American Morning
Michelle Obama vows to strike Olympic gold for Chicago
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WASHINGTON (CNN) - First lady Michelle Obama vowed Monday to "take no prisoners" as she and her husband launch an unprecedented bid for Chicago's 2016 Olympic bid.
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/POLITICS/09/29/michelle.obama.olympics/art.michelle.obama.afp.gi.jpg caption="First lady's attitude about the effort to secure Chicago's bid for the 2016 Olympics: "Take no prisoners.""]
"It's a battle - we're going to win - take no prisoners," the first lady said with a smile at a roundtable discussion with reporters in the White House State Dining Room.
She compared the intense lobbying effort to the 2008 presidential campaign, noting that in the election campaign, a lot of voters made their decision in the final days. She said members of the International Olympic Committee may do the same.
"And our view is, we're not taking a chance," she said. "We're just not going to assume that the bids - that the decisions are made, and so that no matter what the outcome is, we'll feel as a country, as a team, that we've done everything that we can to bring it home."
The White House confirmed Monday that President Obama will fly on Thursday to Copenhagen, Denmark, where the International Olympic Committee will be reviewing bids from several countries on Friday. It will be the first time that an American president has lobbied the IOC in this manner.
Secret Service probes Facebook poll on Obama
(CNN) - The social networking site Facebook on Monday pulled a third-party application that allows users to create polls after a site member built a poll asking if President Obama should be killed.
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/POLITICS/09/28/facebook.poll/art.facebook.cnn.jpg caption="There are more than 350,000 applications on Facebook. The company says it disables any that violate its terms."]
The U.S. Secret Service, the agency assigned to protect the president, has launched an investigation, agency spokesman James Mackin said.
"As is usually the case, our vigilant users reported it to us first," Facebook spokesman Barry Schnitt told CNN. "The USSS [Secret Service] sent us an e-mail late this morning PDT asking us to take it down. At that point, it had already been removed, and we let them know."
Schnitt said the application "was immediately suspended while the inappropriate content could be removed by the developer and until such time as the developer institutes better procedures to monitor their user-generated content."
Madeleine Albright's pin-diplomacy
Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright is not only famous for becoming the first woman ever to hold the post, but also for her penchant for pins.
Her famous brooches sent a message to dictators, presidents, and foreign ministers.
It's the focus of her new book, "Read My Pins."
Our John Roberts had a chance to talk with Secretary Albright yesterday at New York's Museum of Arts and Design where more than 200 of her most important pins are on display.
What’s on Tap – Tuesday September 29, 2009
Here are the big stores on the agenda today:
- Democrats, right now, getting ready for a health care showdown. At least two senators are now promising to jam a government run insurance provision into the Senate Finance Committee bill. We're live in Washington, with a debate that's pitting democrats against democrats.
- Confessions of a domestic terrorist. A former member of a radical environmental group reveals exclusively to CNN how they waged war against the government and what he did to bring the home-grown terror cell down.
- And they get paid to dig up dirt, on you. But what happens when they, make a mistake? Today in our special series: “Watching You 24/7,” Personal Finance Editor Gerri Willis shows you what happens when data brokers uncover rap sheets on the wrong people.
- The president’s Olympic push and political gamble. In just a few days, President Obama will travel to Denmark to make a pitch to bring the 2016 Summer Games to Chicago. It's the first time ever a U.S president has gotten this involved in an Olympic bid. And it comes as the pile on his desk is getting bigger.
Obama to make personal pitch for Olympics
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/09/28/art.obamachi.gi.jpg caption="Obama is lobbying for the 2016 Olympic Summer Games to be held in Chicago."]
WASHINGTON (CNN) — President Barack Obama will travel this week to Copenhagen, Denmark, to make a big push for the 2016 summer Olympic Games in Chicago, the White House said Monday.
Obama will join First Lady Michelle Obama and other administration officials in pitching Chicago to the International Olympic Committee on October 2, spokesman Robert Gibbs said.
No other U.S. president has ever attended an IOC meeting.
Chicago is vying for the Summer Games against Madrid, Spain; Tokyo, Japan; and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Leaders from Brazil, Spain and Japan are expected to also make an in-person pitch.
The United States has hosted four Summer Olympic Games. In 1904, the Games were held in St. Louis, Missouri; in Los Angeles, California, in 1932 and 1984; and most recently Atlanta, Georgia, in 1996.
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Republican pollster: Americans angrier than ever
From town halls to tea parties, a lot of people across the country are really ticked off. Last week in our special series "Mad as Hell," we looked at the sources and potential solutions for all of that national anger.
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/09/28/luntz.frank.cnn.art.jpg caption="Pollster and Republican Party adviser Frank Luntz says Americans are angrier than ever."]
Frank Luntz is a pollster, communications expert, author of the new book "What Americans Really Want, Really" and has advised the Republican Party on hot-button issues like health care.
Luntz joined John Roberts on CNN’s “American Morning” Monday. Below is an edited transcript of the interview.
John Roberts: So people in America, are they really angrier than they’ve ever been?
Frank Luntz: They are. 72% of Americans define themselves - we took a survey of 6,400 people, that's five times the typical CNN media poll – 72% of Americans are mad as hell and they're not going to take it anymore. And they're mad at politics because they think there's no accountability in Washington.
They're mad at business because they think that their employers don't respect them. And they're mad at Hollywood for the coarseness of the culture. So you've got all three things going on at the same time and they don't find a solution to it.
Roberts: Let me quote from your book here because you say what's so important is not necessarily that Americans are mad as hell. You say, “It matters more that they're not going to take it anymore. Americans have hit a tipping point with Washington and, moreover, its political parties.” So we're at this tipping point. What does that mean for the country? You gave us the background of what people are mad at but why are they mad at all of this and what is this tipping point?
Luntz: They feel like the politicians aren't listening to them. And those elected officials who canceled their town hall meetings, boy, did they make a mistake. I wrote this book and I added that extra "really" to “What Americans Really Want” because the definitions of this anger the elites don't understand. They think the town halls are an aberration.
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