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New Day
Bernie and Jane Sanders Open Up; Business News; Trump on "SNL" Gets High Ratings, Mixed Reviews. Aired 8:30-9a ET
Aired November 09, 2015 - 08:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:31:50] MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has always been considered a political outsider because of his views as a Democratic socialist. So what motivated him to run for the highest political office? CNN chief political analyst Gloria Borger sat down with Bernie Sanders and his wife, Jane, over the weekend.
And I see you had quite a conversation with them.
GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: I did. You know, it's always so interesting to interview the political spouse. And in this case, I asked Jane Sanders whether she really always wanted her husband to run for the presidency, because like many political spouses, her answer was, not really.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JANE SANDERS, WIFE OF BERNIE SANDERS: I kept on saying, isn't there another way that you can come up with, getting the issues out on the table?
BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: For Jane, the turning point was, we were in Denny's having breakfast one day in South Burlington, Vermont, and a veteran came over. And with tears in his eyes, he thanked me for some of the work we had done to help him and he urged me to get involved in the race.
J. SANDERS: After standing up and saying good-bye to him, I guess - I guess you - I give up, you have to do it.
BORGER: Did the sort of rocket ship surprise you when you guys took off on college campuses and "feel the Bern," and there's like sales of Bernie Sanders underwear?
B. SANDERS: Oh, my God. We have - we have created a t-shirt and underwear revolution in America. The industry is booming. It's unbelievable. But to answer your question, no, it has resonated a heck of a lot faster.
BORGER: So, there's a buzzword that we use a lot in campaigns, and that's "authenticity." We always talk about authenticity.
J. SANDERS: He's very authentic. He is - I mean what you see is what you get. He's been consistent on the - on the issues. I know one of the things that people in Vermont feel is that we get support from Republicans in Vermont and they say, I disagree with you on many, many things, but I know you're saying what you believe and you will do what you say.
B. SANDERS: And, really, look at this haircut. Is this an authentic haircut? It cost me $2,000 to go to a hair stylist to create this.
BORGER: Somehow I don't believe that to be the truth.
B. SANDERS: You don't believe that.
BORGER: OK.
So "The New York Times" has said, and I'm sure you read it, that Bernie Sanders has a grumpy demeanor. Grumpy. And makes the case that you're not a great schmoozer.
B. SANDERS: Am I grumpy? Yes, I suppose I have to -
BORGER: Is he grumpy?
J. SANDERS: He does doom and gloom speeches. I tell him all the time, you have to bring it back to the hope at the end. But, no, he's not grumpy really, just except when the media doesn't pay attention.
B. SANDERS: I am not much - if the question is, am I much into small talk, am I a good schmoozer, am I a good -
J. SANDERS: No.
B. SANDERS: Back slapper with other politicians, no, I'm not so great at that. Do I enjoy retail politics? The answer is, I really do. I love going out.
BORGER: Now, some people say they won't vote for you because you're a democratic socialist, and socialist has - is a very loaded term in this country. What can you do to sort of assuage people about the socialist label here?
B. SANDERS: Good. Um -
BORGER: I like the way you approve my questions. That's a pretty good question. Good one. Bad one. No.
B. SANDERS: Not all your questions.
BORGER: I know. I know.
B. SANDERS: Some of them. A select few.
[08:35:00] What it means is to pick up on some very important federal programs that we now have, which, if you like, are socialist. What is Social Security? It is a socialist program that says that our elderly people and our disabled people should be able to live with dignity. What do you think Medicare is? It is a single payer health care system for the elderly.
What it comes down to in one sentence is creating a government which works for the middle class and working families, rather than large campaign contributors and millionaires.
BORGER: So even if you don't win, will it have been worth it to have had this debate?
B. SANDERS: Well, we were in this race to win. By the way, my favorables are pretty high up there. People kind of - grumpy, though I may be, people do like me, kind of, at least compared to other politicians.
BORGER: Are you a politician?
J. SANDERS: I think of him as a public servant.
B. SANDERS: But check the record and find if there's anybody in the United States Senate who has anything like the political history that I have. I ran for the United States Senate way, way back, my first race on a third party. You know what percentage of the vote I got? Two percent. Then I got 1 percent. Then I got 4 percent. Then I got 6 percent. Nobody else. In other words, what motivated me? Do you think 30 years ago Jane and I would talk - Jane, I think I'm going to become president. Let's plan it out. A 30 year route to become president. You know, people do that, you know, right (ph) now (ph).
BORGER: I've heard. Yes.
B. SANDERS: I don't. You know, I grew up in a 3.5 room rent controlled apartment. My parents, who are both deceased, would not believe that I'd be running for president of the United States. It would be beyond their imagination. So I think it is fair to say that my life has been motivated from way back when I was a kid and for the fight for social and economic justice. And that's what motivates me. Took me into politics. So, yes, I guess I'm a politician.
BORGER: Do you ever get him confused with Larry David or is that -
J. SANDERS: I haven't yet, no.
LARRY DAVID, COMEDIAN: The only people I like are my seven adorable grandchildren.
B. SANDERS: That's absolutely - they are the joy of my life.
BORGER: Do you do a Larry David imitation?
B. SANDERS: I - what do you think I've just been doing for the last half hour?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PEREIRA: Oh, my goodness. We're fresh off another "SNL" where Larry David played Bernie Sanders so perfectly.
BORGER: Right.
PEREIRA: But it comes back to, you know, well, even he talks about, Gloria, about how he knows he's not the back slapper, what have you. Do you get the sense that he's really comfortable with the spotlight that running for the presidency and the notoriety brings?
BORGER: I think he's having a great time, Michaela. I don't think he expected his campaign to take off the way it did. You know, he said to me during the course of this interview, all you folks in the media thought that I was a fringe candidate. Well, guess what, I'm turning out thousands of people at my rallies. He had a pretty - he had a pretty good summer. So I think he's kind of scratching his head about it, but I think he loves every minute of it. The question, of course, is, how can he turn all of that enthusiasm -
PEREIRA: Right.
BORGER: Among younger voters into actual votes in Iowa and New Hampshire?
PEREIRA: Yes, that's the big question.
BORGER: Yes.
PEREIRA: Hey, just between you and I, get me a pair of those "feel the Bern" briefs and we'll put them in Chris Cuomo's Christmas stocking, all right? Shhh, nobody needs to know.
BORGER: OK. OK.
PEREIRA: Alisyn, you'll keep the secret as well.
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, disturbing on many levels, Michaela. Thank you for that.
Starbucks is stirring up a Christmas controversy. Why these new cups have some customers seeing red.
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: They are red.
CAMEROTA: There's another reason.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:42:27] PEREIRA: All right, here we go with the five things to know for your NEW DAY.
At number one, Ben Carson renewing his attacks on the media for what he calls excessive scrutiny, but in the last week along his campaign raked in $3.5 million in donations.
Two American contractors shot and killed by a Jordanian police officer this morning at a police training facility outside Amman. A South African contractor was also killed. Two other Americans wounded. The shooter was killed by Jordanian security forces. U.S. officials are going more confident that a terrorist bomb was planted on the doomed Metrojet flight 9268. This as Russian forces examined security measures at Egypt's Sharm el Sheikh Airport.
A funeral service will be held today for six-year-old Jeremy Mardis. He was fatally shot during a police chase last week. Two Louisiana officers are now facing murder charges and they are due in court today.
An emergency meeting will also be held today as racial tensions run high at the University of Missouri. Football players now boycotting games until the school's president, Tim Wolfe resigns or is fired.
You can always get more on the five things by visiting newdaycnn.com.
Right now, though, it's time for "CNN Money Now." Business correspondent Alison Kosik in our Money Center looking at the markets for us.
ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: I am. Good morning, Michaela.
Stock futures are down as investors bet the Fed is going to go ahead and raise interest rates next month. That's after a better than expected jobs report came out Friday. But today there's concern as the top organization downgraded its forecast for economic growth around the world.
Starbucks stirring up controversy with their plain red Christmas cups this holiday season. The company deciding to remove the reindeer and ornaments from the cup. Starbucks is saying it wants to usher in the season with a pure design that creates a culture of belonging, inclusion and diversity.
Chris, who knew a paper cup could cause so much controversy.
CUOMO: Nothing says inclusion like others wanting everyone to observe the same things they do.
KOSIK: Oh, good point.
CUOMO: Red cup. I get it.
Donald Trump brings "SNL" their biggest ratings in years, but how did he do? How was his performance? How was his dancing? What will this mean to your vote? We have all the ups and downs from those who measure these things when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:48:43] CUOMO: Have you heard? Frontrunner Republican Donald Trump hosted "SNL" this weekend. His popularity pulled in the ratings. He even gets an assist from Larry David. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LARRY DAVID, COMEDIAN: You're a racist!
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Who the hell is - Oh, I knew this was going to happen. Who is that?
DAVID: Trump's a racist!
(AUDIENCE LAUGHTER & APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: It's Larry David. What are you doing, Larry?
DAVID: I heard if I yelled that, they'd give me $5,000.
TRUMP: As a businessman, I can fully respect that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PEREIRA: Did he get his $5,000?
CUOMO: Who knows. But he was right. There was an offer out there.
Let's discuss. How was he? Dean Obeidallah, contributor for "The Daily Beast" and host of the "Dean Obeidallah Show" on SiriusXM. Dean also worked for "SNL" for eight years, by the way.
CAMEROTA: Who knew?
CUOMO: Brian Stelter, CNN senior media correspondent and host of "RELIABLE SOURCES".
So, alumnus, what did you think?
DEAN OBEIDALLAH, CONTRIBUTOR, THE DAILY BEAST: I thought it was funny at times. I mean "Saturday Night Live" has been uneven since 1975. So you have some really good sketches, the cold open, funny. Part of the monologue, funny. Some things, not that funny. That's the nature of the show. I think Donald Trump made the show safer than it had to be. We heard he rejected sketches. I think on some level if affects the writers, they go, well, if we're going to pitch that to them, we know he's going to say no, in his mind it hurts his campaign perhaps. He said people in Iowa won't like this. I think he hand strung the writers. I think the show you got was a really - kind of like vanilla (ph) cookie cutter show.
PEREIRA: Was he funnier than last time around?
OBEIDALLAH: No. I think much better 2004. Watch the monologue from 2004. So much funnier.
BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: You know, he felt handcuffed a little bit now that he's a politician, that word he was unwilling to embrace for a little while. Larry David is being offered the $5,000, by the way.
PEREIRA: Is he really?
STELTER: That group that put out the offer, $5,000 if you can interrupt Trump. They said, we're going to embrace the fact, even though it was a joke, we're going to offer Larry David the $5,000.
CUOMO: Not that he needed it.
CAMEROTA: But was that the way the show should have handled that controversy? I mean, that was a controversial moment.
STELTER: It was smart to diffuse the controversy. I think it was probably offensive to some of the protesters who want to be taken very seriously and said it was making into a joke. I think Trump was very lucky no one actually did interrupt. That could have been the dominant moment of the show, if an actual protester --
PEREIRA: But (INAUDIBLE), it is a comedy show. They address social issues and controversies with comedy.
STELTER: And they did a good job of that on "Weekend Update" making fun of Trump.
PEREIRA: I was going to say, "Weekend Update: was the only place that they kind of --
STELTER: Really going after Trump, but then he didn't appear. It was a missed opportunity, a wasted opportunity for Trump to come on, I think, and comment on that criticism.
CUOMO: Did they go after him less than they have gone after other politicians who have been in his position on the show?
OBEIDALLAH: To be honest, Al Sharpton is to only one who was ever actually a candidate running who hosted in 2003. I think Al made fun of himself more for what I saw some of the clips. They're going to make fun of Trump week in and week out after this. What they did on "Weekend Update" was actually subversive. Michael Che made fun of Trump, saying I want to make America great again and Michael Che --
PEREIRA: I enjoyed this video.
OBEIDALLAH: But he's like my negro sensibilities are tingling now. That was really daring to see that. Because here's the reality within "SNL", "Weekend Update" is its own little world. They have their own little producer, they write their own things together. Trump has very -- The host has very, very little input into that. The rest of the show, the host has a lot more input.
PEREIRA: You got a sense that they were kind of doing their own thing and/or going off script with that. I felt that way when I watched it --
STELTER: I even thought there were moments where I thought the cast members didn't really want to be there. They were uncomfortable being with Trump. I do doubt that would have been the case if Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders hosted the show. There's no doubt that "SNL" has a liberal sensibility in a lot of its comedy. That said, politics, you can make fun of everybody. There's a lot to make fun of on both sides. CAMEROTA: Here's the moment. Let's play a moment where they were
making fun of all of his comments about the wall that he wants to build with Mexico.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The president of Mexico is here to see you.
TRUMP: That's great. Send him in. Oh.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Donald.
TRUMP: Enrique.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I brought you the check for the wall.
TRUMP: (INAUDIBLE).
(AUDIENCE LAUGHTER)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Consider it's an apology for doubting you. As history shows us, nothing brings two countries together like a wall.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAMEROTA: So Brian, what's the upshot of him having gone on? Does it have any lasting effect on his campaign?
STELTER: I think the voters that liked seeing him on the show were already inclined to like him or already inclined to support. I doubt that the other 70 percent of the GOP base that's supporting other people in primary polls is actually going to be persuaded to support Trump as a result. I do think there's a chance - only a chance -- that when the history books are written, we'll look back on Trump on "SNL" and say, that's the moment when everyone realized he wasn't in it for the White House. Not saying that for sure. But if we ever look back, this might be the moment. A guy hosting an entire comedy show instead of being out on the trail, being in New Hampshire or Iowa.
PEREIRA: You don't agree?
OBEIDALLAH: No -- I think that Donald Trump being on the show, he wins because for the entire week, what did most people in the media, including myself, talk about? Wasn't policy, wasn't unemployment going down to 5 percent, it was Donald Trump. Next, Trump is going to do something else to get us off the agenda of policy. Maybe go on "Game of Thrones", be (INAUDIBLE). Maybe show up on -
CUOMO: But it's not -
STELTER: But that can only go on for so long. There's only two more months till the first primary.
CUOMO: But that's the question, is he's winning on popularity. That is not to disparage those who support him and say that he doesn't know anything about policy. I'm saying, his popularity is his engine. As long as it is an engine, you're going to see him and you'll see Carson at the top of those polls because they are more popular than sitting politicians right now. I think that it actually feeds his fuel. Anything he does that reinforces his popularity.
PEREIRA: Get a sense of what he bragged that - they're going to be the best ratings ever from "SNL". The numbers have been strung.
STELTER: Best in three years. They weren't huge, but they were pretty good. Trump must be happy with that performance. He also pointed out there were very few protesters outside. He was happy about that. I do think he thinks the reviews were better than they were. The reviews were pretty bad. He says they were pretty good. But that's Donald Trump.
CAMEROTA: All right. So we all brought up Carson. What do you think is happening right now with Carson? Do you think that -- last week and the weekend was dominated by him objecting to journalists asking questions about his past? Brian -- How much further does this go? Where do we go with Ben Carson?
STELTER: I'm glad the journalists are standing up and saying this is our job. This is what we're supposed to be doing. We're supposed to vet all of these men and women and we have to continue to do that. I'm glad we've heard that from journalists in the past few days. I think when we heard Armstrong Williams say to you a few minutes ago that this vetting is a good thing. I think that's a change of tune, obviously, for the Carson campaign. Probably a smart tactic to take, because fighting the media on this, claiming these are lies, was not working for Carson.
[08:55:04] OBEIDALLAH: We should trust politicians, just don't question them at all.
PEREIRA: Dean Obeidallah with the final word. Dean, Brian, great to see you. Thanks for being here.
CUOMO: "Good stuff" coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CUOMO: "Good stuff." Wednesday is Veterans Day. Please remember that. You know who did? The good folks of San Antonio. They did the right thing by a group of America's fighting females about to embark on a new mission and by far the hardest. They're going to be moms. They were moms to be. So they had this great baby shower for 30 military families. Several groups pitched in, donating diapers, you know, all the stuff you need, the baskets, even car seats.
PEREIRA: Aw, babies.
CUOMO: These military moms say they are grateful and ready for the new deployment.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It just kind of makes me happy.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's one of those things where you're going to have the baby so you have to suck it up and do it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CUOMO: That's what I'm talking about. Some of those moms will hardly see their little ones between assignments. A reminder of the sacrifice our fighting men and women and their families make. Thank you in advance for all you do for us.
PEREIRA: Absolutely. Amen and amen.
CAMEROTA: All right. Time now for "NEWSROOM" with Carol Costello.
