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At Least 150 Homes Lost in Arlington; Obama Hosts Easter Prayer Breakfast; First Lady on TV; Tornado Survivor Describes Panic; 209,000 Jobs Added in March; "I'm So Beautiful" Turns Ugly; Opening Night for Major League Baseball
Aired April 04, 2012 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Big rigs tossed like toys, roofs ripped off houses. Today the threat of severe weather returning.
Game on. The president this morning, sharpening his campaign. Mitt Romney quickly paving his own road to the White House as the GOP seems to get behind their man.
New salmonella fears. An outbreak along the East Coast. Spicy tuna sushi roll is the key suspect. What you need to know and watch for.
"I screwed up." Keith Olbermann, liberal loud mouth, hits the "Letterman" show. The former face of Current TV in the chair telling his side of the story but the question is, has he become the worst anchor in the world?
And teed off. Boys Club Augusta National and new calls this morning for women to wear the green jacket. Will a CEO named Virginia Rometty change the Masters course?
And play ball. Opening day 2012 is here, new stadiums, new lineups and new chances. Get your peanuts and crackerjacks and grab a seat. The first pitch just hours away.
But we begin in Dallas where the sun has been up for just about an hour and helicopters are providing some of the first aerial images of yesterday's destruction. As many as 13 tornadoes danced around the city, tore through the suburbs. So far no fatalities but emergency crews are now fanning out to see if anyone is trapped at the wreckage.
Today's "Dallas Morning News" describes the onslaught as "Fast and Fierce." The photo on the front page show as twister towering over a highway and surrounded by swirling debris. The "Star Telegraph" describes the havoc in north Texas as "A Day of Destruction." That image shows people surrounded by the rubble of what was once their homes.
CNN's Miguel Marquez is in Arlington Texas, where at least 150 homes were destroyed.
Good morning.
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. It's amazing how widespread this damage was. And still nobody was seriously injured or killed. There were a few in the hospital.
We are in front of one of these homes. It was a home of brick. Now it's pretty much a pile of bricks. That's a bedroom if you can't make it out right there behind me. And as you said, they are going through places like this. They -- in both Arlington and Dallas and across the area just to make sure that no one is trapped or injured.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
VINCENT TANG, TORNADO SURVIVOR: Look at that. Oh, my god.
MARQUEZ, (voice-over): Violent weather ripping across north Texas Tuesday, spawning tornadoes, high wind and baseball-sized hail. Fourteen thousand pound tractor trailers tossed like toys, power lines snapped, transformers flared like fireworks. Homes left in tatters.
GWEN DABBS, RESIDENT OF LANCASTER, TEXAS: Unbelievable. Unbelievable for it to come and do this much in short time.
MARQUEZ (on camera): How scared were you?
TANG: It's very scary. Super scared. I was scared in my entire life, never scared like this.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Indescribable.
MARQUEZ (voice-over): Hundreds of buildings sustained damage and tens of thousands of homes lost power. At Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, one of the world's busiest, hail pounded planes. More than 110 aircraft damaged, hundreds of departures and arrivals cancelled, some planes already in the air diverted to other airports.
Storm chaser Jason McLaughlin captured this dramatic video of a tornado touching down in Forney, Texas.
JASON MCLAUGHLIN, STORM CHASER: Just how violent the tornado was. It was just -- it was just -- I don't really know the words to describe it. It was so close and I was just seeing the debris of these homes just literally falling on my car, and just thinking about the homes and the lives and everything that's been -- that these people built up until this time. It's just destroyed just like that in a matter of a couple of seconds.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MARQUEZ: Now, a couple of these updates you want. The National Weather Service, they'll have teams out across north Texas today to try to determine exactly how many storms or tornadoes did touch down in the area and DFW, Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport is getting back up and running but the airport says they have cancelled at least 200 flights today.
So that's going to have ripple effects across the entire system. But flights are getting in and out but it pays to be wise and just keep up with your airlines -- Carol. COSTELLO: Good advice. Miguel Marquez reporting live from Arlington, Texas, this morning.
But we'll give you a better of just violent things turned in the Dallas area. This is a bird's eye image from Google Earth. It shows the violent storm swooping across the Dallas area and spinning off as many as 13 tornadoes. The trail of damage from beginning to end nearly 160 miles long.
Meteorologist Alexandra Steele is here.
Alexandra, why so many tornadoes at one time?
ALEXANDRA STEELE, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, the atmosphere just loaded. I mean this assault on tornadoes actually began last April, April 2011, the most prolific month for tornadoes in records -- on record. Seven hundred and fifty-eight tornadoes compared to 155. So maybe the dice were loaded in a way. We've got so much warm, moist air.
And you know the thing is, the atmosphere, all the ingredients atmospherically coming together to create in essence, you know, the perfect storm and you can see here are some of just the incredible pictures that we saw from yesterday. Dallas County, east of Dallas, this is some of the first video that we've seen come in in Lancaster, 15 miles south of Dallas really saw kind of the brunt of this. So it's just -- you know, it was incredible on so many fronts.
COSTELLO: I'll ask kind of a silly question. Why was Dallas spared? Just dumb luck?
STEELE: Providence really, dumb luck essentially. I mean just past 15 miles, where that line laid out. And when you see the line of tornadoes, it is on a diagonal, right, you can see it, from northeast just southwest. The line of tornadoes and where they spun up. Kind of move along an axis. Where we had all the best dynamics. The moisture from the south coming up, the warm front to the north, which is there today.
All the dynamics are the same. And also the jet stream that kind of powers our storms and moves us from west to east, and moves the storm, takes them in, takes them out, is not associated with this. It's kind of disconnected. It's farther north. So there's no highway to kind of move this on. So this upper level low that we have atmospherically is still there. The moisture is still there, the warm temperatures are still there.
The front is still there so everything is there but today the axis of evil, in essence, is a little bit farther eastward, not including Dallas, east of Dallas.
COSTELLO: Well, hopefully things will calm down weather wise. At least for this area.
STEELE: Yes. And of course the National Weather Service going out this morning. We'll have some preliminary reports tonight. And you know how those are done, whether it's an EF-2, EF-3 is after the fact. The tornado moves through. They go out, survey the damage, and the intensity and the type of structures that are ruined, be it a brick building. There you see, of course, that tractor trailer flying through the air. So they look at things, of course, what happened to the buildings, be it a wood building, be it a roof off to determine the intensity and thus giving it its scale, EF-2, 3, 4.
COSTELLO: Alexandra, thanks.
STEELE: Sure.
COSTELLO: Still ahead, a tornado touches down and a Texas man watches it as it churns toward his house. His video, his panic, his thoughts, this morning. We'll have him -- we'll talk to him live actually in just about 10 minutes.
Also this morning, we're getting our first look at the suspect accused -- accused in Monday's shooting rampage at a small Christian college in Oakland, California. Later today, 43-year-old One Goh faces arraignment on murder and kidnapping charges. He's accused of killing seven people at Oikos University because he was upset over being expelled.
And here comes more fallout from that big Vegas bash on the government dime. A Republican from Florida wants a House hearing on the topic. The General Services administration spent more than 800 grand on an employee conference back in 2010 complete with a mind- reader, a clown and commemorative coins. The GSA administration resigned and several employees were fired. Congressman John Mika says he hopes to hold a hearing in just a couple of weeks.
And British documentary claims Russian spy Anna Chatman nearly seduced a member of President Obama's Cabinet. The documentary quotes a top FBI official who says the bureau had to step in and warn the Cabinet member to cool it. U.S. officials are denying the story. The Cabinet member was not named.
It's looking more and more like a two-man race for the White House. For the first time this year President Obama mentioned Mitt Romney by name in a speech and Mitt Romney is now ignoring his Republican rivals and making it clear where his focus lies.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: President Obama thinks he's doing a good job.
(LAUGHTER)
I'm not kidding. He actually thinks he's doing a great job. He thinks he's doing an historically great job like Abraham Lincoln, and LBJ and FDR. And, no, he did not say that on "Saturday Night Live." All right?
(LAUGHTER) (END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: But Romney might not have reason to laugh. A "USA Today"/Gallup poll of registered voters find 49 percent would vote for President Obama, 45 percent would choose Romney.
President Obama is getting ready for an Easter prayer breakfast. He'll be making remarks in the next 20 minutes or so at the White House.
Brianna Keilar is there.
What do we expect to hear from the president?
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, this is something that the president has done every year since 2010. And if the past is any indication, we expect that he'll speak for a few minutes before a number of religious leaders -- there are top pastors from around the country, including evangelicals and Baptists. So he may acknowledge really the season since Easter is upon us and he might talk about a bible verse, and really it's just sort of a moment the White House says for prayer and reflection.
We'll be hearing a prayer not specifically from the president. I think the prayer that will be featured will be from one of the religious leaders and there's also a musical performance by a prominent Christian artist. But this is something the White House is kind of prides itself on because you've seen other religious ceremonies in past years under other administrations, Passover, Seders, for instance, but this, the White House will tell you, is the first time -- in 2010 that they have this faith celebration specifically for Easter -- Carol.
COSTELLO: OK. We'll get back to you later to find out what he says. His remarks should start about 9:30 Eastern Time.
Brianna Keilar, live at the White House.
Eating a healthy breakfast and exercising, those are right in the first lady's wheelhouse. She paid a visit to "The Biggest Loser" last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHELLE OBAMA, FIRST LADY: You all are showing millions of Americans that each of us can make positive changes in our lives, and these changes won't just make a difference for ourselves, they can make an impact on our families and children as well. So keep up the good work. You all are doing great and I'll bet you feel better, too. In fact, I'd love to hear about it in person. So will you all come here to Washington so that I can see just how far you've come?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Yes, they'll be there next week when Michelle Obama turns the West Wing into a gym and exercise area with cast members at the White House. The first lady has made several TV appearances lately. On Nickelodeon, on Jimmy Fallon and on David Letterman.
Speaking of David Letterman, the newly jobless Keith Olbermann went on Letterman show last night and said he screwed by taking the job at Current TV. The network canned him last week after months of drama. Olbermann has had several employers over the year. His job history was not lost on Dave.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID LETTERMAN, HOST, "LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN": Tell us -- tell us your story.
KEITH OLBERMANN, LIBERAL COMMENTATOR: How much time have you got?
LETTERMAN: How long ago did you leave MSNBC to go to the Current TV show? It's over a year, right?
OLBERMANN: I don't know. I have to consult my notes because after a certain point I can't keep track of where I'm working. I don't have any idea.
LETTERMAN: Well, that's why we had this made for you.
OLBERMANN: What have you got for me?
LETTERMAN: This is an adjustable -- right here, this is an adjustable business card.
OLBERMANN: Oh, that's brilliant.
(APPLAUSE)
LETTERMAN: There you go. It's all yours.
OLBERMANN: Thanks, Dave.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: That was thoughtful. Current TV is the network Al Gore co-founded, by the way. Current and Olbermann are feuding over the exact reason he was fired.
Still ahead, a tornado closes in on a Dallas suburb but a panic homeowner does not take cover, he takes pictures. We're going to talk to him after a break.
And if there's a so-called war on women going on, why are books and TV shows about bondage and submission so popular right now? We'll discuss later.
And the NFL and Nike team up for new team uniforms. Work it, guys. Aren't they looking sporty. We'll take a closer look at their new duds later.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Large tornado on the ground! Large tornado! Large tornado on the ground!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: This is heart-pounding video captured by storm chaser Jason McLaughlin. He spent much of yesterday afternoon racing across the Dallas suburbs to capture the latest touchdown. This tornado was in Kennedale. That's about 14 miles outside of Fort Worth.
Our next guest didn't go looking for the tornado. It found him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VINCENT TANG, LANCASTER, TEXAS TORNADO WITNESS: Look at the debris fly. Oh, my God! Please! Oh, shoot!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: That is Vincent Tang perched on his roof and watching the tornado destroy a nearby neighborhood. He joins us by phone. He's in Lancaster, Texas, this morning.
Good morning.
TANG (via telephone): Good morning, ma'am. How are you doing this morning?
COSTELLO: I'm good. I'm just glad you're OK. You were on the roof?
TANG: Yes, ma'am. I'm on the roof of my house.
COSTELLO: Didn't you feel scared that you were on the roof and you're shooting pictures of this huge tornado?
TANG: Not at all.
COSTELLO: You didn't? You're like Superman!
TANG: I don't feel scared anything at all. First of all, I thought it's not going to -- it's not going to come over to my house.
But actually, first of all, it's my ex-boss calling me from California, from Sacramento, California, and he said, "Hey, Vinnie, did you know that the tornado is going to touch down in your area?" I said, "Yes, I've prepared already." He said, "Good."
And after he told me the conversation over the phone and he hang up and the light went out. After the light went out, I go outside, I saw the debris flying and I ran back in to my house and grabbed a video camera and I ran on my rooftop.
COSTELLO: So when you saw this huge tornado in the neighborhood not very far from yours, you thought what?
TANG: I don't know. I don't think anything. I just grabbed the video camera and went up to my rooftop and I started recording, and then I saw amazing things flying on the air. I don't know, just screaming and yelling, screaming and yelling. Hopefully nobody get hurt, that's what I thought in my mind.
COSTELLO: It's just, you know, when you think about 16 tornadoes possibly touching down at once, all through the suburbs surrounding Dallas, like it's just hard to wrap your mind around, isn't it?
TANG: Yes, it is. It is hard to wrap my mind around. But, you know, at that moment I don't know what to explain to you. I just grabbed the video camera and ran on my rooftop and started recording, and around my house it's OK. I don't see any other tornado. I just saw one that hit really hard over my neighborhood area, probably about 1/8 of a mile from where I live.
It started to rip up some buildings and a shopping center and then go towards the house -- residential houses and after it's all done I'm scared. But when the actual tornado started, I don't feel scared at all.
COSTELLO: Oh, man, I'd be heading for my basement. I'm sorry, Vincent, but I would.
But thank you for sharing your pictures with us. We're glad you're OK and your house is OK. You know, we know how the tornadoes jump around. They jump from place to place.
Thanks, Vincent.
TANG: My pleasure to talk to you, ma'am.
COSTELLO: The fire ball lighting up the predawn sky off Malibu. That's actually someone's sail boat. It forced the L.A. County Fire Department to make a water rescue. The outcome, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: This news just in to us.
It was a tense trip for passengers on board a united play this morning. Flight 1727 was flying from Tampa to Houston when it ran into heavy turbulence over Lake Charles, Louisiana. The plan landed safely. Medical crews are now treating people. Of course, we'll have more information as it becomes available to us. But this was confirmed by the FAA.
Checking stories cross country now, look at this. It's a 60- foot sail boat burning brightly against the predawn sky off Malibu. Fireboats spent hours battling the flames. A team rescued at least one boater in the water. No serious injuries reported.
In New York City, a man dies after a huge construction crane collapsed last night. Another worker was seriously injured. Police say two long pieces of the crane broke free and fell. Several streets surrounding the accident were closed off as emergency teams responded.
The town of Winlock, Washington, is dealing with a big problem. A sinkhole nearly a block-long is disrupting traffic on the main road. The hole is big enough to swallow a car or small home. The town says it hopes to get state and county money to help pay for repairs which could take up to a few weeks.
Now is your chance to talk back on one of the big stories of the day. The question for you this morning, who is more radical, President Obama or the GOP?
It's obvious, campaign 2012 has begun. For President Obama, that means no more Mr. Nice Guy, especially when it comes to the Republican budget.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It is a Trojan horse disguised as deficit reduction plans. It is really an attempt to impose a radical vision on our country. It is thinly veiled social Darwinism.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Hey, you call me a socialist? I'll call you a social Darwinist?
But what exactly is a social Darwinist? Well, like Charles Darwin's Theory of Evolution, it means survival of the fittest, only on money-wise.
GOP front-runner Mitt Romney hardly disagrees, calling the president an out-of-touch liberal who's all about big government.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: In Barack Obama's government-centered society, the government has to do more because the economy is doomed to do less, because when you attack business and you vilify success, you're going to have less business and less success.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: We pretty much knew what the election would be about. It would pit rich versus poor. Obama says Republicans are so radical, even Ronald Reagan couldn't win the nomination today. On the other side, many Republicans have long called President Obama a socialist.
But there's an added twist. Now both sides are calling the other radical. So today's talk back question for you is kind of tongue in cheek. Who is more radical, President Obama or the GOP?
Facebook.com/CarolCNN. Facebook.com/CarolCNN. Please respond. We'll read some of your responses a little later on in the 9:00 Eastern Hour of NEWSROOM.
Coming up: Tornadoes ripped across north central Texas. We'll have the latest as stunned residents begin the big clean-up and emergency crews fan out.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Here are some stories we're watching right now in the NEWSROOM.
Texans are surveying the damage from a string of tornadoes. As many as 13 twisters touched across the Dallas region yesterday. Hundreds of homes are damaged and destroyed. But remarkably no deaths.
Right now, emergency crews are searching for anyone who may be trapped in the wreckage.
We're getting our first look at the suspect accused in Monday's shooting rampage at a small Christian college in Oakland, California. Later today, 43-year-old One Goh faces arraignment on murder and kidnapping charges. He's accused of killing seven people at Oikos University because he was upset ever being expelled.
And here comes more fallout from the big government bash in Las Vegas. A Republican from Florida wants a House hearing on the topic. The General Services Administration spent more than 800 grand on an employee conference in 2010, complete with a mind reader, a clown and commemorative coins. The GSA administrator has resigned, several employees were fired. Congressman John Micah hopes to hold a hearing in a couple of weeks.
New this morning, the private sector added 209,000 jobs in March.
Alison Kosik is at the New York Stock Exchange.
So, good news?
ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know what? If you ask Wall Street, they'll tell you they expected better, Carol. But, you know what? It's not all bad news.
Plus, you look at the report even deeper -- it shows that it's actually the second month that you're seeing the private sector add jobs above that 200,000 mark. Also January and February, the job gains were better than originally reported.
You want some more perspective -- take a look at this chart we put together. You can see job growth happening over the past year but the problem is it's been a lot spotty. Look at last May, 47,000 jobs. That's it. That's all that we've added in the private sector.
If you really want to see unemployment come down, you really need to see strong job gains consistently month after month.
Carol, it's part of the reason why expect the unemployment rate to stay where it is, at 8.3 percent when the big jobs report comes out on Friday -- Carol.
COSTELLO: I can't help but focus on the big Easter bunny ringing the opening bell.
KOSIK: Yes, Annie's. Annie's -- we all know the little bunny crackers. That's what that's about.
COSTELLO: OK, gotcha.
KOSIK: Yes, they went public last week.
COSTELLO: On a serious note, how is Wall Street reacting to news of the jobs report?
KOSIK: OK. Stocks are beginning lower. The Dow right now down 46 points just a few seconds into the trading day. It's more of a carryover over what happened yesterday when the Federal Reserve actually shook Wall Street's confidence.
What happened was policymakers said in their minutes from their March meeting that, you know what? They're not as enthused about putting more stimulus into the economy because they're optimistic about the committee.
And while that's good news, one analyst put it this way, saying that, you know what? The markets don't like the world when they don't have the Feds supporting them because, Carol, what's really happened is the market kid, has gotten addicted to the stimulus from the Fed and the Fed saying I'm backing off the bunch bowl at this point, so do you -- Carol.
COSTELLO: All right. Alison Kosik reporting from "The New York Exchange."
You've probably heard there's a war on women going on right now. Those words usually come from the left aimed at the right. Well, it's about reproductive rights and Planned Parenthood stoking the fire.
But one well-known conservative is saying, wait a minute, if women are so defensive about their rights, why are they buying up books that portray them as sex objects? Look at the top book on Amazon right now -- "Fifty Shades of Grey "is a about a young woman who submits to the sexual whims of sadists, which changed the whole nine yards.
Bill Bennett, a CNN contributor and host of the national radio talk show, "Morning in America," is joining us.
Welcome.
BILL BENNETT, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Hi, Carol. Not for children's section.
COSTELLO: Not for children. I guess we should issue a warning but we're not going to get that racy.
BENNETT: Yes.
COSTELLO: You do have a column on CNN.com that talks about how this kind of stuff debases women. You even cite something Maureen Dowd wrote in "The New York Times."
She writes, "In a season when Rick Santorum and other conservatives are on a tear trying to debase women, it natural to wonder why women are thronging to the story of an innocent who jumps into the arms of a Seattle sadist with a 'Red Room of Pain' full of chains, clamps, whips, canes, flogs and cuffs, falling in love to the soundtrack of the Police's 'King of Pain'."
You know, it gave me pause because you're agreeing with something Maureen Dowd wrote?
BENNETT: You're right. You're exactly right. Earlier, I heard you talking about Romney and Obama going back and forth, a lot of opposition these days.
What struck me is how much I agreed with two columns in the "New York Times," doesn't always happen to me for me, Carol. One, Maureen Down, and other Frank Bruni, both on the same point -- very interesting on the same day in the "Sunday New York Times" about women, one in a TV show called "Girls" and the other in this book that you mentioned.
And they both draw a portrait which is very unattractive and suggest that maybe some of the after-effects or perhaps distortions of liberation and feminism have led some women, many women, down the wrong track. Why so much interest in this notion of submission, of being dominated by men? As Bruni says in his article, is this what feminism was fought for, so girls can be in positions where they're beaten and dominated and seek out these situations?
I don't think so. I don't think that's what this otherwise worthy revolution was fought for.
COSTELLO: Well, Bill, I will say -- a lot of my friends have read that book, "Fifty Shade of Grey," and they're not into that, all of that. It's a fantasy for them. And this sort of book has been around for years. This is just a rewrite of books of the past.
Isn't it just a sexual fantasy and that's all it is? I mean, couldn't you make that argument?
BENNETT: If that's all it is, then that's all it is. If it's merely a matter of fiction, then fine. Maureen Dowd talks about the "Story of O," a book she read when she was a little girl and then quickly closed, you know, and ran away.
The question is: is it a matter of fiction? I've already had reaction to my article, saying it's more than fiction, and this thing is being lived out in some places and it is a signal being sent to young women and sadly to young men as well.
COSTELLO: So you really believe this is being played out a lot?
BENNETT: Yes, I do. I don't know -- I don't know about a lot. But if you have this TV show out there which is being run to, if you have these books which are being bought, you can be sure that people somewhere are playing out their fantasies.
Dowd says in her article that the people are getting a lot of encouragement to act out these fantasies and that in places across America it is being acted out. Now, I don't know whether it is or not. I don't go knocking on doors and asking people.
But as a signal to send to young men or women in a this is what sexual satisfaction is about, this is what the relation of sex is about, something has gone dreadfully wrong, if this is the message that's being sent, whether it's actually being lived out or just being idealized. Either way it's a real problem.
COSTELLO: OK, Bill. So, people can read your column on CNN.com/opinion.
BENNETT: Right.
COSTELLO: We want to get the other side, too, because I think some women are saying, come on. He's a conservative. He's a man. What does he know about women's sexuality? Give me a break.
BENNETT: I was quoting liberals. I was quoting liberals.
COSTELLO: I get it. I get it. We still want the other side.
BENNETT: OK.
COSTELLO: Bill Bennett, thank you so much.
BENNETT: Thank you, Carol.
COSTELLO: Bill mentioned there's a new series on HBO about women submitting to the fantasies of men. Exactly one female character in that show submits. It's called "Girls."
Here's a clip.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My circumstances have changed and I can no longer afford to work for free.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When you get hungry enough, you're going to have to figure it out.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You mean like physically hungry or hungry for the job?
I calculated and I can last in New York for three and a half or four more days, maybe seven, if I don't eat lunch.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Shelby Knox is a feminist organizer.
Welcome, Shelby.
SHELBY KNOX, FEMINIST ORGANIZER: Thank you.
COSTELLO: Did you man and to catch Bill Bennett?
KNOX: I did. And, you know, I think that it's interesting when we talk about women and what feminist has wrought. We're still having conversations where men are deciding what is going on with women's sexuality. So, I'm happy to be here to provide a women's perspective.
COSTELLO: Well, is he right? I mean, this HBO series, "Girls," it's like a critical darling. People says it the best thing since, oh, "Sex and the City." It does provide a bleak outlook on sex and relationships between men and women.
KNOX: I actually don't see it that way. Lena Dunham, 25 years old living in New York. I'm 25 living in New York, so maybe I have a different perspective than a lot of people.
But I think she's saying, in truth, sex is complicated and it's very difficult to navigate not only our sexuality but our lives as young women. So, I don't see this as a desperate portrayal for something of despair. But it's saying, look, young women are going out into the world, they're facing sexism. They're facing a culture that tells them they have to be sexy, but if they demand reproductive rights, they're sluts. They know that if they get raped, people are going to blame them.
I think she's taking a real look at how young women are still struggling to navigate how to be a woman in society and that includes complicated nuance, sexuality. And sex has always been complicated. That's not news.
COSTELLO: Frank Bruni of "The New York Times," he writes about "Girls," too. And this is what he said, he was talking to the creator of the show "Girls."
"She said that characters in 'Girls' to some extent think that the way to be happy is to have the markers of adult life, including an ongoing sexual relationship with a man. And they don't necessarily understand that you have to pick the right one and spend a little time floundering. It's not just about having the thing, the quality of the actual thing itself matters."
KNOX: Yes. I mean, absolutely. But I think that that's not what girls think, that's what culture tells us, that we have to have a man and going back to "Fifty Shades of Grey," this idea of the eroticization of male domination, that women wanted older, richer man. That's not new. That's the stuff of fairy tales. That's what we're told we're supposed to have.
So, when girls go out into the real and they go, well, that's not what makes me happy. I'm looking for something different. I'm hoping that show "Girls" on HBO is showing that there are different avenues for women to navigate and different ways to find what's good for themselves.
COSTELLO: So Bill Bennett might say, you know, young women -- not happy anymore, they're not getting married. The family is a thing of the past, where are we headed, we're headed toward a destruction of a culture that we've always known. And it's because young women have this idea that sex is for free with no attachments and that's where feminism has really led us.
KNOX: Yes. That wouldn't shock me if Bill Bennett said that. But, in fact, I think that this is where feminism has led us. We have been told by the media that feminism is dead, it did its job and we are completely equal and there are no barriers for us in the world.
We go out into the real world, we find sexual double standards. We're still not getting paid as much and we realize that everything is a little bit more complicated than the media pundits and the stuff that we read and write wants to us think.
And so, I think that this sort of -- this new show is really showing how that's complicated and how young women have a new take of how we're going to make the feminist dream come true and how we're going to find sexual happiness for ourselves, how we're going to find life happiness for ourselves. And I can tell you that it's going to be us and women like Lena Dunham, instead of men like Bill Bennett who decide what the future of women is.
COSTELLO: Shelby Knox, thank you so much for joining us this morning.
KNOX: Thank you.
COSTELLO: The co-creator of one of the network TV's top comedies is not laughing about this. He made a comment about business in the women world, and now he's trying to live it down. That's next in showbiz headlines.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The Dothraki are the kind of a wandering tribe in this kind of imaginary world that George R.R. Martin wrote in his book he's created. They're first and foremost warriors.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We took the tribe from George Martin's bestselling series. And in George's books, the Dothrakis speak their own language and we thought we could create that fictional language for a few lines and we tried to do that and it sounded like gobbledygook.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's where I came in. I created the language for the Dothraki and worked as a translator on the show.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The guys are a little bit skeptical. But once we actually got the Dothraki language that David Peterson created and we saw the actors performing the lines, there was no question. It made a huge difference in those scenes.
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COSTELLO: The show is called "Two and a Half Men." And no doubt the co-creator of the CBS comedy should have stuck to that subject. Instead, he branched out with a few choice words about women. And, boy, is he apologizing and not quite in a right way.
A.J. Hammer, host of "Showbiz Tonight," is here to tell us all about it.
A.J. HAMMER, HOST, SHOWBIZ TONIGHT: Yes, he's trying, Carol.
Lee Aronson feeling some justifiable heat this morning. The "Two and A Half Men" co-creator was speaking at the Toronto Screenwriter Conference and first offended how the women on his show are depicted by saying this, "We are centering the show on two very damaged men, what makes men damaged? Sorry, it's women. I never got my heart broken by a man."
But wait, there's more. He then followed that up by criticizing the current crop of sitcoms featuring women, telling "The Hollywood Reporter," "Enough ladies, I get, you have periods." Adding that these shows have reached a saturation point, but his exact quote used a few choice references of the female anatomy that I will not repeat here.
Understandably women in Hollywood didn't take that well. Martha Plimpton as a matter of fact who stars in "Raising Hope" took him on through Twitter and the topics started trending on Twitter as other people started suggesting female sitcom titles with the hash tag, "Lady Sitcom".
Now Aronsohn apologized on his Twitter feed saying, "He was trying to be funny, it was a bad joke." I should point out his resume as a writer and producer includes comedies like "Grace Under Fire", "Cybil", "Murphy Brown". Obviously he's not against female sitcoms in general that's no excuse. He just used a poor choice of word, Carol. in criticizing these current shows and I have a feeling he is deeply regretting those words today.
COSTELLO: Can't we all just get along?
HAMMER: I know.
COSTELLO: Yes, yes. A.J., thanks. A.J. will back with us in the next hour for more "Showbiz Headlines". He'll have the story behind one of the favorites getting voted off "Dancing with the Stars". It was a surprise for a lot of folks.
We'll be back.
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COSTELLO: A columnist for Britain's "Daily Mail" newspaper took up the subject on the advantages of being, in her words, "So very, very beautiful". That set of a blizzard of e-mail and Twitter comments that quickly turned ugly.
Zain Verjee has that story from London and this is one of the weirdest things I've ever heard.
ZAIN VERJEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: It's weird. I mean, why hate me for being beautiful, Carol? Now, those aren't my words. Those are the words of Samantha Brick and this is the headline in the newspaper today in "The Daily Mail." She's had some major backlash for saying something like that.
Let me just give you a quote of her article. She said this Carol, "While I'm no Elle Macpherson, I'm tall, I'm slim, blonde and I'm often told, a good looking woman, I know how lucky I am. But there are down sides to being pretty, the main one being that other women hate me for no other reason than my lovely looks."
Now Carol, you're a beautiful woman. I mean, you know, how do you feel about this? I mean, let's just -- it's true, that's true and you know she talk -- then talks about the pros and the cons. And she's like you know I get free champagne from men, free cab rides, train tickets but I'm never asked to be a friend's bridesmaid and there are so many jealous bosses and friends and she has to downplay her attractiveness with ugly clothes.
So ever since she's written this, she's been a top trend worldwide. There have been so many mean, nasty, horrible comments written about her. And she said that the last 24 hours have been the most horrendous of her life.
Let me just give you three examples. One guy says "Hilarious. I wish I had such an inflated view of my looks. Someone, please tell me it's a spoof."
Someone else says, "I've heard of beer-goggles. Samantha Brick would appear to possess a beer-mirror."
And then someone else talked about how it just made violent sexist bile fuel remarks and said, "It worked. What an ugly light the whole thing shines."
You know, I feel pretty strongly about this, Carol. I mean, you know, someone says she's beautiful and then everybody trashes her for feeling good about herself and you know she's not a conventional beauty. But, I mean, it's just something -- we spend so much time building up young women to feel confident and empowered about themselves and then someone actually says hey, look at me I'm really beautiful. Then we trash them.
COSTELLO: Well, I will say that this thing that -- the thing that got me, really was that other women didn't want her to be their friends because they were so jealous and envious of her that they wouldn't even ask her to be in their wedding. I mean come on.
VERJEE: Yes I know.
COSTELLO: Can't we just get over that part of that conversation. I have great women friends. It's like silly.
VERJEE: Well -- well, right. Right and it was just these awful things on Facebook that she was reading. And the whole point of this isn't just to say she's the hottest thing in the world, but she was doing this as an experiment to say you know what; it's women who are the most critical of other attractive women.
And so she is saying today, you guys have all proved me right. All the 5,000 really crappy things about her that have been written by women, you know, she's just saying that this was an experiment to see. You know, but look, you know the majority view is that she's not confident about herself. She's being arrogant about herself.
So that's what most people think but I don't agree with that, I think if a woman thinks she's beautiful, then ok, let her think that. Like do we have to trash it?
COSTELLO: I think we've solved all of women's problems in this hour of NEWSROOM on CNN. We've talked about women's issues from every angle. We're all going to get together and we're going to go out for a big old drink.
VERJEE: You're gorgeous.
COSTELLO: All right, thank you Zain.
You know what tonight is, right? It is opening night at -- it's opening night the old ball game. The 2012 season is upon us, officially, if you can get some hot dogs and apple pie to make it all complete.
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COSTELLO: We asked you to "Talk Back". This question today: who's more radical, President Obama or the GOP? And let me tell you the Facebook page is exploding. I'll read you a couple of comments.
This one says "Obama is more radical. He just hides it under good speaking skills. He won't do a budget because he does not want us to know how much he's spending and on what and how much he's losing."
This from Sharon, "Definitely the GOP. They're totally out of touch from reality."
This from Terry, "Obama is much more radical. We need someone in the White House that has respect for the constitution and who can bring people together. We need a person who can inspire people to succeed instead of create reliance on the government."
And this from Neil, "With the GOP's attacks on women and worker's rights, they are becoming America's new Taliban." Please.
Continue the conversation, facebook.com/carolCNN. Like I said, I think we have over a thousand comments already.
We're following a lot of developments in the next hour of the CNN NEWSROOM. Let's check in first with Brianna Keilar.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning Carol. President Obama has welcomed religious leaders to the White House for a prayer breakfast ahead of Easter. I'll tell you why he called it "the calm before the storm" at the top of the hour.
ALEXANDRA STEELE, AMS METEOROLOGIST: And I'm Alexandra Steele. Well, the threat is far from over. Severe weather threat today. I'll tell you where it is coming up at the top of the hour.
PATRICK SNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And I'm Patrick Snell at Augusta National for this year's Masters' is this the year that the club publicly announces a first-ever female member? We may know a little later. A lot more in the next hour.
COSTELLO: Interesting. Thanks to all of you.
And more kids -- young adults I should say between the ages of 25 and 35 are now still living with their parents. Is that lame? Well, according to time.com's Brad Tuttle it's awesome, it's cool. We're going to tell him to explain that at 10:40 Eastern.
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COSTELLO: Have I told you I love baseball? The boys of summer get cracking tonight. It's opening night for Major League Baseball. The defending World Series champions, Cardinals, they'll play the Marlins in Miami. The Miami Marlins now. The Marlins are breaking in the brand new ballpark.
The "Sun Sentinel" in South Florida reports the average resale price on a ticket for tonight's game is more than $229. Baseball's official opening day is tomorrow. Of course I'll be watching Detroit versus Boston and the Tigers will win.
Not many people can say they're perfect, but the Baylor Lady Bears can this morning. The team won the NCAA women's basketball championship last night and made history finishing the season with 40 wins and no losses. Baylor beat Notre Dame 80-61.
The starter, Britney Griner had 26 points and 13 rebounds. They become the 7th women's team to finish with a perfect undefeated --
