Transcripts For CNN American Morning 20110929

knew cpr. this on "american morning." good morning, everyone. thursday, september 29. ali velshi is off this morning. but we are here driving the ship. >> good morning. good morning. >> ali is a wimp. no, just kidding. he was tired yesterday. we start with this. he was bent on jihad and he is no dummy. that's what the feds are saying after they arrested a man in an alleged plot to dive bomb the pentagon with remote controlled planes like these. the planes would be packed with explosi explosives. the suspect is an american muslim with a physics degree. brian todd with more on how his plot was foiled. >> federal authorities arrest ad 26-year-old man from ashland, massachusetts. in an affidavit he started his plot last year by buying cell phones, modifying them to act as electrical switches for ieds and giving them to people he believed to be members of al qaeda and hoped they would be used to kill u.s. soldiers overseas according to that document. but the people he was give thing equipment to were actually undercover agents from the fbi. authorities say that he then expanded his plot to use these. model planes. they say that he planned to use them like drones operated by remote control and filled with explosives and guided by gps. federal authorities say he selected two models, f-4 phantom shown here in this picture provided with the affidavit and the f-86 saber. these models are about one-tenth the size of the aircraft. according to the charging document the targets were the pentagon and u.s. capitol. officials say his travel took pictures of the pentagon and capitol and also took pictures of east potomac park in washington. just south of the mall where according to the affidavit he planned to launch the model planes filled with explosives. according to federal officials, he also planned a ground attack. planned to bring other people into the operation and people armed with automatic weapons who would then fire on people as they tried to evacuate those buildings. but we have to stress one very important point. a u.s. law enforcement official cnn spoke with said there was no danger to the public since undercover operatives were involved very early on. this official also says that there's no information that he was connected to a foreign terrorist group but believe his intent was very clear. according to the affidavit, a cooperating witness once asked him why he wanted to blow up the pentagon. the document says he responded "that is the target to eliminate and terrify all enemies of allah." brian todd, cnn, washington. >> coming up at 7:00, fran townsend will join us. how far along is this investigation? are there more arrests coming? possibly overseas? we will ask her. the health care war could come back just in time for 2012. the justice department has now asked the supreme court to look at president obama's health care law and in particular, the requirement that people buy health insurance by the year 2014. if the court decides to hear the appeal or ruling may come by maybe late june and in the thick of an election year. today the house is expected to pass a short-term spending bill that will keep the government from partially shutting down. earlier this week senate republicans and democrats were able to strike a compromise on a deal breaker giving fema an additional $2.5 billion for disaster relief. to the trial of michael jackson's dr. conrad murray. ing the second day of testimony took jurors inside the jackson mansion on the day he died with his assistant and security chief describing a chaotic scene and raising questions about dr. murray's behavior. cnn's don lemon is covering the zpril is live outside of the courthouse in los angeles. don, the prosecution took aim at dr. murray's actions after jackson's death yesterday. what did you hear? >> they certainly did. after all of that chaos that went on for maybe an hour, hour or two before they actually got to the hospital, once they got to the hospital, carol, and michael jackson was pronounced dead, one of the security guards -- it was really odd, his assistant and security guard said it was really odd because he approached him and said hey, listen, wane to go back to the house. and because there's something that about michael jackson wouldn't want the world to know about, apparently a cream he wanted to retrieve. this is an actual bottle of propofol. michael jackson called it his milk. it looks like a cream. i'm wondering, everyone is wondering, that's what the prosecution is setting out to do, is this the cream that dr. murray wanted to go back to retrieve from the house? take a listen. >> he said that there's some cream and in michael's room or house, room, he wouldn't want the world to know about. and he requested that i or someone give him a ride back to the house to get it so the world wouldn't know about the cream. >> mr. williams the very first time you told the police about dr. murray wanting to get some cream, was it on august 31, 2009, correct? >> yes, sir. >> this was over two months after michael jackson had died. >> yes, sir. >> reporter: he said that dr. murray asked him about going back to the house. this is over two hours after they left the house. and in that time, starting at about 12:15 that afternoon, that was just triangle of phone calls between the head of security and his assistant and dr. conrad murray leaving a message on his assistant's phone saying get over here. the security guard called -- assistant called the security guard who rushed over, gets to the house and goes upstairs and sees dr. murray. he says one hand on michael jackson trying to revive him and then in the other hand, he has a cell phone and he says that the children are there witnessing all of this. michael jackson is on the floor and mouth open and eyes are open. he said the children were just devastated. take a listen. >> paris was on the ground curled up crying. prince was standing there and he was just -- he had a real shock -- slowly crying type of look on his face. >> reporter: can you imagine? because the testimony has been that michael jackson was laying there, as you said, his mouth was open. he said -- his mouth was open and his eyes were open. and he had on a kacondom cathet and his children are watching him and more of that testimony will happen today in court from the chief of security again and also from his chef. people who were there during his final moments. >> don lemon reporting live from los angeles. thank you. last chance for amanda knox's lawyers to prove she isn't a cold-blooded killer. her defense giving closing arguments this morning in italy in her murder appeal. knox, college student from seattle, was convicted of the gruesome murder of her college house mate in italy. yesterday defense lawyers for her ex-boyfriend convicted compared knox to jessica rabbit the cartoon character. jerrod lee loughner will eventually be fit to stand trial. measurable progress has been made in restoring him to competency. loughner is charged with killing six people and wounding 13 others including congresswoman gab rye el giffords and has been diagnosed with schizophrenia. if convicted loughner will face the death penalty. a judge has yet to decide whether a casey anthony jailhouse tape will be released to the public. the security camera footage shows anthony reacting to news caylee's remains were found. it was sealed before her murder trial and a judge ruled it highly inflammatory and a tv station in orlando filed a motion for the judge to unseal the jailhouse tape. leaving no stone unchecked. a team of engineers will spend another day literally hanging outside of the washington monument or on to it rather, right? they will repel down the sides checking for cracks and exterior damage from last month's earthquake. the inspection began yesterday. here's what it looked like from on high. some 500 feet up. >> wow. >> that's a brave man. park officials expect the slow painstaking operation to take five days, weather permitting, of course. >> harrowing and exciting and cool to watch. >> at first i thought i wouldn't want to do it but now it would be cool. >> lots of safety ropes. with wild card berths in both leagues to line it was the wildest finish ever to baseball's regular season. started with the st. louis cardinals. routing the astros 8-0 to clinch the national league wild card in one of baseball's greatest comebacks. cards got in after the braves were beaten by the phillies 4-3 in 13 innings. loss made atlanta's collapse complete. the braves blowing an 8 1/2 game lead in the nl wild card race. >> boston red sox. 3-2 in the ninth. the sox blew the game to the baltimore orioles. it turned out -- isn't it amazing? look at the orioles cheer. the orioles were 29 games back. it is insane that the boston red sox are out of the playoffs. the atlanta braves out of the playoffs. it is just -- incredible what's happened. i must tell you, christine, the detroit tigers are in the playoffs. and they played t the new york yankees on friday. rob marciano and i are going to make a bet. he is a yankees fan and i'm a tigers fan. >> sox are out and the tampa bay rays are in because of last night's biggest shocker. race beat the yankees 8-7. longoria's stunning walkoff home run in the 12th inning. rays were down 7-0 in the game. down to their last strike before tying it with a ninth-inning homer. rays will meet the rangers. how can the postseason ever be as exciting what happened in the last 12 hours? >> it is cool that evan longoria was the guy that hit the home run to win the game. he is the team hero and -- pretty cool guy. she thinks i'm crazy. just ahead on "american morning," herman cain using strong words to explain why there aren't more black voters in the republican party and why he's optimistic it will be different this time. you have to deal with a demanding public. laundry list of domestic and international headaches. why would anyone want this job? 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[♪...] >> male announcer: now, for a limited time, your companion flies free, plus save up to 65%. call 1-800-sandals. conditions apply. welcome back. herman cain coming off a big upset in the florida straw poll. a black republican and also a tea party favorite was on "the situation room" and had strong opinions about why there aren't more like him. >> because many african-americans have been brainwashed into not being open minded and not even considering a conservative point of view. i have received some of that same vitriol because i'm running as a republican as a conservative. >> that's a strong word to talk about your fellow african-americans brainwashed. >> for two-thirds of them, wolf, that is the case. now, the good news is i happen to believe a 50% of the african-americans in the country are open-minded. i'm meeting them every day and stop me in the airport. this whole notion that all black americans are necessarily going to stay and vote democrat, vote for obama, that's simply not true. more and more black americans are thinking for themselves and that's a good thing. >> herman cain weighed in on the chris christie hype saying the media should focus on the candidates already declared. today the chatter is sounding rudy giuliani. he says he is still flirting with a presidential run. one of his adviser made a stop in new hampshire. >> giuliani and chris christie, sarah palin, anyone else thinking about a presidential run? you only have a little more an month to make up your minds or you miss florida. deadline to get on the florida republican primary ballot is halloween. it is the first of many deadlines candidates must meet in order to compete in several key states. that's the deadline, halloween. time now to talk back on one of the big stories of the day. our question this morning -- why would anyone want to run for president? let's face it, we are a demanding bunch. as comedian and political observer dean puts it the biggest challenge the president faces is we the people. we have become unreasonably demanding and want everything and we want it now. as in keep my taxes low but don't cut services as in you are not conservative enough or liberal enough and you have bad hair to boot. late night comedians revel in it knowing voters love it when they rip the candidates to shreds. >> president obama's hometown newspaper, "chicago tribune," called for president obama not to run for re-election. of course he is going to run. he has to run. he knows more than anyone else, there's no jobs out there. >> mitt romney comes to have a meeting with donald trump. at one point that thing on trump's head starting growling adm admit. can't believe my advisors told me not to get high. i'm telling you. >> not saying candidates don't often often derision, but seriously as a candidate can't even be who you are. >> does a title take away my freedom to call it like i see it and to affect positive change we need in this country? >> when mitt romney was governor of massachusetts, he embraced the individual mandate. now he has to justify it because conservatives hate the president's health care plan. the talk back this morning, why would anyone want to run for president? why? facebook.com/americanmorning. will be intrigued to read your comments later in the show. >> i once asked an adviser to several presidential candidates why, what's the driving force? is it love of country? is it -- i just want to make sure i'm still in the game so i can get more money for speeches later? he said it is three letter, e-g-o. >> e-g-o? >> ego. do you think you are the run that can lead the free world. there's a certain something about that. >> that makes me really sad. >> rob marciano, brighten us up, please. >> he has a pretty good crib to go home, too. free room and board. >> but your workday is like every day all the time. all those speeches up can't go on vacations because people will complain because you don't deserve a vacation ever. >> it is a thankless job. i don't know many people that would want it. too bad. >> showers and thunderstorms rolling across the east coast again today with this stubborn circulation that continues to pump up tropical moisture. lit get cooler in the days to come. flash flooding with the system because obviously the ground is saturated from tropical storm lee. still across the eastern pennsylvania and upstate new york. same spots that got -- got flooded seeing flash flooding this morning near the binghamton area and also lower hudson valley up around hunter seeing rainfall heavy at times this morning. two to three inches potentially over the next day or two. flash flood watches have been posted. tremendous amounts of rain. places like allentown, pennsylvania, three inches. a things are going to start to change just a little bit. stubborn low that has been sitting and spinning here will be kicked out by this front. are which is a pretty strong one. had it has cold air behind it. also has decent winds with it. we are going to see windy conditions across the western great lakes today across chicago. could see winds gusting over 50 or 60 miles an hour at times. that may very well slow down air travel if you are flying through chicago. afternoon thunderstorms, the -- intermittent thunderstorms across new york and d.c. will cause travel delays if you are going through those cities and boston and philly. detroit. and cleveland as well. seeing delays. from iceland, cool shot. sunsets pretty. especially when you have mid-level clouds to frame things up there. as the sun gets lower in the skies, goes through more atmosphere and fires up the colors and gives you shots like that. all right. there. there is love and peace in the world regardless of who does or doesn't want to become president. >> speaking of love and peace in the world, you know the tigers play the yankees tomorrow in the playoff game. i think we should make a bet, rob marciano. >> okay. if you think you actually have a chance. i'm more than willing to make a bet. did you have something in mind? >> not yet. i am going to be thinking through the show and by 9:00 a.m. eastern time i will have an answer. >> invite -- people on twitter and facebook to tell us. >> there you go. tweet us your suggestion. >> carol will have to wear a yankees cap a whole day or something. >> that's small potatoes. you need to be more creative than that. >> still to come on the run for more than 40 years. you will hear how the fbi picked up on this fugitive's trail and able to track him down halfway around the world. so, how was school today ? i have to be a tree in the school play. good. you like trees. well, i like climbing them, but i've never been one. good point. ( captain ) this is your captain speaking. annie gets to be the princess. oh... but she has to kiss a boy. and he's dressed up like a big green frog ! ewww. ( announcer ) fly without putting your life on pause. be yourself nonstop. american airlines. delivering mail, medicine and packages. yet they're closing thousands of offices, slashing service, and want to lay off over 100,000 workers. the postal service is recording financial losses, but not for reasons you might think. the problem ? a burden no other agency or company bears. a 2006 law that drains 5 billion a year from post-office revenue while the postal service is forced to overpay billions more into federal accounts. congress created this problem, and congress can fix it. welcome back. u.s. stock futures are up right now but those lingering concerns about europe that ended a three-day rally yesterday the dow is down 180 points or 1.5% yesterday. nasdaq and s&p down about 2%. just a few minutes ago, germany's parliament issued a measure to overhaul a european bailout fund. vote helps pave the way to create a bigger bailout fund. a bigger fund to stabilize greece and any other troubled countries and also to bolster european banks. we are also waiting for the latest reading on the number of americans filing first-time jobless claims. that report along with a new revision on just how slowly the u.s. economy grew in the second quarter, those were out in two hours and could decide the direction of trading today. the world's largest cell phone maker nokia announcing plans to cut 3500 jobs. majority of the cuts will take place overseas but some of the companies workers here in pennsylvania could be affected. hackers hit goldman sachs. it published personal information of several employees including ceo lloyd blankfein, birthday, phone numbers, legal documents. information about a police officer accused of pepper spraying protesters on wall street. he must fork over $25 million in refunds for claiming its easy tone and run tone sneakers tone legs and buttock muscles. the federal trade commission ruled the claims were based on bogus science. it doesn't tone 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past the hour. that means it is time for the morning's top stories. new terror threat at home. feds arresting a man in an alleged plot to dive bomb the pentagon and u.s. capitol with remote controlled airplanes packed with explosives. the suspect is an american muslim with a physics degree from northeastern university. turned out his co-conspirators were undercover fbi agents. more dramatic testimony at the michael jackson death trial. the chief of security describing dr. conrad murray as nervous and sweaty while trying to revive jackson. he said murray later appeared desperate to get back into the california mansion after jackson died. both sides on the ongoing battle over president obama's health care reform want to settle a controversy once and for all. they are bypassing lower courts and formally asking the u.s. supreme court to decide if the law is constitutional. if the court decides to hear the case, a ruling could come by june of next year. longtime fugitive george wright is now fighting extradition after he was living the good life at a portuguese resort town. he had been on the run for more than four decades. dan rivers is in portugal with how the fbi finally got their man. >> reporter: this is the tiny house in rural portugal where george wright spent the last 20-odd years. his life story reads like an incredible hollywood thriller. it is alleged that in the 1960s he was involved in a series of armed robberies and was convicted for one in 1962. he's escaped from prison, though, in 1970, in 1972, he and other members of the liberation army hijacked a plane in detroit, delta 841, to miami. he boarded the plane dressed as a priest and smuggled a gun onboard and hid inside a bible and held 88 passengers hostage and demanded the fbi turn up with a million dollars in cash but to ensure the fbi weren't armed they insisted the fbi wore only their swimming costumes which the fbi humiliatingly had to do and incredible footage of the fbi delivering the suitcases full of money. the hijackers including george wright then took the plane to boston where they picked up another flight member and then demanded to be flown to algeria where they disappeared. the money was handed back by the algerian authorities to the u.s. government but george wright and fellow hijackers disappeared. the trail went completely cold from then on until just recently this week when the fbi and police and authorities here in portugal managed to arrest him. this is where he's being certainly for the last 20-odd years. locals here say they are jaw-smacked with the news. >> i can't believe it. i am very shocked. i can't believe it. >> they were very nice people. very nice people. i'm shocked. i really can't understand this. >> translator: the news to us was shocking. it was a huge surprise. when i heard this in the morning i was completely shocked at the news i was hearing. with the news i was hearing that would surprise anyone. we weren't expecting it. >> reporter: we are told george wright married a portuguese lady and have two children. daughter and a son. he has been living here in total obscurity for many years. people describing him as a terribly nice guy. quiet. living a modest life and he has been a house painter and had a few small businesses. but kept to himself in this tiny village. now, though, he's front page news. facebook may have to answer to congress. ed markey and joe barton were asking the federal trade commission to investigate reports facebook keeps gathering information about the websites you visit even after you have logged off of facebook. a spokesman for the social network says it does not use or store any information it should not have. a federal judge rules on one of the toughest immigration laws in the country. alabama's immigration law is being challenged in court by the justice department. the judge allowing some of the most controversial portions of the law. authorities question people suspected of being in the country illegally and hold them without bond and officials can also check the immigration status of students in public schools. a new speed slaw putting maine in the fast lane. boosting the speed limit to 75 miles per hour on a remote stretch of interstate 95. that's up from 65 miles per hour. that's the highest in new england. critics say raising speed limits leads to more deaths from accidents. law goes into effect today. up next on "american morning," for decades presidents pleaded for help. why after all the studies and promises, all the plans and false starts, why has the government failed to fix a persistent flooding problem? the ice cream shop mascot that frightened people away. he would frighten me, too. 36 minutes past the hour. 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[ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup. ♪ [ dog barks ] [ birds chirping ] ♪ [ mechanical breathing ] [ engine turns over ] ♪ [ male announcer ] the all-new volkswagen passat. a new force in the midsize category. ♪ welcome back. flood waters from hurricane irene may have receded but in one new jersey town the frustration is running high. their anger is directed at that time government they say is broken. unto be able address decades of persistent flooding. why the holdup? here is an in-depth look. >> i everything fixed a year to fix it. it's destroyed again. can't do it. please help us. >> reporter: residents pleaded for help at a rally in saddle brook, new jersey. 500 home were damaged from flooding from hurricane irene and tropical storm lee. flood sing not new to this area. but there has been more in recent years due to a buildup of silt in the saddle river. the army core of engineers studied the problem since 1908. even came up with a plan to be dredge the river but nothing happened. mostly due to state and federal funding issues. >> we are tired of hearing we don't have the money. we have the money to send all over the world. but why don't we have the money to come up with the dredging plan and work to be done? >> reporter: it is not that officials have not paid attention. they visited saddle brook. >> the article showing up congress people, united corps of engineers were there. >> reporter: regina bailey has a newspaper article showing her with federal officials in her home after it was damaged from a flood. the officials told her the problems would be fixed in 2010. the money never came. the river was not dredged. instead there were other people in her home this week. construction workers repairing the damage from the most recent flood. >> nothing has been done. all we have is false promises and they lie to us. they don't tell tuesday truth. if i knew i would flood again i would move. i can't go through this again. >> reporter: what's behind t th delays? environmental concerns and money. the state of new jersey refused to pay for removal of toxic materials in and around the river. extent of contamination is not known. each delay requires the army corps to update the flood plan which costs additional money. the earliest dredging can't happen until 2012. homes keep getting flood. >> we had furniture here we had to throw out. >> reporter: this is the third time maria's home has been damaged. the walls are cracked and moldy. her family has moved out. >> it makes me feel very angry because the politicians, they fight for the money, for the money. they create the problems. who pays for it? it is us, the people, that pay for it. we, the working people, pay for their mistakes. >> reporter: after the last flood it took three months before the family could move back home. this time they are uncertain when. they have been told by various government officials it would get fixed. >> four years ago it sued the army corps of engineers. wanted to force the federal government to finally dredge that river. but there has been no action to that front either. the judge in the amanda knox murder appeal says there will be no verdict in the case until after the defendant's statements -- those statements expected to come monday. a verdict had been expected as soon as saturday. knox, a college student from seattle, convicted of the gruesome murder of a college house mate in italy. her defense team is giving closing arguments this morning in italy of her murder appeal. the owners of an ice cream store -- ice cream family store, i should say, in florida, thought it would be a great idea to drum up business by putting a guy dressed as an ice cream cone outside of the store. but actually people stopped coming in once they saw that guy. why, you ask? take a look. a lot people driving by the store thought it was a klan member. i guess they didn't see the sprinkles. >> this one lady called crying her husband. she called her husband crying because she didn't want to cross this intersection right here because she thought it was the kkk. >> somebody should have come over and say your ice cream looks like the klan. >> it kind of sort of does. the owner says they found the ice cream cone costume in a back storage room after they opened up the restaurant and said hey, we might as well put this to use. but turns out it wasn't such a great idea. >> wow. close to finishing a novel to his 1977 novel "the shining." the new work is titled "dr. sleep." king's bestseller was adapt flood the memorable horror film in 1980. this next story would be the talk of all the -- talk of all new england this morning if the red sox 00 blown it. tom brady got a new haircut. the locks are gone. in september of last year, brady said his wife would not allow him to cut his hair. so his haircut started out like a bieber. and he even had a ponytail later in the season. might have something to do with his three interceptions last week maybe. time to get rid of the long hair. how about something more serious? >> i like him with short hair. all right. 24 minutes after the hour. still ahead, is it okay to use the "f" word when talking about new jersey governor chris christie. a look at how his waistline became a punch line it made her laugh, cry, and say you are so cheesy. a guy gets a flash mob to help him say "will you marry me." guess what, she says duh. it is 46 minutes past the hour. here is what you need to know to start your day. a new terror threat at home. the feds arresting a man in an alleged plot to strike the pentagon and the u.s. capitol with remote controlled planes packed with explosives. the justice department asking the supreme court to look at president obama's health care law. that could mean a decision would come in the thick of the 2012 race. michael jackson's assistant describing a chaotic scene inside of jackson's bedroom the day he died. in court yesterday he testified dr. conrad murray made frantic phone calls after jackson stopped breathing. prosecutors say murray waited up to 20 minutes, though, before calling 911. in iran, the attorney for the two american hikers who were released last week says he was briefly detained by security forces after they searched his home tuesday. the attorney tells cnn a number of files were taken including those regarding the case of josh fattal and shane bauer. a deal that would temporarily avert a government shutdown but the bill only funds the government through tuesday. lawmakers will have to do it all over again next week. this just in to cnn. senator john mccain is in libya. he arrived in tripoli a short time ago. he was accompanied by other senators. the group will hold a news conference at 9:45 a.m. eastern. a stunning end to the baseball season. tampa bay rays grab the wild card spot with a walkoff homer against the yankees completing an historic comeback from nine games behind the collapsing red sox. that's the news you need to start your day. "american morning" is back right after this. 45 minutes past the hour. good morning. we ask you to talk back on one of the stories of the day. question for you this morning, why would anyone want to run for president? this from tony. it is a game for the greedy and wealthy. we called them king of the mountain as kids. this from sharon. better question, why do it wise? serve four years and get the hell out. you are set for life, prestige, medical, et cetera. i often wondered the same thing. they age so sisably. nothing they do is good enough. anythe one that actually wants to be president should have their head examined. this from carol. i'm going to echo what rob marciano said. it is is thankless job for thankless people. keep the conversation going. facebook.com/americanmorning. >> new jersey governor chris christie, open season on his stomach. that's right. fat jokes. it is true. inevitable. here is jeanne moos. >> reporter: as governor chris christie's profile gets bigger, so does the issue of his size. >> all right. >> reporter: now that he is a national figure, comedians are starting to make his waistline a punch line. >> take a look. does he show up on -- go to google earth. >> reporter: from late night to daytime talk, chris christie's weight is being tossed around. >> can you see him as president? >> you say no? okay. why not? because he's hefty. >> reporter: for a while they danced around the "f world trade center word. >> i don't think the country is ready for a fat president. >> i think that's ridiculous. >> imagine this conversation about an overweight female candidate. >> reporter: governor christie is a bonanza. cartoonists like jeff danzaga. chris christie is bellyup on the beach. >> i was amazed by it. he must be 300 plus. he has to deal with this. you are not going to say i'm going to cut the budget and start with supper. >> reporter: chris matthews would go to bed without his supper for that remark. mike huckabee had his way. >> to criticize chris christie because of the amount of his skin is absurd. >> reporter: huckabee's skin used to be excessive. he lost 110 pounds. his weight may be the elephant in the room. chris christie talks about it comfortably. >> i will let new on a secret. i'm overweight. the thing i feel most guilty about, my weight. i eat too much. it is not a complicated thing. >> reporter: when it comes to portly presidents, william howard taft was america's biggest, over 300 pounds. taft was famous for getting stuck in the white house bathtub. aides had to come get him out. had a new tub made big enough for four men. at a christie town hall, one voter saw beyond size. >> i think having a governor that is smart, has the perseverance to do what's vit hot and sexy. >> reporter: letterman's top ten way it is country would be different if chris christie would be president. >> we would invade ihop instead of iraq. >> reporter: prepare for a steady joke. >> no more vetoes, only cheetos, yea. >> i just think it is mean to poke fun at his weight. i mean -- i don't know. like some of the late night comics last night, they were really mean. >> you look at the excitement on some of the republican party about him as a potential candidate and you can see it is other stuff clearly what they are going after. >> the state of his health has been brought up because he had the asthma attack. people are worried because he's carrying so much extra weight that may affect his health. people worry about that when they elect a president. >> i forgot how much weight huckabee lost. he really -- that's amazing. >> it is. >> he looks good. all right. let's talk about something happy. what better way to pop the question than to invite a few dozen total strangers to take part in it. video of a flash mob proposal. exploding on the web right now. men on the quad at ucla. he decided to bring her back there for the big moment. he's in on it and she is not. take a look at what happened. ♪ ♪ you are just too good to be true ♪ ♪ i can't take my eyes off of you ♪ ♪ you're just too good to be true ♪ ♪ i can't take my eyes off of you ♪ >> the crowd is dancing. frankie valli. the girl is embarrassed and blushing. in the end he gets down on one knee. she said duh. that's not all. >> i love you so much. if you let me, i want to make you feel happiness the way you make me feel happy from now unt until. >> you are so cheesy. >> the happy couple joins us live in the 8:00 hour. get your dancing shoes on. day three of the michael jackson trial in los angeles. testimony about the drug jackson called his milk. how his children witnessed all of that chaos that day. more chilling details about the day he died. it is 55 minutes after the hour. 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this guy on his own, went down washington and did surveillance, rented storage lockers to work on drones. this is a serious case. >> fbi says they gave him many outs and kept pushing forward with the plot. that's one of the reasons they knew he was so serious. has this been considered before? >> tennis interesting. although the u.s. government is not knowledging much larger, more capable drones overseas and overseas operations, and so the -- u.s. government looked at this offensively and that's our use of them overseas and defensively could they be used against us. i think that the -- stunning thing about this is the notion of using it against us inside the united states. >> right. muslim american, u.s. citen, 26 years old, went to northeastern university, physics major. his parents both are professionals. it is one of those things that shows you that radicalization can still happen even with the freedoms and opportunities of the american system. makes it very difficult to find the lone wolves. >> this is not the first one of these, as you just described it. times square bomber. same thing. well educated. had been in a house and family. you sort of wonder how that could happen. but part of the fbi's focus now is going to be exactly how was he radicalized and was it over the internet by a radical pre h preacher? was it something else? is there a radical amman inside the united states? who are the potential -- did he identify the six potential others? that will be the immediate focus. >> do they exist yet? was he hoping to get them and how easy would it be for him to get them? how does somebody like this get on the fbi's radar? >> we don't know that but the fact of the matter is that he did get on the radar because the fbi would not have invested the undercover resources if they didn't think he had the capability. there's usually some sort of -- we heard the cooperation witness. 134 one directed the fbi and gave them -- put this guy on their radar screen. >> storage lockers, we have intense interest according to officials of getting the guns and getting the planes. $6,000 for one of the planes. acquiring all of the pieces of the puzzle. that goeswhelm beyond aspirational? >> absolutely. no, no. furtherance of the crime. so the -- government has been pretty careful in their pleadtion to lay out the overt acts. let's be clear. while $6,000 is a lot of money, you realize how inexpensive a real serious attack can be. this is not $500,000. this is in the tens of thousands of dollar. >> fran town sends, thank you so much, fran. >> thank you. senator john mccain is in libya this morning. he and three other senators arrived in tripoli a short time ago. they are meeting with members of libya's new transitional government. it is the highest profile american delegation to visit the country since longtime leader moammar gadhafi was ousted. senators will also hold a press conference this morning at 9:45 eastern. we are monitoring that. iranian attorney for two american hikers who were released last week says he was briefly detained and questioned by supreme court forces after they raided his home tuesday. he tells cnn he is not sure what the iranian authorities were looking for but did take files including those regarding the case of the two hikers. facebook may have to answer to congress over the privacy flap. ed markey and joe barton are asking the federal trade commission to investigate reports facebook keeps gathering information about the websites you visit even after you log off facebook. a spokesman for the social network says it does not use or store any information it shouldn't have. the question is what information should it have? today the house is expected to pass a short-term spending bill that will keep the government from partially shutting down. >> earlier this week senate republicans and democrats were able to strike a compromise on a potential deal breaker. giving fema an additional $2.5 billion for disaster. >> you are being optimistic. >> i know. it is day three of testimony at the michael jackson death trial. jurors have been hearing about the chaotic moments after jackson stopped breathing and the odd behavior of his doctor, conrad murray. among the chilling details revealed by members of jackson's entourage the reaction of jackson's children. >> prince was standing there and he was just -- he just had a real shocked -- you know, slowly crying type of look on his face. >> joining us now with his analysis of this very gripping testimony. legal contributor and criminal defense attorney. this is a vision that's being painted, picture being painted in a court of a not very competent medical situation. some cases seems unclear whether anybody there knew how to perform cpr. 911. what is it that they are trying to show here? >> this was an extraordinary day in court yesterday. i have never seen so many -- produced in the first day of trial. sympathy, competence and other things. now the kindness thing is critical. prosecutors are trying to show that conrad muryi under the statute knew there was a great risk of death and he didn't use due care in the treatment of the patient. it is a very low standard for a criminal case. it is really kind of like a medical malpractice case with a little bit extra negligence involved. they are saying that, hey, he didn't know how to do cpr, he wasn't familiar with the background of the patient. he was making misrepresentations about michael jackson's health. they made him look incompetent. >> not only that, he didn't call 911 when he found michael jackson in trouble. there was testimony yesterday that he called security personnel. let's listen to a bit of that testimony. >> would it be surprise you, would it be strange for dr. murray to call you in an event at the emergency at the house? >> first? >> first. >> yes. mr. jackson is dying, it would. to me. >> i mean, how would you excuse that kind of behavior? >> you know, i don't know. i think that the jury is going to have a problem with that. that also demonstrates, i think, sort of a technical thing. attorney chernoff very experienced with this. one with 70 convictions as a prosecutor. you never ask a question that you don't know the answer to. and he got hit there. you know. he said the assistant said no, i wouldn't have called me. i would have called 911 first. why didn't murray call 911? he was in a panic like an ordinary human being would be in a panic. he is the doctor and is supposed to be in control. i think this theme of incompetence was put on the table very effectively by the prosecutors in day one of the trial. remember, this thing will go back and forth and this -- these defense attorneys are top-notched defense attorneys. you will see them put important points on the board, too, as things go on. >> what about the testimony dr. murray apparently wanted to go back and ride back to the mansion so he could get some cream michael jackson wouldn't want the world to know about. >> well, that's the part of the theme that i call the coverup part of it. yesterday they talked really about they put sympathy on the board and they put competence on the board and coverup. the claim here was that the doctor wanted to go back and clean up a cream that michael jackson would have been embarrassed about. now, propofol is sometimes referred to as a milky cream, milk of magnesia. was he talking about getting rid of the propofol or determirmalo cream? whatever the conclusion is, it was good point for the prosecution. maybe he is trying to cover up his own incompetence. >> once the defense presents its case -- our perceptions about what is going on may change completely, at least the defense hopes so. could you argue that conrad murray went back to get that stuff because he didn't want to embarrass, he truly can't didn't want to embarrass michael jackson. isn't that what he was hired for? in part? >> well, he was hired to protect michael jackson from embarrassment. of course, he was also hired to protect michael jackson's health. and that, you know, that was another thing that i really noted yesterday. all of the testimony, you know, even from the rock promoters, they are worried about michael jackson's health. and they are worried but his own doctor is saying no problem with michael jackson. we are going to take a cpr machine with us but he's vibrant and healthy and he can proceed. i think that they were trying to establish that, you know, conrad murray was supposed to be watching his back. he was supposed to be the person watching out for michael jackson's health. he wasn't. >> how long had he been his doctor? >> well, not a very long period of time. he had been brought in during the last year in connection with the con zblert they could try to argue he was trying to just stabilize or undo what lots of doctors before him had done which is this man was addicted to a lot of different things and incapable of doing show and here is conrad murray trying to manage the mess. >> michael jackson, i mean, he doesn't have to listen to anything dr. mur yray suggests. i don't listen to my doctor often. >> carol. >> the whole doctor theme, you raise a good-bye point here, murray comes in late in the game. i noticed one of the things the defense put on the board yesterday and you know, we don't have to wait important the defense case to see what they are doing. they are kind of planting seeds every day. here is the big seed. there is a dermatologist who was prescribing drugs for michael jackson. the claim is that that dermatologist was a drug dealer and gave him too many drugs and that dr. murray didn't know about this. they are going to make him the villain the defense. what's going to happen? will he be called as a witness? will he take the fifth amendment? will the jury say well, how do we know that the drugs from the dermatologist didn't kill michael jackson or cause most of the problems and poor murray is being blamed for it? the hints of the defense are coming on day one. so this is going to be a fascinating, fascinating trial. have you great lawyers positive both sides. complex issues. and, of course, superstar, michael jackson. the case has a lot to watch as the weeks go on. >> thank you so much. as usual. still to come this morning, herman cain using some strong words to explain why there aren't more black voters in the republican party and why he is optimistic it will be different this time. a job no matter what you do, whether it is your policies, what you eat or where you go on vacation, there will always be folks criticizing you. why would anyone want to be president? one-team epic failure is another team's comeback of the ages. tampa bay rays punch their ticket to the playoffs. we're america's natural gas and here's what we did today: supported nearly 3 million steady jobs across our country... ... scientists, technicians, engineers, machinists... ... adding nearly 400 billion dollars to our economy... we're at work providing power to almost a quarter of our homes and businesses... ... and giving us cleaner rides to work and school... and tomorrow, we could do even more. cleaner, domestic, abundant and creating jobs now. we're america's natural gas. the smarter power, today. learn more at anga.us. 16 minutes past the hour. unforgettable finish to baseball's regular season. four teams vying for two wild card spots on the fine dale. cardinals are in. they will play the phillies in the national league division series. the cards got in because the atlanta braves were beaten by the phillies, 4-3 in 13 innings. poor atlanta. lost made atlanta's collapse complete. the braves blowing an 8 1/2 game lead in the nl wild card race. >> it gets better or it gets worse if you are a fan of the boston red sox. ahead 3-t2 in ninth. they blow the lost to the orioles. t if atlanta's collapse was bad, boston's even worse. the red sox blew a nine-game lead in the final month. that's a collapse. >> more than a collapse. i'm happy for the baltimore orioles. the sox are out and tampa bay rays are in because of the biggest shocker, rays beat the yankees. longoria's stunning walkoff home run in the 12th inning. down to the last strike before tying it with this ninth inning home run. look at this. longoria meet the rangers in the american league series and as we know the detroit tigers will come to new york. i think they are probably here right now preparing for their game tomorrow with the new york yankees. preparing for their victory you were telling me earlier. >> absolutely. preparing for their victory. >> she wanted to know what should i make rob do when his team loses? she is owe certain she pose it is question. >> it is not even like you -- you usually bet something you do this or i do that. what should we make rob do. >> that's fun, isn't it? >> i think you should wear a total -- maybe you can dress up as a tiger, wear one of the big tiger heads. >> i may be up for that. dressing up as a yankee, it would have to be something -- >> what are you going to make carol do? >> to dress up as a yankee -- you can be very creative with that. let me think of the outfit and then we will get back. viewers suggested we go have a hot dog in the city of the winner. you know. that's -- great suggestion. keep them coming. that's small potatoes. we need something better than that. rain moving across parts of cap t capital district of new york, albany. also seeing flash flood warnings with heavy rain there. another two to three inches with the circulation that we are in now. numbers from yesterday, andoverseeing four inches. allentown, pennsylvania, areas saturated from tropical storm lee. and more thunderstorms will pop up throughout the day today. we have another front that's going to kick out what has been a very, very stubborn one. back side of this, other side of the areas has seen temperatures over 90 degrees in nebraska and fargo. and this is all going to come to an end. temperatures will plummet. today a little cooler in minneapolis. 66 degrees. temps will drive a lot further down. and down to the south and east with cold air fall-like front coming in for the weekend. just in time for the fall classic. >> yes. can't wait. thank you, rob. time to talk back on one of the big stories of the day. the question for you this morning, why would anyone want to run for president? let's face it. we are a demanding bunch. as comedian political observer dean puts it, the biggest challenge the president faces is we the people. we have become unreasonably demanding. we want everything and we want it now. as in keep my taxes low. but don't cut services. as in you are not conservative enough. or liberal enough. you have bad hair to boot. late night comedians revel in it knowing the voters love it when they rip the candidates to shreds. >> "the chicago tribune" called for president obama not to run for re-election. of course he is going to run. he has to run. he knows more than anyone else there are no jobs out there. >> mitt romney comes to have a meeting with donald trump. at one point that thing on trump's head started growling admit. >> i can't believe my adviser told me not to get high before this, i'm telling you. >> i'm not saying candidates don't often deserve some derision. who with a want to put themselves through that? as a candidate you can't even be who you really are. >> does a title take away my freedom to call it like i see it? and to effect positive change needed in this country. >> example, when mitt romney was governor of massachusetts he embraced the individual mandate. now he has to justify it because conservatives hate the president's health care plan. so the talk back this morning, why would anyone want to run for preside president? i will read your comments later this hour. >> still to come, the health care battle going where we expected it to go. all the way to the supreme court and the timing, oh, yes, the timing couldn't be better or worse depending on how you look at it good depending on the outcome. >> and your politics. could we still see the bin laden death photos? not if the white house has its way. a legal fight going on to release them. 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[ horn honking ] ♪ ...all through the night [ man ] maybe that's why we go to so many memorable places. ♪ [ male announcer ] the subaru outback. love the road you're on. welcome back. minding your business this morning. u.s. stock futures are up but lingering concerns about europe that ended a three-day rally yesterday continue. dow down 180 points. 1.5% yesterday. nasdaq and s&p also down about 2%. this morning germany's parliament pass ad measure to overall a fund. helps pave a way to a bigger bailout fund to help stabilize greece and other troubled countries and help the banks, too. later this morning we will get the latest reading on the number of americans filing first time jobless claims and the report along with a new revision on how slowly the u.s. economy grew in the second quarter. about an hour from now. details for you when it happens. world's largest cell phone maker nokia announcing plans to cut 3500 jobs in an attempt to streamline its business. the majority of those cuts will take place overseas. some of the company's workers in pennsylvania could lose their jobs, too. the banks are still scrambling to clean up the mortgage mess. according to the "los angeles times," the reports of mortgage fraud soared 88% in the second quarter of this year compared to the same time last year. that in part because banks are finding more problems as they re-examine loans from the housing boom. for the latest news about your money, check tout all-new cnnmoney.com. ♪ [ cellphone rings ] cut! 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[ male announcer ] write your story with the new citi simplicity card. no late fees. no penalty rate. no worries. get started at citisimplicity.com. no late fees. no penalty rate. no worries. luck? i don't trade on luck. i trade on fundamentals. analysis. information. i trade on tradearchitect. this is web-based trading, re-visualized. streaming, real-time quotes. earnings analysis. probability analysis: that's what opportunity looks like. it's all visual. intuitive. and it's available free, wherever the web is. this is how trade strategies are built. tradearchitect. only from td ameritrade. welcome to better trade commission free for 60 days when you open an account. just about 30 minutes past the hour, good morning to you. it is time for this morning's top stories. new terror threat at home. feds arrested a man in an alleged plot to dive bomb the pentagon, u.s. capitol with remote controlled planes packed with explosives. he is an american muslim with a physics degree. turns out his co-conspirators were undercover agents. >> facebook may have to answer to congress over its latest privacy flap. they want the federal trade commission to investigate reports that facebook keeps gathering information about the websites you are visiting even after you log off. a spokesman for the social network says it does not use or store any information it should not have. the question is what should it have and how long is it watching you on the web? when conrad murray's manslaughter resumes jurors will hear more about the chaos that rained on the day jackson died. iranian attorney for the two american hikers released last week said he was briefly detained and questioned by security forces after they raided his home tuesday. he tells cnn news he's not sure what iranian authorities were looking for but did take files and including those regarding the case of josh fatta will and shane bauer. senator john mccain is in libya this morning. he and three other senators arrived in tripoli earlier this morning. they are meeting with members of that country's new transitional government and the senators will hold a press conference this morning at 9:45 eastern. the number one question after navy s.e.a.l.s killed bin laden, will we see the photos? there is a legal battle under way over the release of top secret images of osama bin laden taken during and after the raid that killed him. the obama administration is determined to keep these photos from going public. here's cnn's lisa sylvester. >> reporter: there are a total 562 videos and recordings, pictures after osama bin laden's death to his burial at sea. conservative group judicial watch has sued the federal government and seeking the release of the pictures which are now classified top secret. but the justice department has asked a judge to dismiss the lawsuit. arguing that making the images public could result in exceptionally great damage to the national security. the white house spokesman carney says the white house believes an openness and transparency but there are limits. >> i think very sensible decision has been made that the release of the photos would unnecessarily increase the danger that our troops face overseas. >> reporter: chris is with judicial watch. he feels strongly the bin laden photos should be released. >> it also sends a message those that would try to harm us in some way we will pursue you across the end of the earth and over years to bring justice. it was a very strong deterrent message, we believe. and then it is history. >> reporter: the photos have been described as graphic and including several of bin laden's fatal head wound. tom fuentes, cnn contributor, says the administration's concerns are valid, that al qaeda could use the photos as a recruiting and propaganda tool. >> can serve as further inspiration and would see those images forever on television and that could lead to more recruitment of future al qaeda members. making him a martyr basically. >> reporter: he says the american public already knows many details from the night it made when bin laden was killed and releasing the images and videos could compromise intelligence sources and methods. several news organizations have filed freedom of information act requests seeking access to the pictures and judicial watch has until october 24 to file its response to the government's motion to dismiss the case. and we expect a ruling sometime within the next two months. lisa sylvester, cnn, washington. herman cain is surging. big upset in the florida straw poll last weekend. a tea party favorite, he was on "the situation room" and has strong opinions about why there aren't more candidates like him. >> because many african-americans have been brainwashed into not being open-minded and not even considering a conservative point of view. i received some of that simply because i am running for the republican nomination as a conservative. so it is just brainwashing and people not being open-minded, pure and similar. >> many that's a strong word to talk about your fellow african-americans brainwashed. >> for two-thirds of them, wolf, that is the case. now the good news is that i happen to believe third of the african-americans in this country are open-minded. i'm meeting them every day. they stop me in the airport and the whole notion that all black americans are necessarily going to stay and vote democrat and vote for obama, that's simply not true. more and more black americans are thinking for themselves and that's a good thing. >> kaine weighed in on the chris christie chatter saying media should focus on the candidates that already declared. >> let's talk about another undecided then because he is getting attention this morning. that would be rudy giuliani. a source close to the former new york mayor says he is still flirting with a presidential run. one of his top adviser visited new hampshire and met with state officials yesterday which would back that up. right? giuliani or anyone else thinking about a presidential run has to decide by halloween or they will miss the all-important florida primary. it is the first of many big deadlines. >> the health care war, health care war could come back just in time for 2012. justy department has now asked the supreme court to look at president obama's health care law. in particular, the request requirement that people must buy health insurance by 2014. if the court decides to hear that appeal a ruling might come by late june and that would be, of course in the thick of an election year. a federal judge rules on one of the toughest immigration laws in the country. alabama's immigration law is being challenged by the justice department. the judge allowing some of the most controversial portions of the law. authorities can question people suspected of being in the country illegally and hold them without bond and officials can also check the immigration status of students in public schools. >> something a lot of states have been loathe to do. they didn't want to bring immigration into schools and wanted just to make that very, very bright line there. that's a big departure there. also, elite team of engineers will be eight again today dangling from ropes and literally hanging on to the washington monument. repel down the sides and checking for cracks and other damage from last month's earthquake. inspection began yesterday. here is what it looked like from on high. 500 feet up. rare view. park service officials expect the slow painstaking operation to take about five days. still to come this morning, washington seems to have been taken over bipartisan in-fighting and turf battles. what if the problem is really you? 37 minutes past the hour. 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or the debt ceiling showdown? washington is just unwilling to work together. what can we do about it? joining me now is david gergen, cnn's senior political analyst. welcome to both of you. >> good morning. >> let's start with you, david. you say that maybe voters should look in the mirror and maybe we are in part to blame for the chaos that is in washington these days. >> first off, let me say what a pleasure it is to be here with ruben. he is a former student. he continued on -- i didn't knock him on the road to success. he continued right on. we both agree, i think to a considerable extent we have the government we deserve. ruben has just written about that. we tend to blame all of the politicians and they do deserve a lot of blame. but they also reflect the differences in the deep divides within the country itself. the consensus we had growing up about america's role in the world about government and at home, the role here at home, that consensus was shattered during street vietnam war, watergate and years that followed. and ever since they we have been a polarized people and we send people to congress who reflect that polarization. >> wait a minute, david. >> wait a minute. what about the middle we hear about? we hear about the extremes of the party control and there is a vast mid until this country that does pretty well in -- you know, the general election. >> i was down at southern methodist university area this week with bob gates, former secretary of defense who had -- been in washington for eight presidencies. eight presidencies. he said one of the biggest threats to our national security is right here at home in this -- disappearance of the middle. disappearance to the middle that helped to hold us together. increasingly people have moved more towards the extreme. extreme right or extreme left. left that middle. there are some people out there still that -- what about all the independents we hear about? if you look more closely at the swath much independents, about half of them actually are democrats or are republicans that don't particularly like to carry the label. that's how they vote for consistently. >> so there's sort of like -- they don't want to come out and say they are republican or democrat but really are but call them independent. >> exactly. >> we have a poll up there. you can -- that's the -- pew research poll you were talking about, david. >> good, good. thank you. >> see. we have it on the ready. ruben, do you agree? you have written opinion pieces taking a more traditional view why our government is broken. >> right. absolutely. i'm not about to disagree with my friend and former professor. i think he has it exactly right. not just about getting government you deserve but the government you will tolerate and when you have this kind of gridlock, if there isn't a price to be paid for it, if you don't start replacing members of congress or taking it out of their hide, they are going to continue on their way and you are going to get exactly what you put up with. i think there are also other reasons that this comes to the forefront and there is this sort of mixed message, i think, people send to members of congress. on the one hand they say they want them to compromise. you can get a good pummeling out there if you are seen as too soft and too willing to compromise. look at the grief president obama is getting from the left because hay is seen as too quick to cave in to republicans, too quick to compromise. so, you know, i'm a little sympathetic to politicians who if they just want to give us what we want, they are not always sure what that is because we seem to want and ask for different things. there's also an interesting dynamic i noticed where i'm really -- on tough issues, david would talk about it in class. social security reform and well, if you can't get into that, the next best thing is somehow blame the other party for being the obstructionist on that issue. president obama did that yesterday. he said i would love to pass immigration reform but it is the darned republicans who won't let me. you are able to score points off the other guy even when you do nothing you can come out the winner. >> you are saying voters kind of like that. even though they won't admit it because the voters themselves are like that. >> that's right. and -- to go to ruben's point what we have seen is that a number of -- prominent senators from recent years who have tried to work in the middle and tried to work with the other side, have become so frustrated they have gone home. or they have -- been beaten in a primary by someone more extreme than they are. there is a huge price now for working in the middle because the force and the -- it is coming from the edges and not from the middle. and -- look at the -- howard baker or bilko hen or bill bradley, jack danforth. you can go through a lengthy list of people we all looked up to and said they really made the compromises and the deals that kept the country moving. of course, we have always had a fractious politics and always had people with different points of view. but we have had people we call statesmen. and it is like -- almost in archaic word now. people who -- actively work to see if they couldn't bring the best out from both sides and at least reach an agreement to the go forward, the paralysis. and -- poison we now have. >> right. we love our politicians. we love tough talking people. that's the american way. but -- maybe the next generation of voters will have the answers. do you suppose? >> i spoke to a couple of authors that are baby boomers and they think the reason our government is broken and gridlocked is because baby boomers have throughout their entire lives this sort of moral superiority about themselves whether on the right or left. you have now conflict in washington in congress between people that are just not ready to move off of their values because they think that's the last thing they want do is negotiate values. they need to understand what you believe and what you believe in are really two different things and -- they should be willing to negotiate. maybe when younger people come to the forefront they will be more of a sense of -- consensus and working together and but not for a while, unfortunately. >> let me break in there. hi the privilege now of working with the younger generation for a number of years. people like ruben. what i have found is the younger generation is different. and it is very encouraging. you have young veterans coming back from iraq and afghanistan. their political colorization does not matter as much as the country they fought for. teach for america or a number of the other organizations that go out in the tough neighborhoods and engage in service to the country at the age of 19, 20, 21, and as a result of that, they become very committed to improvement and again, there are a lot of kids who probably vote democratic but like republican ideas on public education reform. it is really interesting. is on the party labels don't matter so much to the younger generation. i don't think they have all these hang-ups. it is a very promising generation. >> gosh, i hope you are right. david, we cannot let you go without asking you about this wild night of skinny dipping with george clooney because cnn actually tracked down george clooney to ask him about that little incident. listen. >> then i said to david gergen, well, you know, walter cronkite jumped in the lake. i got gergen to do it. then i got -- charlie rose to do it as well. i'm getting world class journalists drunk and dumping them in the lake. >> david, we need some explaining. >> it is a bit overblown. let me say it was not skinny dipping. george clooney invited me to spend a weekend with him because i was doing an interview with him for "parade" magazine about a new film. political thriller coming out in early october. "the ides of march." of course you went. spend a weekend in italy. it turns out to be a -- not only a classy person but a master host. very gracious. >> we want to know about the skinny dip. >> my final night there, a group of guys there, and we had a long dinner. it went on and on and on. wonderful. we talked and laughed a lot and i got hammered. the rest of the guy, too. 2:00 in the morning. he hops out and we are all raucous and climbs his fence above the lake. fully clothed. jumps. then he's challenging the rest of us. challenge of our manhood. i was not sure i-wanted to climb the damned fence but i thought i have a plane to catch in four hours. so -- i said i'm not going in fully clothed. i stripped down to my boxers and jumped. thought i might die up there in the dark. >> hey, i would have done the same. >> we had a lot of fun. fortunately no one drowned. >> he's a classic -- he was a really gracious host. i must say that about him. >> i would like to experience that myself some day. thanks to you both. it has been fun. >> okay. >> thank you. >> george clooney if he is watching, he admires david, carol and i are happy to go interview for anything any carol and i would love to jump in the lake. >> i think we're too old for him. >> carol, you're breaking my heart. >> i'm just saying. >> a girl can dream. up next, why brazil is considering banning a new tv ad tool featuring gisele. >> we don't look like gisele. $300 the romans' numeral. the number that could add up to trouble for apple. it's 50 minutes after the hour. whether it can be done safely and responsibly. at exxonmobil we know the answer is yes. when we design any well, the groundwater's protected by multiple layers of steel and cement. most wells are over a mile and a half deep so there's a tremendous amount of protective rock between the fracking operation and the groundwater. natural gas is critical to our future. at exxonmobil we recognize the challenges and how important it is to do this right. [ woman ] my heart medication isn't some political game. [ man ] our retirement isn't a simple budget line item. [ man ] i worked hard. i paid into my medicare. [ man ] and i earned my social security. [ woman ] now, instead of cutting waste and loopholes, washington wants to cut our benefits? that wasn't the agreement. [ male announcer ] join the members of aarp and tell washington to stop cuts to our medicare and social security benefits. the nascar nationwide series, to stop cuts i know pleasing fans is a top priority, 'cause without the fans, there'd be no nascar. just like if it weren't for customers, there'd be no nationwide. that's why they serve their customers' needs, not shareholder profits. because as a mutual, nationwide doesn't report to wall street, they report to their customers. and that's just one more reason why the earnhardt family has trusted nationwide for more than 30 years. nationwide is on your side. all right. the morning's romans' numeral for you. a number in the news today, $300. that's how much cheaper the new tablet is than the ipad. the kindle fire costs just $199. amazon stock was up big yesterday. will amazon be able to gobble up some of apple's huge market. is this something that is really great for amazon? it can stream movies and tv shows and also lacks a camera and a microphone, but it is $300 cheaper. >> it is supposed to be pretty cool, despite its deficiencies. the cdc is warning people to throw out cantaloupes if you don't know where they came from, all because of laceteria outbreak in 18 states. so far 13 people have died and more than 70 people have become sick after eating the fruit. investigators say the source of the outbreak appears to be jensen farms in the rocky ford region of colorado. kansas city schools have a new tool to cut down on bullying, dogs. this program teaches kids responsibility, compassion, self-control and integrity and apparently the program is working. in since it was launched five years ago, in 80 classrooms and already a long waiting list for next year. >> is there anything a dog can't do? >> bring a dog in. when the going gets tough -- >> they should bring dogs to congress. >> you're right. >> dogs can do it all. >> two barks mean yes and one bark means no. reebok must fork over $25 million in refunds for claiming its easy tone and run tone sneakers tone leg and the buttock muscles. the federal trade commission ruled the claims were based on bogus science. the agency provided a link if you're looking for a refund. ftc.org. >> you mean you can't just wear shoes and get skinny. brazil may ban its sexiest export, gisele bundchen. her struditting around in hope linger lingerie. this is gisele modeling hope underies. you get the idea, it's underwear and gisele. i mean, come on, people might be confused and think that every woman looks like gisele bundchen. >> wow, i'm going on a diet. we asked you this question this morning, why would anyone want to run for president anyway? summer says, i really don't understand why. you always being criticized, your life is always in danger, you can't enjoy life without being scruts? ed and you really aren't completely in charge. this from lauren, like beyonce's song "ego" most of us like our spot as sideline president. the most hated man in the country and parts of the world, for that matter, for four years. unless you're a messiah and fix every problem in the first year, you're bound to be hated. why would anyone want it run for president? good question. takes a strong man or a fool who doesn't realize what he's getting into. keep the comments coming. facebook.com/americanmorning. the elite fbi team that few people know exist. going underwater to fight terrorism. it's 57 minutes after the hour. ♪ ♪ [ dog barks ] [ birds chirping ] ♪ [ mechanical breathing ] [ engine turns over ] ♪ [ male announcer ] the all-new volkswagen passat. a new force in the midsize category. ♪ delivering mail, medicine and packages. yet they're closing thousands of offices, slashing service, and want to lay off over 100,000 workers. the postal service is recording financial losses, but not for reasons you might think. the problem ? a burden no other agency or company bears. a 2006 law that drains 5 billion a year from post-office revenue while the postal service is forced to overpay billions more into federal accounts. congress created this problem, and congress can fix it. i want healthy skin for life. 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[ female announcer ] aveeno daily moisturizing lotion. and for healthy, beautiful hair, try nourish plus haircare. only from aveeno. planning jihad by remote control, i'm carol costello. the feds breaking up an alleged plot to fly a plane into the pentagon and the capitol. is facebook tracking your every move online even when you're not on facebook? calls for an investigation on this "american morning." good morning to you, it is thursday, september 29th. ali has the day off. >> he sure does. >> he sure does. lucky him. coming up first this morning, the feds trying to find out more about a new terror threat after they arrested a man in an alleged plot to dive bomb the pentagon and the u.s. capitol with remote controlled planes like those packed with c-4 explosives. the suspect is an american muslim with a physics degree from northeastern university. his co-conspirators turned out to be undercover fbi agents. joining us now, cnn national security contributor fran townsend. welcome, fran. this just seems to be such an outrageous plot. >> i know. the americans are generally aware of the use of drones, although it's an unacknowledged program by the united states government and widespread use overseas and as it becomes more understood, it was inevitable that our enemies would seek to turn this technology and turn it against us. >> in this case, it looks like a lone wolf. co-conspirators and six others who would use ak-47s as coming out of the capitol and the pentagon and mowing people down. he had a detailed plan, for what he wanted to do, according to investigators, of course. but the question is, you know, how far along the path was he and how logical is it that it could really happen? >> you know, it's interesting. i think back to the president's interview with wolf blitzer where he said his greatest concern was a lone wolf. this is a guy who not just met with undercover officers. he had gone to washington and done some surveillance about where he would launch from. the distance from the capitol and the distance to the pentagon to make sure the drones would work that distance. he rented a storage locker. so, this is a guy, as you point out, had really thought through this. the notion of then having a second wave, that is when people began to flee these buildings and have a plan to mow them down is very typical al qaeda. we've seen that before. so, as you say, this is guy who is not pushed by the government, he had his own intentions and his own inspiration and really gone through the trouble of actually planning for this. >> the most troubling part, he was really passionate about this. i mean the undercover agents gave him many chances to say, i'm not going to do this any more. he stubbornly persisted, we're not going to stop. >> the real question in people's minds, how did this guy get that passion? how is he radicalized? >> we've seen radicalization like nidal hasan who was radicalized over the internet. so, you see it on the internet and you see radical imams in mosques. we've seen it before. this is pretty pervasive. >> he had a great education, by all estimates, he was not hungry and unemployed and bitter so it's just so confusing how this could happen. >> the times square bomb a young married man with a family, had a job, earning a good income. >> home equity loan on his house to get the money he needed for that plot. because knowing the american system inside and out and then using it to attack the american system. it is just stunning. >> it's interesting. that's why people say we have to be careful not to overreact. they use our freedoms against us but what we cherish is our freedom. we have to be careful. we have a greater intelligence in law enforcement capability to detect these plots to go after them and it's clear that there is an informant that directed this guy's attention to it. the fact that we have the ability to disrupt them is what it is. >> fran, thanks. >> you're welcome. drug smuggler with a navy of their own. the coast guard said it intercepted a narco sub. most have been found in the pacific and they say this could be a new trend to the war on drugs. drug smugglers use the subs to transport massive amounts of illegal drugs under water. the u.s. preparing for another underwater war, the war on terror. a team of fbi agents official name the technical dive team are being trained to search in deep water too contaminated for anyone else. >> so, our team is being certified down to 300 feet where we can safely conduct operations and then chemical, by logical or nuclear-type diving, as well. >> the team has been called in on one mission so far that was actually to retrieve another drug sub. facebook may have to answer to congress over its latest privacy flap. congressman ed marquee and joe martin are asking the federal trade commission to investigate reports that facebook keeps gathering information about the websites you visit, even after you log off of facebook. a spokesman for the social network says it does not store any information it should not have. >> what i think they should have and what they think they should have are probably two different things. the murder trial of dr. conrad murray. hearing about the chaos the day jackson died. his personal assistant said when his boss stopped breathing a frantic dr. murray called him and not 911. >> called me right away, called me right away. thank you. >> were you able to make contact with him? >> yes, sir. >> did he ask you to call 911? >> no, sir. >> what did he say? >> he said, where are you? >> i sa i said, i'm downtown. he said, get here right away, mr. jackson had a bad reaction. >> cnn don lemon is covering this trial and he's outside the courthouse in los angeles and wots on tap today, don? >> oh, there's a lot on tap today. we'll hear more testimony like that. here's the interesting thing, carol. finally when that security guard got there michael jackson's personal assistant that you saw there on the stand, he gave him permission to go upstairs. when he gets upstairs he sees dr. conrad murray trying to revive michael jackson with one hand and asking the security guard, does anyone know how to revive someone and the kids, michael jackson's two oldest kids are watching all of this. listen to the testimony. >> paris was on the ground balled up crying and prince was just, he was standing there and he was just, he just had a real shock, just slowly crying type of look on his face. >> unbelievable. and as you have heard, michael jackson was laying on the floor. again, his eyes were open and his mouth is open and he's wearing a catheter, carol and christine, his kids watching all of this. can you imagine the trauma? >> all right, don. there was also testimony that dr. murray then wanted to go back to get inside michael jackson's bedroom. so, after all this transpired and they left the facility, the mansion, he wanted to go back. >> this was two hours later. two hours later after he made the calls and they get to the hospital and they pronounce him dead. he said, i want to go back to the house because there's some cream that michael jackson wouldn't want the world to know about. the prosecution is trying to set up that it is this. this bottle of propofol. this is what he wanted to go back and get. there is another defense. i'm sure you heard about this. this is what the defense is trying to set up. the demeral defense. that same security guard, that same assistant and the security guard would take michael jackson to dr. arne klein, his dermatologist, sometimes as much as five days a week and he would come out and be speaking slowly, not quite as slowly as in the audiotape you heard yesterday, but he would be speaking slowly. take a listen to the testimony, again. >> one thing you did as an assistant is pick up prescriptions for michael jackson. >> yes, sir. >> but not in your name. >> in michael jackson's name and prince and paris and blanket's name. >> you would pick up those prescriptions. >> myself or security. >> did you, by any chance, have occasion to listen to to the audiotape that was played in this trial. did anyone play an audiotape to you? >> yes, sir. >> who played it for you? >> i did see it on the news. >> yeah, that happens. have you ever heard michael jackson sound like that before? >> not that extreme. but i have heard him talk slow before. >> so, here's what they're trying to set up that michael jackson was hooked because of dr. klein. one of the side effects is that you can't sleep. you're going to hear about that today. emotional testimony and also emotional still, it was emotional when they heard about the kids standing there watching. what you'll hear again today, two paramedics, the two first paramedics to arrive on the scene and michael jackson's personal chef and the head of thiz security, as well. one quick aside here that i want to tell you about dr. conrad murray on the first day, opening statements, very sullen, very sad look as he walked around court and he walked in and out of courtroom and in the hallway. yesterday there was a mark difference. he smiled at people and nodded his head as he walked through. so, the defense must have gotten to him and said, hey, listen, you need to look a little more confident. so, he tried to look confident yesterday. the family, a bit more jovial, a bit more animated. they appear right now to be pleased with what's hapwing the prosecution. >> don lemon, thanks. >> wow, just a human tragedy. you know, the story of a pop superstar and unraveling drugs. for complete coverage and analysis of this death trial, check out our sister network, hln for that. still ahead, an unforgettable finale. maybe one of the most exciting noilths of baseball ever. the red sox self-destruct and the glory belongs to the tampa bay rays. that's next, we're hanging out in the fan cave. they are siked. plus, the weekend is in sight and there are big weather changes in store all over the country including finally, finally, the end of triple-digit temps in texas. rob has it all. 12 minutes after the hour. with a manual transmission? because there are those who still believe in the power of a firm handshake. the cadillac cts-v. manual or automatic, that's entirely up to you. we don't just make luxury cars, we make cadillacs. every time a local business opens its doors or creates another laptop bag or hires another employee, it's not just good for business. it's good for the entire community. at bank of america, we know the impact that local businesses have on communities. that's why we extended $7.8 billion to small businesses across the country so far this year. because the more we help them, the more we help make opportunity possible. they're waking up happy in st. louis. congratulations to the cardinals for winning the n.l. wildcard. they'll now play the phillies in the division series. >> oh, the phillies are tough, too. a tremendous finish, but if you're a fan of the boston red sox, there are just two words. jonathan papalbon gave up the game-winning hits. i can't even believe it right now. but i am happy for the baltimore orioles, at least they end the season on a winning note. boston is not in the playoffs and everybody thought they would be. >> just minutes after the sox fell, the tampa bay rays kicked dirt right on top of them. longoria stunning walk-off home run in the eighth inning gave the a's the victory. th . joining us to talk about the regular season finish and the playo playoffs. good morning, mike. >> how are you? >> did you watch the red sox/orioles game? >> i saw that last night and a lot of people up in new england that are wicked bummed. wicked bummed. >> i'm telling you, i think that's putting it mildly. >> just one day of baseball is more exciting, frankly, more exciting to me than maybe the entire season. >> really? >> you're a major baseball fan, carol. we talked to you back in april when you were just starting this and now you watched all or part of 2,400 games. mike, is this heaven or is this hell? >> no, it's absolutely heaven. it was a blast. i say tat with all the integrity in the world. it's like listening to your favorite album. ups and downs and favorite moments and slow songs, fast songs, it was great. i look back on it now and what a wild ride, it really was a good time. >> when you're in that cave watching so many games, you actually manage to get engaged. >> yeah, yeah. i'm kind of quick like that. i can multi-task. you know, so, i think i pulled it off pretty nicely. >> you didn't propose to her in the mlb cave, though, did you? >> no, no. i did it outside the cave when i got some free time, but, yeah, she was a keeper, so i signed her long term to a long-term deal, so, hopefully it will work out for this organization. >> we certainly hope she doesn't try to trade you either, mike. that would be an unfortunate turn. what happens to you next after this? this has been an epic run for you. you go through the post-season i assume, yeah? >> yeah. i'll be here watching the post-season and my partner in crime will be out on the road covering the playoffs from different stadiums and, yeah. business as usual here at the fan cave from the last night of the world series. i'm an actor, writer and museum and i'll keep swinging, pun intended. >> let's get back to baseball. i know, i know. but the boston red sox with this like, i mean, who would have thunk it and tampa bay, they just hung in there. >> yeah, that was probably one of the coolest things to watch. baltimore being so relevant, you know, they weren't going to the post-season, but they gave the red sox all they can handle and the rays never quit. as a yankees' fan i'm not going to say i don't like to see new england with that ankes but it was tough to watch that great team slip out of it. >> that you think the boston manager will probably exit next season. >> i don't know what he'll be up to. that women be up for the boston red sox front office to decide. i guess they'll have a rough thanksgiving and hopefully they'll have a nice christmas and everybody will be happy during the holiday season. >> i must ask him one last question. the detroit tigers will play the yankees tomorrow in the first playoff game and rob marciano is also a yankee fan and i'm trying to think of the most terrible thing because i want to make a bet him. what is the most terrible thing to a yankees' fan so i can tell that to rob marciano? >> i've been trying to make one with ken casey that the other guy will have to wear a full uniform for one full day. so, if i had to wear a boston red sox uniform, spikes, socks, pant up to the batting gloves, that would be a rough, rough day. i don't know. in your line of work, to have to wear a full detroit tigers uniform would be a bit much. >> that would be nirvana to me if i had to wear a full yankees uniform, that would be pretty horrible. thank you for the suggestion, i like it. >> nice to see you, mike o'hara. rob marciano is in the fan weather center. what do you think about it? can you do it? >> the cleats would really tap on the floor. >> i'm not sure if maintenance would be happy with the spikes. we wouldn't wear the nails. at least the jersey, the hat and, you know, the big thumb. the big hand, carol. you cat lean at least do that. >> actually, we already thought about it and if the detroit tigers win, you will, indeed, have to wear a boston red sox uniform for your entire weather forecast. >> that's not fair. >> yes. >> although, i could do that and instead of doing weather i could give play and play of each and every game they lost during the month of september during this epic failure. >> no, you're talking about the 2006 -- >> no, part of me feels so bad. it was tough to watch that happen. same deal with the braves. it's taken ten years, eight of which i lived in atlanta and therapy after the late '90s to get me to root, root, root for the home team. >> i guess we have to get to weather now. >> are we doing weather? here we go. rain across the northeast. here you go. getting into the berkshires and through western massachusetts. eastern mass, by the way, in boston, you're for the most part dry, at least, at least for now. heat across parts of the plains. check these numbers out. 93 in parts of nebraska and same deal in fargo. those days are over, as are the days of this nasty cutoff low that has been given this stuck weather pattern across the northeast. that's about to break down with this front that is going to bring some pretty chilly temperatures and wind to the western great lakes. we'll probably see some thunderstorms with that, probably some water spouts, as well. rainfall has been an issue across parts of jersey and pennsylvania, this on top of what lee brought. ground saturated and we had spots that saw the flooding and flash flood watches and even parts for upstate new york. that stubborn low, that showery unsettled weather pattern and here you go, 10 to 20 degrees below normal and expect the temperatures over the weekend just in time to get you in the mood for baseball playoffs. guys? >> i can't wait. >> thank you, rob. time now, though, to talk back on one of the big stories of the day. our question for you this morning. why would anyone want to run for president? we're a demanding bunch. as comedian and political abover dean puts it, the biggest challenge the president faces is we the people, we have become unreasonably demanding. we want everything and we want it now. you're not conservative enough or you're not liberal enough and you have bad hair to boot. late-night comedians rebel in it knowing people love it when they rip the candidates to shreds. >> in president obama's hometown newspaper they called for president obama not to run for re-election. he has to run. he knows more than anyone else, there's no jobs out there. >> mitt romney comes to have a meeting with donald trump. at one point that thing on trump's head started growling at mitt. >> can't believe my advisers told me not to get high before this debate. i'm telling you. >> not saying candidates don't often deserve some derision, but who wants to put themselves through that? as a candidate, you can't even be who you really are. >> does a title take away my freedom to call it like i see it and to affect positive change that we need in this country. >> when mitt romney was governor, he embraced the mandate and now he has to justify it because conservatives hate the president's health care plan. the talk back question this morning, why would anyone want to run for president? facebook.com/americanmorning. i'll read your comments later this hour. we'll check the early markets, next. plus, the list is out, who is the most powerful woman in business? it's 25 minutes after the hour. 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(rawhen an investmentrsation) lacks discipline, it's never this obvious. introducing investment discipline etfs from russell. visit russelletfs.com r a prospectus, containing the investment objectives, risks, charges, expenses and other information. read and consider it carefully before investing. i tell you what i can spend. i do my best to make it work. i'm back on the road safely. and i saved you money on brakes. that's personal pricing. 28 minutes after the hour. minding your business this morning, germany's parliament just passed a measure to overhaul a bailout fund. this vote helps pave the way for a bigger bailout fund to stabilize greece and other troubled countries. that vote setting the stage for a positive day here on wall street. right now u.s. stock futures are trading higher. just a few minutes, we're going to get the final revision of gdp for the second quarter. this is how fast the economy is growing or how slowly the economy grew in april, may and june. economists expect a very slight increase from the previous reading of a 1% rise in economic activity. also released in a few minute, a latest read on the number of people filing first-time jobless benefit claims. the largest cell phonemaker nokia announcing plans to cut jobs in an attempt to streamline its business. a majority of cuts will take place overseas but some workers in pennsylvania could be affected. "forbes" is out with its list with the most powerful women in business. irene rosenneufeld and indora nooyi ceo and chairman of pepsi. patrisa woertz chairman and ceo and president . "american morning" back right after the break. all right. we just told you that "fortune" out with its list of the most powerful women in business. want to give it to you, again, it is "fortune." those are the most powerful women in business. you can also go on fortune and cnnmoney.com and see what the highest paid women in business. >> check it out. it's 31 minutes past the hour. time for this morning's top stories. the feds arresting a man in an alleged plot to dive bomb the pentagon and u.s. capitol with remote controlled planes packed with explosives. turns out his co-conspirators were undercover fbi agents. two members of congress are asking the federal trade commission to investigate facebook. ed marqumarkey and joe barton k gathering information about the websites you visit even after you log out. can dr. conrad murray delay a call for help on the day that michael jackson died? he called the assistant and not 911 after he stopped breathing. he seemed desperate to get back to his home after he died. testimony in the manslaughter trial resumes in just a few hours. those two hikers released last week, he says he was briefly detained and questioned by iranian security forces after they raided his home tuesday. he tells cnn he's not sure what exactly authorities were looking for, but, they did take files, including files regarding the case of josh fattal and shane bauer. senator john mccain is in libya. he and three other senators arrived in tripoli. they are meeting with new members of the transitional government and they'll hold a press conference at 9:45 eastern this morning. just in to cnn, second revision to second quarter gdp that shows how weakly the economy was growing. 1 1.3%. the economy had a little more momentum than we thought. how much the economy grew in april, may and june. 1.3%. you know it was only 0.4% in the first quarter. shows you a pickup from the beginning of the year into the summer. certainly hope something like that -- >> little bright note. >> you want to see more than 1.3%, so, a little bright note, i'd say. weekly jobless claims numbers. that's also down from the previous week, carol. anything under 400,000 is seen as a good sign. two little pieces of economic news not quite as dim as we've been seeing lately. we'll see. futures were already up, but we'll see if investors are pleased about that today. let's look at what's happening here again. still ahead, the race for the white house can be downright vicious sometimes. so why would anyone want to be president? are the best candidates more like reality show contestants? we're just voting one off each week. up next, we'll talk to an award winning comedian with a very interesting take on politics. it's 34 minutes past the hour. 0 [ telephone rings ] aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa auto repair. gary... he hung up. ...why do we have so many a's in our name? so we're listed first in the phone book. ya know, gives us an edge. you know fedex can, give us an edge. how? well, fedex ships auto parts from factories around the world, they clear em through customs, and that'll help us fix cars faster. great idea. you know you got a bright future here at aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa... [ male announcer ] supply chain solutions. fedex. solutions that matter. o(rawhen an investmentrsation) lacks discipline, it's never this obvious. introducing investment discipline etfs from russell. visit russelletfs.com r a prospectus, containing the investment objectives, risks, charges, expenses and other information. read and consider it carefully before investing. herman cain is surging coming off a big upset in the florida straw poll last weekend. cain was on "the situation room" and he had strong opinions why he said there aren't more like him. >> because many african-americans have been brain washed into not being open minded, not even considering a conservative point of view. i have received some of that same vitriol simply because i am running for the republican nomination as a conservative. so, it's just brain washing and people not being open minded, pure and simple. >> that's a strong word to talk about your fellow african-americans. brain washed? >> for two-thirds of them, wolf, that is the case. now, the good news is, i happen to believe that a third to 50% of the black americans in this country are open minded. i meet them every day. they stop me in the airport and so this whole notion that all black americans are necessarily going to stay and vote democrat and vote for obama, that's simply not true. more and more black americans are thinking for themselves and that's the good thing. >> cain also weighed in on all the buzz around chris christie and the media should focus on candidates already declared, carol. we have been talking this morning, why would anyone want to run for president? sure, the rent is free, but you also have to deal with other politicians, pundits and the public criticizing your every move. joining me now is dean. welcome. >> thanks, carol. >> you have a column on cnn.com. it was very interesting because you say voters, hey, look in the mirror. you wonder why we have divided government and partisan vicious politics. well, hey. >> i think it is a lot is us, quite honest. we have been more and more demanding. the debates are like the roman coliseum. any moment i expect thumbs up or thumbs down and the crowd would cheer, as well. not a republican democrat thing by any stretch. a very challenging time and i think it's the reality show mindset. people dance and sing for us each week. if you don't prove yourself each week, you're out. we're holding candidates the same thing. very tough for the future. >> do you think that prevents good people, i'm not saying good people in the race this time, but do you think it prevents good people from even entering the field of politics? >> i think part of the younger generation watching this would say, why would i want to inject myself entiinto this world of ak after attack. i want jobs and less taxes and more government services now. i think if you're not a veteran of reality shows, you might not want to run. i wouldn't be shocked if he went on tv and said, you know what, i was born in kenya, joe biden, you take over. why does anyone want to be president? we're going to get people with thick skins who can take this stuff. >> some people might argue it has been like this in the world of politics sin our country began. in the days of the revolutionary war people would go beat up the politicians if they didn't like what they did. >> i don't think we're not far from that. we should be very demanding on our candidates based on substance, policy, question our government at all times. but the cheering and engineering a people on the left went overboard on the personal attacks and lost of substantive discussion and the personal attacks are off the charts. look at rick perry, like the prodigal son from a doomed satellite. >> you can attach an adjective to each candidate and a negative one, at that. when i was watching late night television and comedians, like you, they were viciously making fun of his weight. i think we have jimmy kimmel. i'll show you that. >> chris christie is almost impossible to budge. >> if you run for president, i will give you this bucket of chicken. extra crispy. >> oh, okay. >> really? >> i love you, chris christie! >> thank you. >> now, see, i know your first, i mean, you laugh, you do. but as you think about it, it's just so below the belt. >> it's really, really easy. as comics, we're not above, honestly, taking the easy shot. president obama has been a challenge for us comedically. no single take on that is easy. president bush couldn't speak english, we had that. chris christie, obvious what the jokes are going to be about. they're not smart. i hope if he really runs we get into debate. theo the obesity jokes, every day, he'll hear those. >> when you read any kind of blog or actually blog wheres they don't like siphon out the bad comments, you will see a lot of comments from people commenting on chris christie's weight because it makes it okay, that funny stuff. that makes it okay to do that instead of criticizing chris christie on the issues. >> that's my concern. we've gone beyond a real discussion of the issues that americans want to know about, jobs, health care, environment, to the guy is a fat guy. please, is he running for president? he can't run for anything. that's the joke you'll hear over and over. at some level it's funny. it's almost a handicap you're mocking. but i hope we get back to the issues or the reality shows like the amazing electoral dance. you think you can dance, you think you can rule. we're going to vote each week and we're not getting the best candidates, the ones that please us on every issue. if we have to compromise here and there, we want a president or a king. there's compromise involved. i would rather have a president that would agree with everything than a king who tells me what to do. >> if you want to read dean's editorial, an op-ed. i enjoyed reading it. i did. cnn.com/opinion. be sure to join us on october 18th when the republican candidates gather to debate live at 8:00 eastern right here on cnn. morning headlines coming your way, next. it's 44 minutes past the hour. ♪ [ female announcer ] we're throwing away misperceptions about natural gas vehicles. more of the vehicles that fuel our lives use clean american natural gas today. it costs about 40 percent less than gasoline, so why aren't we using it even more? start a conversation about using more natural gas vehicles in your community. ford fusion has now been named usingthe most dependableehicles midsize car by jd power and associates. we go to kimberly. any thoughts on this news? i have no idea what's goin on. we are out. what was that? they told me it's the most dependable midsize sedan and they ran back into their little box. it's 47 minutes after the hour. here are your morning headlines. two big and positive business stories this morn. the gdp reports for the second quarter, better than expected. the final revision show gdp grew and the economy grew at a rate of 1.3% in the summer, as the that's up from the previous reading of 1%. the labor department announcing that 391,000 unemployment claims were filed for the first time last week, that's the lowest level since april and better than economists had expected. good news on top of germany passing a measure to overhaul a european bailout fund means we could be in for a positive start to the trading day. right now u.s. stock futures are up. a new terror threat at home and arresting a man in an alleged plot to strike the pentagon and capitol building with remote controlled planes packwood ed with explosives. john mccain is in libya. he was accompanied by three other senators. that group will hold a news conference at 9:45 a.m. eastern. that's the news you need to start your day. "american morning" is back after the break. ♪ [ dog barks ] [ birds chirping ] ♪ [ mechanical breathing ] [ engine turns over ] ♪ [ male announcer ] the all-new volkswagen passat. a new force in the midsize category. ♪ 49 minutes past the hour. good morning. she really didn't see this coming. a video of flash mob proposal is exploding right now on the web. at ucla, so he decided to bring her back there for the big moment. he's in on it, she's not. take a look at what happened. ♪ ♪ you're just too good to be true ♪ ♪ can't take my eyes off you ♪ ♪ i want to hold you so much ♪ you're just too good to be true can't take my eyes off you ♪ >> well, after they all busted a move to frankie valli he got on one knee, only she didn't exactly say yes. joining us now are nam and welcome to you both and congratulations. >> thank you, thank you so much. >> so, nam, why did you come up with this idea? wouldn't a private, romantic dinner be easier? >> i suppose it would have been easier, but, no, i knew i wanted to propose to her about a year ago and we both love musicals, we both love dancing and this is the closest you can come to a real-life musical. everything just came into place and it was a way for friends and family to join in and be there and celebrate with us. >> so, some of the people in the flash mob are your family and friends and some of them are part of the flash mob group that helped you sort of do this. when did it dawn on you, this is for me. i am about to get proposed to. >> i think when i saw my little cousins jumping into the group and start dancing and i immediately spotted my parents and i knew, oh, my gosh, something special is going to happen to me today. >> that's true. why would my little cousins be at ucla? >> exactly. >> let's watch the actual proposal now, shall we? >> i promise that our days together will always be filled with laughter and adventure and music and horrible dancing, on my part. and you have the most beautiful heart and you have my heart. will you marry me? >> duh. >> you're going to have to tell that story to your grandchildren and she said, duh. seriously, 200,000 people. more than 200,000 people have seen this on youtube. did you expect that? >> not at all. >> we're still living a dream. >> it's been crazy. >> you also looked at him at one point and said, you're cheesy. but, obviously, you love that cheesy, don't you? >> i do. that's actually, that's actually for him because i'm normally a whiner and he's always, babe, you want some cheese with that wine. so, that was my perfect moment to get back at him. >> i wouldn't have expected anything less from her, she's always cracking jokes. >> so, when's the big day? >> we haven't really decided yet. we're still just trying to enjoy the ride right now. we spoke the other day and we said, you know what, let's just not think about that for a while and just enjoy each other's company for a while. >> that's a great idea. >> well, congratulations. it was fun having you here. thank you for sharing the big moment. >> thank you. coming up next, our talk back question of the day. why would anyone want to run for president? we'll read through some of your responses. it's six minutes until the top of the hour. an airline's job, is to take you from where you are... to where you need to be. and we're not just talking about points on a map. with a more intuitive delta website and mobile app... and the most wifi equipped planes. we let you be everywhere at once. innovations like these are extending our reach so you can extend yours. and now, even at 30,000 feet you can still touch the ground. an accident doesn't have to slow you down. with better car replacement available only with liberty mutual auto insurance, if your car's totaled, we give you the money for a car one model year newer. to learn more, visit us today. responsibility. what's your policy? okay. now, it's time to get back to our talk back question. the question, why would anyone want to run for president? all the responses we got, no one said, oh, i'd love to run for president. no one said that. some see it as a pinnacle of their political careers, a political super bowl of sorts. this is likely why only a handful of our nation's presidents have been effective. this from joshua, i can't speak for anyone else, but i want to be president because i'm a masochist, which is necessary to deal with congress, and schizophrenic, necessary to deal with american public. are you kidding, it's all about air force one and a chef and a ticket to anywhere. please, keep the conversation going. facebook.com/americanmorning. truthfully, not one person said, i would love to be president, i would love for my child to grow up and be president. >> they get all the credit and all the blame and sometimes i don't know they deserve all the economy and all the blame. today a couple quick economic reports that were favorable. gdp 1.3% better than we thought and jobless claims for the first time since april dropped below 400,000. so, things are looking upn

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