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American Morning
Terrorist Attack Kabul, Afghanistan; Terrorists Attack Mosque in Pakistan; Stock Markets Plummet Around the World; President Criticized for Vacationing; West Memphis Three May Be Freed; Omaha Hit by Twin Hail Storms; White House to Unveil Immigration Plan; Former Yankees Bat Boy Writes Tell-All Book; Saying "No" to Heart Attack
Aired August 19, 2011 - 06:59 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Misery in the markets. Stocks in Asia and Europe take another beating this morning after a dizzying decline on Wall Street.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): It has happened again, too. Another concert stage collapsing. Several people didn't make it out alive.
ROMANS: A stunning report on ADHD. The number of kids in this country diagnosed with this disorder is on the rise, especially in one particular sector of the population.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Looking for a job is like having a job. It's stressful, it's draining. You need a break in between.
COSTELLO: Thousands of desperate unemployed Americans waiting in line all night in Atlanta hoping to land a job. A scene reminiscent of the great depression, should I say that, on this AMERICAN MORNING.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS (on-camera): Good morning, everyone. It's Friday. Let me say that again, it's Friday, august 19th. Welcome to AMERICAN MORNING. I'm Christine Romans.
COSTELLO (on-camera): That makes it a little better, right? All that gloom and doom in the economy. It's Friday! I'm Carol Costello. Ali has the morning off.
We begin this hour with breaking news. Violence and chaos erupting this morning in the heart of Afghanistan's capital. Just a few hours ago, two suicide bombers attacked the British council in Kabul. At least eight people were killed, 10 others being treated for injuries. Afterwards, explosions and gunfire echoed throughout the city for several more hours. We begin our coverage this morning with our own David Ariosto who was caught in the middle of it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DAVID ARIOSTO, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: A vehicle drove up, detonated, and then militants effectively were able to enter in. The major, major explosions going on -- we just heard a major blast behind us here. And there seems to be smoke billowing out here, gunfire, from what we can tell.
ISAF security forces have basically surrounded this area here. Major, major smoke billowing out of the council area there and the buildings that surround this area, heavily, heavily secured area. But again, we've seen gunfire throughout the day.
It's hard to tell exactly what's going on, although a fair amount of billowing smoke now pouring out of this building. Gunfire seems to be continuing at this point. Very tense situation here in Kabul.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: David Ariosto joins us live from Kabul. David, this is normally a heavily secured city. It's quite unusual to have attacks quite like this. What's the situation there like now?
ARIOSTO: Well, we were just talking with police, and the update that we have is that apparently, according to police, it was not two, but five militants that attacked this council down here in Kabul. The first basically drove up with that vehicle bomb, detonating in front of the main area, and then the remaining attackers basically storming the area, heavily armed, also strapped with suicide vests.
This is a tactic we've seen time and again here. And it's really only the latest in the series of high profile attacks as NATO is starting to draw down in the transition to local and national security forces is underway.
COSTELLO: And the Taliban taking credit for this attack?
ARIOSTO: Taliban is taking credit for this attack. This is somewhat a hall marc of their tactic, where they enter into an area, usually a soft target. And what they're looking for is to make a mark. These are to grab headlines but also cause as much civilian damage and damage to westerners as possible.
But it's not exclusively to them. We've also seen attacks against President Karzai allies. Just earlier this month, we saw an attack against the governor of Harwan (ph), before that the governor of Urzgon (ph), a series of high-profile attacks.
And the timing of this is really critical. As I mentioned before, the 10,000 U.S. soldiers departing this year, the full drawdown to take place by the end of 2014. So in terms of recent history, this is really a pivotal moment in terms of what transpires in the terms of the security of this country. Attacks like these don't bode well for its future.
COSTELLO: David Ariosto live from Kabul, Afghanistan, thanks.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: We're following breaking news this morning out of Pakistan, an explosion at a mosque in Pakistan's tribal region along the Afghan border. At least 34 people have been killed and 100 wounded now. The attack took place while hundreds of people were attending Friday prayers. CNN's Reza Sayah is live in Islamabad for us. What can you tell us is the latest?
REZA SAYAH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Christine, we're getting some new information about this explosion police now tell us that this was a suicide attack carried out by a teenage suicide bomber between 15 and 17 years old. Police say he walked into this mosque and blew himself up. This is another one of those attacks that really drives home the fact that for some of these militant groups here in Pakistan, no target is off limits, not even a mosque where you have hundreds of people gathered to pray.
The death toll is going up steadily. Right now, according to police, the death toll stands at 43 people killed, at least 117 people injured. We've been monitoring the pictures on our affiliate here in Pakistan. Those pictures are awful. They show the aftermath of the explosion, the destruction, the debris. You have shoes and slippers strewn all over the floor, bloodied victims staggering around looking for help. You have dozens of other victims getting treatment in the hospital nearby.
At this point no group has claimed responsibility for this attack, but a couple of things to point out here that are significant. First off, the time of the attack, it took place during Friday prayers and the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, a time when mosques are usually packed. And indeed police say at least 300 people inside this mosque and a location also significant, the district of Hyber right next to the Afghan border, a district plagued by militancy.
ROMANS: Reza Sayah, thank you so much, Reza.
COSTELLO: It's happened again, another stage collapse at a concert, this time in Belgium. Take a look. A fierce storm ripped through an open air music festival in the city of Hasselt. Heavy winds collapsed the stage, ripped its roof off, leaving equipment dangling in the air and concertgoers running for their lives. Five people died here. More than 50 others hurt.
ROMANS: All right, serious alarms this morning about the risk of another recession driving down stocks overseas, pushing Wall Street lower again. This morning U.S. stock futures are down after a rough day yesterday, the markets wiping away this week's gains and then some.
Here's the damage -- the Dow was down 420 points, that's nearly four percent. The NASDAQ sank five percent. And the S&P 500 was down by more than four percent.
COSTELLO: Ouch, if you're invested in the market you're certainly feeling it this morning. Here's how some of the most widely held stocks closed. Bank of America off six percent, GE and Cisco Systems down more than five percent, Ford down by six-and-a-half percent, and Oracle Corporation was down by more than eight percent. And the sell-offs spilling over to Europe and Asia. Japan's Nikkei down two-and-a-half percent, the Hong Kong's Hang Seng off by more than three percent, Germany's Dax and London FTSE also trading lower this morning.
ROMANS: All right, let's bring in Felicia Taylor. Felicia, renewed concerns in the economy about perhaps a second recession or maybe the first one never left is part of the problem. Many people feel like it.
FELICIA TAYLOR, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: I think that's actually really true. I'm not sure the first left, because JP Morgan Chase has now stepped into the marketplace this morning and reduced its growth forecast for the United States. So a lot of the banks are taking a look and saying, OK, your know what.
And this is the problem -- we've been talking about this a couple months but now at this point, it's the reality coming to hit. And so the rooster's come home to roost. That's the real issue. We're dealing with the reality of what's happening out there. And there is no growth. That's going to be the problem for -- you look so forlorn.
COSTELLO: I am. I've said, Felicia, the voice of doom is coming to our set. But I know you have to tell people these things. But the more we talk about it and talk about how bad things are, the more I feel that people are going to react in a way that's not helpful to the economy even if they have some money to buy things.
TAYLOR: OK, so let's talk about that. There is going to be very slow growth out there. People should be concerned about their savings. People should have money in the bank at least for three months, hopefully six months if they can in terms of cash.
ROMANS: Yes.
TAYLOR: If not, then they have to obviously curb their spending. So it's going to be a problem. There's no question about it.
ROMANS: We have to do that. People have spent too much, they have too much debt still. And it's funny because we criticize the banks and companies for sitting on this cash, and then you talk to the people at the banks and companies, they say this what is everyone should be doing because we don't know what's going to happen next.
TAYLOR: They're uncertain. I've been talking to people this morning around the world and they're sitting on cash. I've got hedge fund guys out there buying sovereign debt, but very limited and corporate debt very limited. But they're getting five percent to eight percent return. We are not going to get that kind of return.
So it's a wise thing to just sit back and wait. Have a little patience in this market. Don't be afraid. Have patience. It's not the end of the world.
COSTELLO: So I don't have to move to Montana into the wood in a little cabin.
ROMANS: That would be fun, Carol. I'm saying if you want to. TAYLOR: If you want to go to Montana, go.
ROMANS: It's beautiful.
TAYLOR: It's gorgeous. Have patience. There is going to be an end to this.
ROMANS: And I'm waiting for the big snap back of all of that cash, suddenly boom, deployed and buying something other than gold.
TAYLOR: Do you know where gold is right now?
ROMANS: It's like $1,860 -- no, 1,877.
COSTELLO: There you go.
ROMANS: It's up $57.
COSTELLO: There you go. Thanks, Felicia.
A big factor weighing on Wall Street, the job market. A CNN/ORC poll asked Americans how many jobs are currently in your area. Just four percent said many, 24 percent said about a normal amount, 71 percent said few. That figure certainly tells the story of what we saw yesterday at a job fair in Atlanta, people waiting for hours in the heat just for a chance, just a chance, to meet someone who might be able to get them a chance to work.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're on the web, you're sitting in front of a computer four or five hours trying to find out the jobs available.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: After like a month or so, you start to feel like, you know, is there any hope? Is anybody even looking at your, you know, profile online? And there's not many responses you get back.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's my job to get a job. I'm going to get one. I'm going to find one.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: That job fair was sponsored by the Congressional Black Caucus. They'll be holding more of these events in rural areas hit hardest by unemployment.
COSTELLO: Talking about the job fair. Now is your chance to talk back on one of the big stories of the day. The question for you this morning, is President Obama neglecting the black community? Congresswoman Maxine Waters says yes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. MAXINE WATERS, (D) CALIFORNIA: He went with a plan, and that plan was to invest money in those rural communities in order to develop jobs. We like that, and we want the rural poor to be attended to. But we also want the urban tore to be attended to.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: It is true that president Obama did not visit majority black communities on his three-day bus tour, but that doesn't mean he doesn't care. It's just that he's got the black vote. And while he doesn't need a majority of white votes to win reelection he does need some. According to exit polls, president Obama won 43 percent of the white vote in 2008, which is actually pretty good for a Democrat.
Still, there are some ominous signs for the president. According to the latest CNN/ORC poll, just 34 percent of whites approve how the president is handling his job.
Some African-American leaders, though, say so what? Democrats haven't won a majority of whites since 1964. Mr. Obama should at least show some love to his most loyal constituency. And 95 percent of African-American voters cast ballots for the president in 2008, although that was only 13 percent of the total vote.
And since then, though, unemployment, the unemployment rate for black America has risen to 15.9 percent. Where, they ask, is their Obama bus tour? So the talk back question this morning, is President Obama neglecting the black community? Facebook.com/AmericanMorning. Facebook.com/AmericanMorning. I'll read your comments later this hour.
ROMANS: OK, the White House insists it's a work-cation. They say that President Obama will be plenty busy during the 10 day he's on Martha's Vineyard. But that hasn't stopped Republicans from teeing off on the president's timing. CNN's Dan Lothian is live for us this morning. Dan, did the White House ever consider canceling this vacation?
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: You know, not at all. I was talking to a senior administration official a few days ago, and this official pointed out to me there would have to be some kind of major development, perhaps a natural or manmade disaster, for them to change their plans.
But as he pointed out, there has been a lot of criticism coming from Republicans. You heard from Sarah Palin, saying that the president is making the wrong move by coming here. You hear from Mitt Romney saying that the president and lawmakers should be back in Washington dealing with some of the major issues at hand.
But White House Spokesman Jay Carney said that he doesn't believe the American people begrudge the president for spending time with his family, and he says while the president may be away from the White House, he's never away from his job, Christine.
ROMANS: Tell us about the postcards that the RNC is releasing about the president's vacation, because they're stirring the pot on this idea. I love the one that said, "Joe, don't touch anything while I'm away."
(LAUGHTER)
LOTHIAN: That's right. These are 18 photos on the internet from the RNC, essentially harsh photos with captions poking fun at the president for taking his vacation, one of them saying, quote, "Finding a way to Martha's Vineyard is almost as hard as finding a job."
Look, the White House will say this is not the first time that a president has been on vacation, and, look, you look over history, they have always been criticized for taking vacations. Former President Bush was for dinged going on a one-month vacation, not to some nice paradise island but to his ranch in Texas.
ROMANS: All right, Dan Lothian, thanks so much, Dan. And we'll check back with you very soon. Thanks.
COSTELLO: New developments this morning in the case of the West Memphis three. They've spent nearly two decades in prison for murder, and sources say the three men Damien Echols, Jessie Misskelley, and Jason Baldwin could be freed at a court hearing in Arkansas today. These men were convicted of murdering three young boys in West Memphis Arkansas in 1993.
CNN's David Mattingly is following the story. He's live in Jonesboro, where the case is going to be heard. David, bring us up to date.
DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, this is all transpiring from late yesterday evening when the sides were getting together to figure out what to do about this case. And now we're finding out a source close to this case tells me that there is a deal in play in which the three men known as the West Memphis Three would be able to go free today and maintain their innocence.
But part of that deal, they would also have to acknowledge that the state does have some evidence that they could use to prosecute them again on this case and go to a jury and possibly get a conviction. So they have to acknowledge that there is evidence against them.
But they could go free today and be able to maintain their innocence. That sounds a little complicated, but it's something that the state may want to have happen because they want to make sure that there may not be any future lawsuits.
But right now we're looking at since 1993 these men have not been able to taste freedom. Their cases got an awful lot of attention around the world and across the country here of people continuing to beat the drum to free the West Memphis Three, arguing that the evidence against them just wasn't there for a conviction, that these three men, who were teenagers at the time were caught up in an emotional frenzy over a terrible crime in which three young boys were murdered, and reportedly, which is what came out in court, that investigators believe it was part of a satanic ritual.
So you can imagine all the emotion surrounding this case at the time they were originally prosecuted and here we are now, 18 years later, these three men now every bit of their adult years have been behind bars. They could go free today.
We're waiting to see what will happen in just a couple hours, a couple of brief hearings, back to back, one behind bars and one - one behind closed doors and then one in front of the public in which the judge will make the decisions for the future of the West Memphis Three - Carol.
COSTELLO: You'll be there to keep an eye on it for us. David Mattingly reporting live from Jonesboro, Arkansas.
ROMANS: All right. Still to come this morning, a violent storm takes over the Omaha Airport. How a pilot ended up in the hospital. That's ahead.
COSTELLO: And a father and son both arrested for allegedly threatening Sarah Palin and her family.
You are watching AMERICAN MORNING. It's 15 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: Good morning. Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING.
They're reeling this morning in Omaha, Nebraska, after back-to- back hail storms shut down the airport, even injured a pilot. Forget about golf ball-sized hail. It looks like someone took a nine iron to these windshields.
These cars parked in the lot of Eppley Airfield couldn't stand up to the nearly three -inch hail, winds approaching 100 miles an hour. Hundreds of air travelers were stranded by the storms.
COSTELLO: Yes. Let's head to Rob Marciano now, because hopefully that storm has passed.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It has passed that area, but it has moved now to the south and east, it has diminished, though. We're not going to see the golf ball or baseball-sized hail like they saw there.
Down moving just to the south of St. Louis, heading towards Cape Girardeau and Paducah and falling apart just a little bit as would be expected this time of day. Later on this afternoon, we get a little bit more heating towards Nashville and Huntsville. That's when things may get a little bit more interesting.
Couple areas of unsettled weather in the northeast, we'll see some afternoon storminess and Southern Florida will as well, and the hazy, hot and humid conditions continue. Check out some of these high temperatures. Actually Phoenix getting into the act during the monsoon, it's pretty rare to get up and over 110. And other parts of Texas, Louisiana, down across Cajun Country seeing temperatures well over 100. One-oh-seven expected in Dallas again today. So it's just been brutal. You didn't break your record of 100 degree days plus, but now you're back at it. It's like having a hitting streak of, you know, 50 games, not getting a hit one game and having another hitting streak of 30 or 40.
Eight-six degrees with a high temperature in New York City. It will be 94 degrees,x not too cool in Atlanta.
All right. Here we go, a tropical depression, we've been pointing this out for the past couple days, now heading into the Western Caribbean, about to scoot the coastline of Honduras, and it may become a tropical storm before it makes official landfall in Belize later on tomorrow. The main cause with this will be rain, none of which will get into the drought-stricken areas of Texas.
But the next spot that we're looking at is this. Here you go. Just zoom (ph) into that puppy. This thing has got some promise, moderate chance of seeing it develop into a tropical storm here in the next couple days. It probably will over the next three or four and then the forecast tracks from our computer models bring it somewhere in the Northern Caribbean and then potentially in the vicinity of the Gulf of Mexico or Southern Florida as we get towards the end of next week and next weekend.
But as we've seen all - all season long, last couple that have hit Hispaniola have fallen apart. So that may be the case in a good way with this one.
We'll keep you posted. Guys, back up to you.
COSTELLO: Oh, we hope so. Thank you, Rob.
MARCIANO: You bet.
ROMANS: All right. Still to come this morning, a giant U.S. computer maker getting out of the computer-making business. We'll tell you about that.
Twenty-one minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: "Minding Your Business" this morning.
U.S. stock futures trading lower, Dow futures are down - excuse me - almost 200 points right now. The declines come after the Dow was down 420 points yesterday. That's nearly four percent. The NASDAQ sank five percent. The S&P 500 was off by more than four percent.
Investors are pulling their money from the stock market and putting it into bonds and gold. Gold often viewed as a safe haven investment, the precious metal hitting another record, one after another this morning. Well, now, above $1,850 an ounce.
Bank of America reportedly set to slash thousands of jobs. According to published reports, 3,500 people will be let go by the end of next month as part of a restructuring plan. The bank's been struggling to work through a slew of lawsuits stemming from the 2008 financial crisis and sub-prime lending.
A shakeup at Hewlett-Packard. The company looking to spin off its personal computer business. It's also killing off its TouchPad tablet, which it launched a month ago. HP's CEO has said his vision now is to focus more on software.
Burger King, kicking his highness to the curb, as part of an effort to reinvent itself over the next year. The fast food joint is doing away with its king. The company will instead focus on upgrading its food and modernizing its stores.
And for co-workers who are a little hot under the collar, it could be that maybe it's too cold in the office. According to a British survey, nearly 9 in 10 in ten say their AC is turned down way too cold that makes them less productive and more argumentative.
Don't forget for the very latest news about your money, check out the all new CNNMoney.com.
AMERICAN MORNING will be right back after this break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Candidates changing the way they speak and the way they look, just to make a connection with you, the voter. So we're asking, what kind of president are you looking for in 2012 on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ROMANS: Good morning. It's Friday, August 19th. Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. I'm Christine Romans.
COSTELLO: And I'm Carol Costello. Ali has the morning off.
ROMANS: Top stories, two Afghan suicide attackers targeting the British Council in Kabul killing at least eight people and wounding 10 others. The Taliban is claiming responsibility and the bombings come on the anniversary of Afghanistan's independence from Britain.
The Dow's 419-point plunge may not be the end of Wall Street's misery. Asian markets following suit overnight. Right now, Dow futures lower by almost 200 points.
Another deadly concert stage collapse, this time in Belgium. Five people died, more than 50 others were injured when a heavy storm brought down the stage at an open air music festival, the scene reminiscent of what happened last week at the Indiana State Fair.
COSTELLO: And now on to politics, and the bus tours and the trips to the county fairs and kissing babies and shaking hands and now daggummits and yals.
Candidates who are in the running or just so down home except maybe for Mitt Romney and President Obama, but they're trying. If you notice they're leaving their shirts open and they're leaving the Gs off the end of words. But does America yearn for a down home style president?
Didn't those who elected President Obama want an intellectual? We have the people to ask, Tevi Troy used to prep candidates for debates including President George W. Bush and Martha Burk is a political psychologist. Welcome to you both.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thanks for having us.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you for having us.
COSTELLO: So Martha, let's start with you, what kind of language do voters want to hear this time around?
MARTHA BURK, POLITICAL PSYCHOLOGIST: Well, I think they want a little bit better language, a little more intellectual as you say, maybe not so much intellectual as smart, and there is a difference in that.
An intellectual is seen more as a pointy head, but smart, can they get us out of this mess we're in economically and I think they want a little more high-minded language. The yalls and dropping the Gs that gets old quick and I think we had eight years of that and a lot of people are tired of it.
COSTELLO: Well, Tevi, let's explore that theme a little more because, for example, Rick Perry, we could talk about him endlessly. This morning on "Politico," there's an article about his cowboy talk. Congressional Republicans are saying, cut the cowboy talk right now because it's beginning to hurt you. What do you think?
TEVI TROY, MEMBER OF THE 2004 BUSH-CHENEY DEBATE PREPARATION TEAM: But first of all you have to be true to yourself, right? You can't free tend to be someone you're not. In terms of the cowboy talk, I think the article is really talking about their concerned he's going to make a gaffe. He might make some mistake. He might over speak like his comment about Ben Bernanke.
But in terms of connecting with the voters he does have an easy style and he is very good at connecting with voters one on one. He's going out to the crowds. So that works well. At the same time he has to be careful he doesn't overdo it in trying to outflank Michele Bachmann from the right.
COSTELLO: Well, according to this article his treason comment was a serious gaffe.
TROY: Absolutely, and he has to be very careful of gaffes. The article suggests that he's almost one step away from making a big mistake. And there's a lot of people waiting seeing is he going to make a big mistake and perhaps reluctant to join him until they see he can go gaffe-free for a while.
COSTELLO: OK, well, let's move on to Michele Bachmann. The "Newsweek" cover aside she looks great. I mean, you look at her ad ahead of the Iowa straw poll. She's decked out in this beautiful yellow jacket. She has dangling earrings, not conservative ones, but pretty big ones, actually. No pant suits here. So what message is she sending, Martha?
BURK: Well, I think she's sending the message, yes, I can be the president. I am presidential looking and that is very important. I think women in pant suits were legitimized, in my view, appropriately.
But there are a lot of voters that want a lady-like, but competent president. She is projecting that image, at least visually. As she opens her mouth more and more, it may be a problem, as my colleague says, you can make a fatal gaffe. She's teetered on the edge of that a couple times herself.
COSTELLO: Let's talk about that because --
BURK: She does look presidential.
COSTELLO: You know, speaking of gaffes, you know, let's listen to a recent gaffe unfortunately that Michele Bachmann made.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHELE BACHMANN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Before we get started, let's all say happy birthday to Elvis Presley today, happy birthday.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Now, of course, a lot of Democrats like to make fun of that, but Tevi, is that a really serious gaffe? I mean, everything she says remotely wrong seems to really resonate?
TROY: Yes. It's a good point. Look, everybody makes mistakes. Nobody goes without making mistakes on the campaign trail. The question is do you get caught in a pattern of mistakes? This happened to Al Gore back in 2000. This whole lying thing he seemed to be lying over and over again.
I invented the internet and so forth. So when you have a pattern of mistakes or misstatements that's when it gets to be a problem. Michele Bachmann also made the John Wayne mistake confusing him with John Wayne Gacy a little while back.
So -- I think it's great to connect to great American icons like Elvis and John Wayne, but have your facts right when doing it.
COSTELLO: Mitt Romney, we have to talk about him because where did he go? I mean he's not getting any of the headlines, it seems. So, Martha, what do you think -- how does Mitt Romney have to change his language to stand out more?
BURK: I'm not sure he does have to change his language. You know, I was talking with some Texans last night about Perry versus Romney and the first thing they said to me is we want a statesman this time, not someone that comes out shooting.
And they said, we voted for Perry for governor, but we would not vote for him for president. He's not presidential enough. Romney's a little bit grayer, if you will, a little more boring, but he's also very presidential looking.
Perry comes close in terms of his clothing and his demeanor at times. Looks good in his commercials, but when he gets out there with the crowds, Romney just looks more presidential in comparison.
COSTELLO: Interesting. OK, let's talk about President Obama because when he did his Midwest bus tour he had an open shirt, he was joking with the crowds, but he can't be to down home because he is president of the United States, but he tries. Let's listen to what he said to our Wolf Blitzer.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WOLF BLITZER, HOST, THE SITUATION ROOM: The last time you were elected you got Sasha and Malia a cute little puppy.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Yes.
BLITZER: Bo. What will you get them the next time if you're re- elected?
PRESIDENT OBAMA: When I'm re-elected what I'll be getting them is a continuation of secret service so when boys want to start dating them, they are going to be surrounded by men with guns. That's their gift.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: So, Tevi, is that the proper form -- he has to be a little humorous. He can't talk ability doom and gloom. He has to connect to voters in a human way. Is he doing that by saying those sorts of things?
TROY: You know, that's an old and good joke about presidents with daughters in the White House to get the secret service protection. I'm all about that. But my thought with President Obama is, he's got a very different test this time.
The first time was all about hope and change and he said when he's elected this will be the moment when the earth starts to heal. Now he's had 2-1/2 years as president and people said, he just doesn't snap his fingers and make the earth heal. What kind of message will he send?
He also has to not blame too much because he's gotten hits for appearing to blame the other guys for all of the problems. He has to say, it's not my fault, but not necessarily blame everybody else as well. He's got a tough row to how.
COSTELLO: Yes, it will be interesting to see how it shakes down. Thanks to both of you this morning, Tevi Troy and Martha Burk, it's been a fascinating conversation. I enjoyed it. Thank you.
BURK: Thank you.
ROMANS: All right, serious alarms this morning about the risk of another recession driving down stocks overseas and pushing Wall Street sharply lower. This morning, U.S. stock futures are down again after a rough day yesterday.
Markets wiping away this week's gains and then some. Here's the damage. The Dow was down more than 419 points. That's nearly 4 percent. The Nasdaq sank 5 percent. The S&P 500 was also down by more than 4 percent.
If you're invested in the markets you're feeling it this morning. Here's how some of the most widely held stocks closed. Bank of America, down 6 percent. GE and Cisco systems, down more than 5 percent, Ford, down 6.5 percent and Oracle Corporation was down more than 8 percent.
And the sell-off spilling over to Asian and Europe. Japan's Nikkei down 2.5 percent. The Hongkong Hang Seng down more than 3 percent, Germany's DAX and London FTSE also trading lower.
And again, in about two hours markets will open here in the U.S. Dow futures right now are down about 200 points in premarket trading. Carol --
COSTELLO: But happy Friday and have a nice weekend. Still to come the duke and duchess of Cambridge are visiting the riot ravage town of Birmingham, England. We'll have a live report for you next. You're watching AMERICAN MORNING. It's 38 minutes past the hour.
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ROMANS: All right, welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. Rioters and looters, of course, ravaged Birmingham in recent days. You saw the pictures. Amazing.
COSTELLO: They were incredible. This morning the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, William and Catherine, visited the riot torn areas, their first official appearance since their North American tour. Zain Verjee joins us live from London to tell us more. Hi, Zain.
ZAIN VERJEE, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT, CNNI: Hi there, good morning. Well, they've been lying low since they visited Canada and the U.S. and Wales and Anglesey, and they say that they were so moved by the images that they saw on TV as they watched the riots unfold.
That they wanted to go down and be a part of comforting and seeing what happened. So they're in Birmingham and they're looking at the scenes there and the aftermath and going to visit a looted business.
They'll be meeting with emergency services, a faith-based group as well, as well as a lot of people really upset and disturbed and affected in the community. They really wanted to be there. This is actually also, guys, a push by the royals to be out there and be seen in public, too.
Because Charles and Camilla were out doing the same thing, so was Prince Harry in another city. This is something William and Kate felt strongly about and really wanted to come out and do.
By the way, guys, there's another piece of news related to them today. I don't know if you've been to London and the famous shop Hamly's right, but they have these William and Kate wedding dolls they've come out with. They're only $160.
COSTELLO: He looks --
VERJEE: A little bit creepy looking, actually, you know, if you ask me. He looks kind of annoyed and her face looked ironed out. I don't know, but those are the dolls you can buy and stick on a wedding cake. But they're not cheap. It's not cheap, but there they are. What do you think?
COSTELLO: I don't know.
ROMANS: Why don't they make him smile?
VERJEE: I don't know. He has this like creepy grimace there, but he is wearing that --
ROMANS: I never understand the need to buy souvenir trinkets for stuff like that. When you go to London you see the commemorative this and that, I mean, I don't get it.
COSTELLO: When I went to the Vatican I bought everything. I had little tiny popes, everything.
VERJEE: What's funny, a lot us were discussing this, like who's actually going to buy these dolls and the answer was, you know, Americans will really like them.
ROMANS: The Americans.
COSTELLO: Right.
ROMANS: All right. Zain, thanks. Those tacky Americans.
COSTELLO: I know, I probably would buy them.
ROMANS: The results are in, and this, this is the most trusted face in Hollywood.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mike, what is your deal, man?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on, man, you've been riding me all day.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're playing like Betty White out there. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's not what your girlfriend said.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Betty White has the golden touch. She's been voted the most popular and most trusted celeb in Hollywood making her a marketing powerhouse.
COSTELLO: Oh, you go, girl. The golden girl, edged out some pretty stiff competition, too. Rounding out the top five: Denzel Washington, Sandra Bullock, Clint Eastwood and Tom Hanks. And Paris Hilton, not so hot anymore -- the poll found she was America's least popular celebrity.
ROMANS: All right. Still to come this morning, sticker shock for back-to-school shoppers. Retailers are, yes, raising prices and they're trying to hide it from you. We'll tell you how.
COSTELLO: And has America's Tea Party movement hit the wall?
You're watching AMERICAN MORNING. It's 45 minutes past the hour.
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COSTELLO: A lot going on this morning. Here's what you need to know to start your day.
A sharp sell-off around the globe. In Europe where trading is under way, the markets are down. They also closed lower in Asia.
Here in the United States, stock futures are down this morning after a very rough session yesterday.
President Obama begins his first full day of vacation on Martha's Vineyard, but it's not all play. The president will be meeting frequently with economic advisers to work on his plan to grow the economy and to create jobs.
The Obama administration is changing its position on illegal immigration. It will now allow as many as 300,000 illegal immigrants facing deportation the opportunity to stay in this country and apply for a work permit if they do not have criminal backgrounds.
A father and son from Pennsylvania in police custody this morning, accused of making threats against Sarah Palin and her family. Shawn Christy and his son Craig allegedly ignored a restraining order and called Palin's lawyer at least 400 times, leaving profanity laced threats and deadly and sexual attacks on the former Alaska governor and her children.
A study by two university professors finds the Tea Party's popularity is taking a hit. Based on their research with 3,000 people, the grassroots movement is less popular than much maligned groups like atheists and Muslims.
And back-to-school is getting more expensive. Retail analysts say on average parents will be paying 10 percent more for children's clothes. But beware: stores don't want you to notice. Many of them are jacking up prices dramatically and then running sales to make it look like you're getting a deal.
You're now caught up on the day's headlines. AMERICAN MORNING back in 60 seconds.
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COSTELLO: Fifty minutes past the hour. Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING.
Time now for your A.M. house call. Researchers are saying this morning that one or two glasses of wine or beer a day can lower your risk of Alzheimer's disease. The Loyola University study concludes men and women who drink in moderation are 23 percent less likely to develop the disease. The study also says wine is a better choice for brain health.
A government study just found that nearly one in 10 children in the United States now being diagnosed with ADHD. That's more than 2 percent increase in the last decade, with cases spiking the most among minorities and the poor. Researchers say it could be attributed to better detection.
ROMANS: You can certainly eat your way to a heart attack with fried, fatty foods. But it may also be possible for your diet to reverse a heart condition and literally make you immune to a heart attack.
CNN's chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, investigated this for his upcoming documentary "The Last Heart Attack." We love the whole concept that we can find a way together to have the last heart attack and overcome this.
Sanjay, is diet that crucial?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: There are people out there who believe that heart disease in the vast majority of people is almost exclusively a food-borne illness. So, diet is absolutely essential here.
And as we have been investigating this for a year, you come to realize -- what you said is so important, not only can you keep your heart disease from progressing, you could reverse it. That's such an important statement.
Sharon Kintz is 66-year-old retired private investigator. She's a woman. She had a heart attack at one point and her doctors told her she needed to have surgery. At this point, she had the biggest decision of her life to make and she made an unusual one. Watch.
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GUPTA (voice-over): Like a lot of women, Kintz does not experience the classic chest pain, but rather fatigue and pain in her jaw.
SHARON KINTZ, HEART PATIENT: He said you're going to have to have open heart surgery. He said I can fix you today. I can just take you right down to O.R. and I can operate on you right now.
My son was in there and he was ready to wheel me down to the operating room because he is frantic. You know, it's terrifying.
GUPTA: What Kintz did next may surprise you. She turned the surgeon down cold, said no to open heart surgery. And decided to take a chance --
KINTZ: I bought some parsnips the other way. I always have sweet potatoes on hand.
GUPTA: -- using food as medicine.
KINTZ: I love these. These are my favorite. These are wonderful.
GUPTA: Like President Clinton, Kintz has given up the food she loves like butter and cheese. She's betting her life on Dr. Esselstyn's diet.
(on camera): She had a heart attack.
DR. CALDWELL ESSELSTYN, JR., CLEVELAND CLINIC WELLNESS INSTITUTE: I know.
GUPTA: Doctors recommended she had an intervention. She's not doing it. Is there a downside? Could she be putting herself at risk?
ESSELSTYN: No. In hundreds of patients data going back over 20 years and most recent study about a decade, once they start eating this way, you'll make yourself heart attack proof.
We know if people are eating this way, they are not going to have a heart attack.
GUPTA: Esselstyn thinks heart disease is completely preventable no matter what sort of family history you have simply by eating right.
ESSELSTYN: It's a food-borne illness and we are never going to end the epidemic with stents, with bypasses, with the drugs because none of it is treating causation of the illness.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA: Think about that, heart attack-proof. Again, you talk about being immune to heart disease. Dr. Esselstyn, and again, a lot of other believe you can become heart attack-proof by virtue of your diet.
Sharon eats a lot of grains, a lot of vegetables, a lot of fruits. She doesn't eat dairy. She doesn't eat oil. She doesn't eat meat.
The mantra that Dr. Esselstyn talks about is: don't eat anything with a mother, don't eat anything with a face. And again, not only reduce your chance of heart disease, but potentially eliminate it.
ROMANS: Sanjay, did she reverse the damage done by a heart attack she was having? Or was what she was having just a warning sign that she was at risk for a heart attack?
GUPTA: Well, when you talk about reversing, you know, the problem, what you're really talking about is trying to reduce the amount of plaque in those blood vessels. And Dr. Esselstyn has evidence of, you know, when you have a certain amount of plaque on studies, actually seeing that plaque disappear as a result of diet alone. Again, no interventions, no new meds, nothing like that, just the diary changes.
So, this woman, Sharon Kintz, had a heart attack. But her goal is not to have another one and to open up those blood vessels, she wanted to do it with diet as oppose to do a surgery.
ROMANS: All right. So, don't eat anything with a mother or a face?
GUPTA: A mantra to remember.
ROMANS: That means no cheeseburgers, I take it, Sanjay.
GUPTA: What we eat is kind of gruesome, so this is actually less gruesome, I guess.
ROMANS: When it comes in a Styrofoam box, it doesn't look quite so bad. All right. Thanks, Sanjay.
And a programming note: Sanjay and former President Bill Clinton explore the signs, tests, lifestyle changes that could result in hopefully the very last heart attack. That's a special CNN presentation this Sunday, 8:00 p.m. Eastern.
COSTELLO: We have been asking you to talk back on one of the big stories of the day. And you have a lot to say this morning.
We asked: is President Obama neglecting the black community?
Presley says, "President Obama's presidency has not only given black Americans an idol role model to aspire to and admire, but it's given every underprivileged American a reason to believe in the promise of the idea of America. The fact is, President Obama is a Democrat, and the majority of the black community are Democrats. His goal is to secure the independents and maybe steal away moderate conservatives. And that requires him to make his presence felt strongly with non-black communities."
This from Lesedria: "We are used to being ignored by the government. Matter of fact, I think we are getting the most attention that we've gotten since the 1960s. He is trying to help things for all of America. All I wish he'd do differently is be more aggressive with the legislators. They are the reason he can't get anything done for anybody."
This from Benny: "Talk about being caught between a rock and a hard place. If the president focuses too much on the black community, then other groups will cry foul. Either way, he can't win. So, now, President Obama has to defend himself from the Tea Party and his own constituents. Does anybody have his back?"
Keep the conversation going. Facebook.com/AmericanMorning. We'll talk more about this in the next hour.
ROMANS: All right. Top stories up next. AMERICAN MORNING will be right back after a quick break.
It's 57 minutes after the hour.
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