, "Hey, yes, I get it," or that one kid that comes back and says, "If it weren't for you," we all have those teachers in our lives. And so it does come down to the teachers.
But I'll be honest with you -- you know, we focus on the teacher doing a lot of talking about this. And I'm glad that the -- we happen to have the show coming out as the country is sort of engaged in this conversation.
VELSHI: Sure, very timely.
DANZA: But we are missing a couple of points. I think it's certainly very important to get the greatest teachers in our schools, and I think there are bad teachers. But I think there are more discouraged teachers.
If you look at the burnout rates, 30 percent after three years, 46 percent after five years. That's evidence that people are discouraged.
And the reason they're discouraged is because we have a culture that doesn't celebrate education, and we have a lot of, I think -- not a lot of parents -- we have a lot of good parents, but there are some parents who are not in the game, who are not telling their kids, hey, look, you have to go to school and make this count. And we also need the kids to be more motivated about it and understand it is their only way out of -- into some kind of sustainable life.
VELSHI: OK. So there is a role for kids. There's a role for parents to step up. There's a role for teachers to step up. There's obviously a role for government to step up.
What about the rest of us who may not have a direct connection to this? You just touched on something interesting, and that is the respect, the cultural respect we offer teachers or don't offer them. They are not the highest paid people in society for a job that many consider the most important. But more than that, do we not treat teachers as well as we should?
DANZA: Well, think about this, Ali -- you know, one of the things they talk about in education is you have got to model things for kids. You have got to model it, show it to them.
But what are the models? They don't have a model for success. The teachers are certainly not a model of success because they've heard the rhetoric. You know, those that can do, and those that can't teach. And they've heard that they don't make any money and they hear the bad teachers.
And so there's -- we've sort of propagated the thing that we don't want. We want the kids to respect the teachers, and we don't give the people respect.
You know, Fred Astaire said a line and I've been using it. He said, "We expect kids to learn manners without ever seeing them."
VELSHI: Yes.
DANZA: So, I think we all have to chip in this. And for me, this was like the road not taken, and I got a chance with -- a lot of people put themselves on the line and their jobs on the line and let me have a chance to do this.
And I tried to be the best teacher I could possibly be, tried to give the kids the 10th grade English class that they deserve, as ironic as it sounds that I was teaching it. But I think, you know, listen, it gave me a tremendous amount of respect for what teachers go through and what they have to do.
I'm actually going to try to write a book about it to fill in the blanks.
VELSHI: Oh, good.
DANZA: Because I wish everything was on camera. And the name of the book is "I Would Like to Apologize to Every Teacher I've Ever Had at My Year at Northeast High."
(LAUGHTER)
VELSHI: Tony, we will watch it. We will all watch it. It is very timely and very important message.
And as much as we on this show every day try and get to the bottom of some of the problems in public education, it is always important to remember that we have to respect our teachers.
Tony, thanks a million. Good to see you.
DANZA: Well, Ali, thank you for having me. And you keep up the good work, man.
VELSHI: Thank you, sir.
Tony Danza. If you want to check in on what he's doing, by the way, we'll post some links to my blog. But you know what A&E is, and you'll know where to find him.
(NEWSBREAK)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Hey, we've been talking a lot about terrorism. I want to bring you this information that's just in.
Federal prosecutors say Faisal Shahzad, the man accused of planting a bomb in New York's Times Square, the one that didn't detonate, planned to detonate a second explosive in New York City two weeks after that failed attack. That's according to documents filed in federal court today. Shahzad apparently, allegedly, told investigators that he studied pedestrian volume in Times Square on live Web cams in advance of the attack to maximize casualties when he conducted them.
We'll get more information on that and I'll bring it to you.
As you know, it's Eatocracy Week on CNN. Our special coverage focuses on food and all the different ways food choices affect our lives.
Speaking of choices, by the way, most of us could probably make some better ones day to day, but sometimes it's hard to know what's better nutritionally. I find myself up against that sometimes, thinking I'm making a better choice than I am.
Here's Jiten Chhabra. We talked the other day.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. JITEN CHHABRA, CEO, USABLE HEALTH: Yes.
VELSHI: You're back again.
We liked him so much, we brought him back. He's developed an application that can help you cook or order your meal in real time.
Now, the other day you were in here, we were talking about a way to make choices at restaurants. You're from Georgia Tech.
CHHABRA: Yes, that's correct.
VELSHI: You've signed up a restaurant here in Atlanta where if you are looking for a low-sodium diet, it will tell you what's on the menu that's good for you, or if you're looking for low fat. This is something different entirely. Tell me what this is.
CHHABRA: Right, Ali. Thank you so much for having me again.
VELSHI: A pleasure.
CHHABRA: I think, you know, like you mentioned the last time, that particular aspect or that particular application was for the restaurant. This is for anybody on the Internet, any of your viewers to go and check it out. It's called usablehealth.com. VELSHI: Right.
CHHABRA: And the real concept here is that we want to make health care advice actionable and practical. So let me give you a real quick demo here.
So, if you went to this Web site and you created your own profile, you would be assigned to a particular guideline, which in my case is the dietary guidelines for America (ph) for 2005.
VELSHI: Got it. OK. CHHABRA: Now, I can see the benefits of this guideline at any of these restaurant locations that I go to.
VELSHI: So that's kind of a profile. That's how you want to conduct yourself, how you want to conduct your eating habits.
CHHABRA: Right.
VELSHI: OK.
CHHABRA: And it's also an evidence-based profile. It's taking an evidence-based medical protocol and converting that into real-life recommendations.
VELSHI: But that can be, for me, if I'm diabetic or I'm on a low-sodium diet, I can have my profile set up differently.
CHHABRA: Right. So, at the end of the sign-up process, if you mention that you have a particular chronic disease, it will automatically assign you to a different profile.
VELSHI: OK. Fair enough.
So, then, that profile, it tells you how you do at these places?
CHHABRA: Right.
VELSHI: How easy is that?
CHHABRA: All right. So, literally, it's two clicks of a button.
So, if I say that I want to follow the dietary guidelines for Americans at Subway, and what I usually get there is the barbecue chicken sandwich, what usablehealth.com will do for me is it will give me an actionable alternative at Subway that actually is healthier for me personally --
VELSHI: Interesting.
CHHABRA: -- than that particular --
VELSHI: So it will always give you a net gain over what you've got?
CHHABRA: Absolutely.
VELSHI: So, if you usually get the barbecue sandwich, the foot- long at Subway, it will suggest an oatmeal raisin cookie and an oven roasted chicken breast sandwich, a six-inch, so a little bit less of a sandwich. But it's going to give you 17 percent fewer calories.
CHHABRA: Absolutely. So, you can view the nutritional content of each of these choices on the Web site, but what's really interesting is that you can say, OK, I don't want this particular option, this doesn't make sense to me. And you can just browse through any finite number of food swaps -- VELSHI: Until something appeals to you that likes -- that you like.
CHHABRA: Absolutely. And when you like something and when you select it, you get a point. So it's a bit of a game. And once you select it, you have the option of coming back and rating it. And we actually factor these ratings and rankings back into the recommendation.
VELSHI: I see. All right. So, in other words, if I want a big, juicy burger, and this thing is telling me to eat sawdust, I won't rate that very well and that feedback will be necessary.
CHHABRA: Absolutely. And that's what we're trying to do Georgia Tech with Usable Health, is we want to give advice that's practical and realistic.
I mean, a lot of times you go to a physician such as myself, and you say -- or I tell you, "Why don't you just eat salads for the rest of your life?"
(CROSSTALK)
CHHABRA: Yes, exactly. That's advice nobody is going to follow. So it's not just medically validated (ph) advice. It's also advice that makes sense.
And you know if I want, I can go in there and share this food swap on my social network.
VELSHI: With somebody else. That's brilliant.
CHHABRA: And this propagates through the network and has an impact one decision at a time.
VELSHI: I love this. When are we going to see this out there? Can I start using this now?
CHHABRA: Absolutely. You can go to usablehealth.com and start using it today.
VELSHI: Right. What does a skinny guy like you know about food?
(LAUGHTER)
VELSHI: Jiten, good to see you.
CHHABRA: All right. Nice meeting you.
VELSHI: I like this stuff. This stuff is fantastic.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VELSHI: All right. Dr. Jiten Chhabra is the CEO of Usable Health. We'll link to that on my blog page, CNN.com/Ali.
Listen, we have a drink in the studio that is 9,000 years old -- sort of. Stand by. I'm going to tell you about it when I come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: OK. Time now to go "Off the Radar."
For some reason, when the cat's away, the mice will play.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Where have you been?
VELSHI: I know. Well, I come back, and now we're talking about booze for "Off the Radar."
MYERS: What do you think we've been doing since you've been gone?
VELSHI: You warmed me up for this last week because you had drinks under a microscope.
MYERS: Yes.
VELSHI: So now we're going to go a little further.
MYERS: I'm hiding. I'm hiding. I'm hiding what we have here.
VELSHI: You've got a big bottle -- well, before we get to that beer, it's the 200th anniversary of Oktoberfest?
MYERS: 1810, the first Oktoberfest. I want to start singing.
(CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: Maybe not. You're right.
MYERS: Please. It's a family show.
VELSHI: But it's the 200th anniversary, but it hasn't been happening for 200 years.
MYERS: Well, they had problems like wars and things that got in the way, and you couldn't really celebrate Oktoberfest during the war.
A hundred and seventy-seven times though they've run this since 1810. And it was the marriage of Crown Prince Ludwig to Princess Therese.
VELSHI: Have you ever been to any Oktoberfest type of celebration? Because they happen all over the world even though --
MYERS: Only at the Wild Wing in Marietta, Georgia.
(LAUGHTER)
MYERS: That hardly counts.
VELSHI: It's quite a celebration.
MYERS: Yes.
VELSHI: A lot of beer consumed.
MYERS: Six million liters of beer. That seems like a lot, but they have six million visitors. That's a liter. That's a quart of beer.
VELSHI: OK.
(CROSSTALK)
MYERS: Really? Really? A couple of hours.
VELSHI: Let's stay with the six theme. You have - it's not six. You have a several thousand year-old beer.
MYERS: Nine thousand - well, almost. You heard of Dog Fish, right?
VELSHI: Yes. Brewery.
MYERS: Dog Fish Brewery. They have -- years ago they came upon and so did some researchers -- came upon vessels in China. The vessels, I mean, like carafes of things. Like, old clay pots.
VELSHI: Like an old clay capsule.
MYERS: Old clay pots. They scraped the bottom of the pot and said what is this? Said it must be beer. So, then they took it to researchers to do a (INAUDIBLE) analyzing. How can we make this again? And they did. And this is it. There are 500 bottles in the world of this 9,000-year-old beer.
Now, no parts of the 9,000-year-old beer is in here --
VELSHI: Right. This is new beer with the 9,000-year-old recipe.
MYERS: Recipe, right. But the recipe has a recreation of painstaking by Chinese archaeology inspired by neolithic Dog Fish Brewing Company. And there's all kinds of other things in here that I've never seen in beer before.
VELSHI: Huh! What do we think it tastes like? We're not going to try it now, are we?
MYERS: They're not going to let us open it.
VELSHI: But if we did, we should have the laderhosen and do the Oktoberfest thing.
MYERS: And they said it would taste nothing like beer that we know.
VELSHI: Is that right? This dates beer - makes it older than wine. MYERS: This is -- when they found this, they found this 9,000- year-old beer was the oldest alcoholic beverage ever found. And this is a copy of it, available for $12 at your local retailer.
VELSHI: Is that right?
MYERS: 12 bucks.
VELSHI: But you said there's only, like, 500 bottles?
MYERS: Better hurry.
VELSHI: All right. Very good. Chad, good to see you, my friend. Nice to be here --
MYERS: Welcome back.
VELSHI: -- in person. Chad Myers.
All right. Listen, this is what they said. "You are a monster." That is a message from one of the men accused of -- one of the men who is accusing Atlanta Bishop Eddie Long of abuse. He's now speaking publicly about his relationship with the pastor. His words are hard to forget. We'll bring them to you on the other side.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: New information now on the Bishop Eddie Long story. One of his accusers is speaking publicly about the Atlanta pastor. Twenty-three-year-old Jamal Parris is a former employee at Long's New Birth Missionary Baptist church. He's a former personal assistant to Long. He's also one of the four young men who have filed suit against Long for allegedly coercing them into a sexual relationship. As you're about to see, his words, are disturbing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMAL PARRIS, FILED SUIT AGAINST BISHIP LONG: So, while the media and press and the people around the city and country look at us like how can a grown man let another man touch him, what you have to understand is that this man manipulated us from childhood. This was our father, and we loved him.
That man cannot look at me into the eye and say we did not live this pain. While you can sit in front of the church and tell them that you categorically deny it, you can't say that to our face. And you know this. You are not a man. You are a monster.
(END VIDEO CILP)
VELSHI: Bishop Long has denied the allegations in those four lawsuits. During services the past Sunday, he told the congregation he was being attacked and was ready to fight back. Today, his attorney reacted, saying the case is being unfairly tried in the media. OK. Coming up, this you have got to see. A conservative activist, one you may have seen before, tries to lure my colleague, a CNN correspondent, into a compromising situation. But she didn't fall for it. She's going to tell us the bizarre story straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Posing as a pimp and making undercover videos. You remember that? Well, conservative activist James O'Keefe is back at his pranks again. This time CNN was his target.
Before we get to that, let me remind you some of this guy's antics. Last year, O'Keefe and fellow activist Hannah Giles dressed as a pimp and a prostitute in a sting operation to uncover alleged wrongdoing at A.C.O.R.N. A.C.O.R.N. was a group that advocated for low- and middle-income people and worked to register voters. O'Keefe and Giles visited several A.C.O.R.N offices and described their business arrangement. And then they taped A.C.O.R.N workers allegedly giving them advice on setting up a brothel and otherwise skirting the law.
It looks like the A.C.O.R.N. workers fell for the sting hook, line and sinker. But prosecutors in New York and California found no evidence of wrongdoing by A.C.O.R.N., and they did find the videos had been heavily edited. In O'Keefe's next big splash, he taped associates entering the office of Louisiana senator Mary Landrieu posing as telephone repairmen. He got arrested for that one. He pleaded guilty of entering a federal office under false pretenses and is now on probation.
OK. So, for more than six months, CNN has worked on a documentary that follows a group of young conservative political activists. We wanted to learn more about their movement and their message. Frustrated with the mainstream media, many of them use undercover cameras and social media to expose what they consider corruption. But the project took a very strange turn when the cameras were almost turned on us.
Our special investigations unit correspondent Abbie Boudreau joins me now with a remarkable, uncanny details of what happened to her.
ABBIE BOUDREAU, CNN SPECIAL INVESTIGATION UNIT CORRESPONDENT: Well, it all started with a phone call from James O'Keefe. Just like you said, he dressed up as a pimp in the A.C.O.R.N. videos. We had an upcoming shoot, and he was going to be part of that. He was not comfortable with CNN being there. So, he called me and said that he wanted to meet with me alone. And I was okay with that. Reporters meet with sources all the time --
VELSHI: Sure.
BOUDREAU: -- and it wasn't an interview. It was just a meeting. He said I would meet with him and his colleague Izzy Santa (ph). And luckily when I left that so-called meeting, I had a flip-cam with me. And I was able to document what had just happened at that meeting. That's what you're about to see.
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BOUDREAU (voice-over): When I pulled up to the property, Izzie was waiting for me.
(on camera): And she said, I need to talk to you. Can I get in the car?
And I was like -- OK.
So I noticed that she like a little dirt on her face, her lip was shaking, she seemed really uncomfortable. And I asked her, if she was OK. And the first thing that she basically said to me was, I'm not recording you. I'm not recording you. Are you recording me? I was, no. And she says, I need to tell you something. I said, OK. Is everything OK? You're making me nervous? She said -- no. No. Not everything -- everything's not OK. I am a moral person. I need to tell you something.
Well, what is about to happen? Tell me what is going on? And she said, you're about to be punked.
(voice-over): Izzie told me the plan was to bring me close to the dock and then ask me if I would consent to having my meeting recorded on an audio recorder. If I said yes, she would get me on the boat where James was waiting and where hidden video cameras were rolling.
(on camera): Why is his goal to get me on the boat? She said, because on the boat he's going to be there dressed up and he's going to have strawberries and champagne waiting for you, and he was going to hit on you the whole time.
(voice-over): She said the sole purpose of the punk was to embarrass me and CNN.
I went to the backyard to see the boat for myself and to try to meet James. But he didn't get off the boat, so I walked back to my car.
Then, right before I left, James walked up to me and explained that it would make him feel more comfortable if the so-called interview were recorded.
(on camera): You know, that's just not something I'm comfortable with is have this conversation recorded. Plus, it's not an interview. I'm just here to try to address your concerns about this upcoming shoot, but you ended up wanting me come all the way out here, you told me at your office. Instead, you want me to come on some boat with you and you want it to be recorded. Those were ground rules you should have said over the phone and you didn't.
And he was like, what are you ashamed of? And that's when I said, all right, this is where the conversation ends. And -- I said to him, it was a pleasure. We'd soon find out there was an elaborate 13-page document that outlines the plan to punk CNN. It's called the CNN Caper document you, and it's split up into two parts.
The first section is about how to trick CNN into reporting a false story, either about Sarah Palin or the Tea Party. The plan was to give FOX News a heads up that we were about to report a fake story. So then FOX could undercut CNN's credibility. And that is a quote, "undercut CNN's credibility."
And then the second part of the plan was how to punk me by seducing me on his boat. The document says the boat would be staged with sexual props, a blindfold, fuzzy handcuffs, pornographic magazines and so much more.
But just to be clear, James' mentor and fellow activist is listed as the writer of the CNN Caper document. James is listed as the activist. He's the one who would have acted out the, quote/unquote "punk."
James emailed CNN a statement about the Caper document. He says, quote, "That is not my work product. When it was sent to me, I immediately found certain elements highly objectionable and inappropriate and did not consider them for one minute following it."
But we would learn that does not appear to be true. We have a series of e-mails and other documentation that we're told show his true intentions. And all of that will be revealed in our documentary on Saturday.
VELSHI: So, he got you out there on the pretext he was uncomfortable with the way he was portrayed or thought he would be portrayed --
BOUDREAU: He was nervous having CNN on set for a shoot that we were scheduled to be at. And he wanted to talk to us about that. And I said, sure, I'll be happy to talk to you. I have face-to-face meetings with people all the time. I knew that, you know, I wasn't 100 percent comfortable going by myself. I would have rather my producer come along with me, and I explained that.
VELSHI: But it's not uncommon.
BOUDREAU: Exactly. Everyone knew where I was going.
VELSHI: All right. The documentary, he's just a part of it?
BOUDREAU: He's just a part of it. I mean, it obviously took a very strange turn, but we documented a lot of young conservatives who are very passionate about their beliefs. Whether you agree or you disagree, these people are excited about trying to make a positive change, from their perspective. And I hope people watching the documentary realize it's not all about this person.
VELSHI: The one guy who's got some strange techniques but you met a lot of others who are just actually involved in politics the way we should be in this country.
BOUDREAU: Some people will see - people will be able to judge it however they want to judge it.
VELSHI: They tried to punk the wrong person. Man, I tell you, it's a good thing you didn't get on the boat.
BOUDREAU: I would never have gotten on the boat.
VELSHI: You would have punched him in the nose if you had, quite possibly (ph). All right, Abbie, thanks very much. What an incredible story. Unbelievable.
Listen. President Obama on the stump in Iowa today. The latest bid to drum up voter support for fellow Democrats. Is it working? There he is! Ed Henry will give us his take when we come back.
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VELSHI: Remember back in the old days when the TV programming would go off the screen and there would be a test pattern -- whatever, showed up on your TV with all those colors? Our good friend Ed Henry is obliging by providing a test pattern today on his tie. Ed, good to see you, my friend.
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ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Oh, man! Well, you know, I was just about to compliment you on your vest, but forget it.
VELSHI: Well, if you'd told me I was going to get a compliment on my vest, I wouldn't have made fun of your tie.
(LAUGHTER)
VELSHI: Actually quite tasteful. Ed, as always, what a pleasure to see you. Our senior White House correspondent. As I said earlier, I kind of - I imagine that our viewers join us every day for two hours and watch it the whole time, but sometimes they don't. So I want to remind them that we come to you for the inside scoop on what is going on in the White House and with the president every day, "The Stakeout." And the president has been -- it's like he's trying to get some free food or something. He's been in people's backyards across the country the last two days. What -- three backyards in two days?
HENRY: Yes. And it's a tie-in with our Eatocracy blog, I think --
VELSHI: That's it. That must be it.
HENRY: -- at CNN.com, because we're going to have to get the president's five -- we're going to have to get him on the blog is the bottom line, because you're right. This backyard barbecues, he's getting used to them. And I think also maybe he's watching "The Stakeout," because you remember last week we were talking, raising the question has the president lost his mojo. I think last night, it was - maybe to his critics that he's still got the mojo. He still can get some momentum going in November.
Getting 26,000 at this rally in Madison, mostly college students and trying to show, look, they are being up front about saying they are trying to rally young Democrats in particular. They're worried there are a lot of young people who turned out, maybe for the first time ever in 2008, supported President Obama then. But just frankly don't care about the midterm elections, don't see a lot at stake for them. So, he's trying to lay that case out there.
And maybe this will give Democrats some momentum, but it's hard to see yet whether it will matter in the races, like in Wisconsin where despite the president getting a big crowd, are those people -- same people going to show up for Russ Feingold, for example, the Democratic senator facing a stiff challenge from the Republican, Ron Johnson. Down something like six points right now, based on some of the polls.
So, it's still a little early to tell. Still got a few weeks to see whether any of this president's momentum translates into Democratic victories.
VELSHI: All right, Ed. We're going to get to talk to of about it every single day. Ed Henry at "The Stakeout." Our senior White House correspondent. Good to see you.
I actually do like that tie, I have to tell you. I was just making fun of you.
(LAUGHTER)
VELSHI: It looks good. Ed, thanks very much.
HENRY: See you tomorrow.
VELSHI: Another option for Delaware, another story we've been covering a lot. Mike Castle, he was defeated in the Republican primary. He's considering to get back into the race to take on Christine O'Donnell again. Your CNN -- CNN -- Your CNNpolitics.com update is next.
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VELSHI: It is time for a CNN politics.com update. Right now, our senior political analyst, Gloria Borger, at the CNNpolitics.com desk in Washington, D.C.
Welcome back! Great to see you, Gloria. What you got crossing the ticker?
GLORIA BORGER, CNN SENIOR POLTICAL ANALYST: Great to see you, Ali. As you were saying earlier, we should expect some more news out of Delaware today. Congressman Mike Castle just told Dana Bash he's going to make his decision, he said, probably today. He's facing a deadline tomorrow on whether or not he's going to mount a run-in candidacy in the state of Delaware. But he also told Dana that in the past, quote, he's "always leaned towards not doing it." So, we're going to se if he changes his mind.
I mean, obviously, the Democrat right now is running ahead of Christine O'Donnell in that state. Lots of folks felt that moderate Republican Castle would have had a better shot at getting at Joe Biden's seat, so we're all sort of on pins and needles to see what he's going to do.
Speaking of out there on the campaign trail, there's someone else out there and I'm not talking about Barack Obama. I am talking about former president Bill Clinton. Word today is that he's heading out west. You know, the west is going to be a real challenge for Democrats in 2010. They did very well in the west in 2008, but that has changed, and so Bill Clinton is going out there for incumbent Patty Murray on October 18.
He remains, Bill Clinton, really popular, very much in demand. His popularity rating, according to the recent "Wall Street Journal" poll is at 55 percent.
VELSHI: Wow.
BORGER: That's more than ten points higher than the current president. So, that's why you're going to see him out on the trail a lot.
And last but not least -- and you'll be interested on this, Ali -- the worst-kept secret in Washington is now confirmed by our congressional team, led by Dana, that there is not going to be any tax cut vote in the House this year. They're trying to put a good face on it. They're trying to say they couldn't do it because the Republicans were going to hold the middle-class tax cut extensions hostage to extending the tax cuts for the wealthy. But the truth of the matter is, Ali, and you know it, they just didn't have the votes to do it. So, I think we can say bye-bye to that until maybe a lame-duck sesh.
BORGER: All right. Gloria, good to see you, as always. Thank you so much for joining us. Gloria Borger, our senior political analyst. CNN senior political analyst.
Be sure to stay with CNN for complete coverage of the key races and issues that are heading into this midterm election. Your next CNNpolitics.com update, just an hour away.
All right. An assistant state attorney general wages a personal smear campaign against an openly gay college student. Is this freedom of speech or abuse of power? I've got some food for thought in my "XYZ."
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VELSHI: Time now for the "XYZ" of it.
Last spring, the University of Michigan student body elected Chris Armstrong to be its student assembly president. That Armstrong is openly gay didn't seem to matter to Michigan students, but it deeply offended a Michigan alumnus who responded by setting up a blog dedicated to attacking Armstrong over what the blogger terms his, quote, "radical homosexual agenda." End quote.
Well, it's the Internet age, and just about anybody can say just about anything about anybody else, and everybody can read it. You can debate the parameters, but it is what it is.
What gives me pause here is the name and the position of the hateful blogger. Andrew Shirvell is an assistant attorney general for the state of Michigan. He's a public official with a mandate to uphold the law. In Shirvell's blog, he calls Armstrong Satan -- he calls Armstrong "Satan's representative on the student assembly." He posted a picture of Armstrong with "resign" written all over his face. He calls him the student a racist, elitist liar.
Shirvell's boss, Michigan attorney general Mike Cox, says the postings are Shirvell's opinions alone and do not reflect the opinions of the attorney general's office. But Cox concedes that Shirvell's immaturity and lack of judgment outside the office are clear.
Shirvell defends himself by saying he writes his blog postings during his off hours, separate from his work. He insists he's, quote, "a Christian citizen exercising his First Amendment rights." End quote. But of all people, Shirvell, the prosecutor, the enforcer, should know that his campaign to smear Armstrong could land him in court for harassment or libel or both. And whether Michigan's attorney general admits it or not, expressions like these, even if they are constitutionally protected, reflect poorly on a state office charged with protecting all of its citizens.
That's it for me. Time now for my friend, Rick and "RICK'S LIST."
