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American Morning
NASA: Forty Percent Chance Of Friday Liftoff; Facebook "Awesome" Announcement; Al Qaeda Reemerges in Afghanistan; Time Limit Looms Over Debt Ceiling Talks; Casey Anthony Acquited on Murder Charges; Breaking the Debt Ceiling Stalemate; "Progress of the World's Women"
Aired July 06, 2011 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Just yesterday, she was facing the death penalty. Now, Casey Anthony could go free as early as tomorrow.
I'm Christine Romans.
After her stunning acquittal on murder charges, could Casey Anthony be sentenced to time already served for lying to police?
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Kiran Chetry.
New evidence that al Qaeda is back in Afghanistan, the Afghan army is short-staffed, still learning to shoot as the U.S. tries to leave -- what a CNN crew found out on patrol in the mountains.
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Ali Velshi.
NASA about to retire its shuttle program after Friday's final launch. The space agency is now looking into its past to help make a transition into its future -- on this AMERICAN MORNING.
(MUSIC)
ROMANS: And good morning, everybody. It's Wednesday, July 6th. I'm Christine Romans. Welcome to AMERICAN MORNING.
CHETRY: Glad you're with us today.
We're still talking about the Casey Anthony trial. What happens now?
She could be a free woman tomorrow at her hearing on sentencing, but she was acquitted on murder charges and the death of her 2-year-old daughter Caylee. After six weeks of testimony, nearly 11 hours of jury deliberations, it was not the courtroom climax that many seem to be expecting.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAREN DELPILAR, COURT CLERK: As to the charge of first-degree murder, verdict as to count one, we, the jury, find the defendant not guilty. As to the charge of aggravated child abuse, verdict as to count one, we, the jury, find the defendant not guilty. As to the charge of aggravated manslaughter of a child, verdict as to count three, we, the jury, find the defendant not guilty.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Wow. The look on her face -- I mean, just the look on her face as those counts are read.
VELSHI: Yes. The jurors, by the way, weren't talking after the case about how they reached their verdict. But one of the five alternates who sat through the entire trial and heard all of the testimony but did not take part in the deliberations say his fellow jurors got it right. Now, while the case raised many questions about the Anthony family, this alternate juror says in the end it was the prosecution's case that was weak.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RUSSELL HUEKLER, ALTERNATE JUROR: This was a very dysfunctional family, and they did not handle things well at all. Yes, we all believe and I'm pretty sure I can say this for all 17 of us, there was some type of horrific accident, but they didn't handle it. Overall, I think the family knows a lot more than what they're -- what came out at the trial. But they didn't prove that there was a murder.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: For at least one of Casey Anthony's defense lawyers, their dramatic victory was a chance to lash at those, who he says, has tried and convicted Casey in the media.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHENEY MASON, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: I hope that this is a lesson to those of you who have been indulged in media assassination for three years, biased and prejudiced, and incompetent talking heads saying what would be and how to be. I'm disgusted by some of the lawyers that have done this.
And I can tell you that my colleagues from coast to coast and border to border, have condemned this whole process of lawyers getting on television and talking about cases that they don't know a damn thing about and don't have the experience to back up their words or the law to do it. Now, you've learned a lesson.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: Wow!
CHETRY: Interesting first comments -- now about the child. Not about this 2-year-old that is dead or now about how Casey is going to rebuild her life but attack on TV lawyers.
It may have been a questionable taste, but Casey Anthony's defense team wasted no time celebrating her acquittal. Just minutes after the stunning verdict, they were spotted partying at a bar of a restaurant across the street from the courthouse. There you see one of them jumping up and down showing pictures. It is the same restaurant where the defense team has eaten lunch nearly every day of the six-week long trial.
VELSHI: Casey Anthony's mother and father, Cindy and George Anthony, left the courtroom quietly after the verdict. They showed no emotion at the time.
They issued a statement through their attorney that said this, in part, "While the family may never know what happened to Caylee Marie Anthony, they now have closure for this chapter of their life. They will now begin the long process of rebuilding. Despite the baseless defense chosen by Casey Anthony, the family believes that the jury made a fair decision based on the evidence presented."
That's a loaded --
ROMANS: There are a lot of qualifiers.
VELSHI: A lot of qualifiers.
ROMANS: I was parsing to the statement for the qualifiers what they had to say.
CHETRY: They say that Casey chose. That was also interesting. Casey --
(CROSSTALK)
ROMANS: Casey chose.
Let's dig deeper into the verdict and what comes next for Casey Anthony.
Joining us right now, once again, is Sunny Hostin, former federal prosecutor and legal contributor to "In Session" on truTV.
I want to start with something that you've been remarking about, that alternate juror, what he was saying what was going through his mind about his case. And you say he was saying exactly what the defense had presented.
SUNNY HOSTIN, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: He quoted the defense's opening statement and closing argument. And so, it just goes to show you which arguments swayed the jury in. I think it's really, really telling, because so many people said this defense was a terrible defense. This was an incompetent defense team, an incompetent Jose Baez. And when you hear a juror saying that --
(CROSSTALK)
ROMANS: Jury signs are so funny, though. I mean, you'll know that it was going to resonate with the jury. That's what makes it so fascinating.
CHETRY: But he also said we determined this was a result of some horrific accident. That was never --
HOSTIN: It snowballed out of control -- which is exactly the words of the mistress, River Cruz, who they obviously found credible.
CHETRY: Bu nobody explained what was the horrific accident then? They just didn't need to explain that.
HOSTIN: Well, you know, I think that is the thing about reasonable doubt. I have always said a prosecutor needs all 12 jurors to believe your theory. A defense attorney just needs one for a hung jury. And in this case, 12 jurors believed at least the substance of the opening statement, even though we now know some of that did not come into evidence, a large portion of it actually.
VELSHI: There's a lot of stuff out there that's unclear. Then it starts to hinge on other things. And one of the things you pointed out is this guy, Jose Baez, who many Americans had no idea who this guy was -- in fact, many people in Florida had no idea who he was. He had sort of an intimate relationship with the jury. He was a likeable guy.
HOSTIN: He did. And it's sort of lawyering 101. I used to tell people -- you know, prosecuted cases in D.C. There's a little bit of a southern draw there. I'm a New Yorker, born and bred here. Opening statement, I would always say I'm going to talk a little differently like everybody else talks because I've got that New York accent.
VELSHI: Right. Right.
HOSTIN: But that's OK, right? And so, I would try to do that with my jury. And I saw that with Jose Baez. Every morning, he would say, "Good morning, ladies and gentlemen" of the jury. By the end of that case, they were saying "good morning' in unison. That means that they really connected with him.
And they say that is extremely crucial for a jury. They got to believe you.
CHETRY: The judge decided not to release the names of these jurors. Yet, none of them, they have all chosen not to speak publicly at this point. But it was interesting when you were reading through some of the paper work about the descriptions of them. In one, I believe -- was it an African-American woman who said because of her religion, she didn't feel comfortable judging people? Isn't that the one prosecutors tried to do a preemptive (ph) strike and just get her out?
(CROSSTALK)
HOSTIN: They tried to bounce her.
CHETRY: How worried do you think this prosecution was about summoning the jury who they felt -- there was another juror who said, I can never be comfortable with the death penalty.
HOSTIN: Yes. But then that juror sort of backtracked and said, but I would follow the law.
Look, you know, there are two camps and I happen to be in the former. I think you get to 12 people. If you got a good case, you can convince that jury. I was never really that concerned about my juries.
In fact, one case that I tried, it was a drug case. Before I knew it, there was a guy with a marijuana conviction on it. And when I back to the U.S. attorney's office, everybody was calling him blunt (ph) boy, they were making fun of me, they had all sorts of pools. I got a conviction.
VELSHI: Right.
HOSTIN: He told me -- told one of the investigators afterwards since he knew drugs, he knew the guy was guilty. So, I think that it doesn't matter so much about the jury. It really matters about the process and the case.
And, again, I'll say it for the umpteen time. This was a transparent process, transparent -- cameras in the courtroom. Good prosecutor. Good defense team. You know, good judge.
And you can't be upset with the verdict really because justice prevails when the system works.
ROMANS: You have seen a lot of destroyed families in prosecuting cases.
HOSTIN: Yes.
ROMANS: Is there any chance -- can this family ever be put back together? And maybe this isn't a legal question. As a lawyer --
HOSTIN: A mom.
ROMANS: A mom, a human.
(CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: Some of the things they all said about each other.
ROMANS: Can they ever -- I mean, geez!
HOSTIN: I think it's going to be really, really difficult. I think there is nothing like a mother's love and you saw that with Cindy Anthony. I mean, after she testified, she said, "I love you." So, certainly --
(CROSSTALK)
HOSTIN: I think they're going to try to build this, but I think it's going to be really, really difficult.
CHETRY: And where does Casey go if she gets out tomorrow, 9:00 in the morning?
HOSTIN: That's the question. Cheney Mason said she's not going back to the Anthony home. Some people are speculating that she will. But we know, you know, where does she work? Perhaps a book deal, perhaps a reality television show? She's got to live her life. I mean, we're all going to be watching.
ROMANS: She's the most famous 25-year-old in America.
VELSHI: Yes.
HOSTIN: Exactly.
VELSHI: All right. Sunny, thanks so much -- Sunny Hostin.
CHETRY: What do you think? Was Casey Anthony's acquittal, a result of a good defense or a poor prosecution? It's our question of the day. Email us and give us a tweet, send us, on Facebook as well, and we'll read some of your comments later in the show.
VELSHI: All right. Still ahead this morning, the latest round of debt talks are grinding to a halt. This is the hard. Both sides are digging in. Is there any way that Republicans and Democrats are going to agree and get something done within the next 27 days? What has to happen to seal a debt deal?
ROMANS: Also, the space shuttle's final mission may be in jeopardy -- thanks to the weather. Oh, no, that story.
Plus, NASA's great next leap -- Mars, the moon, maybe asteroid? A live report from Kennedy Space Center.
It's nine minutes after the hour.
CHETRY: We also have some crazy video, by the way, just into us. A squirrel trying to cross a road as a rabid Lamborghini going a hundred miles an hour approaches. We'll tell who won out.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Thirty minutes past the hour.
Chance of a lifetime for one fan at a U2 show in Nashville. He was holding up a sign saying "I'm blind. I want to play a song for my wife." So, during U2's encore, Bono said, hey, get this guy a guitar, get him up on the stage, he guided him up there, and he grabbed the mic and here is their little impromptu performance.
(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)
ROMANS: Got even better. Bono let him keep the guitar. (INAUDILBE) one made specifically for the U2. They do that in their shows. It's really awesome.
VELSHI: I mean, I think it's a great story. I guess the cynic in me would have said that I didn't -- I wouldn't believe he was blind.
ROMANS: You are such --
VELSHI: I thought he would use it as a ploy.
ROMANS: You are such a cynic! CHETRY: He did play an incredible -- I mean, he played it flawlessly with Bono. So, what a chance of a lifetime. Good for him.
ROMANS: All right. An inmate in Mexico busted after an attempted prison break.
VELSHI: The weirdest prison break ever.
ROMANS: His 19-year-old girlfriend -- she tried to take him out of the prison in a suitcase. The only problem was on the way out, the young woman was struggling with the suitcase with the folded up body of her boyfriend. When officers stopped her and open the case, they found the man curled in a fetal position. And she now faces jail time for her role in an attempted --
VELSHI: There he is.
CHETRY: That (INAUDIBLE) -- gosh, I don't want anyone to see my face. I'm half naked in a suitcase trying to break out of jail! But, God forbid --
VELSHI: I got to tell you, that is impressive that he was able to curl himself up in that little suitcase.
Again, what is it you're taking out of a suitcase in a big -- out of a prison in a big suitcase like that? I suspect they would have been caught at some point.
CHETRY: I don't think you can get your keys in and out of a prison in the United States -- your own keys.
VELSHI: All right. Check this out. This thing should have become road kill. He should have been vaporized actually.
(VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: Take a look at this viral video. Lamborghini flies over squirrel. You're going to have to see it. It was 100 miles an hour. Squirrel comes out on the other side. Cam we do that again? Whoa!
CHETRY: Wow. You know, that squirrel got pretty lucky.
VELSHI: Yes. This is the California speedway during the ultimate Lamborghini experience.
CHETRY: Because I don't understand squirrels. They're quite fast, but they always freeze up on a road, don't they?
VELSHI: Right.
CHETRY: So, you're driving, you slow down, the squirrel just stops and kind of -- is not -- doesn't really know what way to go. And yesterday, I saw a squirrel that didn't get so lucky and it was freshly unlucky, and I was trying to not to roll over it with my tires on the off chance it was just asleep, but it was bad.
VELSHI: Excellent morning TV segue.
CHETRY: But that squirrel did the right thing. Kept running.
VELSHI: That squirrel just stay indoors for the rest of the year.
ROMANS: More delay of storms possible in the southwest today. Flights in and out of phoenix. This largest airport were grounded last night when a wall of clouds swept through the area. Take a look.
(VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: Oh, a dust really.
ROMANS: Yes. Have you ever seen one of these dust storms in Phoenix --
CHETRY: Otherwise known as a haboob.
ROMANS: They're amazing.
VELSHI: Right.
ROMANS: Now, haboob apparently --
VELSHI: Did you say that on TV?
ROMANS: It's humongous version of --
CHETRY: Of a dust storm which what was in Arizona last night. A haboob.
ROMANS: That's right.
VELSHI: It was a haboob. Yes.
ROMANS Stretching thousands of feet high, more than 50 mount long, thousands of homes lost power. These storms are known as --
VELSHI A haboob. An Arabic word for --
ROMANS: For wind.
CHETRY You can say it, Christine.
(LAUGHTER)
VELSHI: Yes. It's not a bad word. It's actually what it's called.
ROMANS: The word haboob is the very end of the story. We said 50 times before --
VELSHI: I am trying to say this many times as possible today.
CHETRY: Well, history may have to wait, because we're talking about weather again. The countdown for the space shuttle's final mission is under way, but there is only a 40 percent chance "Atlantis" will lift off on schedule Friday morning because there are thunderstorms in the forecast. And if the launch is delayed, there are some alternate windows in place for Saturday and Sunday.
VELSHI: All right. Let's get a big off (ph).
ROMANS: That means you and Ed Zarrella are going to just like hang around that all weekend long?
VELSHI: John is a great guy to hang out with actually. By the way, we're not going to be alone. There'll be millions of spectators for the final launch on Friday, or Saturday, or Sunday, whenever it happens. Once the shuttle era is over, however, NASA is going to figure out what it's going to do. It's trying to make a transition from its pretty glorious past into the future.
CHETRY: That's right. The space agency is developing a new capsule that will take humans deep into space. John Zarrella is live from the Kennedy Space Center this morning. So, what is the plan once this mission is over?
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, Kiran, they've already got the capsule as you mentioned, but NASA still hasn't got the heavy- lift rocket that they need in order to get the capsule to wherever they're going to go. And even though NASA doesn't know exactly where it's going to go or when it's going to go, it's already working on what it's going to do when it gets there.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ZARRELLA (voice-over): Surrounded by the blackness of deep space, 117 million miles from earth is the asteroid, Vesta. Images captured by a NASA probe. In the not to distant future, U.S. astronauts could be looking out their window at a sight just like this.
MIKE GERNHARDT, SHUTTLE ASTRONAUT: I can either float along it or I can have it tethered to me, and then, I can sample rocks, I can chip a rock.
ZARRELLA: Astronaut, Mike Gernhardt, and his team are working on the kinds of equipment and techniques they'll need for human exploration of an asteroid as early as 2025 before either the moon or Mars.
GERNHARDT: What we're doing is building a simulated asteroid under water.
ZARRELLA: And this is not some high-tech laboratory. It's Key Largo, Florida. Beneath the surface at the site of an undersea habitat called Aquarius, they have created an asteroid proving ground in the near weightless environment of water.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We work there, we live there, we can put anchors, we built a rock wall like a climbing wall. We can climb up that wall in zero gravity.
ZARRELLA: With the shuttle era over, NASA is going back to going outward. What most everyone agrees it does best. And asteroid could be the first stop, a baby step, because there's no gravity and an asteroid will be much closer, it's simply an easier first mission than Mars.
ZARRELLA (on-camera): So, once you get to Mars or the moon or an asteroid, how are you going to get around? Well, how about this? A multi-mission space exploration vehicle.
ZARRELLA (voice-over): In five years, Gernhardt hopes to see his vehicle attached to the space station's robotic arm with astronauts living in it and spacewalking from it. A good test. But before it can go any further out like to an asteroid, there's one big problem. Getting it there. Jeff Greason was a member of President Obama's Blue Ribbon Committee on the future of exploration. Greason worries it may never go anywhere.
JEFF GREASON, SPACEFLIGHT COMMITTEE MEMBER: It's a very expensive thing for NASA to maintain. And the result of that as I see it is that if NASA does successfully develop this launch vehicle, there will be no budget to do anything with it.
ZARRELLA: The man commanding the last shuttle flight worries too, talk of trips back to the moon and on to Mars have always been, well, just talk.
CHRISTOPHER FERGUSON, SHUTTLE ATLANTIC COMMANDER: Mars is always 20 years in the future. It's been 20 years in the future for the last 30 years. I'd like to see how committed we are this time.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ZARRELLA (on-camera): So, you know, we're going to get a weather briefing a little later this morning about 11:30. Maybe, we'll get lucky, and the weather will change. And you know what, guys, I'm really disappointed you're not going to be down here tonight, because the group Bandella is playing at a local pub --
VELSHI: Aha.
ZARRELLA: Not far from -- in Cocoa Beach. And you know who's one of the featured players in that group?
VELSHI: Who?
ZARRELLA: Katie Coleman.
ROMANS: Really?
ZARRELLA: Astronaut Katie Coleman.
CHETRY: That's your buddy. You followed her for more than a year.
VELSHI: OK. You make him sound like a stalker as part of a reporter.
(LAUGHTER)
ROMANS: Hey, I will just say one thing, John. (LAUGHTER)
ROMANS: I will say one thing, John, and that is that NASA has been fighting over budgets, are worried about budgets since the beginning of NASA. Every time there's a new bright idea, they're worried that there is going to be political, you know, winds are going to shift. So, I don't know if that's good news or bad news, but that's just the way it is.
ZARRELLA: But, you know, it always is political wind that ultimately drives whether it was "Apollo" or whatever the program was, or shuttle even, it was politics.
VELSHI: Yes --
CHETRY: And a huge source of national pride for those people, and so --
ROMANS: That's right.
CHETRY: That it lives on.
VELSHI: Well, John, you and I will be spending some quality time together on Friday one way or the other. Good to see you, my friend.
(LAUGHTER)
ZARRELLA: Yes.
ROMANS: All right. Thirty years after the space shuttle program began "Atlantis" trip to the International Space Station will be NASA's 135th and final mission. Special live coverage Friday morning 10:00 a.m. eastern here on CNN.
VELSHI: Love that little rocket.
All right. Stocks were firing on all cylinders last week. Is the rally over already? We're going to check. We'll have a look at the markets when we come back. It's 20 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Almost 26 minutes after the hour. "Minding Your Business" this morning.
Facebook is about to unveil what it calls something awesome. So far, the social network won't say exactly what it has in store for today's announcement, but the buzz is that it's a partnership with Skype allowing you to video chat with your awesome friends at the same time.
$7 billion. That's how much Twitter may be worth. "The Wall Street Journal" reporting the site is seeking another round of private financing as opposed to going public to raise money.
Checking on the markets. Right now, stock futures trading a little lower ahead of the opening bell. Investors are on edge over financial instability in Europe. Moody's has downgraded Portugal's credit rating to junk.
And Netflix is expanding internationally, the 43 countries in Latin America and Caribbean. Members will have access to movies and shows in Spanish, Portuguese, and English by streaming not by mail.
Almost half of all flat panel TVs are going to have internet by 2015. That's according to a new study by Display Search. By the end of this year, about 25 percent of all TV shipped are expected to have some sort of internet connectivity.
Coming up next, a CNN exclusive from inside and on the ground in al Qaeda. Al-Qaeda slipping back into the country just as the U.S. gets ready to leave. AMERICAN MORNING back after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: Top stories this morning. Casey Anthony will be sentenced tomorrow on four misdemeanor convictions for lying to police. She may not get any jail time beyond what she's already served, and Anthony could be released. A Florida jury found Casey Anthony not guilty of murder her two-year-daughter, Caylee.
Trying to prevent another Fukushima. Japan says it will now perform stress tests on all of its nuclear plants. The computer simulations will look at how the nuclear plants would respond during earthquakes and other national disasters. The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant started leaking radiation after the devastating earthquake and tsunami crippled reactor cooling systems back in March.
A Somali terror suspect brought to the U.S. after secretly being held on a Navy ship for two months in the Persian Gulf. He pleaded not guilty in New York yesterday. He is accused of being a middleman between a Somali Terror group and Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula based in Yemen.
CHETRY: A CNN exclusive now from inside of Afghanistan. Even after a decade of war and a surge of troops, there is new evidence that Al Qaeda is making a comeback.
VELSHI: And this comes just as the U.S. is getting ready to leave. The drawdown is scheduled to begin this month.
ROMANS: Nick Paton Walsh went into the dangerous mountains along the Pakistan border with U.S. troops, and here's what they found.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Almost a decade in, the hunt for Al Qaeda in one part of eastern Afghanistan looks like this -- Americans pushing the Afghans to the front, taking the high ground, and hails "impossible" to police.
The pressure for less Americans here is extreme, but the Afghans only mustered five men for this patrol.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When you shoot, all right, it has got to be five to seven round bursts and let it go.
WALSH: And, despite this training, are barely up to policing the local villages let alone, taking on the very terrorist network America came here to eradicate.
(On camera) It's here that Afghanistan's future looks a lot like its past. American control does not extend up into this valley, and high on those ridge lines they found safe havens for Al Qaeda.
(voice-over) U.S. and Afghan officials have revealed to CNN they located here Al Qaeda fighters using the secluded Alpine villages for training and planning. In June, hundreds of Americans were air-lifted in 9,000 feet up, but they forced fierce resistance and a longer, nastier fight than planned.
U.S. officials say they killed 120 insurgents and top leaders, many Taliban, but several of them Arabs linked to Al Qaeda, damaging their network.
Yet, the clashes reveal that Al Qaeda, for years said to be mostly across the border in Pakistan, is again a concern back where they started in Afghanistan's hills. We push down into the Watapur Valley, still an insurgent stronghold. High-tech American attack helicopters buzzed overhead until militants shot at them up in the valley.
SECOND LT. TREY VAN WYHE, 2-45 INFANTRY BATTALION: It's uncharacteristic for the Taliban I know from around here. They are getting pretty gutsy.
Right past there usually the patrols don't push up too far past that because if you push up any far past that, you're going to take enemy contact. It's pretty certain.
WALSH: The Afghans clear about who lay and wait for them ahead.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (via translator): It's very dangerous. There are Taliban, Arabs, Pakistanis there.
WALSH: At the foot of the valley, the American base is often hit by pot shots, sometimes from lone gunmen up high, who they then mortar. Al Qaeda's return to these remote hills could tie America's hands, making it harder to justify pulling back from here, the terrorist network that made America's case for invading slipping back in just when America makes its case to leave.
Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Kunar, Afghanistan.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: And that's the crux of it, slipping back in just as the U.S. is making its case to leave makes it difficult.
VELSHI: Coming up next, everyone in D.C. is talking debt, but whether they are talking at or with each other is really the key question. Debt talk negotiations are turning into a bit of a circus. Can President Obama jumpstart those negotiations? We are going to ask the experts how to get real spending cuts, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Washington, D.C. cloudy and 80 degrees. It's going to be thunderstorms and 93. That's the real weather report, not the one that is going on inside the White House today and for the next several days until they get some kind of a deal, they work out this debt ceiling.
There are storm clouds gathering. A new poll of Republican voters in New Hampshire, the first primary state, by the way, shows Mitt Romney is still on top, still way ahead of the pack. Take a look at this poll. The big headline might be Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, she's gaining ground. She took over second place. This is the WMUR Granite State poll. We can put it up. She is still trailing Romney by double digits, 35-12. Ron Paul is at seven, Giuliani at seven, and Rick Perry from Texas, who is also not a declared candidate, is number four. Huntsman, Pawlenty not even on the list. They are way down, let's put it that way. Thirty five percent of voters said that they would vote for Mitt Romney.
CHETRY: That's a big jump. Michele Bachmann to go 12 percent. I believe she was only at four percent a month ago, so that's quite a big jump, especially --
VELSHI: She did very well after the Iowa, a new poll coming out of Iowa. But the bottom line is nobody is budging the Romney lead.
ROMANS: It's interesting that Senator Jim DeMint told us he is disappointed with Michele Bachmann. She hasn't signed on to his pledge for his balanced budget. She has to be well in North Carolina, his home state.
CHETRY: That's right, a Twitter town hall, a "tweet up" they're calling it, on jobs and the economy. It starts at starts at 2:00 p.m. eastern time from the East Room of the White House. And you can submit a question still. It's "hash-tag ask Obama."
ROMANS: I don't think he has to maintain just 140 characters.
(LAUGHTER)
VELSHI: No, his responses are going to be his responses, which don't tend to be short. I don't think he does a lot in 140 characters.
ROMANS: No, he doesn't.
It's 27 days away. America may no longer be able to pay all of its bills. This is a real crisis that could send shockwaves through the global markets. Tomorrow President Obama is going to put new pressure on lawmakers to raise the debt ceiling by holdings negotiations at the White House.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's my hope that everybody is going to leave their ultimatums at the door, that we will all leave our political rhetoric at the door, and that we are going to do what's best for our economy and do what's best for our people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: Joining me now is David Frum. He is a CNN contributor, editor FrumForum.com, former speech writer for President Bush. And Megan McArdle is the business and economics editor for "The Atlantic." Thanks to both of you for joining us.
Megan, lets' start with you. There has been increasing criticism of the way Republicans, conservatives, and Tea Party influenced members of Congress are handling these negotiations. There's some sense that Democrats have started to make some moves. The Republicans are making no moves whatsoever. What is your take on this?
MEGAN MCARDLE, BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS EDITOR, "THE ATLANTIC": Well, I think at this point, we really don't know whether this is just, you know, a tough negotiating strategy or whether they are actually serious and they have no intention of moving off of their position, which is no revenue increases whatsoever, even things like getting rid of the ethanol tax credit which most people pretty much agree is a terrible idea.
I mean, if it's the former, then it's sort of difficult, and I think the Democrats are going to be really angry about it but probably eventually we're going to get to a deal. If it's the latter, though, that harbinger is really ill for the future.
VELSHI: Yes, I keep trying to remind people, David, that guessing about what effect this is going to have on the global economy is a tough one. We guessed wrong on Lehman Brothers and it caused a near global meltdown. What is your take on what conservatives need to do?
DAVID FRUM, FORMER BUSH SPEECHWRITER: Look, we have to make a deal. I don't think it is possible to underestimate how very bad a -- we can't call it a default because maybe the debt will be paid, but other obligations won't be paid. If you're a state that has Medicaid bills, if you're a hospital that has Medicare patients, you won't be played. And of course your customers won't be paid, your suppliers won't be paid.
What Republicans need to make sure is this event doesn't happen. This whole process shouldn't be happening. You shouldn't use the threat of default to get your way.
There are important things to be done on reducing the long-term indebtedness of the United States, but the right now, the debt is not the country's biggest problem. Right now with unemployment at 10 percent and interest rates at one percent, it is jobs not debt that is the biggest problem. And how we got distracted from that, I do not understand.
VELSHI: What has to happen here in the party? Because some people are saying, some Republicans are saying we have got to stick to our knitting. We have got to do what our constituents want us to do, and the Democrats are trying to break that.
In particular, this idea -- David Brooks wrote about this yesterday -- the idea they can agree to tens and hundreds of millions in tax increases in exchange for holding the Democrats and the president to trillions of dollars of tax cuts. David, why won't they take a deal like that?
FRUM: Not all constituents are created equal. One of the issues on the table here, for example, is whether or not hedge funds should be taxed at income tax rates of 30 plus percent or taxed at long-term capital gains rate at 15 percent. Now that is a small but very important Republican constituency. It's an important Democratic constituency too.
There is -- if you want to get to long-term balance, there are going to be some places where more money has to be raised because you cannot, given the severity of the debt crisis, you cannot get out of this debt alone by squeezing programs that have enormous political constituencies behind them.
VELSHI: Megan, let me ask you this this. I have to think what happened in Greece, the Greek parliament. At some point they had to make a decision because they were squeezed into it to say it doesn't matter what the constituents think at this point. There's really only one road out of this.
MCARDLE: I think the real issue here is it has to be a bipartisan deal. And I'm not sure that the Republican base is ready to admit that. The fact is doing these really, really difficult deals requires in America, requires people to reach across the aisle and for each party to have their fingerprints all over the result.
VELSHI: I think I agree with you there, but practically speaking we have 27 days. And by the way, this isn't 27 days to make a decision. This is 27 days to make a decision and get the enabling legislation in place. So maybe we've got three weeks to get this done.
Practically speaking, what will move them? What is the thing that is going to cause Republicans to come in and say, let's get this done? Is it Obama inviting them to the White House tomorrow?
MCARDLE: I don't think it's going to be Obama inviting them to the White House. He hasn't had a lot of success with that move in the past. I think it's either going to be this is a negotiating strategy. They are basically going to sort of move in time for Boehner to whip the votes. And that's a real big issue. You have to remember, they have to gather up the votes, as you say. And that takes time. It took a long time with Obamacare and that was something the Democrats wanted to do. This is something the Republicans aren't going to.
But, you know, even beyond that, we have this very short timeframe, and you're going to have to decide fairly soon. I think that what may be required is that we're going to have to see some sort of movement, either in the bond markets or the stock markets, as we did with passing the emergency rescue in 2008.
VELSHI: And that may yet come.
MCARDLE: That is what moved them.
VELSHI: David Frum, you said something interesting. All constituents are not made equal. For conservatives, for fiscal conservatives who realize that long-term spending cuts and possibly real reform to the tax code, and maybe that means higher taxes, maybe it means lower taxes, but everybody has to pay them, whatever it is, for that to happen, it's more important to make a deal than risk the economy. So what do both conservatives and Democrats have to do to get those hardliners to the table?
FRUM: On the conservative side the concession that obviously has to come is concessions on deductions and credits. It isn't clear why people need to deduct $1 million worth of a house when $417,000 is the conforming limit. You would take the mortgage interest deduction down there.
But here is something Democrats need to do. One of the things Republicans are really worried about is that Obama secretly hopes that when the Bush tax cuts expire, as they are scheduled to do in 2012, that will be his real answer to this problem.
Removing that threat saying, you know, we are going to have a long- term deal on taxes as well as spending so we don't take the tax rates up to 40 percent. Especially if want to equalize the way the very wealthiest people are taxed, the hedge funds managers, it's going to be easier to get them from 15 to 30 --
(CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: Right.
FRUM: -- than from 15 to 40.
VELSHI: Yes all right. David, good to hear from you thanks very much. David Frum is the editor the FrumForum.com and a contributor to CNN. Megan McArdle is a business and economics editor at the Atlantic.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Still ahead this morning, our headlines.
Plus what you would say is humanity's greatest untapped resource? A new U.N. report says it is the untapped potential of women. Coming up Michelle Bachelet, the first female president of Chile, talks women rights and an unfinished revolution.
Its 45 minutes past the hour.
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CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: It is 47 minutes after the hour. Here are your morning headlines.
Casey Anthony expected to be sentenced to time served after found guilty on four counts of lying to police. If that happens at her sentencing hearing tomorrow, Anthony could leave court a free woman. She was acquitted of murder, manslaughter and child abuse in the death of her two-and-a-half year old daughter Caylee.
It's a scandal may have kept 12,000 kids from getting the extra help they need. Investigators say 80 percent of Atlanta schools cheated on state standardized tests and faking scores, changing wrong answers to show fake improvement. Investigators say 178 teachers and principals were involved. More than 80 have already confessed.
Near hurricane force winds kicking up in the desert a massive sandstorm, grounding flights in the Phoenix area last night. That cloud rising thousands of feet in the air stretching more 50 miles.
Seven Montana counties under a state of emergency this morning because of an oil spill in the Yellowstone River, 42,000 gallons leaked from an Exxon/Mobil pipeline last Friday. It is still not clear what caused that spill.
Markets open in about 45 minutes. Right now, stock futures trading down slightly ahead of the opening bell, investors on edge over financial instability in Europe this morning.
Today's Facebook will hold a news conference to announce what they call "the launch of something awesome". And the buzz this morning is that awesome thing maybe a partnership with Skype that lets you video chat with your Facebook friends.
Three cities are in the running to host that 2018 Winter Olympics. The International Olympic Committee will make that selection at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time. Those three competing cities are Munich, Germany; Annecy, France; and Pyongyang, South Korea.
You're caught up on the day's headlines. AMERICAN MORNING is back right after this break.
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CHETRY: Fifty minutes past the hour right now. A look at New York City where it is sunny and 80 degrees, it's going to be pretty hot today, 91 for a high, partly cloudy here in New York.
The United Nation is releasing a new flagship report this morning about gender equality and justice for women around the world. And the headlines seem to be that progress has been made but there still is a lot of work to be done.
And this morning, we're joined by Michelle Bachelet. She is the former President of Chile and now the executive director of U.N. Women. Thanks so much for joining us this morning.
MICHELLE BACHELET, FORMER PRESIDENT OF CHILE: Thank you.
CHETRY: It's great to have you with us. It's an honor.
When we take a look at the report as a whole, where -- where -- have we seen progress in your opinion and where are some of the biggest challenges that they found in the report?
BACHELET: Well, if we think that 100 years ago only women could vote only in two countries; of course we have done a lot. And if you see, for example, some specific issues like domestic violence, you have more than 125 countries, who have laws that clearly establish that this is a crime. If you go to many different areas, you will see a lot of laws.
But still, there is a huge gap on implementation of those laws. So I would say in the whole world, we still have a lot of gaps in terms of really ensuring complete access to justice. Even the more developed countries because in developed countries, sometimes you have important gaps in salary, for example, with men and women.
CHETRY: Right. Yes, the pay and equality issue. Let me ask you a little bit about that because still you highlight the fact that there is still a big 10 percent to 30 percent less on average women getting paid. But even when you take at a -- take a look at a country like the United States that prides itself on gender equality you're at 23 percent pay gap between men and women.
BACHELET: Yes, yes.
CHETRY: It's 28 percent in Canada. What are some of the biggest reasons behind that?
BACHELET: Well, first of all, in most of these countries, you still have laws that prohibit gaps. But I think the main reasons are a lot of different factors. One is the capacity of women to negotiate their salary conditions. Second, usually when women are in a reproductive age, usually, there is a risk of hiring less women. Second, you have less women in top decision-making decisions. So women, we have still few parliamentarian female in the U.S., like 14 percent of all parliamentarians and so on.
So what you find is you're lacking of more gender-responsive laws or you're lacking on more women in very important position to ensure that this kind of situations do not happen.
And for people that are sitting at home wondering why is it so vital that women are able to reach their full potential, especially in developing countries around the world? Why is that notion of gender equality so vital?
BACHELET: Well, first of all, we talk about salary and economic contribution. Women are very important factors in the economy; they're really important drivers of the economy in many places. I mean of course, in developed countries, women play a very important role and can be great professionals, great caregivers and so on.
In the developing world when you think for many countries, the agriculture labor force in many parts of Africa, for example, 80, 85 percent of the agriculture labor force are women. But, for example, they have only 2 percent of the land rights. They have a lot of difficulties in accessing, you know, technical support, water supply, storage capacity. So it is essential. Everybody says, you know, if you really want to ensure a world where the minimal development possibilities are there, women has to be in power. Women have to have equality. But still, we are lagging behind.
CHETRY: We are not talking about basically human rights. Everybody understands hopefully, the importance of basic human rights. As an economic driver of these places, of countries where, you know, they're struggling right not. I mean you are seeing a global struggle going on right now with employment and on and on.
I thought it was interesting about the importance that your report recommends that some countries perhaps even have quotas on the amount of women that have to be legislators in countries. Why is it so important for females to be the lawmakers in some of these countries?
BACHELET: You know, 50 years ago, it was already stated that unless you have more than 30 percent, at least 30, and hopefully a little bit better than that, you don't have laws that really represent women needs, women concerns. And particularly do not include the clear evidence that when women had to confront the situation, they usually have a bigger impact or they have more difficulties or more obstacles.
We see it in normal days, we see it in conflict countries. I mean even a conflict affects everybody. Women particularly have particular and specific challenges. So that's why it's so important to have more women in all decision-making positions in parliament because you can ensure that the laws really reflect the needs, the concerns, the priority of women.
CHETRY: You, obviously, a trailblazer yourself, the first female president of Chile. You played a key role in trying to help with social change around the world. One of the other concerning elements seems to be the literacy, the education rates. In some countries it's just not a priority for women to learn as much as it is for men. How do you change that mindset?
BACHELET: I think this is one of our main priorities, not only as women but the whole U.S. system. Everybody knows. Particularly in the region of the Americas, studies show that the future of a child is completely directly related to the level of education of the mother. That is the more important factor.
So how we could do -- we need to work with governments to ensure that they give opportunities of education, because, you know, even though the gap between boys and girls, the ratio has diminished in terms of girls do they have more access to education, still, there are huge gaps. Second, the quality of education; we need to ensure that countries understand that it's not only the right thing to do, it's also the smart thing to do to ensure women's education and women's rights.
CHETRY: Well, Michelle Bachelet, executive director of U.N. women, former president of Chile; a pleasure to speak to you this morning.
BACHELET: Well, thank you very much. CHETRY: Thanks for coming on.
BACHELET: Thank you.
CHETRY: We're going to take a quick break. It's 57 minutes past the hour.
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VELSHI: Casey Anthony returns to court tomorrow. She is ready to walk free after being acquitted of murder charges in the death of her 2-year-old daughter Caylee.
ROMANS: We want to know, do you believe that Casey Anthony's acquittal was the result of good defense or poor prosecution? Here are some of your responses this morning.
From Twitter, you know, "Not bad defense, not poor prosecution, simply a lack of evidence."
CHETRY: Dan Daley on our blog writes, "I thought her defense was excellent at laying out what evidence they had. However, it goes back to the death penalty. Nobody on that jury was going to find that young girl guilty with the circumstantial evidence. That is what it boiled down to, plain and simple. Had it not been a death penalty case -- different outcome."
But it isn't (INAUDIBLE) -- they could have gone with aggravated manslaughter.
VELSHI: That was an option and assault. I got the other one from Twitter that says, "The jury took the meaning of reasonable doubt seriously. Legal teams were competent. It is hard to sentence somebody to death if in doubt." But again, they did have the option of not giving her the capital murder charge.
ROMANS: All right. That's going to wrap it up for us. It's 9:00 in the East, that means "CNN NEWSROOM" with Kyra Phillips starts right now.
Good morning, Kyra.
VELSHI: Good morning Kyra.
