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CNN Saturday Morning News

Courting the Jewish Vote; Holiday Wreath Event; Banking on Green Monday

Aired December 10, 2011 - 09:00   ET

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

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: And on to politics we go.

Newt Gingrich is making news this morning because of comments he made about Israel and the Palestinians. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NEWT GINGRICH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, I believe that the Jewish people have the right to have a state. And I believe that the commitments that were made at the time -- remember, there was no Palestine as a state -- it's part of the Ottoman Empire. And I think that we've had an invented Palestinian people, who are in fact Arabs and are historically part of the Arab community.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: He says the Palestinians -- as you heard -- an invented people, he called them. Gingrich made the comments during an interview on the Jewish Channel. And he also said the Middle East peace process was quote, "delusional".

So you know somebody has a reaction to this. What are people saying about these comments?

Here's what one of the top members of the Palestinian Executive Committee said. Hanan Ashrawi said, "Gingrich has lost touch with reality." She says his statements, "show ignorance and bigotry and that her comments were a cheap way to win the pro Israel vote."

In the meantime, one of Mitt Romney's surrogates said comments like these are "one of the things that I think makes me a little bit nervous about Speaker Gingrich."

The Jewish vote, it makes up about four percent of the nation's population. But as we learned from CNN White House correspondent, Brianna Keilar, it's where those Jewish voters live that has the incumbent president and the Republican hopefuls courting their votes.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Welcome to the White House. Thank you all for joining us tonight to celebrate Hanukkah.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A warm welcome for the president's Jewish supporters. OBAMA: This Hanukkah season we remember a story so powerful that we all know it by heart. Even us Gentiles.

KEILAR: These overtures are part of President Obama's strategy to shore up backing among Jewish-American voters and stem the tide of criticism he's getting from Republican presidential candidates.

MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: President Obama has set back the prospect of peace.

KEILAR: They hammered Obama's stance on Israel one after another while addressing the Republican Jewish coalition this week.

MICHELLE BACHMANN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: President Obama must immediately end his doctrine of appeasement.

GINGRICH: This one sided continuing pressure that says it's always Israel's fault no matter how bad the other side is has to stop.

KEILAR: The criticism has been so persistent even late night hosts are poking fun.

JAY LENO, HOST "THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO": Well, all the Republican presidential candidates are in Washington, D.C. this week courting the Jewish voters and while speaking to a prominent group of Jewish Republicans, Newt Gingrich promised to support Israel, not give in to the Palestinians and promised his next wife would be Jewish.

KEILAR: In the president's corner -

DEBBIE WASSERMAN-SCHULTZ, DNC FLORIDA CHAIRWOMAN: ... the first woman to represent Florida in Congress.

KEILAR: Democratic National Committee chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz.

WASSERMAN-SCHULTZ: You know, unfortunately for the republicans, there isn't a single domestic policy issue that republicans are right on when it comes to the Jewish community. So they have no other choice but to lie about the president's record on Israel, distorted.

KEILAR: The Obama campaign just hired a director of Jewish outreach. The White House has a similar post and this week a pro Obama pact defended the president in a memo filled with praise from Israeli leaders. It's a lot of fire power to court a voting bloc that makes up four percent of the population. But it's an important four percent says David Harris, head of the non-partisan American Jewish committee.

DAVID HARRIS, EXEC. DIR., AMERICAN-JEWISH COMMITTEE: Jews tend to concentrate in certain states. And some of those states tend to be very important. And of course the most obvious one is the state of Florida.

KEILAR: Harris has been barraged by voters who care about Israel.

HARRIS: I'm getting e-mails from both sides. This is the best president in the history of the world and this is the worst president in the history of the world.

KEILAR (on camera): Ultimately the impact of all of this back and forth could be negligible, experts say. But the 2000 presidential election provided a huge lesson. And that's that not a single vote can be taken for granted in a battleground state.

Brianna Keilar, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL: And in other political news, President Obama says he recognizes that our economy isn't doing well. He spoke with CBS newsmagazine's "60 minutes" comparing his position as a nation's chief executive to that of a ship's captain.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: No matter how well we're steering the ship, if the boat is rocking back and forth and people are getting sick and they're being buffeted by the winds and the rain and - at a certain point, if you ask them "Are you enjoying the ride right now?" Folks are going to say no. And are they going to say "Do you think the captain is doing a good job?" People are going to say, "You know what? A good captain would have us in some smooth waters and sunny skies at this point." And I don't control the weather. What I can control are the policies we're put in place to make a difference in people's lives.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you over promise? Did you underestimate how difficult this was going to be?

OBAMA: I didn't over promise. And I didn't underestimate how tough this was going to be. I always believed that this was a long-term project. This wasn't a short-term project. And you know, for individual Americans who are struggling right now, they have every reason to be impatient.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: We're going to play more of the president's "60 Minutes" interview for you in the 10:00 hour of "CNN Saturday Morning." So we hope you'll stick around for that.

Meanwhile today at Arlington National Cemetery, a really special ceremony. Volunteers laying holiday wreaths near the head stones of thousands of graves. The purpose, to remember, of course, the nation's fallen heroes which we do every day.

But CNN's Athena Jones joins us live at Arlington National Cemetery. It's such a hard thing to try to reconcile the loss of somebody in your life. Probably even harder to be without them this time of year when their loss is so amplified in that absence. How many wreaths are we talking about here, Athena?

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, hi, Christi. It's been a really incredible Saturday. They've been handing out wreaths for about the last 20 minutes. You see this line of volunteers lining up behind me. They're handing out wreaths, going and laying them on graves and coming back. They're going to be laying 100,000 wreaths on the head stones, service members who have fallen in various wars here today. That's over 10,000 volunteers. Several hundred behind me.

As you can see, it's part of Wreaths Across America day. It's not just happening here in Arlington, but it's happening in more than 500 cemeteries across America in all 50 states. This organization has been - the organization behind has been laying wreaths for the past 20 years. This began in - was begun by a Maine businessman who several years ago in 1992 had a surplus of wreaths for the holiday season and decided to donate 5,000 of them here to Arlington National Cemetery. It's grown and expanded.

As you can see, you have all kinds of people out to lay these wreaths, young people. There is a boy scout troop here. I talked to a man who came from Germantown. He said, "you know, they've given so much. And I've given so little. And so it's important for me to be here." So it's going to be an interesting day. We're already seeing several hundred wreaths have already been laid.

This is a process that's going to take several hours. It's all part of a Wreaths Across America Day. Their mission is remember, honor and teach. Christi.

PAUL: Well, I'm amazed at how many people have shown up since we talked to you, I think it was last hour. And we have to assume that there are a lot of family members there doing this for their families as well. You are in section 60, is that right? Tell me about specifically what part of the cemetery you're in.

JONES: That's right. Behind me is section 60. This is the section where service members who were killed in Iraq and Afghanistan are laid to rest. I spoke a little earlier with a woman who is with a high school group here, Oaktown (ph) High School from not too far away, about 20 minutes away. They come every year to lay a wreath on the grave stone of a fallen soldier David (INAUDIBLE) who was defensive end on their football team. So the football team comes and lays a wreath on his grave. He was killed in Afghanistan in 2008. And she says this is a way of helping make sure that the students continue to remember and continue to honor not just from afar but by taking part in an activity.

This is something that happens every second Saturday of December. It has been happening over the past 20 years. And so you have, as you mentioned, not just volunteers, you also have people who have lost family members or loved ones who have veterans, you have people in uniform. As I mentioned, there are boy scouts. I've seen children as young as four or five. So it's a real - looks like it's a real family event here and they're everywhere around us. You can't see everything off camera. We can see the truck station all over the various sections. So it's going to be a big day here at Arlington.

PAUL: I just think what a comfort it has to be to all of these people who are there and ARE laying the wreath on the tombstone of somebody they know to see that many people come out for them. Thank you so much, Athena. Great to get that story out there. Thank you. Thanks to all of our troops and your families and all the sacrifices you make. We always remember you.

Up next, well, I guess we can forget about Black Friday at this point, of course. But you know what? You haven't missed Green Monday. This is the day online retailers are banking on. We'll tell you why.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: All right. Well, this coming Monday is believed to be a big day for the economy, particularly retail. In fact, it's right up there with cyber Monday. It's called Green Monday. It doesn't have anything to do with the environment though. Our Josh Levs fill us in on what we're talking about.

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right.

PAUL: Green Monday.

LEVS: It sounds like it would be all about the environment.

PAUL: Right.

LEVS: That's what you would expect but it's not. This one in this case, the green refers to cash. And while cyber Monday gets a lot more of the attention, Green Monday is huge for online sales and for shipping companies. So we visited a major carrier to give you a behind the scenes glimpse of how all those holiday shipments get to you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is going to be heavy and expect the load to be heavy. Does everyone understand?

LEVS (on camera): A lot of the people in the industry call it Green Monday. It is two Mondays before Christmas. It is always a huge day for shipping. Why is that?

PAUL BRADY, DHL AREA SALES MANAGER: Well, typically what we find is customers go shopping a couple weeks before Christmas on the weekends. And they just give up. So then they go online, they order online. The packages get processed throughout the weekend. And the pickups are made, the deliveries are made on that Monday. We increased the number of routes that we have on the streets by over 100 routes. We hired additional part-time workers.

LEVS: We see all different kinds of boxes travel along these conveyer belts here and in some cases you're seeing things that are shipped well, some cases not so much.

BRADY: This box is a perfect package. Very solid material. Good corrugation on here. So we definitely want to make sure that our customers are utilizing new boxes if at all possible. And also the strongest type of tape. Don't use regular masking tape or some cheap tape that you may get at your local drug stores.

LEVS: So you see how all the packages get moved through here. But then to ultimately get to you, you need a person. You need a courier. That's why we have Darone Jones who is one of the couriers. So how do you prepare? Do you have to do extra workouts? You got to get some caffeine? (INAUDIBLE) Red Bull?

DARONE JONES, DHL COURIER: Well I stopped by Krispy Kreme Donuts. You know to get some Krispy Kreme, that sugar. Red Bull. Krispy Kreme Donut, I'm ready to go.

LEVS: Right. So partly it's that - these are heavy. But more is that they're just really big and bulky, too. I'm 6'1', I'm pretty sure they're bigger than me. I'm trying to lift it up. I need your help with this. Come on over. There you go. That's how it's done.

We have been watching you this morning. You lift more by 8:00 a.m. than most body builders do in a week. You are the strongest one around here?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm pretty sure I am. Everyone wants me to hit and lift their (INAUDIBLE). They call me popcorn right here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's very gratifying knowing that a grandmother over in China is sending their grandchild, maybe their first Christmas present. So we're excited to be able to do that and our couriers experience that on a daily basis.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEVS: Last year there were $954 million in online sales on Green Monday, according to comScore and then add to that all the people that bought things over the weekend and then have them shipped on Monday. And then folks at DHL, which specializes in international shipping, Christi, they tell me every package is scanned 15 to 20 times. So they always know every step of the way where it is.

PAUL: OK. But we don't always know how to ship it fast.

LEVS: I know.

PAUL: Do you have some good advice for us on that one?

LEVS: We saw some doozies when we were there. There were boxes falling apart and there were absolute holes in boxes. Like you could see like what some of the products were on there and it's too bad. And they do their best to kind of re-tape them back up.

PAUL: They do.

LEVS: But throughout the day, I want to give you some tips. Here's a couple from the U.S. Postal Service. We're grabbing a couple each time. One thing you want to do. If you're sending something with batteries in it, remove and wrap those batteries separately. Also you want to put a part inside the box that has both addresses, the one you're sending it to and from, just in case something happens with the box you put it in. Lots more tips over my pages, the blog at CNN.com/josh, also Facebook and Twitter, JoshLevsCNN. I want everyone to, you know, be empowered with knowledge when sending those gifts along.

PAUL: You spent the money on the gift, get it there.

LEVS: Yes.

PAUL: Is what it comes down to, you know?

LEVS: Such a shame.

PAUL: Don't let somebody think that you forgot them.

LEVS: Last thing you want to see.

PAUL: I know. All right. Hey you want to see something really cool right now? Live picture. Look at that. That's the lunar eclipse. It's really there, I promise! We want to thank our friends at King in Seattle, our affiliate there. The earth's shadow completely covering the moon. That is not a black screen. That is what is happening right now.

LEVS: Look at that.

PAUL: OK. And that I understand I'm being told is China. That's what they're seeing in China right now.

LEVS: That is incredible.

PAUL: All righty. We'll have more for you. Stay close.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: Sixteen minutes past the hour right now. And Bonnie, we want to share something with our viewers from our friends at our affiliate KING in Seattle. And what they're seeing right now in the sky. Nada. Big black hole there it looks like. Actually, that is the lunar eclipse. It's when the earth, you know, is between the sun and moon directly in that shadow completely envelopes the moon and you can't see anything at all.

These are earlier pictures. So you can kind of see a time line of when it happened. But the folks on the West Coast, we know Bonnie, right? They had the best chance to seeing this. I want to show you real quickly though. This one is Beijing. That's what they saw there. But West Coasters had the best seat in the house for this, right? We got gypped.

BONNIE SCHNEIDER, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, timing is everything. Because we're going see most of the action occurring right now up to about 6:57 a.m. Pacific Time. So here on the East Coast, the sun will be out. So we're not going to be able to see it as much as other places did. Because it happens, for example, in the night time in Hawaii and in northwestern Canada and Alaska. So they're getting a better viewpoint than we do. And if you missed it like everyone else here on the eastern U.S., there will be a partial eclipse in June of next year in 2012. But the next full total lunar eclipse won't occur until 2014. So we have to wait a few years. Luckily we have our iReporters in live cameras around the world where we can get a little bit of a vantage point.

PAUL: It's beautiful.

SCHNEIDER: It's a beautiful picture when you get the full lunar eclipse. And you can see that reddish hue of the moon. It's very pretty.

PAUL: Yes, we're going to keep watching and we'll bring you whatever they send us. Thank you, Bonnie.

SCHNEIDER: Sure.

PAUL: So much.

And when we come back, comedian George Lopez pays a surprise visit to a CNN hero and helps feed the hungry on the streets of New York.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: Now, I want to let you know that we're just hours away now from tomorrow night's live broadcast of "CNN Heroes, an all star tribute." It's kind of when we turn the tables on traditional award shows by bringing out celebrities to salute our top 10 heroes.

And back in 2009, comedian George Lopez helped honor a school bus driver from Queens, New York, of course, who feeds more than 120 people every night. Here's the thing. Lopez paid him a surprise visit recently.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE LOPEZ, COMEDIAN: This is my buddy (INAUDIBLE). It's great to be able to come in and surprise him and to see what he does firsthand.

Smells delicious.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes? Wow! George!

LOPEZ: How are you, man? I came to help you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on in.

LOPEZ: What's going on?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My goodness.

LOPEZ: You make all the food in here?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, all the food here.

LOPEZ: It smells delicious.

What time do you start?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In the morning, 5:15 in the morning.

LOPEZ: You impress me. You're my hero, man.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thanks.

I got that from the president.

LOPEZ: That's beautiful.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not many people have the honor to be invited by the president of the United States to the White House.

And especially I receive presidential certificate memo and this medal. Three or four pieces.

LOPEZ: Beautiful.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And that's it.

LOPEZ: That's it. We're done. That was fun.

In my opinion, this guy, (INAUDIBLE) is a star.

All right. Let's go.

What time do you come like 9:30?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 9:40.

LOPEZ: Jorge Lopez. (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

Want some food?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you.

LOPEZ: All right. You're welcome.

The fact that, you know, they get a hot meal on a cold night is great.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.

Now he knows what I feel inside, why I do this.

LOPEZ: That's beautiful.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In seven years I miss one day, that's all.

LOPEZ: Unbelievable.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If I don't cook it -

LOPEZ: Even though it's freezing, I have such a nice glow inside of me. I'll see you again. God bless you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You too, man.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: Bless his heart. Just a reminder, too, tomorrow night at 8:00 p.m. Eastern, "CNN Heroes, an all star tribute," it's hosted by Anderson Cooper live from the legendary Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. We hope you can watch it and be inspired.

Well, Tristan Eaton is a self-described skate boarding punk, he says, who had several run-ins with the law as a youth for a variety of crimes including painting graffiti on the city property. Well, judges and school officials were impressed with Eaton's artistic talents and they gave him a second chance to improve his life. He did. Eventually designing a toy for Fisher Price at the age of 18.

Now his artwork is part of a permanent collection at the New York Museum of Modern Art. You can you learn more about Tristan on "The Next List." It's with Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Sunday at 2:00 p.m. Eastern.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: All right. I want to show that you on your screen right there, that big old black space. You're NOT looking at nothing. That's the lunar eclipse right now coming to us from our friends at KING affiliate in Seattle. That's what they saw just a few moments ago. Of course, remember when the earth is directly between the moon and the sun. And then here is a shot - is this the shot from Beijing? I don't think is - this is from - this is also from KING. Excuse me. This is also from Seattle a few moments before it was directly covered.

Now remember, it changes color too because it will start out kind of gray and then orange and then it will end up being this bright red glowing color. And there again is what we're seeing or did see just a while ago from Beijing. Those are the pictures that they're sending us. So you can see this particularly in the west. So I know it is 6:30. It is early for you out there. But just throw your robe on and go outside and take a look up in the sky if you can't see it but have fun with it.

All right. Let's look at our top stories here. Police in Boston has put an end to the nation's longest on-going Occupy encampment. Just before dawn this morning, officers began forcibly evicting squatters who set up camp in Dewey Park. CNN affiliate WCVB reports at least 46 people have been arrested.

And three socially progressive women are sharing this year's Nobel Peace Prize. We'll show you more in just a moment. Stay close with us. Preparing women and minorities for the jobs of the future is what we're talking about.

"YOUR BOTTOM LINE" starts right now.