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Romney on the Defense; GOP to Pass Payroll Tax Cut; Sandusky Shower Incident Probed; U.S. Teen Escapes Militants; Men: Ex-AUU Boss Molested Them; Stocks Set for Lower Start; Romney's Debate Gamble; CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute; Lowe's Yanks Ads from Reality Show; Hollywood Shooting Rampage; Tim Tebow's Latest Comeback; MVP Braun Faces Drug Test Suspension
Aired December 12, 2011 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR, "AMERICAN MORNING": "CNN NEWSROOM" with Kyra Phillips starts right now.
Good morning, Kyra. Look who I brought for you.
(LAUGHTER)
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Wait a minute. Who is this guy?
(LAUGHTER)
PHILLIPS: Good morning. It's great to see you. And nice job with the Heisman Trophy winner. I knew you'd have to get it.
ROMANS: Isn't he wonderful?
PHILLIPS: Yes. Pretty remarkable young man. Thanks, guys.
Well, we start this morning with politics. Newt Gingrich firing shots. Mitt Romney on the defense. We're just three weeks away from the first presidential contest of the 2012 campaign, and guess what? The attacks in full force.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NEWT GINGRICH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Let's be candid. The only reason you didn't become a career politician is you lost to Teddy Kennedy in 1994.
MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Now wait a second. Now wait a second. That's -- wait a second.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Paul Steinhauser was there at the debate as well. He's joining us from Des Moines.
So, Gingrich survived. How did he do it?
PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Exactly, Kyra. Listen, Newt Gingrich, the reason he jumped in the polls, he surged the last couple of months is because he's been doing very well in these debates -- good debate performances. And we saw it again Saturday night right here in Des Moines.
As everybody suspected, Newt Gingrich now that he is a frontrunner here in the first state to hold a contest in the caucus of primary calendars, and in the national polls we knew he was going to come under attack. He did. From Mitt Romney and from the others. But he seemed to have the measured response each time.
Now this squabble that you just played over the debate Saturday night has been continuing between Gingrich and Romney since then. They also argued Saturday night over Gingrich's controversial comments on the Palestinian people being an invented people. This morning, Mitt Romney on the campaign trail in New Hampshire talked about Gingrich's erratic behavior. And said that Gingrich is campaigning more like a candidate and less like a president.
So this tough talk between the two candidates, more from Romney directed towards Gingrich, I think is going to continue for quite some time.
Kyra, remember, another debate Thursday night right back here in Iowa.
PHILLIPS: OK. Well -- and also let's not forget the backfire for Mitt Romney. Let's take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROMNEY: Rick, I'll tell you what. $10,000? $10,000 bet?
GOV. RICK PERRY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm not in the betting business.
ROMNEY: OK.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Yes. And, Paul, as you know, many have said, hey, wait a minute, he's Mormon. He shouldn't be betting. Do you think voters are going to remember this moment?
(LAUGHTER)
STEINHAUSER: A lot of people are talking about that moment. Listen, Romney and Perry have been battling over this. And it was Perry's claim that Romney in the latest edition of his book "No Apologies" took out a passage where he talked about support for the health care individual mandate.
So that's why Romney said, listen, I'll bet you. And Perry said no. A lot of people after that moment happened said, this is maybe not a great thing for Mitt Romney, a multimillionaire, when he's trying to relate to average people struggling right now in these tough economic times. This morning, in an interview, Romney said, you know what? I made that outrageous claim, that outrageous bet because what Perry is saying is outrageous as well. So this back and forth between those two candidates will continue.
Perry had a pretty good debate, Kyra. He needs it right now. He needs to do something to generate some excitement, generate some buzz and -- raise those polls here in Iowa.
Kyra, tomorrow, three weeks until the Iowa caucuses.
PHILLIPS: Paul, thanks so much.
We're going to have your next political update in just about an hour. And a reminder, for all the latest political news, you can always go to our Web site, 24/7 CNNPolitics.com.
So what does President Obama think about Newt Gingrich and his rise in the polls? Well, here's what he told Steve Kroft on "60 Minutes" last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEVE KROFT, "60 MINUTES": What do you make of this surge by former speaker Gingrich?
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He is somebody who's been around a long time. And is good on TV. Is good in debates. And, you know, but Mitt Romney has shown himself to be somebody who's good at politics as well. He's had a lot of practice at it.
You know, I think that they will be going at it for a while. When the Republican Party has decided who its nominee is going to be, then we'll have plenty of time to worry about it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: And on Capitol Hill optimism is pretty high, even as time is short. This is the White House's countdown clock showing when the payroll tax cut will expire if lawmakers can't hammer out a deal. Now Democrats and Republicans cannot agree on how to pay for the cut, which saves the average American worker about $1,000 a year.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R), MINORITY LEADER: I believe that we should extend the payroll tax holiday another year. Avoid a tax increase on working people for another year. Also I agreed with Senator Reid, my counterpart, that we ought not to do it again next year.
Now we know that's an emergency package, coupled with an extension of unemployment with some reforms. But at the same time, Chris, we'd like to create some jobs.
(END VIDEO CLIP) PHILLIPS: All right. Kate Bolduan, it sounds like there's some agreement that exists here. So could this actually pass by the end of the year?
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'll tell you, Kyra, there has been a general thought on Capitol Hill throughout this latest battle that eventually Democrats and Republicans would come together to reach agreement to extend the payroll tax cut before the tax cut ran out.
But I should also say how to get there, to get to that point of agreement, has become increasingly more and more difficult to see over the past few weeks. Democrats, they want to extend the payroll tax cut and cut it even further for employees. Republicans, I should specify Republican leaders at least, want to extend the current payroll tax cut.
And in the House Republicans' proposal that was formally unveiled Friday, they also want to lengthen any extension with a provision to speed up approval of the Keystone Pipeline, which has -- let's be honest -- become the latest political football on Capitol Hill.
President Obama has said he will reject that, saying that it's unrelated and other Democrats calling it a poison pill. But House Republican leaders, they included that provision, Kyra, in order to win over more support from conservatives in the House, who at least until last week had been quite lukewarm to the idea of extending the payroll tax cut at all.
There have been Republicans who say they don't think it's good economic policy and they think at the same it's also draining money from Social Security. So all of this is coming together to kind of the bottom line to sum it up saying they are still fighting, they don't really see a path to compromise yet, although we are hearing from both leaders on both sides that they do want to extend the payroll tax cut in some way, shape, or form.
And it's not even getting to the big question of how are they going to pay for it, if they're going to pay for these tax cuts at all -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right. Kate Bolduan, following that for us from the Hill. Kate, thanks.
So what exactly did Mike McQueary really see in that Penn State locker room shower? Well, it depends on who you ask. What was considered key evidence in Jerry Sandusky's sexual abuse case is now getting a second look.
CNN contributor Sara Ganin actually broke that story for "The Harrisburg Patriot News." She's joining me now by phone.
Sara, what exactly did you find out?
SARAH GAMIN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR AND "PATRIOT NEWS" REPORTER: Well, Kyra, what we learned was that the night that McQueary stumbled into that locker room and stumbled upon something between Mike -- between Jerry Sandusky and a young boy, he went to his father's house seeking advice. And there was a man there who apparently heard the very first account from Mike McQueary of what happened.
And he says that he asked Mike McQueary several times, what did you see? And several times McQueary said he didn't see anything sexual, but he only heard some sexual noises and saw a young boy peer around the corner of the shower before a man's arm pulled him back and then Jerry Sandusky exited in a towel a few seconds later.
It is different than the handwritten statement that Mike McQueary gave to police in 2010. And it seems to be different than his grand jury testimony. And both of those cases, he says that he saw Jerry Sandusky clearly sodomizing a boy. And he goes into detail in his explanation. So attorneys for the two Penn State officials who are charged with perjury because the grand jury believed Mike McQueary over them are now saying that this is a huge break for their perjury case.
PHILLIPS: And I guess how exactly is that going to impact the case, and also Jerry Sandusky comes face-to-face with his alleged victims tomorrow, Sarah. Tell us about that as well.
GANIM: Well, you know, tomorrow, yes, it's a big day for the Jerry Sandusky case. And this is probably going to come up. But I think what we have to remember is that against Jerry Sandusky there are 10 cases, and this is just one of them. Against the two Penn State officials who have a hearing on Friday, this is, you know, the sole evidence is Mike McQueary. He's their key witness.
So you know, we do expect tomorrow could be a very long day in court. Jerry Sandusky is ging to be facing his accusers for the first time on the stand. But you know like you said, this is just one piece of what's going to happen tomorrow, or on Friday, this is going to be a much bigger deal.
PHILLIPS: We'll be talking a lot more. Sara, thanks so much for calling in.
Well, he saw his chance for freedom and he grabbed it. An American teen has been reunited with his mother after escaping from Islamic militants in the Philippines. Fourteen-year-old Kevin Lunsmann was kidnapped five months ago, but tricked them and actually got away.
Zain Verjee is here with details.
So Zain, how exactly did he trick his captors?
ZAIN VERJEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hi there, Kyra.
Well, it's kind of like a movie here. Basically he plotted his escape for a while and decided to run while the guards slept. So they all fell asleep at the same time. He saw his chance and he just took off and ran. He survived for days on candies and coconuts. And then he was found just walking around an area close to Basilan, which is actually known as the headquarters, the base of the Abu Sayyaf rebels, the militants there in the Philippines.
Listen to what a family friend had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEAN GOWEN, FAMILY FRIEND: It was the greatest day. I had just prayed and prayed, God, all I want for Christmas is Kevin to come home.
JUNE MARTIN, FAMILY FRIEND: To know that it's over for his family, number one, is just ecstatic. For our family. Oh, my goodness. I can't put into words. It is truly a Christmas miracle.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VERJEE: Christmas did come early. It was a miracle there for Kevin Lunsmann and his family. A lot of people captured by Abu Sayyaf rebels never make it out -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Now just remind our viewers how exactly this happened in the first place? And where does this situation go from here?
VERJEE: Well, this happened back in July. He was on vacation with his mother, and I believe another cousin of theirs, and then they were confronted by these rebels that kidnapped him and stuck him on a boat, and he wasn't seen again after that. So from here, he's going to be reunited again back in the U.S. I believe his family is from Virginia. So they're going to have a fabulous Christmas. And definitely he's been seen as a hero.
And we'll get more details of his story and his time in captivity. But for now, his family is saying they are just happy to have him home.
PHILLIPS: Zain, thanks.
Straight ahead, "Occupy Wall Street" protesters planning shutdowns of several ports in the U.S. We'll tell you where next.
And a big thumbs down for the company holiday party. We'll tell you what employees really say.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Checking stories "Cross Country" now.
A bizarre shooting rampage in Hollywood. In this amateur video you actually can see 26-year-old Tyler Bream randomly shooting at passing cars on Sunset and Vine. Three people were injured. Bream then turned his gun on police, and he was shot and killed. Police say they have no motive.
And from San Diego to Alaska, at least 25 "Occupy Wall Street" groups plan to block ports up and down the West Coast today. Their goal, shutting down global commerce. More bad news for former Penn State coach Joe Paterno. He fractured his pelvis after falling at home on Saturday, and doctors say he won't need surgery but will remain in the hospital. Paterno, who lost his job as the longtime Nittany Lions coach last month, is also battling lung cancer.
New details on the sexual abuse scandal that's rocking one of the nation's largest sports groups for American kids. We know now the amateur athletic union kick-started a criminal investigation of its former president and gave police the names of three accusers. Two of them spoke on ESPN last night.
George Howell is in Memphis.
So, what exactly did these men have to say, George?
GEORGE HOWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, good morning.
One of the men spoke anonymously to ESPN's "Outside the Lines." But Ralph West spoke on camera, claiming that he had been sexually abused by Bobby Dodd back in the 1980s when West was a teenager. At this point, we are looking into the timeline of events when this group got the information and what did they do with it.
And we basically got some information from the spokesperson who tells us that the group got anonymous emails, several emails, only identified by the name "Shrimp Breath". And that was on November 8th and 9th, and then, on -- rather November 7th and 8th.
Then on November 9th, they got an anonymous phone call messages. That's when they decided to hire a private investigator to look into the matter.
But I also asked Ron Sachs who has been hired to represent this group why it took so long to contact police. Take a look at what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RON SACHS, AAU MEDIA REPRESENTATIVE: There was no specificity about an individual that they could contact. No name, no phone number, no hard address, neither was there an offer in those emails or phone messages to be contacted. They did what they thought was responsible. In retrospect, anybody could arm chair quarterback and second guess it.
Perhaps if they knew more, they would have called the police sooner. They are very comfortable that they called the police when they believed they had adequate information to verify there was a need for a police investigation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOWELL: And, again, it is important to note that the AAU did contact police to let them know about these allegations again just days before that report aired on ESPN's "Outside the Lines."
We have a few back and forth here with Memphis police to determine exactly the thyme time they will talk about the investigation into the allegations. But again, we are hoping to speak to police and have some more information on that, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: So, George, what do you think? Were they influenced by what happened at Penn State and Syracuse? Is that why they come forward with these molestation allegations?
HOWELL: It's interesting. When you listen to the report, you get the sense that these men tried to basically forget about what happened back in the 1980s. But watching these things unfold at Penn State and at Syracuse University, clearly triggered a memory and that apparently is when they decided to start contacting the AAU, again, the beginning of November. And the AAU finally contacting police in December -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: George Howell, we'll follow it. Thanks.
Well, coming up, why company holiday parties might be bad for business. We're going to break down a new survey of employees.
And here are some folks that are pretty hard to miss. Coming up, we'll tell you why all these Santas are on the run.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: All right. Whoever said Santa needed a sleigh? We have a new pair of Adidas, Reeboks, I don't know.
What does Zain Verjee run in? Because that's what she should have been doing in Edinburgh, Scotland.
(LAUGHTER)
ZAIN VERJEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Well, where were you? You would look pretty good in one of these outfits, Kyra. You know, when you look at these pictures of everyone running dressed up as Santas, I have to say, it's all for a good Klaus.
Kyra, they were raising money for charity, basically, for kids who have life threatening illnesses. And they want one wish to come true, so these Santas were out there in Scotland running around about three miles or so in two major cities, Edinburg and Glasgow. And they had a Zumba artist come out and an instructor give them kind of a pre- run workout fitness thing.
But it was all for a really good cause. And a lot of kids are going to be really happy. But it's quite a sight. You have heard of the running of the bulls, but not the running of the Santas at the times like this, right?
PHILLIPS: Now, you just mentioned Zumba. I don't think everybody knows exactly what that is. You have to explain that -- combined with, did you do that and the run as well?
(LAUGHTER)
VERJEE: Kyra, Kyra, you know, I like exercise. Zumba is a particular kind of a dance and a rhythm. I believe it's from Latin America. I could be wrong here.
But I'm completely uncoordinated. I have never taken a Zumba class before. And frankly, as far as dressing up as a Santa goes, the only furry hat that I'm wearing these days, Kyra, is actually this one.
So I think it's a better look though, yes?
PHILLIPS: I tell you what, it's living in London and that whole influence of the queen and all her hats, Zain has taken it a whole new direction.
Thank you, Zain. Happy holidays.
(MUSIC)
PHILLIPS: Well, I don't know if she's going to be wearing a hat, but we are going to talk about the Dow jumping almost 200 points on Friday to wrap up the week.
Let's get straight to the New York Stock Exchange and Karina Huber is with us this morning.
Hey, Karina.
KARINA HUBER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Kyra. I wish I had a hat. You should have given me advanced warning. I would have brought --
PHILLIPS: How about a hat trick? Pull some good numbers out of your hat. That would be nice.
HUBER: Unfortunately I can't do that either, because unfortunately we are looking at a lower open this morning to take off the new week. We're looking for a drop of about 120 points on the Dow. And, again, as we have seen, the market driver remains Europe with concerns about their debt problems.
Now, initially, remember on Friday, the markets were happy with the proposals presented by E.U. leaders, and were happy some long-term solutions were being discussed. But the problem is, they didn't come up with a plan to tackle the short-term problems, i.e., those rising borrowing costs.
And, of course, another problem right now is the agreement discussed is expected to be finalized in March, and we know a lot can happen between now and then. On top of that, we got ratings agency Moody's, they're saying it still plans to revisit the ratings of all E.U. sovereign debt at the beginning of next year. That's a big part of why we're seeing some anxiety today.
No major headlines coming out of the U.S. to sway things. We are likely to see some red arrows at the open -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right. Well, a lot of employers think of the annual holiday party as sort of the ultimate reward to their employees. However, dot, dot, dot, fill in the blank, Karina.
HUBER: Well, I guess the story here is that, yeah, many people like to have that holiday party, enjoy a good time on the company dime. But the reality is, many employees would rather see that money being spent on other things.
A new survey out by Glassdoor.com and Harris Interactive rounds up the list of rewards workers would rather have instead of a holiday party. Number one on the list: no huge surprise here, a cash bonus. We know money talks. That's followed by a salary raise. And paid time off that doesn't count against vacation.
Now, other highlights on the list include being able to work from home for a year and a gym membership. Now, some workers do still want the holiday party, but they are saying give me an open bar too -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Why does that not surprise me? They always want the open bar. It was a rough year. Karina, thanks.
Well, Newt Gingrich as the front-runner, and his opponents on the attack.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. RICK PERRY (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If you will cheat on your wife, if you will cheat on your spouse, then why wouldn't you cheat on your business partner?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Our political gurus Roland Martin and Will Cain will weigh in next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Checking top stories now:
Former dictator Manuel Noriega is in Panama, spending his first night back in his homeland in a prison cell. The drug-running dictator from the 1980s was extradited back to Panama yesterday and was taken straight to prison to begin serving a 20-year sentence for murdering his opponents while in power. He is now 77 years old.
On Capitol Hill, both parties want to extend the payroll tax cut, but can't agree on how to pay for it. Republican leaders predict an extension before the January 1st deadline.
And Senator Charles Schumer is calling for the TSA to provide passenger advocates that would intervene if someone feels that security is patting them down in too much of an intrusive way. The call comes after four elderly women claim they were strip searched.
Right now, Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich hosting a town hall meeting in Londonderry, New Hampshire. Let's go ahead and listen for a moment.
(LIVE SPEECH JOINED IN PROGRESS)
NEWT GINGRICH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It won't be true 10 or 15 or 20 years from now. So you are living proof of the importance of our manufacturing days in our national security.
There's another thing, which is your adoption of leading Six Sigma, and the fact that you work constantly to have better output at lower cost is the model for the federal government. There is a group called Strong America Now, some 32,000 members in Iowa. And it's founded by somebody that helped (INAUDIBLE) Six Sigma, and started working with Boeing back in 1981.
And you know when you have continuous improvement every day, you find small things but each small thing adds up to another small thing, and all of a sudden, over time, you have saved a lot.
And I believe if we have a federal government which recognizes that the 130-year-old civil service model we now have is no longer effective in the modern world, and that we need to go to a continuous improvement metrics based system just like yours, where we're constantly looking for better value, taking waste out of the system, and having everybody participate.
The best new idea may come from the person actually doing it, not from some systems engineer who has never done it. And so, I think you are living proof that applying leading Six-Sigma can have a huge impact.
(END OF LIVE SPEECH COVERAGE)
PHILLIPS: Newt Gingrich speaking at Insight Tech there in Londonderry, New Hampshire, holding a town hall there, taking questions. We will continue to monitor that for you as he continues to rise in the polls.
All right. Let's go to this weekend's spirited Iowa debate, shall we? Mitt Romney is doing a little backpedaling for this comment.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Rick, I tell you what, 10,000 bucks, $10,000 bet?
PERRY: I'm not in the betting business.
ROMNEY: Oh, OK.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: CNN political analyst Roland Martin and CNN contributor Will Cain here, they are in the betting business. They bet on a lot of things, including who's going to do well and who's not.
All right, guys. Ten thousand --
ROLAND MARTIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Better not bet on the Cowboys.
PHILLIPS: You are a cowboy.
We had to predict this. All right. I'm going to try and keep Roland focused. Will, help me out.
Ten thousand dollars, guys. That's a lot of money, all right? The average American makes about $27,000 a year.
So, what do you think? Is this going to alienate voters as we are talking about it this morning? Roland?
MARTIN: Irrelevant story. No. I mean, look, we know Mitt Romney is a rich guy. Shocker. Shocker.
This is one of those nice things that Washington, D.C., and people on the blogs, they get all excited about. Everybody knows he is a rich guy.
And guess what? If you look at the financial forums of Perry, he can afford it. Newt Gingrich, he can afford it. Huntsman, he can afford it. So, it's really not that big of a deal to be honest.
Michael Jordan is probably saying, that's a small little bit.
PHILLIPS: Small a little bit. But what happened to those Mormon values, Will Cain? I thought they didn't gamble.
WILL CAIN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: What did you want him to say? I'm really confident that you're wrong, Rick. Or I'll make you a $10 bet.
Look, Roland and I come from the land of big bet. You go big or you go home -- $10,000 in Texas, it shows you're really, really confident that Rick Perry is wrong.
Hey, beyond that, let me say this -- Mitt is losing to newt because Newt is seen as the man with backbone and testosterone and the one that will take it to President Obama. I got to say, at least in this respect, Mitt looked like he had some testosterone, $10,000. Put it there.
PHILLIPS: Ooh, look at Roland. He's actually agreeing with you, Will.
MARTIN: Right. No, actually, Will is agreeing with me.
(LAUGHTER)
PHILLIPS: All right. Speaking of values, gentlemen, let's take a listen to Rick Perry.
MARTIN: That sounds like --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PERRY: A policy that puts a flat tax in place of 20 percent. If this country would -- if you will cheat on your wife, if you will cheat on your spouse, then why wouldn't you cheat on your business partner, or why wouldn't you cheat on anybody for that matter?
GINGRICH: I've made mistakes at times. I've had to go to God for forgiveness. I have had to seek reconciliation.
But I'm also a 68-year-old grandfather, and I think people have to measure who I am now and whether I'm a person they can trust.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: OK. That was an interesting moment. What do you think, Will? Newt's baggage compromised his chances in Iowa, Will?
CAIN: I think it definitely could. Look, I've got to tell you, Kyra, I have been a really sympathetic to supporting figure for the Tea Party from the very beginning. It's been this principled organization, movement for that matter towards constitutionalism and small government and free markets.
But Newt Gingrich's rise draws some really big questions. Why would Newt Gingrich satisfy any of those requirements? Option A, you know, Newt Gingrich, he doesn't hold any of the principles and values. He's never exhibited them.
It makes you wonder, what's going on here? Is it about style? Is it about Mormonism? What is going on to -- and it's certainly not about character, to embrace Newt Gingrich.
MARTIN: This is the perfect example, Kyra, of the problem that I think evangelicals are in. And that is they want to be very rigid when it comes to your marriage, when it comes to your family, talking about family values.
On the flip side, a big part of the Christian faith is forgiveness. And so, it is no shock that Newt Gingrich said what he had to say because he has put him in a tough position. Because he is basically saying, how can you hold it against me when your faith says, forgive somebody for their indiscretions?
And so, that's the challenge they're in. And so they are sitting here going, man, how do we respond to this guy? And so, it's a brilliant move by his part to really say what he had to say in the tone also was important.
PHILLIPS: Gentlemen, I appreciate you joining me this Monday. Thanks.
MARTIN: Go, Texas. Down with Cowboys, Will.
CAIN: I'm not a 12-year-old. I don't wear my jersey on TV.
PHILLIPS: Oh, boy. I'm going to go big, go home, and go to another story. Gentlemen, thank you.
MARTIN: Thanks so much.
PHILLIPS: Well, Iraq's prime minister will meet with President Obama just a few minutes from now. They are going to talk about how the two nations will cooperate in a new era without U.S. troops.
And all this week, CNN is going in-depth on the closing days of the Iraq war. Well, it might be over, but many of the American men and women who fought it will keep battling it in some way for years to come.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The mission objective is to hit the target.
PHILLIPS: Seven aircraft did drop bombs over Iraq.
(voice-over): Eight years ago, I was there when the Iraq war began.
(on camera): And the campaign is being called Shock and Awe.
(voice-over): From the air --
(on camera): You got it in your sights and then you drop the ordinance.
(voice-over): Land --
(on camera): The number of threats that the troops are dealing with.
(voice-over): And sea --
(on camera): There are five weapon stations on this Special Operations craft.
(voice-over): I met some of the bravest men and women I have ever known -- bravery that came at a physical and mental price.
(on camera): In one word, how would you describe the war in Iraq?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sacrifice.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Bittersweet.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mistake.
PHILLIPS (voice-over): These are veterans of Operation Iraqi Freedom, from the Army, Air Force, Marines -- all impacted in some way by this war.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: And next hour, you're going to hear from those men and women. They're going to talk about how the fight in Iraq became a struggle here at home. If they think the conflict was worth the sacrifices, and what advice they have for the thousands of troops coming home.
And you remember Shock and Awe, right? Well, this is the guy who led it, Admiral Timothy Keating. He's going to be right here in studio. And I'm going to ask him if this war was worth it.
I'm also going to follow up on a question I asked him just before the bombs fell.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIS: Are you concerned about weapons of mass destruction?
ADM. TIMOTHY KEATING (RET), U.S. NAVY: Sure.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: I will ask the admiral that question again and find out what he thinks about WMD right now.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: All right. Let's straight to your showbiz headlines.
Seems folks are too busy or maybe too broke to go to the movies these days. For the second week in a row, ticket sales slumped. In fact, this weekend's box office was the worst since September 2008.
Well, naked Lindsay Lohan coming to a newsstand near you. "Playboy" has decided to bump up its January issue with the actress on the covers after Lohan's photos were leaked online. It goes on sale Friday, just in time for the holidays.
And the American airlines pilot who booted Alec Baldwin apologized to the actor on "Saturday Night Live" -- wink, wink.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So let me get this straight. You, Captain Rogers, want to apologize to Alex Baldwin.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Mr. Baldwin is an American treasure. And I am ashamed at the way he was treated. I mean, what harm would it do to let him keep playing his game? Not any game, mind you, but a word game for smart people.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But, Captain Rogers, don't phones interfere with the plane's communication system?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You don't believe that, do you, Seth?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Baldwin's surprise appearance got big applause as you can hear from the audience. So far, no public reaction from the airline.
Well, from celebrities to some real stars over the weekend, CNN Heroes were honored and one was named hero of the year in our annual tribute.
A.J. Hammer has the scoop.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
A.J. HAMMER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Laughter, tears, standing ovations. It was a night of emotion and inspiration at Hollywood's famed Shrine Auditorium.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to "CNN Heroes: An All- Star Tribute."
HAMMER: Selected from more than 10,000 nominations, 10 remarkable men and women were honored for their extraordinary work. Like the wife of a fallen soldier who made it her mission that no military widow would feel alone.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I love you, Michael.
HAMMER: An American midwife who moved to Indonesia to run a free clinic for at risk mothers.
A former refugee who brings free recycled soap to needy communities around the world.
DERRECK KAYONGO, GLOBAL SOAP PROJECT: And who knows? You might help save a life.
HAMMER: A paralyzed man who brings the gift of mobility to others in need.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is nothing better than to serve God and help others.
HAMMER: And a grandmother from Chicago who takes kids off the street and gives them a chance.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Please don't give up on our young people.
HAMMER: And with the help of some of Hollywood's brightest young stars, CNN also honored three young wonders. Their battle for clean water and fight against hunger and homelessness proves that heroism has no age limits.
From the first moments on the red carpet --
ICE CUBE, ENTERTAINER: These are the real celebrities to me. You know, these are the heroes.
HAMMER: To the final announcement of the night.
COOPER: The 2011 CNN hero of the year is Robin Lim.
HAMMER: A global spotlight shined the light on 10 remarkable heroes, everyday people with big hearts and rock solid determination for changing the world.
A.J. Hammer, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: From the warehouse to your front door, FedEx is gearing up for a pretty busy day today.
Karina Huber joining us again from the New York Stock Exchange with more on what the shipping company has ahead of it this morning -- Karina.
HUBER: Yes, Kyra. Well, you know, hopefully, FedEx employees got a good night's sleep last night because they are going to be giving Santa a run for his money. The company is forecasting that today will be the busiest shipping day in company history. Now, FedEx expects to move more than 17 million shipments over the course of the day.
Now, just to give you some context, that is more than double the usual daily volume and it also marks a 1.5 million package increase over the same day last year.
As for rival UPS, it anticipates its busiest day will be December 22nd when it expects to move more than 25 million packages.
Now, why are seeing a year on year uptick? It's all about online shopping, which remained very strong in early December. According to a market research company, comScore, consumers spent almost $6 billion online last week alone. Now, that is a very good sign since the first week of December typically marks a lull in holiday shopping -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right. Karina, thanks.
Well, home improvement retailer Lowe's is in the hot seat after pulling their ads from a reality show about Muslim families. We'll explain.
And pretty incredible footage of that shooting rampage in the heart of Hollywood. We've got some input from a clinical psychologist, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Checking stories cross country now.
Home improvement giant Lowe's is sparking major controversy after pulling their ads from the TLC reality show "All American Muslim." The company says that they are quote "Sincerely sorry" and it yanked the ads because the show became a lightning rod for many political and societal views.
And a real Christmas Grinch stealing packages off front porches in Washington State. So homeowners installed a camera and actually caught the thief in action. The couple says they released this video in hopes of getting this guy once and for all.
And in Oregon, a family gave up trying to compete with their neighbor's picture perfect Christmas decorations, so they wrote the word ditto in lights with the arrow pointing to the house next door. They say the sign is to pay homage to all of their neighbors that work so hard.
Well we're learning more details now about Friday's terrifying shooting rampage in Hollywood. Amateur video actually shows the gunman pacing back and forth down the middle of Sunset Boulevard firing nearly 20 rounds at random. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my God. Are you all right? There's a madman just shot people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Well, the gunman, 26-year-old Tyler Bream, was killed by police. A motorist that he shot remains in critical condition. Clinical psychologist Dr. Jeff Gardere is joining us now.
So Jeff this guy's ex is now speaking out. So we know that this came after a recent breakout. But why choose suicide by cop? I mean, that's basically what happened here.
DR. JEFF GARDERE, CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST: Well, what she is saying is that she had dumped him pretty much, and he wasn't taking the break-up well. She says that at some point, he started taking some sort of pharmaceutical. We're not quite sure what that is or whether that may have played a part, even if he had taken that, in his really very strange behavior. I just --
(CROSSTALK)
PHILLIPS: Well Jeff, what kind of -- what kind of drugs would create such -- such an emotional state? I just want to follow up that you're making the point that he possibly could have been on something.
GARDERE: Yes. Kyra, what we do know is that there are certain anti-depressants for example anti-anxiety medications that have come with warnings, especially for adolescents, that by taking them if they don't have the right dosages or until the right dosage is figured out by the psychiatrist that it can actually cause some sort of suicidal behavior. And what we think that's about is that a child or in this case an adult might be overmedicated or may overmedicate themselves and become -- have a real impulse control issues or just have too much energy.
But obviously, to me, this is a person who may not have been diagnosed with having some severe emotional issues, and perhaps this break-up took him over the edge.
PHILLIPS: Well, there's a number of lessons learned from seeing this and having this discussion with you. Jeff, thanks very joining us this morning.
GARDERE: My pleasure.
PHILLIPS: Cincinnati and Xavier actually suspend eight players after a game-ending brawl. We'll have that story and NFL highlights straight ahead in sports.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: All right, stories making news.
Later today President Obama and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki will wrap up their meeting this morning with a news conference that's now scheduled for 11:35 Eastern.
At 2:00 Eastern a funeral service will be held for the Virginia Tech police officer who was shot to death on Thursday. Virginia's governor will deliver remarks there.
And Republican presidential candidates Newt Gingrich and Jon Huntsman are holding their own one on one debate. That's at 4:00 Eastern in New Hampshire.
We're following lots of developments in the next hour of the CNN NEWSROOM. Let's go ahead and check in first with Paul Steinhauser -- Paul?
PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Hey, Kyra. I'm here in Des Moines. Where the weather is cold but he the politics is definitely hot. And Mitt Romney is definitely taking it to Gingrich this morning. I'll have the details on what Romney is saying at the top of the hour.
ZAIN VERJEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hi. I'm Zain Verjee in London. There were major protests in Russia this weekend. It is a really big deal. I'll tell you what newspapers around the world are saying about it as well as about Vladimir Putin.
GEORGE HOWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm George Howell outside the Memphis police department where investigators are looking into allegations of sexual abuse by the former director of the AAU, the Amateur Athletic Union.
And these allegations state back to the 1980s. I'll have more on that coming up at the top of the hour.
PHILLIPS: All right guys, thanks. Also next hour we go in depth on the closing days of the Iraq war. Thousands of U.S. troops getting ready to come home for good. What battles await them at home? Well veterans already tell me it's been anything but easy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Seeing them deal with alcohol abuse, drug abuse, homelessness, that was the most difficult thing for me to see. I witnessed them save someone's life in Iraq and they can't save their own anymore? It hurt me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Well, Tim Tebow, he does it again. Now they're calling him the mile-high messiah.
JEFF FISCHEL, HLN SPORTS: Of course they are.
PHILLIPS: Down on that knee -- I'm telling you I'm starting to have renewed faith because of this guy.
FISCHEL: At some point you decide it's not shocking anymore, right? Week after week somehow the Broncos pull it out. He comes through the clutch again Sunday. The Broncos have now won six in a row. Denver is all alone in first in the AFC west.
For the first three and a half quarters against the Bears, Tebow was -- well, let's not sugar-coat it -- he was really bad. But then it got to be Tebow time. From then on he was flawless. Down 10- 0 just over two minutes left, finds Demaryius Thomas for a touchdown.
Then Tebow drove the team to a last-second field goal to get them into overtime and in overtime he did it again. This game-winning field goal from Matt Prater. Tebow is 7-1 as a broncos starter. They are in first place after the big 13-10 overtime win over the Bears.
The Green Bay Packers are still perfect. They released the hounds on the Raiders yesterday. This TD pass by Aaron Rodgers to Jordy Nelson. Rodgers has tied Brett Favre's franchise single season touchdown record with 39. Green Bay now three wins away from becoming the second 16-0 team ever. All that's left for the Packers -- the Chiefs, Bears and the Lions in the regular season.
A frustrated Patriots quarterback Tom Brady taking out an offensive coordinator and getting it back to Bill O'Brien. Yelling back and forth -- we can't show you what Brady's saying. This, how shall we say, difference of opinion happened on the sidelines during the game against the Redskins. Brady had just thrown an interception in the end zone in the fourth quarter.
The Patriots did pull it out. They made up at the end of the game. Little hug there. Patriots win, moving on 34-27.
A huge baseball controversy broke this weekend. National league MVP, Brewers outfield Ryan Braun is getting a 50 game-suspension for failing a drug test. But he's fighting it.
Braun reportedly tested positive for high levels of synthetic testosterone during the playoffs. Here's the thing, he's adamant that he did nothing wrong. He told "USA Today", quote, "It's BS". But a source tells the "New York Daily News", Braun's testosterone, they were so high those levels, the highest ever found by the test. We will be following this.
Cross-town rival Cincinnati and Xavier have each suspended four players from their basketball teams after this brutal brawl. The fight broke out in just the final second of Saturday's blow out win by Xavier. Cincinnati's Yancey Gates threw the big punch there. He gets a 6-game suspension. Afterwards Xavier started to talk about how his own teammates are a bunch of gangsters and Cincinnati was disrespecting them.
All of it was ugly. Fortunately, Holloway did later apologize. Cincinnati's athletic director says there will be zero tolerance for this going forward. Really not a pretty way to end a game. Generally speaking, a good rivalry between two teams that are right in the Cincinnati area. And really this one's just not pretty. And really not acceptable and I think both schools admit that now.
PHILLIPS: Yes, it's definitely not cool. But, you mentioned the Green Bay Packers are perfect?
FISCHEL: Yes.
PHILLIPS: Let me tell you, you just now have -- you just won over the entire Green Bay area and beyond.
FISCHEL: Right.
PHILLIPS: Your ratings just --
FISCHEL: Well, can I say the Indianapolis Colts are perfect in an entirely different way. Do they love me in Indianapolis now? I don't think so unless I remind them that they'll get Andrew Luck next year. But other than that --
PHILLIPS: Something about Green Bay fans though, you know that. You just scored some big-time viewers, Jeff Fischel.
FISCHEL: They are perfect but we do know, it could get interesting come playoff time. I think they will go 16-0. How about that? Do you love me now even more? You're going to go 16-0. But surely playoff time is going to be tough. Especially the Saints are playing really well. Talking of Saints, we'll have their highlights next hour.
PHILLIPS: You talk about two football teams with so much rich history. Such a comeback with the Saints and then, of course, you go back to the days of Vince Lombardi. Anyway, let's talk about that for a while.
Great to see you Jeff.
FISCHEL: Let's do it.
(CROSSTALK)
PHILLIPS: You got it. Talk to you later.
FISCHEL: See you.
PHILLIPS: All right.
