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American Morning

Republican Presidential Candidates Square off in Debate; Three Storms Threatening East Coast; Sounds of a Terror Attack; Security Tight for 9/11; East Coast Flooding; Conrad Murray Trial; Awaiting Galliano Verdict; Obama Lays Out Jobs Plan Tonight; Grading the GOP Debate; Grading the GOP Debate; NASA Aims To Unlock Moon Mysteries

Aired September 08, 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): Twelve hours and counting. President Obama putting the final touches on an all- important speech about creating jobs. This morning, there are new details on the plan he'll unveil.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Feisty words at the GOP debate. Mitt Romney and Rick Perry debating job creation and Saving Social Security. It seems the only thing Republican rivals agree on is beating Barack Obama.

ROMANS: And a frightening accident at Washington's National Cathedral. A 500-ton crane collapses while workers were making earthquake repairs. How will it impact the president's 9/11 speech scheduled to be delivered there?

COSTELLO: And another super soaking from Mother Nature. Flood warnings are up from Virginia to New England as remnants of tropical storm Lee lashes the already weather-beaten East Coast on this AMERICAN MORNING.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Good morning. It's Thursday, September 8th. Welcome to AMERICAN MORNING. Ali Velshi has the morning off.

COSTELLO: Coming up first, two GOP frontrunners clash at the Republican debate last night in California, Rick Perry and Mitt Romney sparring over Social Security and who is better qualified to create jobs. At one point, Perry said "kind of felt like a Pinata." Jim Acosta live in Los Angeles this morning. It was an interesting debate, I got to say.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: It was. You know, Rick Perry did say last night that he felt like the Pinata at the Republican debate at the Reagan library. And that's for good reason. That's because nearly every other Republican candidate on that stage was taking their best whack at the new GOP frontrunner. But Rick Perry showed he can hit back.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) ACOSTA: Rick Perry and Mitt Romney stood side by side at the Reagan debate, close enough for the fur to fly. First on the question of which governor created more jobs.

RICK PERRY, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We created more jobs in the last three months in Texas than he created in four careers in Massachusetts.

MITT ROMNEY, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Texas is a great state. Texas has zero income tax. Texas has a right to work state. But Governor Perry doesn't believe that he created those things. If he tried to say that, it would be like Al Gore saying he invented the Internet.

PERRY: Michael Dukakis create the jobs three times faster than you did, Mitt.

ROMNEY: As a matter of fact, George Bush and his predecessor created jobs at a faster rate than you did, Governor.

(LAUGHTER)

ACOSTA: Jumping into the mix was a newly aggressive Jon Huntsman.

JON HUNTSMAN, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I hate to rain on the parade of the Lone Star governor. But, as governor of Utah, we were the number one job creator in this country.

ACOSTA: The debate soon switched to the Romney healthcare plan in Massachusetts and its individual mandate that requires residents to have medical insurance, what some Republicans call Obam-ney-care.

JOHN HARRIS, "POLITICO: Anyone else agrees that the Massachusetts example was a great opportunity for the rest of the country, no?

PERRY: No. It was a great opportunity for us as a people to see what will not work, and that is an individual mandate in this country.

ACOSTA: Ron Paul later noted Perry was once a Democrat who showed some of his own support for government healthcare.

RON PAUL, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The governor of Texas criticized the governor of Massachusetts for Romney-care. But he wrote really fancy letter supporting Hillary-care.

PERRY: Speaking of letters, I was more interested in the one that you wrote to Ronald Reagan back and said I'm going to quit the party because of the things you believe in.

ACOSTA: Newt Gingrich tried to bring the Republican rumble to a halt.

NEWT GINGRICH, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I, for one, and I hope all of my friends up here will repudiate every effort of the news media to get Republicans to fight each other to protect Barack Obama, who deserves to be defeated. And all of us are committed as a team. Whoever the nominee is, we are all for defeating Barack Obama.

(APPLAUSE)

ACOSTA: Contrast that applause with the crickets that followed Paul's comment that a fence along the U.S. border with Mexico could be used to keep Americans caged in.

PAUL: So every time you think of a fence keeping all the bad people out, think about those fences maybe being used against us keeping us in.

ACOSTA: But it was Perry who was on the defense. Take his anti- Washington book "Fed Up," in which he refers to Social Security as a Ponzi scheme.

PERRY: It is a monstrous lie. It is a Ponzi scheme to tell our kids that are 25 or 30 years old today you're paying into a program that's going to be there.

ACOSTA: Romney couldn't resist.

ROMNEY: You say that by any measure Social Security is failure. You can't say that to tens of millions of Americans who live on Social Security and those who have lived on it.

ACOSTA: In an interview with CNN before the Reagan debate, President Obama's reelection campaign adviser Robert Gibbs said Perry's book will be fair game.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you looking forward to running against that book?

ROBERT GIBBS, OBAMA RE-ELECTION CAMPAIGN ADVISER: Well, look, I think each one of the candidates has their share of kooky views, if you will. Each one of these candidate has a view that the American people will find hard to defend.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: One of the most surprising things about the debate was Michele Bachmann's performance. You could argue that Perry's rise has hurt her the most. But, Carol, she didn't go after the GOP new frontrunner. It was pretty much hands off.

COSTELLO: And the first question to her didn't come for 14 minutes much, so she was shutout at the beginning. But you're right, she wasn't aggressive.

ACOSTA: She had an hour and a half to get her message across. That's the debate. You got to play with the cards you're dealt.

COSTELLO: It seemed like she was sticking to her talking points. Jim Acosta live in Los Angeles, thank you. In 30 minutes we'll break down the debate and find out who came out on top when we're joined by the cofounder of the St. Louis Tea Party Dana Loesch as well as Ron Brownstein of the "National Journal" and former John McCain campaign adviser Mark McKinnon.

And be certain to be with us on Monday when the Tea Party express and several other Tea Party groups co-host a debate with the Republican candidates in Tampa, Florida, the site of the 2012 Republican national convention. The CNN Tea Party Republican debate Monday night at 8:00 Eastern.

And AMERICAN MORNING's Ali Velshi will be live from Tampa Monday morning. You'll get a front row seat, and he'll bring us everything that happened beginning at 6:00 a.m. Eastern.

ROMANS: All right, in just 12 hours time, President Obama will stand before a joint session of Congress and before the American people and deliver his plan for an economic revival, specifically in jobs. Democratic sources tell CNN the prescription to create jobs and grow the economy is expected to call for more tax cuts, targeted tax cuts, and more spending on roads and bridges.

And the price tag, Well, we're told it won't cost a penny. That's because the spending, which sources tell CNN could maybe tap $400 billion. Any of that new spending would be offset by the same amount in cuts. You can watch the president's speech tonight at 7:00 p.m. eastern. Coming up in less than a half an hour. I'm going to ask White House Press Secretary Jay Carney about the tone that the president will take ton. I'm very curious to see how tough the president will sound and how he's going to put it in the court of Congress. You guys have to pass these laws to get some of this stuff done.

COSTELLO: Looking Congress straight in the eye.

Talking about films, let's talk about talk back, because now it's your turn to talk back on the big story of the day. And the question this morning, how should the president handle the country's divisiveness in his speech tonight? Talk about pressure. The president will be facing a bitterly divided congress. The political forecast -- ice cold.

Republican congressman Joe Walsh is skipping the president's speech because, quote, "I don't see a point in being a prop for another of the president's speeches asking for more failed stimulus spending." Louisiana Republican senator David Vitter won't be there either. He's hosting an NFL football party.

Add to that the vicious partisan attacks coming from both parties, unless you've become numb, you've heard it loud and clear.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GINGRICH: He's the most effective food stamp president in American history.

(LAUGHTER)

REP. MAXINE WATERS, (D) CALIFORNIA: The Tea Party can go straight to hell.

(APPLAUSE)

RUSH LIMBAUGH, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: That's what we have witnessed since Friday -- Obama-geddon, Barack-alypse now.

JIM HOFFA, TEAMSTERS UNION PRESIDENT: Let's take these son of a bitches out and give America back to America where we belong.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: So why bother with a bipartisan speech? As "New York Times" columnist Paul Krugman writes, "What will Republicans agree to? That's easy -- nothing. They will oppose anything Mr. Obama proposes."

But there are Republican leaders who say they want to work with the president. In a letter to Obama, House Speaker John Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor write, "It is also critical that our differences not preclude us from taking action in areas where there is common agreement. We should not approach this as an all or nothing situation."

So our talkback question this morning -- how should the president handle the country's divisiveness in his speech tonight? Facebook.com/AmericanMorning. I'll read your comments later this hour.

ROMANS: Divisiveness, Carol? I have a feeling that a bunch of press releases have been written before his speech has been said.

COSTELLO: Wouldn't it be nice if the president during his speech and members of Congress would just break down in a Kumbaya song?

(LAUGHTER)

COSTELLO: I would faint.

ROMANS: All right, in the northeast, flood warnings are up across a very wide area this morning. The remnants of tropical storm Lee expected to bring heavy rain from Washington, D.C. to western New England. Some areas could get as much as 10 inches of rain.

Rob Marciano at the extreme he they are center. Rob, there's already been -- August was already the rainiest month on record for New Jersey and some other states. Any relief in sight?

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: This stuff is moving so slowly I'm afraid it gets worse before it gets better. As you mentioned, 10 inches of rain possible. We've already seen almost that in places like Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Binghamton, New York seeing 9.2 inches, the Susquehanna really valley getting hit hard with this. And Jersey is also seeing a decent amount of rainfall. So many of the rivers, the Passaic included, will rise to levels that will rival if not surpass Irene just a week and a half ago. Here's the Passaic at Pine Brook expected to go to major stage in the next day but to break records up through Saturday. So be aware of that.

Flash flood warnings from central New York all the way to the Delmarva. D.C., Baltimore, heavier rain in the past 12 hours, moisture from what's left over of lee, continues to stream to the north. Not a lot of easterly progress with this. That's why we're seeing the amount of rainfall, serious situation across the Susquehanna Valley, including Harrisburg and Hershey, Pennsylvania. Much likely evacuations going on now and they're looking for those rivers to crest in the next 12 to 18 hours.

Detroit, New York, Boston, if you're traveling biplane, we have issues there obviously from the ongoing rainfall. The U.S. Open will probably have issues as well.

Speaking of issues, we have three of them now. Many of you know about Katia, still a category one hurricane, not too worried about that. Maria popped up yesterday around this time. We might have to worry about this about next week. Then Nate, that popped up yesterday afternoon. And we'll probably have to deal with that here before too long.

But we'll take Nate as far as rainfall goes. But there's no guarantee that the rainfall from Nate will get up into Texas where we desperately need it. Likely, guys, it will go more into Mexico itself. But it could strengthen to a hurricane in the next couple days as it spins in the Bay of Campeche. So watching the rivers continue to rise in the northeast with leftovers of what was only a tropical storm, but we know how much moisture those tropical systems carry. Tropical storm Lee up now in the northeast.

ROMANS: I certainly discovered that this morning.

MARCIANO: Very wet out there.

COSTELLO: Right. Thanks, Rob.

Also new this morning, investigators still trying to figure out why a 500-ton crane collapsed while workers were repairing the earthquake damaged National Cathedral in Washington. Two building and several cars were damaged, too, when the operator of the crane was injured. Officials would not say whether the accident will delay their plans to reopen the cathedral on Friday. President Obama is scheduled to deliver his 9/11 speech there on Sunday.

ROMANS: Fire crews in Texas are gaining ground on the most destructive wildfire burning across the state. The Bastrop County fire near Austin now 30 percent contained. President Obama personally called Texas Governor Rick Perry promising a quick federal response to the fire disaster.

COSTELLO: Searching for Gadhafi, a spokesman for Tripoli's new military council telling CNN the ousted dictator is surrounded but he won't say exactly where.

In the meantime, Syrian television is airing a message reportedly from Gadhafi insisting he's still in Libya and that NATO will be defeated.

ROMANS: Amanda Knox's father say Italian prosecutors have no case left and hoping his daughter will be freed, back home in America by the end of the month. Curt Knox making those remarks after an Italian judge rejected a prosecution request for new DNA testing in the case. Amanda Knox's murder conviction appeal resumes September 23rd.

COSTELLO: Actress Reese Witherspoon is said to be resting comfortably after being struck by a car while jogging near Los Angeles. That car according to police was driven by an 84-year-old woman. Police say the driver was cited for failing to yield to a pedestrian in a crosswalk.

ROMANS: All right, still to come this morning, a chilling audiotape some never heard before from aboard one of the planes hijacked on September 11th. Also ahead, a day in the life of New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly as he tries to secure the big apple ahead this weekend's 9/11 ceremonies.

COSTELLO: And NASA keeping an very close eye this morning on the weather. A storm system could scrap the launch of its new mission to the moon. We're live from Cape Canaveral. You're watching AMERICAN MORNING. It's 12 minutes past the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING.

Ten years after the 9/11 terror attacks, real time recordings from that tragic morning in 2001 are being posted by the "New York Times." Some of these - some of these recording we've never heard before.

COSTELLO: Yes. And you might find them quite disturbing.

In this first cut, we hear Betty Ong, a flight attendant on Flight 11 speaking to operations agent from an air phone in the back of her hijacked plane.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

BETTY ONG, FLIGHT ATTENDANT ON FLIGHT 11 (voice-over): Our number one got stabbed. Our purser is stabbed. Nobody knows who stabbed who and we can't get up to business class right now because nobody can breathe. Our number one is stabbed right now. And our number 5. Our first class passengers are - first class galley flight attendant and purser has been stabbed. And we can't get up to the cockpit. The door wouldn't open.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

COSTELLO: As you know, Flight 11 crashed into the north tower of the World Trade Center.

ROMANS: In this next recording, a Boston air traffic controller hears - hears hijacker Mohamed Atta telling everyone on board Flight 11 to keep silent.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

CONTROLLER: Is that American 11 trying to call?

MOHAMEND ATTA, HIJACKER: (INAUDIBLE). We have some planes. Just stay quiet and we'll be OK. We are returning to the airport.

CONTROLLER: And who is trying to call me here? American 11, are you trying to call? American 11, are you trying to call?

ATTA: Nobody move. Everything will be OK. If you try to make any moves, you will injure yourself and the airplane. Just stay quiet.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Yes. Just chilling today, isn't it?

The New York City Police Department says even though there are no specific threats, thousands of extra officers will be deployed this weekend for the 10-year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

ROMANS: Security will be very, very tight. Not only because two presidents will be on hand, but because there's evidence Osama Bin Laden was hoping to strike America on the tenth anniversary of its darkest day.

Jason Carroll joins us this morning. Jason, you had a chance to spend a few days with long-time commissioner of the New York City Police Department, Ray Kelly.

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: About a week off and on. The man keeps an incredible schedule. But he says that's would actually helps to keep him going.

Police Commissioner Ray Kelly admittedly is a man who likes to be in control. His department has been credited in reducing crime over the past several years. But his greatest challenge is protecting the city against another terrorist attack.

As we approach the 10-year anniversary of 9/11, we spoke to Commissioner Kelly about his job and what he's doing to meet that challenge.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CARROLL (voice-over): New York City, the largest city in the United States. Its iconic structures making it the nation's number one tourist spot, but also making it a potential target for terrorists. RAY KELLY, NYC POLICE COMMISSIONER: We have to think about a nuclear event. We have to think about a dirty bomb. Those sorts of things that, you know, we're paid to think about. So I wouldn't say it keeps me up at night, but it's constantly on our radar screen.

CARROLL: CNN spent several days with Ray Kelly, New York's top cop, to get an idea of what it's like to manage the country's largest police force.

KELLY: I find it exhilarating and energizing. So - and I think, you know, the work that the officers do is really inspirational.

CARROLL: For the commissioner, there are daily security briefings, meetings with Muslim leaders, community outreach. On this day, marching in the West Indian Day Parade, speaking engagements, like this graduation for the first class of officers assigned to specifically patrol the World Trade Center.

KELLY: We'll do that now.

CARROLL: Mobilizing for potential emergencies, like Hurricane Irene.

KELLY: One of the things that we have honed and developed in a post 9/11 experience is our ability to mass large numbers of police officers fairly quickly.

CARROLL: A Vietnam Marine (ph) with decades of service on New York's police force, Kelly held several high-profile law enforcement jobs before the city's mayor brought him back just months after 9/11 to serve as police commissioner for a second time.

(on camera): You've been police commissioner for so long now, it seems, how would you define your management style?

KELLY: I guess a little bit hands-on.

CARROLL (voice-over): Whatever the style, in his latest stint as commissioner, Kelly says his department has prevented 13 terrorist attacks.

(on camera): You've got the Brooklyn Bridge here. One of those potential targets.

(voice-over): Kelly showed us a fraction of the department's vast array of security cameras, just one of the tools used in securing the city.

KELLY: We work with the community. We have uniformed presence at significant locations. We have a proactive intelligence division. All of those things so far have worked well. There's no guarantees.

CARROLL: Kelly shares a concern recently expressed by President Obama. Namely, how to stop an attack from a so-called lone wolf, someone not connected to a terrorist group who operates below the radar. KELLY: With great difficulty. We hope for intelligence information and that's our sort of first line of defense. But it may not be forthcoming, because you have an individual who stays only to himself or herself. It's very difficult to predict that or protect against it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CARROLL: That is their greatest concern. Kelly has been so successful, though, at his job, his name has been tossed around as a possible candidate for New York City mayor or perhaps even the next FBI director. When I asked Kelly about both of those jobs, he gave me his standard answer. Basically saying he already has the best job in the world and that he has no plans to run for office.

But you know, when he said the - said that, he had a bit of a twinkle in his eye. So it sort of makes me wonder.

COSTELLO: That's interesting. But he's right about that lone wolf, because there really isn't much you can do to stop that.

CARROLL: Well, you know, you can rely on intelligence. You can rely on the extra undercover officers that you have, but when you're operating below the radar, you know, as many security analysts will tell you, there are no guarantees.

COSTELLO: Well, and the people around you. Like we can probably stop a lone wolf, maybe perhaps better than a -

CARROLL: That's a very good point. I think that's why, you know, when you're here in New York City, a lot of people who are in the city don't realize this, but they've got the slogan, you know, if you see something, say something. So always be vigilant.

COSTELLO: Oh, man, that's everywhere.

CARROLL: Yes, yes.

COSTELLO: Jason Carroll, thanks so much.

Be sure to join us for live coverage of 9/11, 10 Years Later on Sunday, beginning at 8:00 A.M. Eastern on CNN. We'll have special live coverage of the remembrance event throughout the day.

ROMANS: All right. Still to come this morning, President Obama is putting the final touches on tonight's big jobs plan speech. We're going to get more insight into what the president is thinking, what he's going to say. We're going to talk to the White House Press Secretary, Jay Carney, in just a couple of minutes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. "Minding Your Business."

The Dow, NASDAQ and S&P 500 all rose about three percent yesterday after a three rough days. Investors turning more positive for the moment on Europe's debt problems and more confident that the president will be able to get some money moving to create jobs.

Also today, investors are waiting for the initial jobless claims report from the Labor Department. That comes out just about an hour from now. Right now, U.S. stock futures are trading slightly higher ahead the opening bell.

Today's the day of the so-called Super Committee holds its very first meeting. It starts this morning. That's the group of six Democrats and six Republicans set up as part of last month's debt ceiling agreement. This committee has until the end of November to come up with a whopping $1.5 trillion deficit reduction plan, tall order.

Bank of America is expected to close up to 600 of its branches across the U.S. Analysts say that Bank of America shakeup in the upper management this week signals those closures are likely, also huge layoffs have been rumored for months. Bank of America is declining official comment.

Don't forget, for the very latest news about your money, check out the all new CNNMoney.com.

AMERICAN MORNING will be back after this quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Good morning to you. It is 30 minutes past the hour. Time for top stories.

Another round of heavy rain and flooding in the east. The remnants of Tropical Storm Lee have communities from Virginia to New England still dealing with last week's hurricane cleanup on alert for a new round of flash flooding. The flooding now blamed for at least one death in Pennsylvania.

ROMANS: Jury selection set to begin this morning in the trial of Dr. Conrad Murray, Michael Jackson's personal physician. Murray is accused of involuntary manslaughter in Jackson's death. His lawyers tried unsuccessfully to have jurors sequestered during the high profile trial.