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Egypt's Day of Departure; Mapping Egypt's Future; January Jobs Report Disappoints; 630 Flights to Dallas Canceled; Countdown to the Super Bowl
Aired February 04, 2011 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, good morning. We miss you here. Hi, Kiran, good to see you as well.
It is 9:00 a.m. on the East Coast and 6:00 a.m. in the West Coast. Kyra is off today.
Right now, CNN has learned that Mark Kelly will lead the upcoming space shuttle Endeavor mission. There should be an official announcement this afternoon. Of course, we'll have it for you.
Kelly, of course, is Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords' husband. She, of course is recovering from a gunshot wound to her head. Kelly had to decide whether to stay with her or lead the mission.
We're trying to find out why an armed passenger would hijack a Greyhound bus. Greyhound says a man forced the driver pull over as the bus got close to its destination in Raleigh, North Carolina.
He let all but two of the passengers off. Then got behind the wheel and drove down Interstate-85. Police eventually stopped the bus, stunned the suspect and took him into custody.
And how cold is it in the Deep South right now? OK. Get it. It is actually colder in Dallas than it is in Anchorage, Alaska. Think about that for moment. A winter storm is dumping snow and ice from Texas all the way to Alabama.
And we're keeping a close eye on Egypt, where massive crowds are gathering in the major cities. This is a scene in Cairo's Tahrir Square. The site of the bloody fighting the last two days.
In the last few minutes, though, the relative peace has been put to the test. There are reports of isolated skirmishes and rock throwing near the overflowing crowds. Only anti-government protesters are inside the square and soldiers are keeping away supporters of the embattled president.
And we are now hearing from Hosni Mubarak. He is telling ABC News that the demonstrations had left him little choice. He says he'd like to step down from office but he says, "if I resign," that's a quote. "If I resign today, there will be chaos."
He also told the BBC News -- he told ABC News, I should say, that he will not bend to the pressure from President Obama. He says the U.S. simply doesn't understand the Egyptian culture and what would happen if I step down now.
The Egyptian government is criticizing the violence that has erupted the last two days in Cairo and says it did not encourage the attacks on protesters and on journalists. The vice president tells ABC News that it will not uproot a peaceful demonstration on Tahrir Square.
Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, ABC NEWS: Just to make it clear, you will not order the military to evacuate them from the square?
OMAR SULEIMAN, EGYPTIAN VICE PRESIDENT: We will ask them to go home. But we will not pressure them to go home.
AMANPOUR: Never?
SULEIMAN: No way. No way. And I hope that they will recognize that they are not doing well for their country.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Let's get the very latest now from Cairo and CNN's Ivan Watson. He is in Tahrir Square.
Ivan, what are you seeing now?
IVAN WATSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Don, let me start by saying one thing. CNN crews and other locations in the city overlooking Tahrir Square have been ordered by the Egyptian police not to provide live images of what is going on in here.
We are doing it right now, but our neighbors at this location have warned us that suspected secret police are outside trying to get in to shut our -- potentially shut us down and we have a report from the Al Jazeera News Network that a gang of thugs raided their Cairo office today and set fire to it. So the effort to crack down on foreign media continues here in the Egyptian capital.
Now to bring us to where we are right now, we are currently in Tahrir Square, symbol of defiance to the Egyptian government now for days and the scene of two days and nights of bloody fighting.
We're going to show you some video of the defenders of this square that we filmed this morning who lined up. You can see them linking arms and they have stones at their feet and they were guarding the various entryways into the square to prevent anybody from being able to come in to disturb, first, Friday prayers which took place in the street behind me, and then the political rally that is peaceful, that is continuing up until this moment.
We can show you pictures that people have been dancing and clapping in circles, playing music, singing, milling about. There has been, for the most part, free entry allowed for thousands of people to come and join the men who have fought for two days and nights at the barricades, hurling stones, hurling petrobombs, receiving those weapons, and suffering at least 800 wounded over those two days and two nights.
But now there are many more Egyptians that have come, thousands from all different types of walks of life, economic strata, men, women, different professions as well that have come to show solidarity with the defenders of Tahrir Square, and also to repeat this core demand, Don, and that is for the Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to step down.
LEMON: Ivan, clarification here. You're being told -- who is asking media not to broadcast live images? Can you take us through that again?
WATSON: OK. The police, the security forces have been cracking down for more than 24 hours now on other -- not only photographers, but television crews as well, barring TV crews from filming off from balconies overlooking this square and threatening to confiscate their cameras.
A number of photographers had their cameras confiscated yesterday, had their cameras destroyed by gangs. There are large numbers of secret police on the streets who don't give you their identity badges but will try to take you away from certain places.
We enjoy a certain amount of safety by the sheer amount of people power in the streets here in this opposition held square right now. But I've spoken to one Egyptian who traveled all the way from Kuwait to try to attend this rally and he said beyond the barricades that are controlled by the opposition, beyond the Egyptian military lines, are more plain-clothed Egyptian secret police who've been barring some newcomers, Egyptians, fro being and to come in and attend this rally.
As far as the crackdown on the media goes, it has been taking place for two days now. It's into the third day where gangs of Mubarak supporters and suspected secret police have been systemically attacking journalists -- Egyptians, as well as journalists from many different countries, Swede, Denmark, Poland, Russia, Turkey, Brazil, the United Kingdom, the U.S. of course. Two of our crews, at least, have been attacked.
We ran for our lives from some of these people two days ago and sought shelter in this square, so there has been a concerted effort to try to crack down on independent observers and on these images, these very images, getting out to the outside world which are definitely seen as a threat to the stability of the embattled Hosni Mubarak government -- Don.
LEMON: Reporting live in Cairo. And you hear the developing news there. Ivan is telling us that they're being asked to not broadcast live images. Security forces and police are telling them, they're trying to persuade the journalists there not to do it. And also saying the secret police trying to get in to stop those images from being broadcast.
We're going to continue to follow that story as it unfolds in Egypt.
But meantime, back here at home, President Obama has publicly called for a smooth and swift transition in Egypt's leadership. And behind the scenes, the White House has been scrambling to make it happen. After all, there are few countries that have more at stake than the United States.
Let's go now to CNN's Kate Bolduan. She's at the White House with a closer look.
So, Kate, tell us how this administration is staying engaged on this story.
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Very carefully and behind closed doors as well as in public, Don.
We are told that the White House, this administration, is turning up the pressure on the Egyptian government, really trying to get this process of the orderly transition of power under way and under way immediately as we're being told.
Of course, at the same time, this administration can't be seen and do not want to be seen as if they were imposing the terms here.
I'm told that high-level conversations, discussions are continuing between -- Obama administration officials, as well as Egyptian officials. Just yesterday, Vice President Biden spoke on the phone with his now counterpart Egyptian Vice President Omar Suleiman.
And, in part, the read-out that we received from this phone call, we're told that Vice President Biden, quote, "urged that credible inclusive negotiations begin immediately in order for Egypt to transition to a Democratic government that addresses the aspirations of the Egyptian people."
You can see there just in the nuance of that language it seems that they're stepping up the pressure a little bit. But so far, those negotiations, that dialogue seems to be slow to start, at best.
On the -- for the part of this administration, Don, I'm told by a senior administration official there is not a specific plan or proposal that they are pushing for the Egyptian government to take on in order to make this orderly transition happen. Rather, I'm told by spokesperson for the White House's National Security Council that they are talking with Egyptians about a variety of ways to get this process moving forward and again they stress that all of those decisions must be made by the Egyptian people -- Don.
LEMON: Kate Bolduan at the White House. Kate, thank you.
Anti-government protests have boiled up in at least six Arab states. And today, protesters turned out in support of the movement in Egypt. First off Jordan. About 700 people took part in this solidarity rally. That number is pretty small compared to recent demonstrations in Amman. Bad weather is being blamed for that. And this is a show of solidarity. Take a look at this. In the West Bank the scene has been somewhat muted because the Palestinian Authority has tamped down similar rallies earlier this week.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has been seen as an important broker in a peace settlement with Israel.
And make sure you stay with us for our continuing coverage of the protests across the Middle East. CNN has mobilized its crews around the region to bring you all the latest developments and we'll bring it to you as it happens.
All right. Here we go. Let's talk the economy and jobs. Mixed news in the January jobs report. And this is according to the Labor Department. 36,000 new jobs were created in January and that's a lot fewer than expected. But the unemployment rate is down to 9 percent.
Is that good news? We will see.
CNN's anchor and chief business correspondent Mr. Ali Velshi joins me now to break this all down.
Tell us what it means. We were expecting more jobs added.
ALI VELSHI, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. We're expecting at least the 150,000. If we got over 200,000, we'd say we were making progress. If we got over 300,000, every month for the next few years we get back down to 5 percent unemployment like we had before the recession.
LEMON: Is there any glass half full --
VELSHI: Thirty-six thousand --
LEMON: -- here?
VELSHI: Well, I'll there you there are a couple of things. One is that unemployment rate is down to 9 percent. Again it's measuring a moving bunch of people so I'm not too concerned about that. That doesn't excite me all that much. It's -- my colleague Christine Romans referred to this as a funky jobs report. Hard to make sense of.
LEMON: Yes.
VELSHI: The good news is that we actually created 50,000 jobs in the private sector and we lost 14,000 in government. We want private sector to be growing. We want government jobs to be dropping. We just want a whole lot more of what it is.
So the pattern of growth was correct. You want to be getting rid of some government jobs and you want to be replacing them with private sector jobs, but 50,000 is not a number that's going to help us.
LEMON: But even if you keep it on par, don't we need to add at least 140,000 some odd jobs? VELSHI: On par. Yes.
LEMON: On par.
VELSHI: Yes, 140 -- yes, close to 200,000 you'd need three or more -- 300,000 per month to bring the unemployment rate down over the long term. So that's why this isn't fantastic.
Now we call it funky because we don't know whether it was weather, we don't know what some of the elements in there. Very unusual things. The biggest industry that gained jobs, manufacturing.
LEMON: Really?
VELSHI: All we ever hear about in this country is how we lose manufacturing jobs so maybe we were so tight, we had cut so many jobs, and the U.S. dollar being low has created more demand for American goods, so we actually had to ramp up and hire some new people. Car making has increased.
LEMON: So we don't know. We don't know why we're seeing these clangs?
VELSHI: We don't know. We are obviously digging through here to sort of see what are the examples of jobs that were actually created so we can tell you that a big part of it was here, here or here. But for the moment, this report just came out a little while ago, as we study it, it is not what we would have expected to see.
LEMON: Here's what I want to ask you. So people at home who are sitting there, who have lost their jobs.
VELSHI: Yes.
LEMON: Unemployed. Which do they garner from this?
VELSHI: Well, I think you what you should garner is that there are job -- there are industries that do continue to gain and have for years. So if you are in health care, if you are in education, including private education, university private education, accounting, engineering, things like that, those jobs continue to grow.
So if you are long-term unemployed and there are many of them, get prepared to be into one of those jobs. That's what you have to look at. Maybe manufacturing was up this month. It was up last month. I don't think that's a long-term trend for us.
LEMON: So the real thing, be patient because it's not --
VELSHI: Well, be patient but --
(CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: Right. But if you -- if it's affecting you, patience is actually something you probably had for the last couple of years, now you've got to be proactive and say forget about the trends and what Velshi says on TV, there are jobs in certain areas, let me prepare for those.
LEMON: That's why we like you here. Thank you, Ali. We appreciate you. We'll see you at 1:00 p.m. Eastern?
VELSHI: Absolutely.
LEMON: Here on CNN, if not throughout the day earlier.
VELSHI: Yes.
LEMON: Thank you so much.
Hey, let's talk about weather now because a deep freeze in the Deep South. Twenty degrees this morning in Dallas. Can you believe, 20 degrees? Find out if things will warm up in time for Sunday's big Super Bowl.
Plus this. This is what happens when raccoon learned how to use the doggie door. They invade the kitchen and go right for the pantry. More on this home invasion in a couple of minutes.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC PLAYING)
LEMON: Nightly panty -- pantry raid, I should say, by a pair of raccoon. Don't everybody laugh. I see Jacqui Jeras over there. Pantry raid. Pantry raid. That's a YouTube moment.
These startling pictures captured on an Arizona homeowner's baby monitor atop our trek Cross Country this hour. Nicole Koester set up the camera to get to the bottom of a nightly raid on her kitchen pantry. She says a raccoon entered her house through a doggie door that is now sealed.
Next in Hollywood, Florida, a microchip helps a woman find her missing dog after three years. Can you imagine? Lassie had disappeared from the home of an animal border. And on Wednesday, the dog showed up at an animal shelter, where workers tracked her identity through an embedded microchip.
And finally, in St. Luis Obispo, California, two people are hurt, one critically, after a Word War II vintage plane crashed near the campus of Cal Poly. Witnesses say the plane seemed to fall right out of the sky. The FAA says the pilot radioed that he had an emergency moment before the aircraft went down.
Let's check in now on the severe weather. Can you believe this is happening in the South? They are shivering in frigid conditions again, today, in parts of Texas. This doesn't look like Texas. In fact, it was colder this morning in Dallas than it was in Anchorage, Alaska. Schools are closed for the third straight day as the city struggles to clear roads and highways covered with ice and snow.
And CNN's meteorologist Jacqui Jeras, who got a good laugh out of me, is tracking the snow and ice in Texas and the rest of the day's weather. Jacqui, oh my gosh, what are we seeing here?
JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It really is a travel nightmare for a whole lot of people. I can't even imagine what conditions are like right now on Interstate 20 between Dallas and Jackson, it's just terrible.
We've got freezing rain, we've got snow, we've got ice, and that's making things very, very treacherous. Five inches on the ground, now, in Dallas. Houston, Texas, you've been dealing with freezing rain. We've got a live picture to show you out of Houston at this hour, where parts of the interstate are shut down.
There you can see, it's just nothing but ice. The traffic is at a near standstill. Numerous accidents reported all over that area. And it's not just the bridges and overpasses. It's the main surface streets, as well. Use extreme caution and stay home today if you can.
The airways, we've got closures here on the runways. Dallas Love Field reporting closure because of the snow, and Corpus Christi, you've been dealing with the freezing rain, and that's why your runways are closed. They're hoping to get these open a little bit later on today, as it should be ending, say, by the noonish hour.
Heavy rain across parts of the Southeast. No worries about the freezing just now in Atlanta and Raleigh. And this storm system makes its way on up the coast, Don. So, we'll be moving into the mid- Atlantic states and the northeast for tomorrow, but not a major storm for them. So, that's a little bit of good news. Things look a lot better by the end of the weekend.
LEMON: All right, Jacqui Jeras, thank you very much. We appreciate it.
We want to get back to our developing news, the breaking news that we've been following, here, on CNN, the unrest in Egypt. I want to go, now, to Mohammed Shehata. He is an Egyptian expatriate, and he is back in the country. He's helping the protesters. What are you seeing now?
(SILENCE)
LEMON: Mohammed?
MOHAMMED SHEHATA, EGYPTIAN EXPATRIATE (via telephone): Yes. Hello?
LEMON: Yes. You're on CNN live. What are you seeing now? Where are you and what are you witnessing?
SHEHATA: I am standing in the middle of Tahrir Square, along with what must be a quarter of million other people spilling out into the exits of Tahrir Square, as well.
LEMON: Now, what are you seeing? Is it -- are the -- is it peaceful? The protest, are the demonstrators peaceful? Any clashes with police? Are you seeing any violence? SHEHATA: Well, today has been very different. I've been in Tahrir Square every day this week. And I actually experienced a lot of violence, and I think everyone that came here today is actually saying no to the violence. That's why -- the number of people here is just so overwhelming. We haven't seen any -- any thugs, so to speak, or rival factions trying to break up these peaceful demonstrations, and it's just really inspiring to see.
LEMON: Mohammed, we have been -- our cameras have been trained on this one area, Tahrir Square, and there's a whole big country out there. What's happening in the rest of the country?
(CROWD CHANTING)
SHEHATA: Excuse me. I didn't hear that. I'm sorry.
LEMON: I said, we have been focused -- our cameras have been trained on this one square, Tahrir Square, and there's a whole big country out there with 80 million people. Do you know what's going on around the rest of the country?
SHEHATA: I know as much as what I get from the news with regards to the rest of the country. But driving in and out of Tahrir Square every day, I get a feel for what is going on in Cairo, at least.
Unfortunately, what has been happening is a lot of media, sort of -- well, what many people believe to be a propaganda war and discrediting everyone that has been standing here in Tahrir Square fighting for their freedom, today is a really huge statement against that, because nobody expected the number of people here. Nobody expected this turnout, and if anybody is listening that has been standing here, I want to say, don't let anybody discredit you. You are all heroes.
LEMON: Right. Mohammed Shehata is an Egyptian expatriate. He is back in the country, and he is helping out in the protests there. Thank you so much for joining us. We're going to have more Egypt coverage coming up, here, on CNN.
Plus this. It relates to Egypt as well. Fashion designer Kenneth Cole, he is known for witty -- his edgy ads that play on current events to help sell his duds, his shoes mostly. But he is apologizing for using Egypt to help push his spring collection. It's unusual. Wouldn't want to be in his shoes. We'll talk about it next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: We're continuing to follow the developments in Egypt. Massive crowds gathering in Egypt's major cities right now. And we're getting reports that the government's cracking down again. Many protesters want Egypt's president, Hosni Mubarak, to resign, and they want him to resign today. But he says, "If I resign today, there will be chaos."
The events in Egypt and spring fashions don't really have much in common, but designer Kenneth Cole found a way to mix the two on Twitter, and he is being accused of a real fashion faux pas. CNN's Christine Romans is here to talk about a tweet that Cole sent out that's gotten him into a lot of trouble.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: It sure has, Don. Imagine using Twitter and a tweet, 140-character message on the Twitter service, to promote your spring fashion line, linked to your spring fashion line, by drawing in the uproar and the riots on Cairo street.
That's exactly what Kenneth Cole it did. The chairman of that company issuing a tweet yesterday that was roundly criticized on the web and elsewhere for being absolutely tone deaf and, quite frankly, completely out of sync with the character, usually, of this company.
This is what he tweeted. "Millions are in uproar in Cairo. Rumor is, they heard our new spring collection is now available online." And then there was a shortened link where you could click on the spring collection.
About an hour later, Kenneth Cole issued this tweet. "RE Egypt tweet. We weren't intending to make light of a serious situation. We understand the sensitivity of this historic moment - KC."
Many people said that came at exactly the time when American and international observers and reporters were being beaten, were being pulled out of the square, had their well-being in jeopardy, and here was a big fashion house using that event to try to promote its spring fashion line for shoes. They just -- lot of people thought that that -- those two things just really don't go together.
Now, Kenneth Cole, I should point out, and you probably know this. Many people who follow the advertising campaigns of his company know that it can often have irreverent and double-entendre ad campaigns.
After, for example, the Gulf oil spill, they had an ad campaign that said, "I clean up well" on top of a picture of the oil spill, and then it was about a t-shirt campaign where, actually, the proceeds from the t-shirts were going to help relieve the oil spill disaster.
And then, after that Hudson miracle, miracle on the Hudson, the plane that landed on the Hudson River a couple of years ago? They put up a big billboard that said, "In tough times, some land on their feet, others on the Hudson." This is a company, then, of course, who has used these sorts of news events to try to promote their company before. This time, though, it just did not go over well, Don.
LEMON: Hey, Christine, and I'm following him on Twitter, and just so you know, it says -- his last tweet says, 15:27 is when it was sent. And it says, "I have removed this morning's tweet. Please visit this link to see my apology." And then, when you click on it, it goes to his Facebook page, where there is an apology as well. So, Christine. He's feeling the heat from that. And again, probably not a good move, and he realizes it.
ROMANS: And he says he really regrets it. He wrote that tweet. It's only a few characters, but surely created a firestorm. He regrets it. He has put on a big apology, but a lot of people say it was just tone-deaf in the first place.
LEMON: Yes, as they say, too soon, if at all. Thank you, Christine Romans, we appreciate it.
Up next, the Egyptian military cracking down on street battles in Egypt, taking decisive moves to separate pro and anti-government demonstrators. We'll take a closer look at its role in this volatile uprising, coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Opening bell just rang on Wall Street. And today, it's all about the jobs report. As we told you at the top of the hour, the economy added 36,000 jobs last month, and the unemployment fell sharply to 9 percent.
Alison Kosik at the New York Stock Exchange, good morning to you. Alison, 36,000 doesn't sound too good. How is Wall Street taking it?
ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Don. It doesn't sound good because it's not good. You know, it is, quite frankly, disappointing. But hey, we do have a mixed open. It's better than a sell-of sell-off. Investors have been really cautious as they have waited for this report. The Dow hasn't moved more than 30 points over the past three sessions - you know, everybody had high expectations coming into today, but we only found out 36,000 job added in January.
To compare, we have been adding an average 90,000 jobs a month for the past two years. Now, the saving grace is we had a sharp drop in the unemployment rate. It's mildly encouraging. Sure, we're down to nine percent. Now, the rate is down as many people dropped out of the work force, got discouraged of looking for work, so they are just not counted.
But many investors, Don, are discounting today's numbers. They think that these numbers may be skewed by the impact of those harsh storms we had last month. Yesterday, Fed chairman Ben Bernanke was at a press event saying normal unemployment, a normal unemployment rate - that's somewhere around five percent -- is years away.
All right. Let's check on the stock reaction to all this. We're mixed. The Dow down only two points; the NASDAQ higher by about three. Now, we are watching shares of Casino Operators. They are falling right now after Las Vegas Sands reporting a disappointing fourth quarter revenue. Las Vegas Sands, Wyn, MGM, all of those shares are falling right now. Don, back to you.
LEMON: All right. Alison, thank you very much.
It is just past 9:30 on the East Coast and 6:30 out West. Here are the stories we are talking about this morning.
Dallas, Texas, yes, Dallas, Texas woke up to colder temperatures than Anchorage, Alaska this morning. Ice and snow expected to make travel dangerous across the Gulf states from Texas to Alabama today. And Southwest Airlines has canceled all flights to Houston's Hobby airport.
The attorney for former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling is asking permission for him to leave prison to attend his son's funeral. Twenty-year-old John Taylor Skilling was found dead in his California apartment last night. His father is serving 24 years for insider trading charges and other crimes related to the collapse of Enron.
And not even the White House is immune to technical glitches. The e-mail system used by the White House staffers and the president went down for a while on Thursday.
We want to go to the latest on the uprising in Egypt. Once again, tens of thousands of anti-government protesters have packed into Cairo's Tahrir Square, the site of bloody confrontations. They're taking part in what's being dubbed a "day of departure." Not backing down on efforts to oust president Mubarak.
But today, the atmosphere is more relaxed. None of the violence we have seen over the past two days. Military forces have surrounded the square, keeping out Mubarak supporters who instigated this week's street battles.
Who is calling the shots there with the Egyptian military? Their presence is strong today. Not so much yesterday. The U.S. considers Egypt a very close military ally, and we know the Obama administration is keeping close tabs on this fluid situation.
So, I want to bring in now CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr. Barbara, good morning. We see tanks and troops to restore security in central Cairo as the administration and the Pentagon look at this. What do they conclude? Is security coming back here?
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, Don, that is what they are not sure about.
Think of it this way. They -- officials in the Pentagon -- are looking at the very same television pictures we're looking at. Today, they see tanks on the move. They see Egyptian army troops trying to restore security in central Cairo, and they are not sure what at all means, but it's the central question. Who is controlling the Egyptian army? Did Mubarak send them out there? Probably not likely, we are told. Is the Egyptian army doing this on its own? Trying to restore security? Or some of the new Egyptian leaders like the vice president trying to take control and exert their authority over the Egyptian military, which is one of the key security levers in Egypt, of course, which is so crucial to maintaining stability in Egypt.
You look at these TV pictures, and top officials here in the Pentagon will tell you they are not sure who is really pulling the levers behind the scenes. The chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, in fact, spoke about all of this just last night in a very interesting venue, Jon Stewart's "Daily Show."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ADM. MIKE MULLEN, CHMN. OF THE JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF: I think the outcome is really up to the Egyptian people and also their leadership, including the army. I mean, in discussions I've had with their military leadership, you know, they have reassured me that they have no intent to fire on their own people. They have taken steps to try to quell the violence from yesterday, the tragic violence that occurred.
JON STEWART, HOST, "THE DAILY SHOW WITH JON STEWART": Right.
MULLEN: The prime minister came out and apologized for it, and is going to do an investigation. So, there's a lot of work going on to try to make sure that that doesn't recur --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STARR: So even as we're talking about the U.S. military, you know, trying to understand what is going on with one of its closest allies in this crisis, consider this. The chairman of the U.S. joints chief of staff sending the message through "The Daily Show," really trying to understand an appeal to the younger audience here even in the United States.
We asked one of his aides why he went on "The Daily Show," and he said "That is where an awful lot of people get their news about what is happening these days." Don?
LEMON: Very interesting. Hey listen, you talked about this a little bit. The army, of course. Just one component here, Barbara. What are the concerns about the Egyptian police force?
STARR: Well, you hit the nail right on it, Don. Because, of course, the other component is the police. The army controlled by the ministry of defense, the police controlled by the ministry of interior. And of course, we have seen those police forces move in and, by all accounts from the ground, responsible for much of the pro- government instigated violence, according to many people on the ground.
Nobody thinks this is all over yet. And so, of course, the setup concern here is that you may see a showdown at some point between the defense-backed army forces, the ministry of interior-backed police forces, and a real struggle for power in the security apparatus of Egypt. If not on the streets, to say the least, behind the scenes in the Mubarak government as we wait and see what happens. Certainly this conflict now coming to the fore. Don?
LEMON: Barbara Starr. Barbara, thank you very much.
Deadly street battles in Egypt with hundreds hurt, as we have been reporting. Make sure you watch what happens next with CNN's Anderson Cooper live from the front lines, tonight at 10:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN.
Shuttle commander Mark Kelly has made an important decision. Will he fly or will he stay at home with his wife, shooting victim and Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords? We will tell you what he has decided.
And a 10-year-old boy, so engrossed in his video game, he walks off a train platform, falls into the tracks. We'll tell you what happened next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Welcome back, everyone. Here is what you can look forward to later today on CNN.
At a NASA briefing this afternoon, shuttle commander Mark Kelly will explain his decision to fly. A source with knowledge of the situation tells CNN that Kelly is expected to announce that he will go ahead and command the shuttle Endeavour when it launches. Kelly has been caring for his wife Congresswoman Giffords, who was a victim of a shooting earlier this month.
Sarah Palin will be the main speaker at the opening banquet tonight for ceremonies honoring the 100th anniversary of Ronald Reagan's birth. The ceremonies are taking place at the Reagan Ranch Center in Santa Barbara, California.
And Jay Leno, host of NBC's "Tonight Show" is to be named the 2011 man of the year by Harvard A.C. Pudding Theatrical Society. The award is presented each year to the performer who has made a, quote, "lasting and impressive contribution to the world of entertainment."
Jeb Bush is ruling out running for president in 2012, but 2016 could be a different story. We'll catch up with the former Florida governor in four minutes.
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CONAN O'BRIEN, HOST, "CONAN": After the big snowstorm in Chicago, mayoral candidate Rahm Emanuel has been pitching in, digging cars out of the snow. Rahm Emanuel.
Now, of course Emanuel didn't help his campaign because he kept telling people, "Thank God I don't live here!"
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LEMON: Time now for your political update.
Jeb Bush is leaving the door open for a shot at becoming the third president in his family and our senior political editor Mark Preston is here with the story but not as soon as we might think, right, Mark?
MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL EDITOR: No not as soon as we might think. You know, there has been a lot of talk that Jeb Bush would be a great candidate to run in 2012. It's a very wide open field.
But Jeb Bush is ruling out any talk of that. In fact, he -- just did an interview with "National Review" which is a very conservative magazine and very well-respected magazine in conservative circles, he was asked specifically about that, Don, and he said no, like he is not interested in 2012.
The interviewer went on and said what about 2016. And this is what he had to say. He said, "I sure hope a Republican is running for re-election then. But I've learned never to say never."
Now, Jeb Bush is very well respected, he is a former governor of Florida. And you know, I think a lot of people would like to see him run in 2012. But alas that's not going to happen.
You know Don, talking about 2012. In the past few days I've talked about how the campaign has really kicked off certainly on the Democratic side as they try to take back the House of Representatives. They are running radio ads in 19 House districts to try to weaken up these House Republicans.
Democrats need 25 seats to take back the House in 2012. Well, these 19 Republicans are getting a little help from an outside group called conservative -- rather Crossroads GPS. This is a conservative group that is now running their own ads in support of these 19 House Republicans who represent districts all across the country from Florida to Pennsylvania, Ohio, Minnesota, so we are in full, full swing, Don, for the 2012 campaign.
LEMON: But Mark -- Mark, we were expecting to see several potential presidential candidates speak next week at the Conservative Political Action Conference, I believe. But there's going to be a notable absence. Who is that?
PRESTON: Yes there -- well, Sarah Palin who really would seem to do well if she were to go to CPAC. This is really the major kickoff when you can get all the presidential contenders together -- conservative presidential contenders together -- who come here to Washington and they deliver their speech and lay out their policy proposals.
But Sarah Palin is one of those folks who will not be here. In fact she is citing scheduling conflict but doesn't mean we're not going to see a whole array of other folks, Don, including Mitt Romney, Michelle Bachmann, Jon Thune, Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich, Tim Pawlenty, Haley Barbour and Mitch Daniels.
So all folks that we are seriously looking at, and who are seriously considering running for president in 2012 -- Don.
LEMON: All right, Mark Preston, thank you, sir. We'll have your next political update is in an hour. And a reminder for you: for all the latest political news go to our Web site, CNNPolitics.com. Ok, we told you about the bad weather that is hitting the south, right -- from Texas all the way to Alabama. Here's some bad news especially if you're thinking about going to the game this weekend, the Super Bowl. We're hearing that American Airlines has canceled 630 flights out of Dallas, 630 flights out of Dallas. Of course, Dallas, that's where the Super Bowl -- excuse me into Dallas. Into Dallas, 630 flights into Dallas.
So you can't get in, at least for now. And this is because of the bad weather. But of course, you know, down south, we are not used to this -- this inclement weather, especially the cold and the snow. Many cities down here and municipalities don't have all the cold and snow-fighting material that they have up north.
So stay tuned; 630 flights into Dallas, American Airlines, of course, the Super Bowl there this weekend. We will update you on the situation as soon as we get more information.
In the meantime, coffee, coffee, that's right. So many of us drink that morning cup of Joe to jump-start our day; I had about four this morning. Now a new study says coffee can actually make you smarter, at least if you're a woman. For men, well, that explains it, not so much.
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LEMON: All right, we told you about the developing news happening with the airlines, specifically American Airlines in Dallas, 630 flights into Dallas they have cancelled. And we figure it's due to weather.
Let's check in now Ed Martelle, he's a spokesperson for American Airlines. 630 flights into Dallas; is that correct and is it weather related -- Ed?
ED MARTELLE, SPOKESPERSON, AMERICAN AIRLINES: Into and out of.
LEMON: Into and out of. Ok.
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MARTELLE: Yes.
LEMON: What's going on?
MARTELLE: But yes, it's -- it's weather-related. We had in the urban area, Dallas, and the county to the north up to six-and-a-half inches of snow overnight. We've got a new band of snow moving in that is expected to leave us with another two to three inches, so we're going to spend the morning digging out.
And we're running about half our schedule right now. Hopefully early afternoon we'll be back up to full speed.
LEMON: Yes ok, Ed. That's -- I'm being optimistic. But what are you telling those folks? MARTELLE: Sure.
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LEMON: A lot of people are flying into Dallas trying to get there for the Super Bowl and I'm sure some people are leaving because they want to go elsewhere, they don't to be part of the -- you know all the commotion going on. So what do you say to those people?
MARTELLE: We will move you as expeditiously as possible.
LEMON: Yes and again, how long do you expect this to go on?
MARTELLE: Well, the snow is ending this morning. And the snow isn't that big an issue right now because the winds are pretty soft, and that means we can de-ice. That was the problem we had earlier in the week. We couldn't get any airplanes out because the winds were so high we couldn't put people in the de-icing equipment.
LEMON: Yes.
MARTELLE: So we don't have that problem today. It's going to slow things a little bit. But we're doing our best because we know that folks are coming in for the Super Bowl. This will be the second biggest travel day for Super Bowl, expecting a lot of people to come in yet tomorrow.
LEMON: All right, let's hope they can get in.
Ed Martelle of the American Airlines, 630 flights canceled into and out of Dallas because of the weather. We're keeping a close watch. So keep in tune right here to CNN. Big Super Bowl, Super Bowl weekend.
Ok, listen you're going to need -- your passport to travel with us this -- for this next set of stories. We begin in Italy where a 10-year-old boy engrossed in a video game took a dangerous and potentially deadly tumble. I want you to take a look at this.
The boy was playing with a video game and he was so caught up with it that he didn't realize he was walking onto the tracks at a subway station.
An off-duty police officer jumped in and rescued the boy. A train -- get this, there he is. There's the boy falling in. An off- duty officer jumps in to rescue him and a train was expected to enter the station at any minute. He is ok. He's very lucky.
A scandal is rocking Japan's sumo wrestling world. Police say they have found evidence of match fixing in text message -- in a text message sent from several wrestlers' cell phones. The Japan Sumo Association has promised to investigate but would not confirm the allegations of match fixing.
Well, Japan's Parliament says if it has occurred, Sumo wrestling might not be considered Japan's national sport anymore. What a shame. Is anything sacred anymore?
And from England, the next time you drink a cup of coffee think about this. Researchers say coffee improves women's brain power in stressful situations but it sends men into meltdown, impairing their memories and slowing down the decision making, for men. Maybe I should stop drinking coffee. That explains it.
Ok, the countdown to Super Bowl XLV is on. You just heard about 630 flights canceled. We're going to check on that. We're going to take you live to Dallas though, next.
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LEMON: You had better order more chips and dip and wings or whatever for the Super Bowl party. A new poll in the "Hollywood Reporter" says 78 percent of all Americans will be watching the big game and besides the commercials, most people will have their eyes on the two quarterbacks.
CNN's Mark McKay is here to talk about them. So Mark, you're at the site of the Super Bowl on Sunday at the Cowboy Stadium in Arlington, Texas. What's going on?
MARK MCKAY, CNN SPORTS: Well, I can tell you first of all that the retractable roof will be closed something we don't have out of site of beautiful Arlington Convention Center this morning as the snow has returned to the Super Bowl city, Don.
But yes, more than 105,000 perhaps a Super Bowl record crowd, will be packed inside Cowboys Stadium, and all eyes will be watching quarterbacks, perhaps more so now than in recent times.
Of course, Ben Roethlisberger, Pittsburgh's star quarterback, you know about him. You likely know about the four-game suspension that he served at the beginning of the season for violating the NFL's personal conduct policy. He has since bounced back and has led Pittsburgh to their third Super Bowl in six seasons claiming along the way that he's changed.
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BRETT KEISEL, STEELERS' DEFENSIVE END: He has changed. I think he's just slowed down a little bit, you know. Just stepped back and put his slippers on in his house and, you know, made a nice warm fire and slowed down a little bit.
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MCKAY: A warm fire sounds good. Roethlisberger's counterpart has also a tale to tell. A rookie playing in his first Super Bowl, Green Bay's Aaron Rodgers, not too long ago, an unproven quarterback with an uncertain future. He once walked in the shadow of Brett Favre but after a slow start, came into his own as a leader. Rodgers is confident, yet humbled lessons learned after replacing a legend in Green Bay.
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DONALD DRIVER, PACKERS' WIDE RECEIVER: He handled it better than anyone probably could have handled it. You know, so many people thought once Brett left that we wasn't going to have a great team. Aaron was a proven fact that we were. He hasn't let anyone down.
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MCKAY: Quarterback position, Don, awfully large. It looms large. It's very important.
We'll have two on the field Sunday at Cowboys' Stadium with a whole lot to prove -- Don.
LEMON: All right. Mark McKay says he's in Dallas. I don't believe him. It could be D.C.. It could be anywhere, Alaska. Look at all the snow.
Mark, thank you. Have a good time. Be careful.
