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Unrest in France Wanes; Bush Hits Personal Low in Polls

Aired November 15, 2005 - 14:30   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: We're telling you about severe weather in Memphis, Tennessee, and Little Rock, Arkansas.
(WEATHER REPORT)

PHILLIPS: Also, you know, we've been talking a lot about the riots in France, and it a movement? Is it going to continue? It's been, I guess, about two weeks, Tony? You're over at the international desk right now. I know you've got more information on this. But, you know, a lot of people questioning if, indeed, Jacques Chirac is doing enough to quell...

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Exactly. He's been a missing man for most of this here, yes.

PHILLIPS: Yes. And, you know, immigrant -- the immigrants in the suburban areas, of course, saying, look, we need jobs.

HARRIS: Right.

PHILLIPS: We need to not worry about how we're treated by the police. And at the same time, a lot of response going back and forth between Chirac's government and also those -- that part of the population.

Give us some answers?

HARRIS: Well, here's the thing. It's been in front of the French National Assembly, and we've got in news just in just a couple minutes ago, the French National Assembly has just agreed to extend a state of emergency for another three months in the country to try to get a handle, as you were pointing out, on all the violence over the last -- as a matter of fact, Kyra -- in the last three weeks.

It started on October 27th. For just about three weeks now, all the violence. We're talking about thousands of cars have been torched, buildings that have ransacked. And as you correctly noted, in mostly poor suburbs of France. But as we've learned over the last couple of weekends, it has spread to other areas of the country, as well. Mostly, as you mentioned, by young people in the immigrant population, mostly Muslim and African.

The vote, Kyra, from the national assembly: 346 to 148. A pretty resounding victory for this measure that extends the state of emergency in France for another three months, Kyra, as the government there tries to get a handle on all the violence. PHILLIPS: And anything -- does it say anything about the curfew? I know that the curfew was put in place with hopes that that might help with the problems?

HARRIS: Yes. It was put into place and it was left to the discretion of the local officials, the local mayors in some of these towns, as to whether to enact the curfew. Some have, some haven't. But the curfew, as a tool, is still available to these local jurisdictions.

PHILLIPS: All right. Another story you've been working over there for us, Tony. I'll kind of read up on this, or kind of let folks know what's going on out of Amman, Jordan. I don't know if anybody behind you there can give you us more information, as I sort of recap here about the 11 top Jordanian officials...

HARRIS: I'll go take a look.

PHILLIPS: OK -- that have been fired. Tony, thank you so much.

HARRIS: OK, sure.

PHILLIPS: We got this in about an hour and a half, close to two hours ago, that 11 of the top Jordanian officials had been fired. That no reason is being offered. But, of course, those departures come after last week's deadly hotel bombings, which sparked national outrage, as you know. Three consecutive bombings.

The fired officials include the kingdom's national security adviser, King Abdullah. He has appointed Jordan's ambassador to Israel to be the new security chief. So a lot of shake-ups there in the government. Of course, ongoing protests after these bombings, too. You saw a lot of Jordanians outside those three U.S. hotels, declaring -- or calling for answers, and also talking about Abu Musab Al Zarqawi and his terrorist organization.

Of course, al Qaeda in Iraq taking responsibility for those attacks. And then, of course, we heard the testimony from one of the female suicide bombers. One of the suicide bombers that was supposed to walk into that wedding that we told you about there, the Radisson Hotel, her husband, his belt went off, he died, but she didn't. She's been giving incredible testimony to interrogators about why she involved and what had happened and details, which is helping, of course, in that investigation.

Meanwhile, President Bush hitting a new personal low in the latest CNN/"USA Today/Gallup poll, a 37 percent approval rating. And here to help us put it in perspective, once again, Frank Newport, Gallup's editor-in-chief.

Frank, let's start with that approval rating, in light of everything that's been taking place from Iraq to Amman, Jordan, to, of course, the situation here in the United States with the CIA leak, among other things?

FRANK NEWPORT, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, GALLUP: Well, that's right. There are many, many things that have gone on that have been interpreted as negative for the Bush administration. But there are a couple of points I would make.

I can show you a trend line on Bush approval. This graph puts it in some context, by the way, to show that 37 percent is not all that bad historically. At least other presidents have been at that level or lower. Now, trendwise, this is not a precipitous plunge for President Bush. You can see in July, August, September, October, he's just been sliding all year.

He started, Kyra, up at 52 percent at the beginning of the year. So I don't think we can say that some event that just happened over the last several weeks suddenly caused him to drop, like President Reagan. After Iran-Contra, Reagan dropped about, oh, 15 points on average, just in a month in 1986. We don't see that now. It's much more a gradual pattern.

Also, look at this. A lot of people talk about Iraq. In fact, President Bush himself, at Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage, was, you know, responding to critics just on his way over to Asia.

But look at the approval rating for Bush's handling Iraq, 35 percent. Virtually the same as his overall rating. Same thing for his approval rating on the economy and world affairs. So we don't see any one issue where Bush is really doing much worse than the others of these major issues. So it suggests, all in all, Kyra, that Bush's ratings have been sliding gradually all year for a variety of reasons, no one specific reason.

PHILLIPS: All right, now you mention the president's handling of Iraq. What does the public want done in Iraq? What have you found out?

NEWPORT: Well, that's the key question. All polls show a majority of Americans say it was mistake, not worth it to be there? So much for that. But what do we do now? In Vietnam, 1970, Gallup asked the public what to you do then? We thought it quite interesting to re-ask the same question.

You see the four choices here: withdraw now, withdraw in a year, a long-term pullout, or actually send more troops. The red is the Vietnam responses. The blue is what we're finding now. To me a key here is on left.

Only 19 percent now say that Americans should just withdraw all of its troops at the moment. Nobody's suggesting that, at least not the large majority. Another 33 percent say maybe in one year. So about half of Americans say maybe start withdrawing.

But very little call from the public for immediate withdrawal. The public's saying, kind of like the Bush administration's saying, stick with it, at least for now.

PHILLIPS: All right. Frank Newport, thank you so much.

Straight ahead, we're talking about a cure for bird flu. Causing another sour taste in many people's mouths. We're going to talk about it. The sauerkraut man, next on LIVE FROM. He'll explain. There he is. Give us a big smile. You got any sauerkraut with you?

RYAN DOWNS, OWNER, GREAT LAKES KRAUT COMPANY: Sure do.

PHILLIPS: All right. All the way from Wisconsin, my favorite state!

DOWNS: Hey, my kinda girl!

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PHILLIPS: Friends, are you freaked out about bird flu? Let others stockpile Tamiflu. You may already have the remedy you need. It would be sitting in a dark and dusty corner of your pantry. And it's the stuff your that kids always grab when there's a canned food drive at school. But it's that stuff that could make Milwaukee, and the rest of Wisconsin, famous all over again.

In fact, the state may scrap its signature cheesehead hats for crowns of kraut. That's right, there's some serious science touting humble, old sauerkraut as a wonder drug. Korean scientists found that the local version of sauerkraut, kim chi (ph), helped 11 of 13 ailing chickens recover from bird flu and wonder if it could do the same for humans. The team believes that lactid acid bacteria in fermented cabbage could combat bird flu.

If so, Ryan Downs is sitting on 1,000 tons of potential gold. He's the owner of the Great Lakes Kraut Company, the world's largest producer of sauerkraut. Ryan, who would ever have known?

DOWNS: We didn't have the faintest idea it was going to be good for the curing of bird flu. We knew it was a health food, it cures or prevents different cancers, and, of course, scurvy if you're an old- time sailor. But it's a good nutritional food all around and we're just happy to be able to help out the country a little bit here.

PHILLIPS: Have you been finding yourselves studying up on bird flu?

DOWNS: Well a little bit. We read the study in South Korea. Of course, our government would do a much more exhaustive study, but the simple experiment seems to bear out that there is something to, there's a connection between sauerkraut and the curing of bird flu.

PHILLIPS: Wisconsin cabbage, the Wisconsin cabbage harvest, how is it? Is everybody on desperate search, folks that work for you, for every last head of cabbage?

DOWNS: We have taken every last head of cabbage in Wisconsin, it's in our vats curing, fermenting into good old Wisconsin sauerkraut.

PHILLIPS: Unbelievable. Is this a popular -- I used to live in Wisconsin. Got all my Irish relatives, I always made the corned beef and cabbage for Saint Patty's Day. I never realized, I guess, how many cabbage barns there are there?

DOWNS: We actually make more than the entire country of Germany by quite a bit -- our company does. This year we'll do 175,000 tons of sauerkraut, which is a lot of kraut. You always puzzle at this time of year: will I be able to sell it off? But it's flying off the shelves. We're very happy about that and we're hoping that this continues.

PHILLIPS: So what do you think? Should we start -- can you freeze cabbage? What if we're worried about St. Paddy's day? Are we not going to be able to get our heads of cabbage anymore?

DOWNS: I suspect that in the capitalistic society we exist in, we'll be able to find it somewhere. Right now, we've certainly got a lot of it in our vats, and you can buy the cans and store them. Take a can or two a week, like they do in Poland, where breast cancer is much less prevalent than it is in the United States. Or you can buy fresh in our bags in the meat counters, in stores. We supply about 85 percent of the kraut made in this hemisphere, which is a lot. Every day in Bear Creek, Wisconsin, and Shiocton, Wisconsin, we have a plant also in Shortsville, New York. We're out there grinding up the sauerkraut and making sure we keep the world safe from bird flu and other bad diseases.

PHILLIPS: Unbelievable. You mention Poland. That's right, I was reading up on a study done there. A lot of women that -- there was a survey done on a certain amount of women that ate sauerkraut on a regular basis decreased chances of breast cancer? Is that what you were talking about?

DOWNS: That's correct. A that's a proven study, it's not a smoke and mirrors thing.

PHILLIPS: Hmm.

DOWNS: They compared groups that were Polish-American women, here in the United States, versus the same ancestors or cousins in Poland, and found out that the incidents of breast cancer is markedly reduced in Poland, where they eat a lot more sauerkraut per capita than their American counterparts do.

PHILLIPS: Ryan, help me out. Because, if you don't like the taste of sauerkraut. I do. I love my reubens and I love my corned beef and cabbage and all that good stuff. But if you don't like the taste what can you do to dress it up? I mean, somebody might be listening to this thinking, oh my gosh I'm investing, I'm going to make recipes?

DOWNS: We've got a ton of recipes here. Sauerkraut can be used in chocolate cake. It can be used in many, many dishes. It's an excellent dish to accompany meat. It's kind of like Hamburger Helper. The cheapest thing in the grocery store, certainly in the meat counter. You mix it with ribs or other types of meats, sausage. And it gives you a wonderful flavored product, and that's very healthy, and it's very inexpensive. PHILLIPS: All right. You mentioned this sauerkraut chocolate cake, and we did go online and actually found a Web site, sauerkrautrecipes.com. Have you ever tasted chocolate sauerkraut cake? Be honest with me, Ryan. And what does it taste like?

DOWNS: It tastes darn good.

PHILLIIPS: Really?

DOWNS: I'm not just saying that. If you've had -- you've had carrot cake. The carrots lend a certain amount of moisture to the cake. Same thing with sauerkraut. And also it gives it a little tang, and the lactic acid keeps the cake itself very moist, so it's really tasty. There are many, dishes that go back through the centuries that incorporate sauerkraut. It's just a -- it's a health food, just a dynamite health food. It really is.

PHILLIPS: I saw there was a sauerkraut martini on the menu, too. That actually caught my attention. Ryan --

DOWNS: I don't know how long it would keep your attention. A couple of those and I think we'd all be having fun.

PHILLIPS: Exactly. I don't want anymore corned beef.

DOWNS: As you know in Wisconsin, we like it with our good, cold beer. That's a fine way to have it.

PHILLIPS: That's right. And a good brat.

DOWNS: Oh, yes. I'm in the shadow of Lambeau Field right now, and we're the official kraut of Lambeau Field, Crisp Kraut. We make sure every brat and every hot dog sold there gets an ample dose of it.

PHILLIPS: You're actually in the studio of the station where I used to work. Ryan Downs.

DOWNS: Really?

PHILLIPS: Yes, indeed. I'm a big cheesehead and now I'm going to have to become a kraut queen. I'll just have to throw it in there.

DOWNS: You'll be a healthy one.

PHILLIPS: All right. Ryan Downs, thank you so much. Order your sauerkraut.

DOWNS: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: All right.

We're going to take a quick break. More LIVE FROM... right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) PHILLIPS: Well, we giggle about sex, we blush, we're too embarrassed to say much about it. But, too fascinated to turn away, which is where our next piece comes in.

And we warned you, so it probably will make you blush. Kim Cattrall has made a career of getting us to look at and talk about sex, on and off the screen.

Here's CNN's Anderson Cooper.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER (voice-over): Of the four women who occupy the New York world that was "Sex & The City", Samantha Jones may have been the biggest ground breaker.

KIM CATTRALL, ACTRESS: Nice pole. Want to see it again?

COOPER: Oh, sure, Carrie had her shoes, Charlotte had her charm, but Samantha, the 40-something singleton, proved on a weekly basis that she was at once fearless and free. After all, it was Samantha, the oldest of the four characters, who felt free enough to pose in the nude.

ACTOR: OK, Samantha, Tiger here has a variety of music choices to ease you into the shoot and help you feel more comfortable.

Tiger?

ACTOR: Yes, I've got some Steely Dan.

CATTRALL: I'm comfortable.

ACTOR: OK, camera, Tiger.

COOPER: It was Samantha who was shunned by her neighbors for letting in a burglar along with her late-night sex buddy.

ACTRESS: You're bad for the building.

CATTRALL: What?

ACTRESS: You have too many visitors. There are always men in the hall.

ACTRESS: I got robbed because of you, tart! I can't close my left eye.

COOPER: It was Samantha who explored other sides of her sexuality.

ACTRESS: You just caught us a little off guard with the lesbian thing.

CATTRALL: That's just a label, like Gucci or Versace.

ACTRESS: Or Birkenstock.

CATTRALL: This is not about being gay or straight.

Maria is an incredible woman. She's got passion and talent, intelligence.

ACTRESS: A vagina?

CATTRALL: Oh, vagina, smadgina?

ACTRESS: Smadgina? Is that what the lesbians are calling it?

COOPER: And who can forget Samantha and the civil servant?

ACTOR: You have to be ready at a moment's notice.

CATTRALL: Oh, I should be a fireman, because I'm always ready to go.

COOPER: So, when Kim Cattrall starts life after Samantha, what else would she do but a documentary and a book about, well, sex?

CATTRALL: Can we develop a kind of sexual intelligence? One that deepens our pleasure and gives us a greater awareness of ourselves.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: All right, you can catch "ANDERSON COOPER 360" in its new time, that's tonight and every week at 10 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN.

Now, which retailers offer the best service? Well, according to this, the top-ten list is straight ahead.

Don't go away.

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