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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Protests in the Middle East; New iPhone to Hit Stores Today; Endeavour to Arrive in California Today; Spain Working on Bailout Plan; President Speaks To Latinos
Aired September 21, 2012 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ZORAIDA SAMBOLIN, CNN ANCHOR: Bracing for the worst. Embassies close overseas amid more protest in the Muslim world.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Pulling ahead. New poll numbers show the President ahead in three key swing states.
SAMBOLIN: Counting down. Take a look. Live -- we don't have a live look for you. Too bad. But we will. The new iPhone goes on sale in just a few hours. Such anticipation for this moment, right?
BERMAN: That's right. We have live pictures. Don't you see? Very excited people standing outside in the dark for no reason.
(LAUGHTER)
SAMBOLIN: No, for very good reason.
BERMAN: Or good reason. Depending on how you look at it.
SAMBOLIN: Yes, absolutely.
Good morning to you. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm Zoraida Sambolin.
BERMAN: And I'm John Berman. It is 5:00 a.m. in the East.
But up first, countries around the world right now are bracing for Muslim protests over that French cartoon and an American film, they say, offends the Prophet Muhammad. U.S. embassies in several countries are closed as a precaution including one in Jakarta and Indonesia.
Demonstrations have intensified in recent days from Iran to Afghanistan to Pakistan. And in that country, the U.S. is starting to air an ad denouncing the controversial film "Innocence of Muslims."
CNN's Reza Sayah is live in Islamabad this morning. Good morning -- Reza.
REZA SAYAH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John. We expected to see protests in Pakistan today. We didn't expect to see them this early. But that's what happened. They started early this morning. Violence in the northwestern city of Peshawar. Protesters mostly teenagers setting afire two cinemas. Hospital officials telling us at least two dozen people have been injured in the first reported fatality. The driver of a news van reportedly shot to death.
That's the violence we've seen already. And there could be more to come.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SAYAH (voice-over): In Pakistan, deepening concern for an explosive day of protests. For the second Friday in a row, hard lined religious groups have called for anti-Western demonstrations on a day declared by Islamabad as a National Day of Love for Islam's Prophet Muhammad. By 9:00 a.m. local time, small groups of protesters had already torched toll booths, looted stores and clashed with police in several cities.
Friday's demonstrations come a day after hundreds of protesters, many young men in their teens and 20s tried to storm the capital's diplomatic enclave. A secured compound that houses foreign embassies.
In Karachi, Pakistan, several teachers led roughly 100 elementary schoolchildren on an anti-American demonstrations. The teachers chanted slogans against the West. The students chanted back. The demonstrations have been small but growing in number and intensity. Both Islamabad and Washington taking extra steps to ease the rising anger.
On Friday morning, cell phone service in parts of Pakistan was cut off. An apparent effort to hamper the rallies. On Pakistan's radio and television airways in ads paid for by Washington featured President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton calling for calm.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Since our founding, the United States has been a nation that respects all faiths. We reject all efforts to denigrate the religious beliefs of others. But there is absolutely no justification to this type of senseless violence.
HILLARY CLINTON, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: The United States government had absolutely nothing to do with this video. We absolutely reject its content and message. America's commitment to religious tolerance goes back to the very beginning of our nation.
SAYAH: Elsewhere in Iran, a senior cleric reportedly upped the bounty for the killing of author Salman Rushdie whose book, "The Satanic Verses", sparked global protest more than two decades ago after the late Imam Khomeini declared it an insult to Islam.
SALMAN RUSHDIE, AUTHOR: Yes, there's this stupid film. You know? And the correct response to a stupid film on YouTube is to say it's a stupid film on YouTube but you get on with the rest of your life. So to take that and to deliberately use to inflame your troops is a political act. It's not about religion. That's about power.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SAYAH: When asked why the Pakistani government called for a national holiday today, many ways inviting protesters out on the street, the foreign minister of Pakistan told CNN the government had to address public sentiment, John. And I think it's already a decision that's been criticized by many.
BERMAN: Thanks, Reza. Reza Sayah in Islamabad this morning. Thank you.
SAMBOLIN: The State Department fending off accusations this morning that it failed to properly secure the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi despite a host of red flags. The U.S. ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens and three other Americans, as you know, were killed in an attack on the consulate last week.
Senior State Department officials telling CNN there were a lot of concerns about a rise in Islamic extremism in Benghazi. And that a recommendation to close the consulate never got passed up the chain of command.
Meantime, the Obama administration finally conceding the attack was an act of terrorism. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announcing the formation of a panel to investigate how it happened.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
H. CLINTON: There are obviously very real challenges in these new democracies, these fragile societies. But as I said last week, the vast majority of the people in these countries did not throw off the tyranny of a dictator to trade it for the tyranny of a mob.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAMBOLIN: Sources have told CNN Ambassador Stevens mentioned being on an al Qaeda hit list in the weeks right before he died. Secretary Clinton says she doesn't believe there's any basis for those reports.
BERMAN: You can close the book on the U.S. troop surge in Afghanistan. It began three years ago when President Obama sent in 30,000 additional troops to neutralize the Taliban resurgence. The last several hundred of those surge troops have now shipped out. That leaves about 68,000 U.S. personnel still stationed in Afghanistan.
SAMBOLIN: Election Day less than seven weeks away now. And it looks like President Obama is pulling ahead of Mitt Romney in three critical swing states. In Wisconsin, which is Paul Ryan's home state, the latest NBC/"Wall Street Journal"/Marist poll has the President five points ahead among likely voters, 50 percent to 45 percent. It's the same story in Colorado. The President outpolling his GOP rival, 50 percent to 45 percent. And his lead in Iowa is even a bit more impressive here. Likely voters in the Hawkeye State favoring the President by eight points, 50 percent to 42 percent.
President Obama fielding some tough questions about immigration reform when he took part in a live online forum yesterday held by Univision yesterday. One of the hosts even insisted he acknowledge that he has failed to keep a campaign promise to push reforms through in his first term.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: My biggest failure so far is we haven't gotten a comprehensive immigration reform done. So we're going to be continuing the work on that.
(APPLAUSE)
OBAMA: But it's not for lack of trying or desire. And I'm confident we're going to accomplish that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: The President said he takes full responsibility for the slow pace of immigration reform, admitting that he has been sidetracked by the economy during his first term in office.
So how did it go for the two candidates at the Univision forum? Did anyone make inroads with Latino voters? In the next half hour of EARLY START, we'll talk to a woman who was there for it all with a lot of opinion, Republican strategist Ana Navarro.
BERMAN: Ann Romney getting involved in the race again. She has something to say about her husband's conservative critics, the message is, stop it. The wife of the GOP nominee telling a radio interviewer that anyone who has a problem with her husband should get in the ring because, quote, "it's hard."
Several high-profile conservatives had blasted Romney this week after his 47 percent comments about the President's supporters were released. The would-be first lady is insisting her husband didn't say what he meant.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANN ROMNEY, WIFE OF MITT ROMNEY: He really do listen to everything that he does say. He's talking about where we're -- what we're facing in America right now. That we're facing some really difficult situations and if we don't take corrective measures soon, that more and more people will become dependent on government. And that is not what he wants.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: Ann Romney went on to say he tried not to let the criticism of her husband sink in and she hopes Americans realize how lucky they are to have someone with her husband's qualifications and experience to get an opportunity to run the country.
SAMBOLIN: And a new look for the suspect in the movie theater massacre in Colorado. Take a look at your screen. James Holmes has lost the shaggy orange-dyed hair he wore the night of his arrest outside the showing of the "Dark Knight Rises" in Aurora in which 12 people died.
At the hearing, prosecutors abandoned their effort to obtain a notebook Holmes sent to a university psychologist right before the shooting.
BERMAN: Silly eyes (INAUDIBLE) right there.
SAMBOLIN: Yes.
BERMAN: It is the final mission nearly complete. The shuttle Endeavour en route to retirement in Southern California. It did a loop over Tucson, Arizona, yesterday, home of Gabby Giffords and Mark Kelly, who was Endeavour's last commander.
Today the shuttle flies from Edwards Air Force Base in California to Los Angeles before landing at LAX this afternoon. It will do a flyover of downtown L.A. and Hollywood. That will be fun.
SAMBOLIN: And how will the weather be for that? Meteorologist Alexandra Steele is keeping tabs on the forecast for Endeavour's final trip. Good morning.
ALEXANDRA STEELE, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning to you guys. The first and last time ever to fly over the Southland, so here's the trip. In Los Angeles, in California today, hot, warm, dry, so no problems weatherwise to get out and look.
8:15 we're going to see it leave Edwards Air Force Base, about an hour after it was scheduled originally to leave. In the 60s, no chance of rain. By 9:30 getting to Sacramento, San Francisco, then coming back southwest, 10:15, and then winding up in Los Angeles at around 11:30. And then landing in LAX about 12:30.
So if you want to go take a peek, we're going to see it leave Edwards Air Force Base at 8:15, fly over Palmdale and Mojave and then fly by Sacramento, including the capitol building, so beautiful viewing there. 10:15, San Francisco, the Golden Gate Bridge, the Bay Area Discovery Center, the museum potentially, the aquarium and Berkeley as well. Then fly over the Southland at 11:30, land in LAX.
So the weather - warm, sunny, no problems. Biggest story, the cooldown coming. Coldest air of the season, guys, coming into the upper Midwest. By Sunday, it makes its way to toward the Mid- Atlantic, including Baltimore and Washington.
SAMBOLIN: All right. Thank you very much, Alexandra.
BERMAN: It is 10 minutes after the hour right now. And while you were sleeping, these people, say what you want about them. Well, they were waiting up all night --
SAMBOLIN: Can you see it?
BERMAN: All night outdoors. It's still dark. There are people lining the street. This is a live picture from New York City. Why are they there? The iPhone 5 goes on sale --
SAMBOLIN: Well, of course.
BERMAN: -- later this morning. So it's a good reason to go sleep on the street, apparently. We'll have more on this, coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BERMAN: Welcome back to EARLY START, everyone. Fourteen minutes after the hour. I'm John Berman.
SAMBOLIN: I was just talking to Christine on the side there. I'm Zoraida Sambolin. Thanks for being with us this morning.
The new iPhone 5 hits stores today and people are already lining up.
BERMAN: It goes on sale at 8:00 a.m. on the East Coast. People are lining around the world for Apple's latest smartphone. You know it, the iPhone 5. Christine has all the details and also how much it costs to make an iPhone.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: You know, it's got a cult following, the iPhone. I will be honest. I one time stayed up all night for Billy Joel tickets in college.
SAMBOLIN: This is what we've been talking about --
(CROSSTALK)
ROMANS: We never have done it since.
SAMBOLIN: Yes. We were having that discussion. What would you wait in line for?
ROMANS: I know --
SAMBOLIN: Would this be it?
ROMANS: Look --
BERMAN: Apparently Billy Joel.
ROMANS: Thousands of people waiting in line for their very latest take on the -- the iconic iPhone 5. I want to show you Tokyo. I want -- in the rain, people waiting for a long time in Tokyo. You look -- there it is. You look at Sydney, Australia. One guy that one of our affiliates talked to waited for 70 hours. You look at London. Covent Garden at London, huge lines of people every time somebody walks in, there's a whoop, the whole crowd goes crazy.
Around the world, folks are waiting in line for this iconic iPhone. It goes on sale here in the U.S. at 8:00 this morning and East Coast time. Of course, we're going to have people there to watch it as well. It's going to be two-thirds of the -- of the revenue of Apple will be from this iPhone. They make a lot of money from the iPhone. I can show you exactly what the pieces look like. You know, all together some it's $220 is what it cost them to make an iPhone. They're going to make maybe 400 bucks on every one that they sell. So this is a cash machine.
Take a look at some of these. Isn't this interesting? The touch screen display, that's 44 bucks, the memory is 20 bucks. The camera cost them $18. Processor $17.50, $8 to assemble. Yes, only $8. And so all together, you get about $207. The cost of the iPhone each one that they sell and they sell thousands every second. Each one that they sell is going to add to Apple's bottom line. And it's why this is the most valuable company in the world.
SAMBOLIN: Wow. So it's a 100 percent mark up there. Is that --
ROMANS: Well, to -- the wireless carrier subsidizes the cost. Right? So it's about -- if you went to buy this without a contract, it'd be $649. Right? So you're going to buy it if you go to the Apple store. You can buy it for 199 bucks. And then this -- the wireless carrier is going to -- is going to subsidize some of the rest of it. But you have to buy from the wireless carrier and that's where the rest of the country goes in.
SAMBOLIN: All the money comes in.
ROMANS: Yes. It's so interesting. Right?
SAMBOLIN: All right. Yes. Yes. Thank you, Christine.
ROMANS: I will wait. Sorry, I'm so boring. I'm so generation X.
SAMBOLIN: I'm with you. I'm with you.
ROMANS: All those young people waiting in line around the world --
SAMBOLIN: All right. It is 16 minutes past the hour. Let's get you up to date, shall we, this morning?
Deadly violence in Pakistan this morning. Protesters setting fire to two movie theaters in the city of Peshawar. Two dozen injuries and one death have been reported. The protests reflect the continuing anger over the anti-Islam film "Innocence of Muslims" and a cartoon depiction of the Prophet Muhammad.
BERMAN: A jury in Ohio has convicted Sam Mullah, Jr. and 15 other members of a breakaway Amish sect of federal hate crimes. The group attacks several other Amish last year, forcibly cutting of beards of men and women's hair. The 12-member jury considered the attacks religiously motivated.
SAMBOLIN: And police in Houston, Texas, showed off the spoils of a purse-snatching ring they busted at two local hotels. Look at this. Investigators say the organized crime ring based in Miami victimized nearly 200 people in Texas, thousands nationwide. Police displayed cash, drivers licenses and other I.D.s confiscated by authorities who are acting on a tip.
BERMAN: I saw a Social Security cards. They're scary. I.D. theft.
SAMBOLIN: Crazy.
BERMAN: The baseball playoffs to take shape. The Cincinnati Reds became the first team to clinch a playoff spot last night. Get this, they did it while manager Dusty Baker remained in the hospital after being diagnosed with an irregular heartbeat.
SAMBOLIN: Well, gosh.
BERMAN: He is getting better and expected to be back in the field son.
And for the first time since 1933, 1933, FDR's first year in office, there will be post-season baseball in the nation's capital, the Washington Nationals also clinching a spot in the playoffs with a win over the Dodgers. 1933, before you were born.
SAMBOLIN: Yes.
(LAUGHTER)
SAMBOLIN: Way, way, way, way before.
And Hollywood rolls out the red carpet Sunday for the 64th Primetime Emmy Awards. AMC's "Mad Men" is trying for a fifth straight win as TV's best drama series but could face the toughest cast yet from the Showtime series "Homeland."
On the comedy side, ABC's "Modern Family" is again the frontrunner. It's Ann and Mitt Romney's favorite show, I might add. Jimmy Kimmel will host the Emmys for the very first time. That should be interesting.
BERMAN: It is 5:18 in the morning. Time for "Early Read." Local news that's making national headlines. We want to get this update from the Patriot News in central Pennsylvania. An automatic shutdown of the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant. It poses no danger to the public according to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, although it's got to be scary. People living near the sight of the nation's worst commercial nuclear accident ever say they heard a loud noise Thursday afternoon.
It was apparently caused by the sudden release of steam when a coolant pump failed after about 2:00. Tests show there is no detectable level of radiation in the area, but this is the second automatic shutdown of the plant in the past month.
SAMBOLIN: That would make me a little jittery.
All right. He might have been an all-American and an NFL draft pick by now. Instead, a man named Brian Banks is starting over in the United Football League after his rape conviction was overturned. The "L.A. Times" had this story of Banks, a stand-out high school football player in Long Beach, California, who got looked from USC, UCLA and other really big-time programs. But he was falsely accused of rape at the age of 16.
Banks spent five years in prison, another five years on probation before he was finally exonerated in May when his accuser admitted she made it up in a taped conversation. CBS in L.A. reports that Banks have now signed with the Las Vegas Locomotives of the United Football League with an announcement that is expected today. BERMAN: This guy lost 10 years of his life. And there are a lot of people in the football community really pulling for him to get a second chance.
SAMBOLIN: A lot of people in general, I think, pulling for him.
(CROSSTALK)
BERMAN: It's 20 minutes after the hour. For an expanded look at all of our top stories, you head to our blog, CNN.com/earlystart.
SAMBOLIN: And coming up, talk of something huge overseas that is probably affecting your money this morning. Christine, "Minding Your Business," that's coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SAMBOLIN: Welcome back to EARLY START. Twenty-four minutes past the hour. We are "Minding Your Business" now.
Spain may be working behind the scenes for a bailout from the European Union.
BERMAN: This is according to a new report in the "Financial Times." It is moving markets overnight -- Christine.
ROMANS: It's getting a lot of buzz because Spain is a much bigger economy than Greece, of course. And Spain is an economy that certainly European leaders and leaders around the world want to make sure does not fail.
So this is the "Financial Times" report saying that Spain may be working behind the scenes with the EU on a rescue program that will help -- that will help the ECB to eventually begin buying unlimited purchases of Madrid's bonds. And again Spain's economy is very big. So that's why you've got European stocks and U.S. futures up. Because there's hope in the market this morning at least that this is going to be a problem that's going to be solved.
I want to talk to you a little bit about a problem in this country with our young people. New census data showing just how difficult the economy has been for young people and their earnings.
This is pretty interesting to me. We found this, the average earnings for young, college grads is falling and still falling. It's fallen over 15 percent since the year 2000. That's about $10,000.
BERMAN: Wow.
ROMANS: So that starting earnings there. And what really concerns me about the census data is that in personal finance, the most important thing is where you get your start and then you build on that start. If you misstep, if you don't get that first raise, if you don't get that first placement in your career at the right level, it could mean the difference of a half million to a million dollars in lifetime earnings. It makes a difference to your standard of living. So important. Yesterday, though, here's -- here's a bright piece of news in this. Deepak Chopra was here yesterday and he was talking about all of this uncertainty in the economy, and he said uncertainly fosters creativity.
SAMBOLIN: Yes.
ROMANS: There's something about these young people, they're graduating into a world where they might have less but we'll see if they can do more with it.
BERMAN: All right. Deepak, hopefully cheering them up with that million dollars they're not going to make over their lifetime.
(LAUGHTER)
BERMAN: Twenty-six minutes after the hour. Former President Bill Clinton, talking to CNN and weighing in on Mitt Romney's 47 percent comments.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think that's overstated.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: You can bet he has much more to say. He's Bill Clinton after all. You'll hear some of it, coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BERMAN: Friday fury. New anti-American protests raging right now in the Muslim world.
SAMBOLIN: Coming clean, President Obama talking about what he calls the biggest failure of his time in the White House.
BERMAN: Final frontier. The date is set for the first private cargo mission to the space station.
Welcome back to EARLY START, everyone. I'm John Berman.
SAMBOLIN: And I'm Zoraida Sambolin. Thirty minutes past the hour. Glad to have you with us this morning.
Well, President Obama took his turn, addressing Latino voters at Univision's "Meet the Candidates" forum at the University of Miami. He took his strongest jab yet at Mitt Romney's now infamous 47 percent remarks.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: When you express an attitude that half the country considers themselves victims, that somehow they want to be dependent on government, my thinking is maybe you haven't gotten around a lot.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAMBOLIN: President Obama was pressed on a range of other topics, mainly, the lack of action on immigration reform. So, joining me now is CNN contributor and Republican strategist, Ana Navarro, who attended both nights of the forum.
So, thank you for still being here this morning. We appreciate it. Ana, I wanted -- I know that you attended both. So, just tell me how was the room compared -- if you compare the two days.
ANA NAVARRO, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: There was a dramatic difference in the room, Zoraida. For the Romney event, there was a very enthusiastic, supportive partisan crowd. It was filled to the hilt. And in fact, I would tell you, Governor Romney got a lot of help from that crowd.
They broke into Romney chants. They applauded. They hissed and booed when they didn't like the questions. They gave him a lot of energy, a lot of support, the crows. Yesterday's crowd for President Obama's event was eerily quiet, solemn, respectful. It was a completely different crowd than what I had seen the day before, which made -- turned it into a very sober, very somber almost at point conversation and dialogue.
(CROSSTALK)
NAVARRO: He was grilled very hard.
SAMBOLIN: They were hand-picked crowds?
NAVARRO: My understanding is -- my understanding is that they were -- that both campaigns were given a few hundred tickets and filled the room as they wanted and that there were students there. The Univision moderators announced that there were Republican students were given tickets for the Governor Romney event and the Democrat students have been given tickets for the President Obama event. So, I think they were -- the campaigns were treated equally.
SAMBOLIN: Definitely. So, let's talk about what happened. The host really pressed Obama on immigration. It led to this moment, and then we're going to talk about it, Ana.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: My biggest failure, so far, is we haven't gotten comprehensive immigration reform done. So, we're going to be continuing the work on that. But, it's not for lack of trying or desire. And I'm confident we're going to accomplish that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAMBOLIN: So, what do you think of that answer? It got applause, which I found interesting. NAVARRO: The reason they got applause, Zoraida, was because of a few words that got cut off before he said that. And it was where he said to Jorge Ramos, "Well, Jorge, as you kept reminding me all day, you know, my biggest failure is not having achieved immigration reform."
I tell you, I raised an eyebrow when I heard that. Part of me liked the fact that he was acknowledging this failure. I do see it as a failure and as a broken promise as does a lot of a community. And I think his acknowledgment of it is a good thing. But I will tell you, I would not be surprised if I saw that clip in an ad, in a Spanish ad by the Romney campaign or a Super PAC against Obama in the Hispanic community.
And then, it was followed up by Maria Elena Salinas ,who I think will be on later on CNN, saying to President Obama, "Well, sir, if you're admitting it's your biggest failure, then you are admitting you broke your promise." It was a very chilling moment in that room.
SAMBOLIN: All right. So, it may have been a broken promise. He may have acknowledged it, but when we were talking yesterday, we were talking about this very same issue of immigration as it related to Romney, and he said that he would not deport 12 million, right? But he had no concrete plan, either.
And so, how do you weigh that? You know, one President Obama, who has a concrete plan. Maybe he wasn't able to pass it. But when Romney is pushed every time, he doesn't have a concrete plan.
NAVARRO: Zoraida, I'll be truthful with you. I think when it comes to immigration, Latinos are in a tough spot. You know, Romney has not committed to any specifics or, you know, proposed a plan. For President Obama, if reelected, he's going to have an extremely hard time getting anything done.
First of all, because he hasn't presented a plan in the first four years, but second of all, because he's in all likelihood -- and this question got asked yesterday -- he's in all likelihood going to be dealing with a Republican House, and he has not been very good at cultivating Congressional allies on either side of the aisle.
And it does require a lot of political capital. It does require a lot of allies in Congress to get something this controversial done. What I would say to my Latino friends is focus on the bigger package, because in all likelihood, immigration may not get done.
SAMBOLIN: Okay. So, listen, Ana, I don't want to let you go before talking about this, Obama commented on what he considered his most important lesson. Listen to that and then I want you to weigh in.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: I've learned some lessons over the last four years. And the most important lesson I've learned is that you can't change Washington from the inside. You can only change it from the outside. That's how I got elected. And, that's how the big accomplishments like health care got done was because we mobilized the American people to speak out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAMBOLIN: So, the Romney campaign is jumping on this as a statement of personal failure and said the power of citizen engagement. What is your take on that?
NAVARRO: I think what he was trying to do was make a very direct appeal to Latino voters to turn out and vote. President Obama enjoys a wide lead right now, you know, with the Latino voters. But his big problem is turnout. Can he get the same turnout that he got four years ago?
And repeatedly throughout the hour, he made this kind of appeal. "It's up to you. It's you the voters who can make the change. It's you the voters who can affect the results. I need your vote. I need you to get out and vote." He was having a very comfortable conversation, a very familiar conversation, knows these two moderators well, has been on Univision many times during his presidency.
So I think he had his guard down and maybe did not say things the way he would have said it had he been in different circumstances.
SAMBOLIN: All right. Ana Navarro, CNN contributor, Republican strategist, we really appreciate your time this morning. Thank you.
NAVARRO: Thank you.
SAMBOLIN: At 8:00 Eastern on "STARTING POINT", we'll talk about the Latino vote and how the President and his Republican rival fared this week when Soledad O'Brien is joined by the moderator of the Univision forum, anchorwoman Maria Elena Salinas.
BERMAN: CNN's Fareed Zakaria sitting down with former president Bill Clinton to talk about the campaign. Fareed asked the former president about the impact of Mitt Romney's 47 percent comments going forward.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FAREED ZAKARIA, CNN ANCHOR: Do you think this is a game-changer for Romney?
B. CLINTON: Well, I think it puts a heavier burden on him in the debates to talk about what he meant. I do think a lot of the Tea Party people believe that. I think it's government versus the private sector.
The problem with that paradigm, as I said many times, is that if you look at every successful economy, if you measure the economy by per capita income, declining and equality, increasing social mobility, your chance of getting a pay raise year in and year out, doing better than your parents, there is no evidence that anywhere that going on, and it is going on, that they have a weak government and even lower taxes than we do.
(END VIDEO CLIP) BERMAN: You can see the entire interview with Bill Clinton on "FAREED ZAKARIA GPS" Sunday at 10:00 a.m. Eastern and again at 1:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN.
SAMBOLIN: Thirty-seven minutes past the hour. With just over six weeks to go before Election Day, Barack Obama has a lot more money to spend than Mitt Romney, and the GOP challenger is burning through cash really fast. In the month of August, the Obama camp raised $84.8 million in donations.
The Romney team raise almost as much, $83.7 million, but that doesn't take a $20 million loan into account. And as of August 31st, the President had $88 million in his war chest. Romney had just over $50 million but also has $15 million of debt.
BERMAN: Anger over an anti-Muslim film and a French cartoon rendering of a Prophet Muhammad sparking new violence in Pashawar, Pakistan overnight. Protesters torched two movie theaters. Two dozen people were injured and one person died. U.S diplomatic post in several countries have been closed due to rising anti-Western anger.
SAMBOLIN: The California judge rules a trailer for the anti-Islam film, "Innocence of Muslims," can remain on YouTube. The judge tossing out a civil suit filed by an actress who says she's received death threats for appearing in this controversial film that mocked the Prophet Muhammad. The film has triggered violent anti-American protests throughout the Muslim world.
BERMAN: The privately owned space company Space X will launch its first official resupply mission to the International Space Station next month. NASA announced Thursday that a Space X craft will bring about 1,000 pounds of supplies beginning October 7th and return with 1,200 pounds. Following the successful demonstration flight in May, Space X will conduct 12 missions to the space station.
SAMBOLIN: Both men want to be your president, but Barack Obama and Mitt Romney have very different ideas when it comes to keeping you and your family safe from terrorists. CNN goes in depth, coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BERMAN: Welcome back, everyone. All this week, CNN is taking you in- depth, digging down on the issues that are shaping this year's presidential race. Our focus this morning is terrorism. Here's CNN intelligence correspondent, Suzanne Kelly.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUZANNE KELLY, CNN INTELLIGENCE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The killing of Osama bin Laden undoubtedly the national security highlight of the Obama administration. Few argue it was a risky move for the President to give the order to invade Pakistani air space and go after the al Qaeda leader.
As a candidate in 2007, Romney questioned whether it was worth the time and money it would take to hunt bin Laden down. Later saying, of course, he would have given the same order.
Don't expect much of a difference between the two candidates on the issue of drones, either. The program started under President Bush hit full speed under Obama, who relies on the still classified missions to limit the numbers of troops on the ground by launching missiles from the air.
OBAMA: My most sacred duty as President and Commander-in-Chief is to keep the American people safe. And what that means is we brought a whole bunch of tools to go after al Qaeda and those who would attack Americans. Drones are one tool that we use.
KELLY: Romney supports the use of drones as well. Like his rival, even in a case where a U.S. citizen may be the target.
MITT ROMNEY, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And if there's someone that is going to join with a group like al Qaeda that declares war in America, and we're in a war with that entity, then of course, anyone who is bearing arms with that entity is fair game for the United States of America.
KELLY: But there are places where the two candidates differ, mainly over the Guantanamo Bay detention facility and the use of the interrogation tactic known as waterboarding where a detainee is made to feel as if he's drowning.
OBAMA: This first executive order --
KELLY: On the Guantanamo question, despite his 2009 promise to return the American people to the, quote, "moral high ground" by issuing an executive order to close the facility, it turned out it was easier said than done for the President. Romney, on the other hand, wants to keep Guantanamo open for business.
On a question of torture, you have to know what it is to know where the candidates stand. Well, both have said they're opposed to the use of torture, Romney is, so far, refused to characterize waterboarding as torture.
ROMNEY: I just don't think it's productive for a President of the United States to lay out a list of what is specifically referred to as torture.
KELLY: Romney's lack of a specific definition worries security experts like Bruce Riedel.
BRUCE RIEDEL, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: The governor really owes it to the American people to explain exactly what he means about he won't allow torture, but that he doesn't want to comment on techniques of torture.
KELLY: Obama literally banned the practice as one of his first official acts.
OBAMA: Waterboarding is torture. It's contrary to America's traditions. It's contrary to our ideals. That's not who we are. KELLY: A recent poll suggests that likely voters like Obama when it comes to national security issues. When it comes to terrorism, specifically, 50 percent of likely voters polled last month said Obama would better handle terrorism, 43 percent threw their weight behind Romney.
RIEDEL: Any American president at this time is going to wage a relentless struggle against al Qaeda and associated movements, because Republicans and Democrats alike recognize we still have a significant threat coming from al Qaeda and its allies.
KELLY (on-camera): Regardless of who occupies the oval office come January, the only certainty say intelligence expert is that the enemy will still be there, still plotting to do Americans harm.
Susan Kelly, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SAMBOLIN: It is 46 minutes past the hour. Catch of a lifetime. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN (voice-over): Oh, my goodness!
SAMBOLIN (voice-over): Oh, boy. How an Arkansas sportsman got the best of this massive beast.
BERMAN (voice-over): That just looks like a bad idea.
SAMBOLIN (voice-over): Oh, my goodness!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BERMAN: Just about 50 minutes after the hour right now. We want to get you up to date on the headlines. Christine Romans is here.
ROMANS: Thanks, you guys.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS (voice-over): Anti-western anger flaring in Pakistan. Two movie theaters at Peshawar were set on fire in protest against an anti-Islam film and a French cartoon depiction of the Prophet Muhammad. More than two dozen people were injured. U.S. embassies in several countries have been closed because of fear of new violence.
GOP leaders in the House say they'll wait until after the November elections to vote on the Farm Bill. It designed (ph) that two many members of Congress remain unhappy with some aspect of a five-year plan. Some Republicans say the measure does not include enough reform in the federal support for farmers and ranchers.
Several Republicans in tight political races now afraid they could feel the frustration at the polls.
Call it the greater gator. Mike Cunningham caught an alligator in Arkansas that measured a massive 13 feet, three inches long. It weighed a whopping 1,380 pounds.
SAMBOLIN: That's incredible.
ROMANS: It beats the old unofficial state record by one inch. Mike caught the monster with a beaver snare tied to a 12-foot long pole. He'll have a stuffed after having alligator boots made for himself and his wife and all of the friends who helped him pull it in.
(CROSSTALK)
BERMAN (voice-over): I hope it was a lot of friends because that thing is big.
ROMANS: It is big. It is really big.
SAMBOLIN: I know that it's dead, but still, when they're holding on to the mouth like that, it's kind of -- scary.
ROMANS: Later, gator. Wow! Look at that.
SAMBOLIN: You wrestled an alligator once upon on time, don't you, John?
BERMAN: I've been near an alligator. Yes.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SAMBOLIN (on-camera): Live alligator with your hand in its mouth. Crazy.
All right. Fifty-one minutes past the hour. A packed hour still ahead on EARLY START, the situation heating up in the Muslim world again this morning after Friday prayers as a U.S. government takes heat for security around the scene of the attack in Benghazi. We have our eyes on the places like Pakistan and cities across the Middle East.
BERMAN: Also, actress Sarah Megan Thomas, she wrote, produced, and directed new film called "Backwards." It's about an almost Olympic rower. It has one part rocky, one part romance something for everyone. It is really fun, and she is here live to talk about it.
SAMBOLIN: Also later on "STARTING POINT", actor Forest Whitaker, he won an Oscar playing a brutal dictator -- now he's on an international peacemaking mission.
BERMAN: But first, Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton both caught on tape in New York City, both now in a bit of trouble. Again? And trending for the wrong reasons. That's coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BERMAN: Welcome back, everyone. Fifty-five minutes after the hour. I'm John Berman along with Zoraida Sambolin. And we are taking you a look at what is trending on the internet this morning. And this morning, we have the tale of the tape.
SAMBOLIN: That's right. New York City police releasing the surveillance video of the alleged Lindsay Lohan hit and run incident for which she was arrested. It appears to support a chef's claim that he was a victim, but it also may show he exaggerated his injuries.
The black and white video released by the NYPD shows LiLo's Porsche going into the entrance ramp of a Manhattan hot spot clipping Jose Rodriguez and scattering others. Rodriguez had claimed he was tossed to the side and that he was in a lot of pain. Police say they do not think Lindsay was under the influence at the time.
BERMAN: You always have to be careful when driving near hot spots. That's one of the things that I've learned --
SAMBOLIN: Oh, really?
BERMAN: -- in my travel.
(LAUGHTER)
BERMAN: You just call us the TMZ block today, because our next story is about Paris Hilton. Paris Hilton and her PR machine doing major damage control after she was caught on tape calling gay people "disgusting." Those are her words.
According to Radar Online, a New York City cabbie secretly recorded her having a conversation about a cell phone app that gay men use to find hook ups. And this is part of that conversation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PARIS HILTON, CELEBRITY: Gay guys are the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) people in the world. They're disgusting. (EXPLETIVE DELETED). Dude, most of them probably have AIDS. I would be so scared if I was a gay guy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: Wow. Well, now, Paris' people are saying she is a huge supporter of the gay community and that the former sex tape star, herself, was only expressing the dangers of unprotected sex.
SAMBOLIN: The iPhone 5 is out today, but people have already been downloading Apple's new software, and there is already a blog dedicated to Apple's new maps. Apple ditched Google Maps for its latest upgrade and replaced it with its own 3D maps with turn-by-turn directions.
There are already hundreds of threads on message board with complaints. Lots of issues. A Tumblr blog points out saying like warped roads, buildings that only have two dimensions and cities in the wrong spots with the wrong names and a health clinic that is actually labeled a pet shop.
BERMAN: Still, the lines are around the block. People are still going to buy it. So, small complaints.
All right. You knew it was coming, live from New York, it is Thursday night, the first of "Saturday Night Live's" election season prime time special that debuted last night with its take on Mitt Romney's 47 percent solution.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, you have this 47 percent that don't pay taxes and these people are never going to vote for me. And when I talk about these people who don't pay taxes, I don't mean senior citizens, all right? And I don't mean members of our armed services and I don't mean southern Whites.
(LAUGHTER)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Okay? What I mean is, and real quick, no one is recording this, correct?
(LAUGHTER)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No? Okay. It's very important that no one records this. Okay, good, because I'm about to say who these people are and I would prefer to not have it on tape.
(LAUGHTER)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sorry, sir, is that a camera on the table pointing at me?
(LAUGHTER)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Okay, great.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SAMBOLIN: In case you missed it, it is funny, isn't it? EARLY START continues right now.
