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Mario Cuomo Dies Just after Son Sworn in as Governor; Pinger Locators to Be Used in Search for Flight 8501

Aired January 02, 2015 - 06:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARIO CUOMO, FMR. GOVERNOR OF NEW YORK: Life is better than death.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mario Cuomo has died at the age of 82.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: His inspiration and legacy is what has brought the state to this point.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He believed in the power of individuals to achieve.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No one like him. He could have been the president of the United States. He was that great.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The first funeral for a victim of the crash of Flight 8501.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The weather unfortunately is not looking good for the next two or three days.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Praying has given way to despair.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Until we get the data recorder and the voice recorder, we're still somewhat in the dark.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, and welcome to you. Welcome to NEW DAY. It's Friday, January 2nd, 2015, it is 6:00 in the east. I'm Michaela Pereira along with John Berman. Our Christine Romans will join us shortly.

We begin with the passing of an American giant, a passing that certainly hits close to home for us. Legendary former New York Governor, Mario Cuomo, the father of our dear friend and colleague, Chris Cuomo, has died at the age of 82, an icon in American politics, a beacon in the Democratic Party.

Mr. Cuomo died last night just hours after his son, Andrew, was sworn in to a second term as New York governor.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: You know, what a life. His parents came from Italy with no money. They could not read or speak English. They ran a grocery store. Mario -- you can see him right there -- he was an athlete. He played minor league baseball.

But it wasn't his physical strength; it was his words and how he spoke them that electrified Democrats. The keynote at the 1984 Democratic National Convention, remembered by many as one of the most powerful speeches of a generation. He liked to say you campaign in poetry; you govern in prose. And he knew how to do both.

Tributes are pouring in from all sides of the political world. Former President Bill Clinton calling Cuomo's life "a blessing." New Jersey Governor Chris Christie called him "a giant." They are among the millions of Americans remembering a truly American great.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN (voice-over): Simply it was the American dream. The son of Italian immigrants, Mario Cuomo rose from the basement of this grocery store in South Jamaica, Queens, where he slept on the floor and spoke no English, to the highest office in New York state; along the way, creating a political legacy and dynasty that spanned generations. His life driven by a passion for learning, his Catholic faith and a determination to simply work harder than the other guy.

M. CUOMO: One of the simple things I wanted to achieve is I want to be governor. I wanted to be the hardest working there ever was.

BERMAN: After more than a decade of the full-contact politics of New York, Cuomo catapulted to national prominence with the keynote address of the 1984 Democratic National Convention.

M. CUOMO: We thank you for the great privilege of being able to address this convention.

BERMAN: He challenged head-on Ronald Reagan's notion of a shining city on a little, instead calling America a tale of two cities.

M. CUOMO: We must get the American public to look past the glitter, beyond the showmanship, to the reality, the hard substance of things; and we'll do it not so much with speeches that sound good, as with speeches that are good and sound.

BERMAN: It cemented him as one of his generation's greatest orators, a defender of the have-notes and little guys. It also made him the choice of many Democratic leaders to run for president.

M. CUOMO: He said, "Will you think about it?"

I said, "I have been thinking about it."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But are you going to think about it anymore?

BERMAN: He was considered a favorite for the Democratic nomination in both 1988 and 1992. But in both cases, he demurred. His seeming inability to decide on higher office frustrated Democratic Party faithful and become something of a punchline in itself.

JAY LENO, COMEDIAN/FORMER HOST, NBC'S "THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO": And Mario Cuomo, nobody knows what he's going to do. That's -- I don't know if you've seen this new public service commercial for New York City. It says, "A mind is a terrible thing to make up." Yes.

BERMAN: He said it wasn't indecisiveness that kept him in New York instead of Washington; it was his commitment to the state.

M. CUOMO: It has nothing to do with my chances. It has everything to do with my job as governor, and I don't see that I can do both. Therefore, I will not pursue the presidency.

BERMAN: He said it was that same commitment that led him to pass on a nomination to the Supreme Court, deciding instead to run for a fourth term as governor.

But 12 years was enough for New York. He was defeated by George Pataki in the Republican revolution of 1994. Cuomo returned to the private sector to restart his law practice, host a radio show and become a prolific author and public speaker.

And in 2010 came a brand-new title, former or first Governor Cuomo. A word he would be forced to use, because he was suddenly no longer the only one. In a bittersweet irony, his eldest son, Andrew, the current governor of New York, was sworn in to a second term just hours before his father's death.

ANDREW CUOMO, GOVERNOR OF NEW YORK: He couldn't be here, physically today, my father. But my father is in this room. He's in the heart and mind of every person who is here. He's here and he's here. And his inspiration and his legacy and his experience is what has brought this state to this point. So let's give him a round of applause.

BERMAN: Governor Mario Cuomo, a true American giant, was 82. He is survived by his wife of more than 60 years, Matilda Raffa Cuomo; his five children, including our CNN NEW DAY anchor, Chris; and 14 grandchildren. The constants of his life, always faith and family.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN (on camera): What a life. What a loss. We want to talk more now about the legacy of Mario Cuomo. Joining us is Ron Brownstein, CNN senior political analyst and editorial director of the "National Journal."

Ron, thanks so much for being with us this morning.

RON BRONSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Good morning, John.

BERMAN: So Ron, you know, it's almost hard for people to remember at this point, but for about an eight-year period, if you're talking 1984-1992, Governor Mario Cuomo was the towering figure of the Democratic Party. The biggest figure in the Democratic Party and arguably the soul of that party.

BROWNSTEIN: Certainly in the liberal wing. First of all it's obviously a very sad moment not only for the family, but for the many, many people who admire Governor Cuomo. So we certainly send -- I certainly send my condolences to all of them.

But you're right. You know, you have to remember when Mario Cuomo emerged. He emerged when Democratic confidence was absolutely at a low ebb during the high point of the Reagan era. His speech in 1984 at the convention came as Ronald Reagan was on his way toward the greatest landslide in modern American politics, and Governor Cuomo offered particularly the liberal wing of the Democratic Party hope on two fronts. Both that traditional liberalism could still be packaged as an agenda that most Americans would support. And that Democrats could compete with the awesome communication skills of Governor Reagan.

Now on that first point, ultimately, I think that Governor Cuomo's side of the argument lost out to the one that Bill Clinton represented. But there's no doubt that in the 1980s, he was a central figure, really a beacon of hope for Democrats who had grown -- lost confidence, really, in the party's ability to compete at the national level at that point.

BERMAN: You talked about the 1984 convention speech. You talked about the soaring oratory. Let's play a little part of that. And I remember, Ron -- you know, I'm a little -- just a little bit younger than you -- but I remember watching this on the floor of my father's house, looking at the room that was electrified in San Francisco, with the lights dim, at the words of Mario Cuomo. So let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

M. CUOMO: That struggle to live with dignity is the real story of the shining city. And it's a story, ladies and gentlemen, that I didn't read in a book or learn in a classroom. I saw it and lived it like many of you. I watched a small man with thick callouses on both his hands work 15 and 16 hours a day. I saw him once literally bleed from the bottoms of his feet. A man who came here uneducated. Alone. Unable to speak the language, who taught me all I needed to know about faith and hard work by the simple eloquence of his example.

I learned about our kind of democracy from my father, and I learned about our obligation to each other from him and my mother. They asked only for a chance to work and to make the world better for their children.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: This was his wheelhouse, Ron. These were the subjects that he wanted to talk about. People working to become something in America.

BROWNSTEIN: You know, Governor Cuomo not only articulated the core Democratic beliefs of kind of the New Deal era from Franklin Roosevelt to Hubert Humphrey but he embodied them in his life. And that's partially what made him so powerful.

I always thought the great paradox about Mario Cuomo, the fascinating thing about him, and it was reflected in his refusal to move onto the big glittering national stage, either as a presidential candidate or later as a Supreme Court justice, was that, on the one hand, he was unbelievably articulate and eloquent in articulating universal principles that Democrats could rally around in terms of politics and morality and the role of government. But in his own preferences and life, he always felt most comfortable in the particular. In the neighborhood, with the kinds of families that he had not only represented, but had grown up around. And that was what he felt most comfortable making a difference.

And he stayed locally rooted, even as he articulated these broad sweeping principles. He's kind of the original, you know, maybe exemplar of think globally, but act locally. And that was where he seemed to be most comfortable, always, to me.

BERMAN: There wasn't some national plan he had or a global agenda he was pushing. He was talking about people in their neighborhoods and their homes.

I think it's been a parlor game, Ron, among political reporters and people, you know, in the political world for years. You know, what would have happened? What would have happened, had Mario Cuomo won in 1988 or 1992? Could he have won the nomination? What would have happened to our political history right now? Would Bill Clinton even have existed?

BROWNSTEIN: Right, well Bill Clinton, I certainly covered that campaign very closely. I covered Mario Cuomo. I covered Bill Clinton. The Clinton campaign certainly expected their principal opponent in 1992 was going to be Mario Cuomo as the voice of both traditional liberal beliefs and traditional liberal constituencies that they felt would be the counter-point to Bill Clinton's then new Democrat agenda that argued the party had to change to rebuild its national majority.

There's no question that over the next 20 years the party flowed more in the direction that Bill Clinton envisioned than Mario Cuomo envisioned, but at that point, in 1992, it's not clear at all that Bill Clinton would have won. I mean, the balance of power might still have tilted to Mario Cuomo's side, and you're right: history could have been very different.

But I think in the long run, Clinton, I think, had a clearer sense of where the party and the country was going. But there's no doubt that Mario Cuomo had such a powerful hold on Democrats that he might have actually, had he entered that race, won that race in 1992, in the primary at least.

BERMAN: Yes, quickly, you know, in '92 the Democratic Party diverged from Mario Cuomo. In 1994 New York did: after 12 years in office, voted him out. Twelve years simply too long, or more than 12 years too long in New York, Ron?

BROWNSTEIN: I think a lot, part of it was that. But the bigger thing was 1994 was one of the best years for Republicans in the modern history. As you pointed out earlier, the the Republican revolution when they swept the Congress, the Senate. And it was an early indication, really, of how much politics was becoming nationalized. And Mario Cuomo was swept out by a national wave, in addition to the fact that he had been there for 12 years.

But look, he was an important figure. You know, you go back to American history. There are people like Daniel Webster in the 19th Century, Robert Taft in the 20th century, who never were elected president, but were absolute leaders of their party for long periods, and Mario Cuomo, I think, stands in that lineage.

BERMAN: And moved the discussion without ever being even a candidate for president. Ron Brownstein, great to have you with us. Really appreciate it.

BROWNSTEIN: Thank you, John.

BERMAN: Coming up, we're going to speak to former New Jersey Governor Tom Kean, New York Congressman Peter King; and former New York Governor David Paterson. And throughout the morning, we're going to remember the life, the remarkable life of Governor Mario Cuomo -- Michaela.

PEREIRA: So many people paying tribute to that great man. Thanks so much, John.

We're going to turn now to the latest developments in the search for AirAsia Flight 8501. Officials overnight have narrowed their search parameters. That still leaves a vast amount of sea to search, however. Malaysia's top navy chief tweeted out this map, calling this the most probable area where the wreckage is likely located. There's more focused area, roughly 2,000 square miles. Keep in mind that's almost half the size of the state of Connecticut.

Three ships armed with sonar equipment and a pinger locator are set to aid in the search, with the USS Fort Worth en route.

In the meantime, 22 bodies have been recovered, and the solemn task of burying the dead has begun. The first crash victim has been laid to rest. Three other deceased have now been identified.

The weather, however, continues to be a major hurdle in the ongoing search for the plane and for more victims.

We have complete coverage for you. Let's get right to Gary Tuchman, who's live on the ground in Indonesia-- Gary.

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello to you, Michaela.

Twenty-two bodies have been recovered, but what that means is 140 bodies have not. And many of the relatives of those people who are still missing are in this tent behind me. This is a tent that has been set up for the families here at the local police headquarters.

A short time ago, about 20 minutes ago, the CEO of AirAsia, Tony Fernandes, walked into that tent, is still in there right now, meeting with family members. He also said he pledges to escort one of the four people who have been identified, his flight attendant -- that's 22-year-old Miss Fauzi -- she lives in Sumatra, Indonesia, which is west of here, and he says he will escort her home. The weather, frankly, continues to stink as the search goes on.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TUCHMAN (voice-over): Breaking overnight: Malaysian officials aiding in the search tell CNN this is the most probable location of AirAsia Flight 8501, an area just over 2,000 square miles.

Keeping a close eye on the weather that has hampered efforts for days, crews have yet to discover the crucial black boxes needed to solve the mystery of the crash, and the clock is ticking in the race to find them. The battery powering the acoustic pingers, used to locate the black boxes, have about 24 days until they expire. At least three ships using underwater pinger locator devices are set to comb the area.

And new this morning: Indonesian authorities have identified the bodies of three more victims, bringing the total number of people identified to four.

The journey back home for the first identified victim of the crash came Thursday. The body of a woman, a teacher, was laid to rest in a tearful ceremony, her grieving family struggling to cope as her body was lowered into the ground.

In the early morning hours off the coast of Indonesia, search teams making another painful trip back to shore, carrying the remains of more victims from the AirAsia flight and pieces of debris from the wreckage.

Also aiding in the search, the American USS Sampson,j recovering two bodies from the Java Sea yesterday. At the hospital in Surabaya, the race to identify other victims is of most importance for relatives. It is here where they will undergo autopsies before heading back to their families.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TUCHMAN (on camera): Michaela, the weather is supposed to improve this weekend, but it's never a guarantee this time of year in this region. This is monsoon season -- Michaela.

PEREIRA: All right, Gary, thank you so much for that.

We want to talk about these conditions, the high winds, the rough seas. How long are those conditions going to last? Is there a little bit of respite, Chad?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I believe there is, Michaela. I believe Sunday will be a great day for searching. I think the water is going to calm down. We're not going to see white caps. This will be the first time since this ship -- this plane went missing. This is the first time we actually get a good day from start to finish, because it gets good as soon as the sunsets, and that's no help. Because you want the daylight hours. So here's where we are now. We're getting to the sunset. By tomorrow

morning, the rain is back. Then it goes away for the nighttime hours, and then for the next morning, the rain is back. It's just one thing after another, and it's gone this way for the entire time.

One thing that has not left, though, even when the rain goes away, the wind does not go away, the wind does not go away. The winds have been blowing at 20-30 miles per hour the entire time. We finally see by Friday, cooling off a little bit, slowing down a little bit by Saturday, and finally on Sunday, not as much wind in the forecast. And some of the wind completely gone. Winds probably 10 miles per hour. That's great.

Guys, back to you.

PEREIRA: All right, Chad. Pardon me. Chad and our Gary, thanks so much for that. We'll have more on the search for victims and for the wreckage of the doomed AirAsia Flight 8501 coming up. The hope is that this newly focused search area could hope expedite the search.

BERMAN: And we're also mourning the loss of an American giant and also, frankly, the father of our good friend. Throughout the morning we pay tribute to the incredible life of former New York Governor Mario Cuomo.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PEREIRA: Welcome back. There is a new focus in the search for Flight 8501. Teams have established what they are calling a most probable area, an area of just over 2,000 square miles, where they believe the plane likely went down.

The AirAsia CEO has met with victims' families this morning. More bodies are being recovered. The official count now stands at 22 bodies recovered.

Let's bring in Mary Schiavo, CNN aviation analyst and former inspector general for the U.S. Department of Transportation. She, of course, represents families and victims after plane crashes. David Soucie is here with us this morning, CNN safety analyst, former FAA safety inspector and author of "Flight 370: Why It Disappeared and Why It's Only a Matter of Time Before It Happens Again."

Good morning to the two of you. Let's sort of tick through some of the developments and headlines overnight. We know, Mary, let's obviously talk about the search area, the more probable area that they're talking about. It sounds more focused. But it is still 2,000 square miles.

MARY SCHIAVO, CNN SAFETY ANALYST: It is. It's a large area. But, with each additional piece of wreckage and with human remains, they can narrow in more and more by using the drift patterns and calculating back where the plane went in. And with the reports of the climb rate and the descent rate, they can also pretty much calculate that the plane went straight down. So while it's a big area, it's certainly more focused.

PEREIRA: Great technology being used and put into service right now. Three ships reportedly, they're using side-scan sonar, which you've told us about quite a lot, David. They're towing that underwater pinger locator to comb the area. That's a huge advantage now. Again, shallower water. And this more focused search area.

DAVIE SOUCIE, CNN SAFETY ANALYST: Right. If you remember the underwater locator beacon that we talked about on MH-370, because the water was much deeper, we had to go with the side-scan sonar, but it had to be drug way down in the bottom of the ocean. Meaning that there's a long cable, as long as five miles, hanging behind that -- behind that ship.

In this case, we're only talking less than a mile. So what that helps is when they do the search pattern going back and forth, they don't have to wait to get all the way out and back. So this is going to be a much speedier search. We're going to find this thing much quicker.

PEREIRA: And these pings, time is of the essence. We're not panicking yet because the battery life, about 30 days. We're about a week in. Just shy of a week.

SOUCIE: Yes, yes, and the difference here is that, of course, we knew where the aircraft was to start with.

PEREIRA: Yes.

SOUCIE: Close to where the aircraft was to start. So that helped the search quite a bit.

PEREIRA: And Mary, one of the biggest concerns and troubles right now is the fact that the weather is just not cooperating. Chad tells us, though, it looks as though it's going to let up in the next couple of days. It's sort of typical for this time of year. It is a big challenge when you've got bad weather in an already sort of challenging search zone to begin with.

SCHIAVO: Well, and compounding that, of course, is with the number of bodies being found in the ocean increasing, it's clear that the plane was broken apart. And the weather is dissipating those human remains. So the primary focus, the first goal is, of course, to recover all those bodies, and the seas, being what they are, is really dissipating all those, the remains and the recovery of the remains across the ocean. So that's very difficult. I'm not worried about the black boxes being sent away in the storms, but the bodies.

PEREIRA: Mary, I was thinking as the first victim, the flight attendant, has been identified and another victim was laid to rest, a school teacher. I was thinking about what an incredibly difficult and protracted grieving process this is for the families. It's not just learning of losing your loved one, but in a horrific crash. But then also waiting in those hours to find information. Such a horrific and agonizing time for them. SCHIAVO: It is. And it's so, so difficult. Because of the sudden

and violent way in which their loved ones are lost. And many of the families have told me over the years, they said, "You know, it's not like our family member had been sick. It's not like we had a chance to mentally prepare."

And then to wait for the recovery and, of course, the whole world watching with you; and every time they look at a paper or turn on the news, they have to wait and worry and wonder. It's unbelievably difficult.

PEREIRA: Agonizing.

David, I was thinking -- and I'm sure I'm not the first one to think about this. As we watch this, the investigation, the search, all of it happening now. And happening sort of, we keep talking about, I hate to say it, but almost like a textbook fashion.

SOUCIE: Yes.

PEREIRA: Is there anything that we can learn, glean or could investigate or as researchers, learn and help us relook at MH-370? Is there anything to be learned there?

SOUCIE: Well, in order to learn, we have to actually take action. And I think that's the missing part here. We learned things from Air France 447. We learned things from 370, although we still haven't found the aircraft. And we will learn things from this about not only 370, and the way we operate, But things about our infrastructure itself. Is that working? There's going to be a lot of questions.

The International Civil Aviation Organization is revisiting the Chicago convention this year.

PEREIRA: Right.

SOUCIE: So when that happens, we'll be looking at all kinds of things, as far as the infrastructure. Can we react in time? Is it -- is the organization, is the whole system too big to react?

PEREIRA: Right, right. Well, let's hope we don't just revisit, but some substantive changes are made.

Mary Schiavo, David Soucie, always a pleasure. Thanks so much. We'll see you again later this morning.

SOUCIE: Thanks.

PEREIRA: John.

BERMAN: All right, thanks so much, Michaela. We're going to have much more on the search for the missing Flight 8501 throughout the morning, the plane, I should say. The search zone now narrowed, but by no means is it small. We'll take you live to Indonesia.

And our NEW DAY family and the political world mourning the loss this morning of a legend. Former New York Governor Mario Cuomo has passed away. We'll take a look back at his life and his enduring legacy.

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