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CNN Live At Daybreak

'Here's What I Don't Get'

Aired November 14, 2001 - 08:37   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: It is time for that time of the morning when we have "What I Don't Get," and for that we turned to Jack Cafferty this morning.

How are you this morning?

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good. How are you doing?

ZAHN: Good.

I saw you chomping on a donut. Was it fresh this morning, or...

CAFFERTY: The reason I come up here is because you guys get free food. Down there on the witness protection network, there is no free food. Friday, they bring in like old bagels.

ZAHN: You don't know how long that donut has been sitting there.

CAFFERTY: It doesn't matter. When you are used to eating old bagels, a donut with chocolate frosting looks good.

ZAHN: Can I tell you that is the same kind of donut that Dr. Henry Kissinger picked last week, seriously, because we had to tell him he had a little sprinkle on his cheek before we went on the air.

CAFFERTY: Somebody just said in my ear, you don't say anything until the end. What does this mean?

ZAHN: I don't know. Let's just take over the show right now.

So what is ticking you off today?

CAFFERTY: Nothing, I am a happy guy, I wish I had a string of barber shops in Kabul, because check this video out. The barbers are getting rich in Kabul. Well, I don't know if they're getting rich, but everybody -- people were not allowed to shave for five years over there. You had to have these long beards. But, Paula, this is not something you can relate to, but anybody who's ever grown a beard, they can be pretty uncomfortable after they get to a certain length; they began to itch and you want to scratch, and it's just an unpleasant thing.

So freedom came like a breath of fresh air, and the guys are shaving their beards and the women are taking them burlap bags off their heads, and everybody is turning on the radio and playing a little bit of music, and the kids are flying kites. And everything I guess is relative, but it's nice to see them enjoying themselves, but I guess they haven't in a while.

ZAHN: Oh yes, but it's not all one happy time up there.

CAFFERTY: No, and there are other things going on. But it's just nice to see smiling faces in a country that hasn't had much reason to smile. President Bush and the Russian president got this love-in situation going on here. I mean, these guys are getting to be very good friends. Remember the first time they met and President Bush said, I looked into his eyes and I could see his soul. Nobody knew what that meant, but...

ZAHN: He was criticized for that.

CAFFERTY: Well, because it was silly.

ZAHN: How do you really feel, Jack?

CAFFERTY: It was silly. Meet the president of the Russia, and come back and say I could see his soul. I mean, what does that mean?

Anyway, they have gone out now, they've got this great relationship going on, and apparently the Russian president was so excited about the idea of going to the ranch in Crawford, Texas that he actually took horseback riding lessons in Russia so he'd be ready.

ZAHN: Oh, you're kidding. Now I wonder if we are going to ever see pictures.

CAFFERTY: Well, we're not, and the reason we're not is President Bush doesn't ride horses.

ZAHN: Seriously?

CAFFERTY: Seriously. He apparently goes around the ranch in a golf cart or in a pickup truck, but I would prefer the golf cart imagery, because there is nothing manly about a golf cart.

Remember when Ronald Reagan used to go to his ranch and he'd get on the horse and he'd go out and fix the fence? I mean, that was a manly man, right, Mr. Reagan.

ZAHN: Right, he used to chop down trees, but you've also seen President Bush chop down trees. There is a favorite part of his property where he takes reporters, where there's a waterfall, and that's where he does a lot of work on the land.

CAFFERTY: But if you get to the tree that you're going to chop down in a golf cart, it detracts from the essence of that activity. And politicians like photo-ops. There's nothing better. I mean, witness Rumsfeld and Giuliani at ground zero. It's a great photo-op. You put them in the middle of the story. Wouldn't you think that President Bush would have gotten on a horse just for the photo-op, and he and Putin a couple of cabierros (ph), maybe, you know, chasing those doggies around the corral, just, you know...

ZAHN: So what you're telling me this morning is you don't think George Bush is a real Texan? Is that what you're saying?

CAFFERTY: I grew up in Nevada. And anybody I knew as a kid who owned a ranch rode horses, but then what do I know, you know? Clinton was a golf cart guy. You know, he would get in his golf cart and go to McDonald's. Clinton was a golf cart guy. I want to see...

ZAHN: But he also didn't have a large piece of property that he needed to tour.

CAFFERTY: That's true.

A piece of good news, very good news, there was a fear at the time of the anthrax thing that the post office was not going to open all of the letters to Santa that come from disadvantaged kids all around the country every year, and one of the reasons was they were concerned about how crudely some the kids write on these things. And this just tears your heart out. These are kids who got nothing, never had anything, they're writing to Santa Clause as a blind shot in the dark, hoping maybe they get something. The post office was afraid because of the anthrax thing, they weren't going to be able to this. Now I understand they are going to radiate all this mail, make it safe. One of the postal officials said they were not going to cancel Christmas, so that's a good thing.

ZAHN: And is there one guy in particular that answers all of these letters, like 5,000 or 6,000 letters.

CAFFERTY: Here in New York, people are allowed to contact the post office, and you can adopt one of these letters and provide the kids with whatever they're asking for, and lots of people in the city do that, so that's a nice thing.

ZAHN: Have you been introduced to the new member of our team, Billy Bush, who happens to be related to the president, and you just trashed him. Is that true about the golf cart?

BILLY BUSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I just looked into his eyes and I've seen his soul, and I'm thinking about leaving in just a second.

ZAHN: Is it true, though, does President Bush know how to ride a horse or not?

BUSH: I don't know.

ZAHN: Did you ever see him on a horse.

BUSH: You know, I remember Dukakis propping his head out of the tank, and it's just one of those areas where if you're not sure you're going to look strong up there, I wouldn't hop on a horse. I wouldn't hop up on a horse.

ZAHN: I wouldn't get up on a horse.

BUSH: I would look like an idiot.

ZAHN: Now you have important some business to do this morning. We talked a lot about trauma that the New York City Fire Department has put up with.

BUSH: Yes, these are coming up in just a minute here, a couple of amazing -- as if they aren't all, but a couple of firefighters who really just answered the call on Monday again, they're two guys with amazing stories, and the quicker we get to commercial I think the quicker we can get them on.

ZAHN: And we can make peace between you and Jack during the commercial break. Look into his soul now.

BUSH: I think a lot what Jack said is true.

ZAHN: See you in the morning.

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