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American Morning
Cameron Faces Parliament; Largest Ever Plane Deal; Moody's Warns Five States Of Rating Downgrade; High School Teacher Quitting Due to Low Pay; Rick Perry Considering Presidential Run; NFL Lockout: Economic Fallout; Murdoch's Close Shave
Aired July 20, 2011 - 07:59 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: David Cameron under fire at the U.K. hacking hearings.
I'm Kiran Chetry.
British lawmakers demanding answers from their prime minister about his ties to Rupert Murdoch's media empire. We are live in London where the fireworks have been flying all morning.
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Ali Velshi.
Two proposals to get our nation's debt under control. Republicans are praising one plan and President Obama is praising the other. So, are we any close to averting a debt disaster? Details on this AMERICAN MORNING.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
VELSHI: Hello again. It is Wednesday, July the 20th. Christine is off today.
That means Kiran and I have a lot of news to split up between us this morning.
CHETRY: We have been talking a lot about the prime minister of Britain in the hot seat this morning. We, in fact, are showing you a live surreal unfolding of this back-and-forth between David Cameron and other members to parliament. He actually had to cut short a trip to Africa to appear before lawmakers who want to know his ties to Rupert Murdoch's media empire.
VELSHI: These are live pictures. Boy, we say he's in the hot seat. But he has to get out of the seat about every minute and a half to answer more questions as is typical in parliament.
After just 15 months in office, this eavesdropping and corruption allegations against News Corporation is rocking his administration. It's all got to do with a man who he hired to be his communications director.
Atika Shubert is covering the hacking hearings for us. She is live in London this morning.
Atika, what's your sense of how things are going in the House of Commons for the prime minister?
ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Cameron seems to be laying out the argument and he's taken the clearest steps yet to distance himself from Andy Coulson, that is the "News of the World" editor that he hired as his spin doctor and who, of course, later was arrested as part of the investigation into the phone hacking. Now, clearly, Cameron is trying to draw a line under the scandal saying an inquiry is I understand way and in 12 months, he'll have a report.
But opposition leader Ed Miliband isn't really letting him get away with it. Here's what they both said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)
DAVID CAMERON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: We now have a well-led police investigation which would examine criminal behavior by the media and corruption in the police. We have set up a wide-ranging and independent judicial inquiry under Lord Justice Leveson to establish what went wrong, why, and what we need to do to ensure it never happens again.
ED MILIBAND, OPPOSITION LEADER: He was warned and he has preferred to ignore the warnings, so that the country can have the leadership we need. Why doesn't he more -- why doesn't he do more than give a half apology and provide the full apology now for hiring Mr. Coulson and bringing into the heart of Downing Street?
(END VIDEO CLIPS)
SHUBERT: Now, one of the things Cameron is pointing out is that, basically, they're all guilty of it. Several times now, he said that Labour, in fact, has had their own media spin doctor. Several of their PR people coming from the media. In fact, one of them currently still was previously with News International.
So, at one point, Cameron said everybody has done it. We all have to admit it. If we are going to start looking at his record, why not look all the way back to Labour under Tony Blair?
CHETRY: He said that Rupert Murdoch said at the hearing yesterday that he was actually closest when it came to prime ministers to Gordon Brown. So, that met with a lot of cheers and jeers from parliament as well, Atika. Very fascinating exercise in the way that British government works.
VELSHI: Yes. Thanks, Atika. And, by the way, what's happening today is a lot more interesting to watch than what happened yesterday, which was Rupert Murdoch, his son and Rebekah Brooks testifying before a parliamentary committee. It was actually quite a stage --
CHETRY: You thought today's was more exciting?
VELSHI: I think that yelling and that screaming.
CHETRY: I know. But yesterday, you had an invader come in there and there was an attempted throwing a pie in Rupert Murdoch's face. VELSHI: And we're going to show that. Two hours after telling parliament yesterday -- there we go. There is the pie attack. It's hard to see but you'll see it again on the left side of your screen.
Wendi Deng who is in pink gets up and sort -- there is the guy just off to the side of the screen. She gets up and she -- that's Rupert Murdoch's wife.
CHETRY: Forty-two-year-old wife. She jumps over another woman to hit that guy. He ended up being a 26-year-old man. He had he a shaving cream pie. He tried to hit Rupert Murdoch in the face. He kind of got his shoulder.
And this happened yesterday, but it didn't take long, of course, for his wife to leap to the defense, for police to get involved. This guy --
VELSHI: She smacked him in the head.
CHETRY: She sure did. She got her licks in before the police took him.
VELSHI: His name is Jonathan May-Bowles. Police took him in handcuffs. They charged him with a public order offense.
Before that attack, Bowles tweeted, quote, "It is a far better thing I do now than I have ever done before." He says he's been humbled, by the way.
Rupert Murdoch is not apologizing however. He's not accepting shred of blame, not a shred of blame for the phone and hacking corruption scandal that's rocking his media empire. He faced hours of question yesterday. If you missed it -- this was the highlight.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Murdoch, do you accept that ultimately, you are responsible for the whole fiasco?
RUPERT MURDOCH, NEWS CORP: No.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You are not responsible? Who is responsible?
RUPERT MURDOCH: The people that I trusted to run it and then maybe the people they trusted.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: Murdoch's heir apparent, his son James, who is sitting next to him, also testified. The key moment came when it was suggested that the younger Murdoch turned his back when victims were hacked.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ADRIAN SANDERS, BRITISH PARLIAMENT: Are you familiar with the term willful blindness? JAMES MURDOCH, NEWS CORP: Mr. Sanders, would you care to elaborate?
SANDERS: It is a term that came up in the Enron scandal. Willful blindness is a legal term. It states that if there is knowledge that you could have had and should have had, but chose not to have, you are still responsible.
JAMES MURDOCH: Mr. Sanders, do you have a question? Respectfully, I don't know what you'd like me to say.
SANDERS: I'm asking whether you were aware.
JAMES MURDOCH: I'm not aware of that -- I'm not aware of that particular phrase.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: He is talking about willful blindness in the Enron scandal. That led to these regulations that said in America, a CEO, if there are some things you should know, you're responsible for it if it happens. You can't say I didn't know because of somebody else. It doesn't really apply in the parliamentary testimony, but that's what that member of parliament was talking about.
CHETRY: And that was also interesting because David Cameron talked about promising very vigorous changes in media regulation in the U.K. in the wake of this. So, we'll see what happens there.
In the meantime, Rebekah Brooks, who is Murdoch's former newspaper chief, also appeared before British lawmakers yesterday. She resigned earlier this month. She was arrested over the weekend but not charged. Brooks denies responsibility for the alleged hacking at the newspaper that she once ran. She insisted that she was shocked and disgusted when she heard reports about the murdered schoolgirl's phone being tapped.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REBEKAH BROOKS, FORMER "NEWS OF THE WORLD" CEO: Of course, I have regrets. I mean the idea that Milly Dowler's phone is accessed by someone being paid by "The News of the World" or even worse, authorized by someone at "The News of the World" is horrid to me as it is to everyone in this room. And it is an ultimate regret that the speed in which we have found out and tried to find out the bottom of this investigation has been too slow.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Last night, Murdoch sent an e-mail to his employees vowing that News Corp will emerge a stronger company. And, by the way, just today, their stock price after falling for days actually saw 6 percent bumps. So, some investors are liking what they saw.
New developments this morning in the search to keep -- for a deal to keep the government from defaulting on its obligations. President Obama is giving his blessing to a new bipartisan Senate plan put together by the so-called "group of six" senators. It includes a mix of spending cuts and changes to the tax code.
In the meantime, the Republican-led House passing its own "cut, cap, and balance" plan. That plan cuts federal spending and then caps it, and then calls for a constitutional amendment requiring Washington to balance its budget every year. It has pretty much no chance of passing the Senate -- and even if it did, President Obama has said he would veto it.
CHETRY: Also new this morning. The FBI carrying out raids in several states and arresting at least 16 suspected hackers. The majority of those are thought to be part of the group Anonymous. That group is the one that claimed responsibility for attacking PayPal, the CIA, as well as several credit card Web sites.
VELSHI: You got to pay attention to this particular piece of video. It's really good but you got to pay attention to it because it involves armed robbers and a Chihuahua. It's good thing these guys were wearing masks when they did it because this is pretty embarrassing. Check this out.
L.A. County police -- watch, these guys are coming in to rob the house and you see the Chihuahua. Released a video. Two robbers, one has a rifle. They are chased down the street by a Chihuahua. They got away with some cash, but they didn't stick around for the rest.
CHETRY: I know. Well, good for the Chihuahua, all 10 pounds of him. He was not going to let anybody get away with it.
VELSHI: As you said earlier, he had no idea that he was 10 pounds.
CHETRY: Nope. And he doesn't want to know. That's how they are. Those dogs have a lot of soul -- heart and soul and will. It doesn't matter how big they are.
Well, up next on AMERICAN MORNING: NASA's space shuttle is about to be retired for good, as we know. But what comes next for the future of space exploration? We're going to get some insight.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: The crew of Atlantis waking up to the sound of "Fanfare for the Common Man" by Aaron Copland this morning. All that of that remains all that remains for NASA's final shuttle voyage is the touchdown scheduled now for just before 6:00 a.m. Eastern Time tomorrow morning. We will cover it live right here on CNN.
Joining me now to talk about tomorrow's landing and more importantly where space exploration goes from here is NASA Administrator Charles Bolden.
Administrator Bolden, thank you for being here. Good to see you again.
Let's talk about this for a second. You know, clearly not enough people have heard this message because I hear a whole bunch of people telling me there's no space -- there's really -- NASA has got nothing on the books. There's nothing that's happening in the future and that's because there was a plan and it was sort of dismantled.
So, right from your lips, what is NASA up to after that space shuttle launch tomorrow?
CHARLES BOLDEN, NASA ADMINISTRATOR: Ali, you're absolutely right. We have just not done a good job of telling our story. And, by the way, "Ode to the Common Man" is phenomenal.
NASA is very busy. My number one job right now is to ensure that we safely get Atlantis and her crew on the runway tomorrow. I will have tears of joys and tears of sadness at that time. But the tears of joy will be because we're already working with commercial companies to put cargo on the International Space Station as early as next year.
We are working with other commercial companies to put American astronauts and our partner astronauts on the International Space Station in four or five years. That way, we will be continuing to operate the International Space Station between now and 2020, and then NASA is working on a heavy-lift launch vehicle and a multipurpose crew vehicle to get our astronauts beyond the earth of orbit to destinations the president has set to us, 2025, to an asteroid, but 2030 is to Mars.
So, we've got a lot of work to do ahead.
VELSHI: So, you know, we talk about energy problems here on Earth and we talk about the financial problems -- so many times, commentators will say things like, you know, we need to approach it the way we approach the space program or putting a man on the moon. Why does it feel nebulous right now? Why does it feel that we don't have that same surge forward that we had, whether it was putting a man on the moon or the space shuttle program?
And part of that is because of the 2025 goal for an asteroid, I don't think you got a whole bunch of little kids saying, "Oh, my God, I want to go asteroid." Is that meant to be part of a bigger push?
BOLDEN: Quite the contrary, Ali. The kids I talk to around the world, they actually are pretty excited about that. You know, NASA is doing a lot do three -- to promote three things the president talks about. We're really focused on stem education, promoting that for the students of America so that we can get our kids back up to a point --
VELSHI: By the way, you mean -- let me just --
BOLDEN: -- where they can compete with others around the world in science and math.
VELSHI: OK. So, science, technology and engineering and math. It's remarkable because a lot of the astronauts out there do tend to be not only fighter pilots, ex-fighter pilots, but increasingly engineers and people with science backgrounds?
BOLDEN: We need all kinds of people, but we've got to be able to out- educate, we've got to be able to out-innovate, and that means new ideas, and NASA is a full of new ideas. But, because everything is not invented here, we're trying to bring in commercial companies. We're trying to bring academia. We're working strongly with education, institutions, colleges and universities, research, institutes to help get us get a vehicle that go beyond to work a little bit.
It's going to be cutting the edge when we do that. And then, the last thing is out build. We've got to build this economy to get it back to where it's strong and people believe in it. We're very optimistic at NASA. We just want the rest of the country to join us.
VELSHI: Right.
BOLDEN: You know, it's exciting what we're doing.
VELSHI: When you talk about a heavy-lift rocket, you're talking about something that goes -- the space shuttle is still low earth orbit. You're talking about something and that's why you're excited about the asteroid because it's beyond that. What is it -- you know, you re a bit of a science geek. Tell the rest of the world right now what it is you plan to discover on an asteroid so we can get excited about it.
BOLDEN: Well, we need to understand asteroids. There's a satellite dawn that's orbiting an asteroid even as we speak, Vesta, that's giving us views that we've never seen before. Asteroids are rocks, in many cases, and they threaten earth. You know, we need to understand them so that we know how to get rid of them if we have to because it would be a bad day if an asteroid struck our earth.
We also learn a lot about our solar system and about our planet, Earth, by studying the asteroids that are remnants of some of the planets. We need to go to other planets to help us -- we're always trying to understand where did we come from, what else is out there, you know, what can we do to make life here on Earth better. That's our focus, but we've got to go to other places if we want to understand our own Earth.
VELSHI: Charles Boldin, good to talk to you. I hope you didn't take it personally that I called you a science geek. I meant that in the warmest way.
BOLDEN: Well, actually, I was impressed. I'm not a science geek. I wish I were. My son and daughter are the science geeks.
VELSHI: All right. Fair enough. Well, they're following good footsteps. Charles Bolden, good to talk to you. Thanks so much for joining us. Charles Bolden is the administrator of NASA.
Hey, Jacqui Jeras is in the Extreme Weather Center for us right now.
CHETRY: Yes she is. She is following what, I guess, is a growing heat wave, right? You said it's pretty nasty out there, and we're looking for it to get worse as the week progresses.
JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes. It really is. You know, we've been talking all week that there, you know, number of states have been in the teens, right? For heat advisories today? We're up to 32! Thirty-two states across the U.S. are under some type of heat advisory, excessive heat warnings, or excessive heat watch. The nation's midsection continues to get the brunt of it today, feeling like 110 to 120 degrees. Dangerous heat.
And then the northeast is heading your way by tomorrow. Best thing I can tell you, at least, parts of the upper Midwest here will have some relief by tomorrow. Now, in terms of thunderstorms, that's where we're going to see the worse of it, too, across the upper Midwest. Isolated severe storms possible later today and some pop-up thunderstorms across the southeast could be impacting your commute.
All right. Guys, this is the best video I've seen all day. You got to watch this. There was some really heavy rain in Montreal yesterday, up to a foot of it, and it really tested the sewer system. It kind of created geysers. We've seen this before, but what we haven't seen. Check out that car. The force from the water coming up so strong, it actually lifted this car up off of its wheels. Just amazing pictures! Can you believe it, guys? I've never seen anything like that before.
CHETRY: I'm wondering how you explain that one to the insurance company. What happened was --
(LAUGHTER)
JERAS: Good thing somebody got it on video.
VELSHI: All right. Jacqui, thank you.
CHETRY: All right. We want to show you something right now that's pretty amazing. In fact, here's Jacqui. Jacqui was just on our TV. This is my iPad, and we're basically able now to stream live CNN.
VELSHI: That's that car she was just showing.
CHETRY: Exactly. So, it's a small delay, but not much. I mean, this is literally what we were talking about two seconds ago. You can also have "Headline News" streaming live as well. Both of them available at CNN.com/video. So, this is available for the CNN app for both the iPad and iPhone, but also just through CNN.com. So, the new streaming --
VELSHI: So, there is Jacqui. We were just talking to her.
CHETRY: And then, we are. And there, I am picking up the iPad to talk about it. This is kind of freaky, actually. The new streaming service is currently available to about 50 million people who subscribe to certain cable providers. So, Comcast does it, Cable Vision, others like that.
And you can head to our website for a list to see if your company is one of them, and if that's the case, you can, as long as you have a Wi-Fi connection, you can watch CNN from your tablet which is amazing. I mean, this is the start of where a lot of this is going.
VELSHI: The future. CHETRY: The future.
VELSHI: Is in your hands.
CHETRY: You can take this to the asteroid with you. I don't know if you get a connection up there.
(LAUGHTER)
VELSHI: Still to come on AMERICAN MORNING, some of the nation's standout teachers are leaving the classroom for good, but why?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's demoralizing to you. You know, you wonder why you put all this energy into it and, yes, the kids appreciate you and the kids love you for it, but at the end of the day, I still have to pay my bills.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: We're going to take a look at what can be done to keep teachers from quitting.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Twenty-four minutes after the hour. "Minding Your Business" this morning. American Airlines just announced it has placed the largest aircraft order in history, reportedly worth $37 billion. The order is for 460 narrow bodied jets. It will be split between Boeing and Airbus. American Airlines is expected to have a press conference later today to provide more detail.
The number of mortgage applications increased last week from the week before. Mortgage rates are back down to their lowest levels of the year due to turmoil in the financial markets. The average interest rate for a 30-year fixed rate mortgage is 4.5 percent.
Maryland, New Mexico, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia are all states under a review for a possible credit downgrade by Moody's Investors services. The ratings agency says those states are most vulnerable when it comes to the debt ceiling talks in Washington because they rely heavily on federal funding in contracts.
More big earnings reports on tap today. Altria which owns tobacco giant, Philip Morris, and Blackrock report earnings in the next hour before markets open. American Express, eBay and Intel report their earnings after the closing bell this afternoon.
Let's check in on markets right now. Stock futures are higher. Apple's stellar quarterly earnings last night lifted the tech sector this morning and investors still feeling optimistic over progress in the debt ceiling talks in Washington. AMERICAN MORNING is right back after this break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) CHETRY: We're crossing the half-hour. One look at your top stories now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY (voice-over): British Prime Minister, David , under fire this morning in parliament's phone hacking hearing. Opposition leaders were demanding that he apologize for hiring former "News of the World" executive, Andy Coulson. Cameron says he'll only apologize if it's proven that Coulson lied to him about hacking practices. It wasn't a little bit of what the back and forth was earlier this morning between Cameron and labor party leader, Ed Miliband.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID CAMERON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: We now have a well-led police investigation which will examine criminal behavior by the media and corruption in the police. We've set out a wide ranging and independent judicial inquiry under Lord Justice Leveson to establish what went wrong, why, and what we need to do to ensure it never happens again.
ED MILIBAND, OPPOSITION LEADER: Was warned and he preferred to ignore the warnings, so that the country can have the leadership we need. Why -- why doesn't he do more? Why doesn't he do more than give a half apology and provide the full apology now for hiring Mr. Coulson and bringing him into the heart of Downing Street.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI (voice-over): Urgent talks at how to slash spending. Congressional leaders are again scheduled to meet today. The talks come one day after the House passed a cut, cap and balance plan. That bill now moves to the Senate where it is expected to die a quick death.
CHETRY: The FBI arresting at least 16 alleged computer hackers. Most were thought to be part of the group Anonymous. Now, that group is the one that claims to have attacked PayPal and a number of credit card websites.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY (on-camera): Well, over the next decade, more than half of our country's 3.2 million teachers will be retiring, but perhaps, more disturbing is the number of teachers who are deciding to call it quits even before they hit retirement age.
VELSHI (on-camera): So, as part of our education overtime series, we're taking a closer look at the financial challenges that the nation's teachers face. Natasha Curry joins us live now from Atlanta. Good morning, Natasha. Good to see you. What did you find?
NATASHA CURRY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning Ali and Kiran. You know we used to think that teachers had it made. Week-long breaks and reduced work hours, summers off. Well, that's not the case anymore. I sat down with an award winning high school teacher in Florida. She loves her job and the kids she teaches, but she's really struggling to make ends meet, and she told us about a really tough decision she's had to make.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LINDA DARLING DEREGNAUCOURT, HIGH SCHOOL TEACHER: My name is Linda Darling Deregnaucourt. I've been teaching for 13 years. My first year of teaching, I got an award called Rookie teacher of the year. Later on I got teacher of the year again. I've gotten 100 percent pass rate in the AP Calculus for the past seven years.
CURRY: By all accounts, Linda one of those high performing teachers we all want our children to have.
DEREGNAUCOURT: This was a book that in my first year of teaching the students.
CURRY: But on a salary of $38,000 a year, which after taxes leaves her with about $2,400 a month, she says she can no longer stretch her paycheck to cover expenses.
DEREGNAUCOURT: When you start taking out rent, utilities, car payments, there is nothing left. It's demoralizing to you.
CURRY: After five years without a raise, Linda has decided to call it quits. She's going back to school to become a nurse and will earn on average about $62,000 a year, $24,000 more than what she makes now.
(on camera) How hard was it to make that decision to leave?
DEREGNAUCOURT: It's heartbreaking. I'm probably not going to get through this one.
CURRY: I'm sorry.
(voice-over) In the past 10 years, the average salary for a U.S. teacher has only increased 3.4 percent in today's dollars.
(on camera) And in some states like Florida, the average is average dropped. For many teachers, summer is no longer about taking breaks but finding extra work to make ends meet.
(voice-over) Some educators bring stagnating wages for teaching's high turnover rate. Every year 14 percent of U.S. teachers leave the profession, 46 percent leave before their fifth year on the job.
(on camera) When you look at high achieving countries, their turnover rates are three percent or lower. So they work very, very hard to not only attract teachers that are -- that they suspect are going to be successful, but they work incredibly hard to train them, and then they do whatever it takes to retain them. And we don't do that.
DEREGNAUCOURT: I'm not saying they may not find an amazing teacher to replace me who also motivates the kids, who also inspires the kids, who also loves the kids. But what if they don't? Who pays the price? (END VIDEOTAPE)
CURRY: And we all have one of those teachers, right, who just inspired us. Well, Linda is one of those teachers and now enrolled in nursing classes this summer. And if she gets accepted into the nursing program, she will officially leave her teaching job at the end of this year.
She says she has the support of her principal, who actually told her "I'd rather have you for a semester than not have you at all." But she has faced criticism from some of her students who fear that they will not pass the AP exam without her as a teacher, Kiran and Ali.
CHETRY: So a lot of people say we have to figure out solutions here. What can our country do to keep the high quality teachers like Linda from walking out the door? You'd think we pay them more. That is one way, right?
CURRY: That is the great question. The woman you saw in the piece there, she is the founder of the teachers' salary project. And she says among all of these seemingly scary statistics there is an opportunity in order to fill these impending teacher gaps. She says America needs to learn from top scoring countries like Singapore and Finland and start putting more emphasis on making teaching an attractive profession to top college students.
They get students stipends while they train, and the government regulates the supply and demand for teachers so students are guaranteed jobs. And then lastly, they offer highly competitive compensation. You mentioned, all of these things makes the profession way more prestigious than here in the United States, which is a reality.
VELSHI: That's a problem. There's still demand for teachers here, but in fact all we've seen with these state budget conversations the last several months is that teachers' benefits and salaries are being clawed back. Thank you for joining us.
CURRY: Thank you for having me.
VELSHI: A really, really important topic.
CHETRY: Absolutely.
VELSHI: Al., coming up ahead on AMERICAN MORNING, he says he was called to run. Texas Governor Rick Perry, could he be the GOP's savior in 2012 if he jumps into the race? We are going to show you why Rick Perry, the man in front of you, could be a game-changer.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: It's 37 minutes past the hour right now. A lot of Republicans, especially those on the powerful Christian right, are now saying that Texas Governor Rick Perry is really their best shot to beat President Obama in 2012. VELSHI: The decision is going to be made pretty soon he says. In a new NBC/"Wall Street Journal" poll, Perry is running third behind Mitt Romney and Michele Bachmann. You know what's interesting about this is Perry is not even in the race.
CHETRY: That's right. He still has obviously some ground to cover when you look at that poll. But then there's the whole name recognition factor. As you said, he hasn't declared. Jim Acosta is live for us in Austin. What is the appeal of Rick Perry?
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I talked to Texas Republican leaders down here yesterday, Kiran and Ali, and they point out Rick Perry has never lost an election. And when you look at that poll you just threw up there you can tell he has serious appeal across the country among GOP voters.
Aides to the Texas governor said he should have a decision by the end of the summer as to whether or not he is going to jump into this race. And if he gets in, his faith just might take center stage.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ACOSTA: For Republicans dissatisfied with the field for 2012, it could be divine intervention. At a press conference Texas governor Rick Perry confirmed what he recently told an Iowa newspaper, that he is feeling called by his faith and his friends to run.
GOV. RICK PERRY, (R) TEXAS: There's a lot of different ways to be called. My mother may call me for dinner.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So there was no religious overtone?
PERRY: Oh, no. I don't ever get confused that. I am a man of faith.
Texas is where the game is being played.
ACOSTA: GOP insiders see a pro-business governor who scores with both Tea Party activists and Christian conservatives. When Perry announced new jobs coming to the state's high tech community this week, he got a cameo playing quarterback in a college football video game. But it's what Perry he will do on another playing field has come under scrutiny. At a stadium in Houston next month he plans to lead a day of prayer, an event dubbed "The Response" for what organizers call a nation in crisis.
PERRY: We need god's help. That's why I'm calling on Americans to pray and fast like Jesus did.
ACOSTA: But critics say the response blurs the separation between church and state and point to the controversial statements made by some of the events official endorsers, including one pastor who called the Statue of Liberty a false idol.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That is an idol, a demonic idol in the middle of New York harbor. People say, well, no it's patriotic. What makes it patriotic? Why is it? It's a statue of a false goddess. ACOSTA: Perry say it's unfair to link him to the event's endorsers.
PERRY: Just because you endorse me doesn't mean I endorse everything that you say or do.
JIM HIGHTOWER, AUTHOR: He is hitching himself up to it. Some dogs are too ugly to hug, but he seems willing to do it.
ACOSTA: Democrat Jim Hightower was beaten by Perry for Texas Agriculture Commissioner more than 20 years ago. He says Perry's talk call to run is an obvious appeal to Christian conservatives tried by another Texas governor, George W. Bush.
HIGHTOWER: I don't know what he actually believes. I know how he has positioned himself, and that is far to the right of George W.
ACOSTA: Pastor Bob Long (ph), who has prayed with the governor and plans to attend the response, sees something else.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I believe it's absolutely a possibility that god to be speaking to him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To have him run for president?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Possibility? Absolutely.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ACOSTA: And if you take a look at Rick Perry's schedule these days, you can tell he is making a serious run at this, taking a serious look at whether or not to make a run for the White House. He had a video conference with some South Carolina pastors yesterday, a fundraising dinner last night with some potential presidential donors. He is out in California doing the same today. And, you know, there is a saying down here, Kiran and Ali, that everything is bigger in Texas. Well, so is the speculation swirling around Rick Perry right now.
CHETRY: Also it's a timing issue, too, right? While everybody is sort of absorbed in Washington dealing with the debt ceiling it's probably not the time to get maximum exposure.
ACOSTA: That's right. You know, obviously, he is not going to get a lot of exposure right now with everything that is going on in Washington. But I have to tell you, when he held that press conference the other day in Austin, his first press conference in several weeks he had all of the Texas media here, and he remarked at his bill signing "Boy, a lot of cameras here for a garden bill signing, not something we see every day here in Austin." So he is certainly getting more attention these days, Kiran, and that is only going to get much more intense as he gets closer to making his decision.
VELSHI: Jim Acosta, thanks very much for that. This is going to be a story we're going to cover very closely, obviously, as this race continues.
CHETRY: Absolutely.
Well, ahead on AMERICAN MORNING, it looks like the NFL lockout is about to end. But the long work stoppage hitting right at the economic heart of a town in upstate New York.
VELSHI: All right, this is why they call it extreme sports. A motocross rider flies off his bike in midair. Check it out. What happens to him? You have to wait until the other side of the break to find out. It's 42 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: It's 44 minutes past of the hour. A look at your headlines this morning.
David Cameron face-to-face with parliament this morning, fielding some tough questions about the U.K. phone hacking scandal. One opposition leader questioning the prime minister's ties to News Corp, demanding he apologize for hiring former "News of the World" executive Andy Coulson. Cameron says he will only apologize for that hiring if it's proves that Coulson lied to him about hacking practices at the tabloid.
Congressional leaders are expected to meet today for a new round of debt talks. The meeting comes just a day after the House passed a bill that would put strict caps on future government spending and also make it tougher to raise taxes. That bill, though, is not expected to make it out of Senate.
First day of school postponed in Memphis. The school board voted to delay the start of the year until the district gets $55 million it says the city owes it.
We have a check in on the markets right now where futures are trading higher ahead of the opening bell. Apple's stellar quarterly earnings lifting the tech secretor this morning. And investors are still feeling optimistic over progress in the debt ceiling talks in Washington.
You're caught up on the day's headlines. AMERICAN MORNING is back after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Don't you know, Kiran, how much I like Chicago?
CHETRY: You love Chicago.
VELSHI: Oh I really do but I -- I'm not loving it today. It is a beautiful on Chicago, it's a beautiful summer day at 79 degrees, right. What's not to love?
CHETRY: Until a little bit later when it hits 99.
VELSHI: Unbelievable. It's going to be 99 degrees in Chicago and across much of the Midwest. They actually had a thunderstorm through there this morning but still didn't help.
CHETRY: You have to go to the Pacific Northwest, San Francisco.
VELSHI: Totally -- yes.
CHETRY: Even other parts of southern California feel downright cool.
VELSHI: Right, you're totally right.
CHETRY: Compared to the rest of the country.
Well, it appears that the NFL lockout which I don't know if it was going to come to an end -- has come to an end and that's welcome news for football fans everywhere.
VELSHI: The NFL may have saved its season but for small towns like Courtland, New York who got a big economic stake in the league the damage may have been done.
CNN Money's Poppy Harlow is following the story. Here she is.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM (voice-over): Last summer, Courtland, New York, looked like this. But this year, it won't look anything close.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's like royalty coming in to town for us.
HARLOW: Population 19,000; it's been home to the New York Jets training camp since 2009.
REX RYAN, COACH, NEW YORK JETS: Coming up here, you know, it exceeded our expectations.
HARLOW (on camera): A year ago, this field was full of Jets players running drills, working out and attracting 41,000 spectators who filled the local bars and restaurants.
But this year, there's none.
(voice-over): In the midst of the NFL lockout, Jets management canceled training camp here. Telling CNN Money the planning is extensive, something they couldn't focus on during the lockout.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: America loves football and, you know, we really missed out big time.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was heartbreaking, you know? You got 250-pound pro athletes walking down the street and it's amazing, you know. And they are in your restaurant.
HARLOW: It's a major blow to this tiny economy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I could have anticipated 20 percent loss. We're talking, you know, millions of dollars for these small businesses. HARLOW: Jets training camp brought in $5.8 million to Courtland last year in just three weeks. Nearly five percent of the entire county's annual budget.
ANTHONY CARUSO, BUSINESS OWNER: It was the best month we ever had a couple of them (INAUDIBLE); of course he had just signed his contract.
HARLOW (on camera): Oh, really.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All of the fans that we see at Harry, Tony's and Garcia's and all of the restaurants we go to, it's really too bad.
HARLOW (voice-over): Jets training camp effectively created a tourism business where there wasn't one.
(on camera): Tell me what the moment was like when you found out the Jets were bringing their training camp here?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I think my jaw just dropped. I think it's been my favorite team for years, over 30 years. I mean I just can't even explain the emotion.
HARLOW (voice-over): But Courtland isn't the only town hurt by the lockout. The Baltimore Ravens have canceled their training camp in Westminster, Maryland. At least a $2.2 million hit for the city. The New York Giants aren't training in Albany, New York meaning a loss of at least a $1 million bucks for the state's capital.
Between the Jets and the Giants, the economic impact in New York is so big, the state attorney general has launched an anti-trust investigation into the NFL lockout saying, "It will inflict significant economic injuries statewide."
As for folks here in Courtland, they can't wait until next year, when the Jets come back.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Courtland is Jets green now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: And the Jets are planning to come back to Courtland next year, they've extended their contract with the town by a year because they missed out on training camp this year.
But when you look at how significant it is for this city, it is such a big part of -- not only the excitement but the money that is brought into the small town.
CHETRY: Yes.
VELSHI: Sure.
HARLOW: So it's not the only. There's a number of towns across the country where this is happening. So interesting there.
One interesting note: the man that runs that Doug's Fish Fry, the Jets personally called him and said since we can't come up to you in Courtland will you bring your restaurant and the trailer down to us? He's going to go down next week and feed the whole team in New Jersey.
VELSHI: Nice.
CHETRY: Well, that's awesome.
HARLOW: At their practice locations. And we'll see the vote tonight on the lockout and the expectation that's it's going to end.
CHETRY: Yes, all signs pointing to it will be over. We can finally enjoy football.
HARLOW: Finally.
CHETRY: What's your team?
HARLOW: Vikings. Hello, purple.
CHETRY: How dare I.
HARLOW: Super Bowl this year.
VELSHI: And what's your favorite, what's your favorite fast food indulges?
HARLOW: Cheese curls.
VELSHI: There you go.
HARLOW: I am from Minnesota, don't you know?
CHETRY: See that?
VELSHI: She's sticking to her roots, I love it.
CHETRY: Yes and the Canadian here likes the poutine.
VELSHI: I like the poutine which is -- involves cheese curls. Poutine is French fries --
(CROSSTALK)
CHETRY: Yes it is.
VELSHI: -- with cheese curd and burnt gravy hot melting the whole thing.
CHETRY: I'm not from Buffalo and I don't know why I have a fixation with Buffalo wings but it's delicious.
VELSHI: There we go.
CHETRY: Well a motocross driver hit the eject button. Check this out. He went -- he didn't really hit the eject button.
VELSHI: Because they don't have eject buttons.
CHETRY: No, otherwise motocross would be a lot more challenging. Can you get more challenging than NASCAR? They know how to land, I have to -- they do this for a living. Ok, there he goes. This happened at a race in Minnesota. Don't you know? Poppy? And his bike falling 30 feet to the ground. He got back on. There he is getting back on after that fall and getting back on the bike to actually finish the race.
VELSHI: That's incredible -- it's incredible the bike is still working and that he is still working. That's incredible.
All right, coming up, you know what we got coming up?
CHETRY: Yes, some guy tries to give Rupert Murdoch a pie in the face. He gets whacked by Murdoch's wife. Jeanne Moos has her take on this close shave.
VELSHI: And check out the new look of CNN.com's ground breaking new video experience. Kiran showed it to us a little earlier. CNN.com/video. It's bigger, it's brighter. Even easier to find CNN's most compelling video.
We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Fifty-five minutes past the hour right now. A look at Atlanta where it is 82 degrees a little bit later. I feel like this is -- we have pretty much been on the same forecast, a chance for thunderstorms and 90.
VELSHI: Right, this part of the show is not -- is not live, it's taped.
CHETRY: It's 93 degrees.
VELSHI: We're about to be live starting right now.
All right. We've been asking you all morning what your favorite fast food guilty pleasure is. I've got to tell you we have had a ton of responses to this question.
Normally, we're talking about politics and things serious things I guess people want to talk about fast foods this hour.
CHETRY: We're giving them a break from that debt ceiling today, right?
VELSHI: Yes that's true. All right, Lynn says on Twitter, "Favorite fast food guilty pleasure has to be poutine." I was just talking about poutine.
CHETRY: I know.
VELSHI: "A treat in Quebec. It's French fries, cheese curd and gravy -- it's delicious."
Oh my God, I want poutine right now.
CHETRY: Well, I have to tell you. When we were in Manchester, New Hampshire, they have it there and are known for it.
VELSHI: That's right.
CHETRY: You don't have to go as far.
Ladybigmac on Twitter, "Five Guys burgers and fries." Wait, she called herself ladybigmac.
VELSHI: That's her Twitter handle. That's weird.
CHETRY: Ladyfiveguys, maybe next time. "Way over the fat limit, but tastes good. Reminds of high school lunches at the drive-in.
VELSHI: Natalie Tejeda who is actually on TV right now in San Antonio, this one is right from my heart. "Taco Bell Double Decker Taco Supreme and a Mountain Dew".
All of the good stuff. Sodium, calories, fat, everything you need.
CHETRY: Yes. And if you didn't get enough sugar there is the Mountain Dew.
Paul on Facebook writes, "Absolutely, it has to be the McRib sandwich." Do they still make the McRib?
(CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: I've seen them served in some places.
CHETRY: "I have to eat two at a time and then use the OxiClean to get the BBQ sauce evidence off my shirt."
VELSHI: On Twitter, "If I'm stopping to grab something quick from a fast food restaurant, it has to be a five-layer beefy burrito from Taco Bell. So good."
A lot of Taco Bell actually.
CHETRY: Yes. And we have a lot of Big Macs in there, too. People saying they have a Big Mac craving every one or two months. So, in moderation. We're not encouraging this as your daily intake.
Rupert Murdoch's close shave. Many have been talking about this very dramatic moment -- perhaps the most dramatic moment at the hearings on the U.K. hacking scandal.
VELSHI: But Murdochs wife is actually drawing raves for this pie- wielding attacker. She smacked him. She gave him a taste of her own parliamentary procedure.
Here is Jeanne Moos. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wendi Murdoch was easy to pick out in pink. When you are 38 years younger than your husband, it is nice to rub his back and pour him water before he testifies. She even restrained him when he pounded the table too much. But she didn't restrain herself when this happened.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, no. No. Oh.
MOOS: An activist pulled a foam-filled plastic pie plate out of a plastic bag. Some of that foam landed on CNN producer Jonathan Wald as the attacker --
JONATHAN WALD, CNN INTERNATIONAL: Plunges it squarely into the face of Rupert Murdoch.
MOOS: And that's when his wife Wendi, whacked the guy even picked up the plate.
WALD: Gets him back with it. It was all extremely dramatic.
MOOS: Reminds us of a woman who used her purse to try to knock the gun out of a hostage-taker's hand at a school board meeting.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is the weapon.
MOOS: Apart from shaving cream, all Rupert Murdoch got was a tongue lashing from his attacker.
WALD: You're a greedy billionaire.
MOOS: The activist, who British media identified as Johnny Marbles had just sent a tweet saying. "It is a far better thing that I do now than I have ever done before, hash tag splat".
It may have been more than a close shave for Rupert Murdoch, but at least he avoided major embarrassment by getting his face full off camera. Unlike pie targets like Anne Coulter and Ralph Nader who managed to throw his pie back at his attacker, Bill Gates got splattered and then his image got splattered for eternity all over the Internet. Anita Bryant got pied by a gay demonstrator.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: At least it's a fruit pie.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's pray for him right now.
MOOS: First her husband prayed for the attacker, then he went outside and splattered him back.
Wendi Murdoch was praised by a member of parliament.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Your wife has a very good left hook.
MOOS: Or was it her right regardless? A prankster temporarily changed her Wikipedia entry to say, "Wendi used her ninja background to ward off an attacker. The move is now being referred to as the Crouching Wendi, Hidden Dragon."
After the attack, Wendi carefully cleaned off her husband.
WALD: Carefully wiping the foam off his jacket and his face. She was smiling and seemed quite happy that she had managed to score a blow.
MOOS: We watched her crossing her arms and crossing her legs, but it was the right cross we won't forget.
Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: When I heard that -- I mean, because we watched so much of the hearing. You hear that this cannot be real. This cannot be happening but --
VELSHI: She really put some power into that blow.
CHETRY: She did. It was very fascinating to watch.
VELSHI: (INAUDIBLE) it's been a busy morning. It felt like more than the normal three hours.
CHETRY: It sure has been. It all continues.
VELSHI: Time has gone fast with you.
CHETRY: It's going fast, yes, absolutely.
VELSHI: A lot of news, but fast.
CHETRY: It's been crawling here with Ali this morning. Kyra Phillips joins us now from the "CNN NEWSROOM." Hey, Kyra.
