Bush Says Economy Rebounding Despite Labor Department Figures; Political Sites Popular on Web
DARYN KAGAN, ANCHOR: Saudi authorities say that they've arrested one of the senior al Qaeda leaders in the kingdom. A ministry official says that Faris al-Zahrani was captured in the mountains southwest of Saudi Arabia near the border of Yemen. Al-Zahrani was on the Saudi's most wanted of terror suspects. A surprising job report today. The nation payrolls grew dramatically slower than expected in July, adding just 32,000 jobs. An expert says that may cause the fed to rethink an increase in interest rates for now. And detectives in central Florida are investigating multiple murders this morning. Six bodies were found in a home in Deltona. Authorities talked about the grizzly find just a short time ago.</s>SHERIFF BEN JOHNSON, VOLUSIA COUNTY: At this time, it appears we have six victims in the house: four males, two females and a dog. All of the individuals in the house are all adults, 18 or above. We have an identity -- a tentative identity on some of them, but not all of them.</s>KAGAN: It's not known if the victims are related. Keeping you informed. CNN is the most trusted name in news. To our political news now. Today, President Bush told a conference of journalists in Washington, D.C., that the economy is strong and it's getting stronger. But there are new figures out from the Labor Department, showing that job growth in July was sharply below analysts' predictions. Our Kathleen Koch is in Washington to sort all this out for us. Kathleen, good morning.</s>KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn. Yes, some bad economic news for President Bush as he heads out again on the campaign trail today. The president departing last hour for the battleground state of New Hampshire. That was a state that he lost by -- he won, I should say, by just one percentage point over Al Gore back in 2000. He'll be speaking to a rally of some 4,000 supporters in Stratham. But before he left, Mr. Bush addressed the Unity Conference here in Washington. It's the world's largest gathering of journalists of color. Mr. Bush touted the progress that his administration has made in education, in health care, minority home ownership. He did not, though, make mention of these new and disappointing job numbers. Greg Mankiw, the head of the president's council of economic advisors told me the administration is not satisfied with the new numbers, that they believe overall the economy is headed in the right direction, but that they know they have more to do. President Bush insisted to the audience of journalists this morning that his policies have actually strengthened the economy.</s>GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You know, when I came into office, we had a problem with our economy. It was in a recession. In order to make sure this country is hopeful and people have a better chance to realize their dreams, we need economic growth. That's why I cut the taxes on everybody. I didn't cut them. The Congress cut them. I asked them to cut them. It was to stimulate the economy. It was to have people have more money in their pocket so they would demand additional goods or services. And the economic growth is strong, and it's getting stronger. And that's good for everybody in America.</s>KOCH: The president's Democratic challenger, Senator John Kerry, spoke to the Unity Conference yesterday, Senator Kerry telling the crowd that America is, in his opinion, still a house divided, separate, but unequal in many ways. He vowed that as president he would be committed to bridging those gaps. President Bush created a gap of his own when he refused an invitation in early July to speak to the NAACP. That made him the first president since Herbert Hoover to decline an invitation to speak to that group while in office. But President Bush today obviously doing his best, reaching out, trying to mend those fences. Back to you.</s>KAGAN: Kathleen Koch at the White House. Kathleen, thank you. Let's check in on the Kerry campaign. That campaign is very angry over a blistering new campaign commercial that accuses the Senator of lying about his service in Vietnam. Let's take a look.</s>SEN. JOHN EDWARDS (D-NC), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: ... about what John Kerry is made of, just spend three minutes with the men who served with him.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I served with John Kerry.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I served with John Kerry.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: John Kerry has not been honest about what happened in Vietnam.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He is lying about his record.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know John Kerry is lying about his first Purple Heart, because I treated him for that injury.</s>KAGAN: The plan is for the spot to air in three battleground states. Bob Elder is with Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. Del Sandusky piloted John Kerry's swift boat in Vietnam and is campaigning for the Senator. They both appeared on CNN's "AMERICAN MORNING" today with Bill Hemmer.</s>BOB ELDER, SWIFT BOAT VETERANS FOR TRUTH: Make that claim for two reasons. One, as you could see, it was that he betrayed all of us when he came home and went in front of the Congress of the United States and I accused all of us of war crimes. That is not what a war hero is made of. Secondly, we believe he grossly exaggerated, and even lied, about some of the circumstances under which certain awards were given to him.</s>DEL SANDUSKY, VIETNAM VETERAN: I was with John Kerry. I was the leading petty officer in the helmsman on PCF 94. I served with John Kerry. Those men did not serve with John Kerry. We were all in the same war at the same time possibly, but I could say the same thing: I served with General Westmoreland. Their ad is a pack of lies.</s>KAGAN: The ad right now is scheduled to air in Wisconsin, Ohio and West Virginia. The Kerry campaign calls it an inflammatory, outrageous lie. What's old is new again in politics, and at the movies, the new old film about the ways of Washington caught the eye of our senior political analyst, Bill Schneider.</s>BILL SCHNEIDER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST (voice-over): Who is the real Manchurian candidate? That's become the big guessing game ever since a remake of the 1962 movie was released last week. The original portrayed a communist conspiracy bent on subverting the American political system.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I served them. I fought for them. I'm on the point of winning for them the greatest foothold they will ever have in this country.</s>SCHNEIDER: But with a twist. The communists were using her husband, a Joe McCarthy-like politician, as a front man.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have here a list of the names of 207 persons who are known by the secretary of defense as being members of the Communist Party.</s>SCHNEIDER: Cut to 2004.</s>MERYL STREEP, ACTRESS: I think this is a very different kind of thing, concerned with different fears, different kinds of paranoia.</s>SCHNEIDER: In the remake, the scheme to subvert the American political system is masterminded by a powerful, shadowy, multi- national corporation.</s>JON VOIGT, ACTOR: Among the shareholders in Manchurian Global, were they ever to publish a list, which they won't, you would find former presidents, deposed kings, trust fund terrorists, fallen communist dictators, ayatollahs, African warlords and retired prime ministers.</s>SCHNEIDER: Modeled on Halliburton, the company Dick Cheney used to run? Ask the film's director.</s>JONATHAN DEMME, PRODUCER/DIRECTOR, "THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE": We are once again being terrified by our leaders into giving them carte blanche to conduct our affairs around the globe however they personally see fit, at great profit, by the way, to the multi-national corporations that they have so much involvement in.</s>SCHNEIDER: On the Web, some indignant conservatives say "The Manchurian Candidate" is John Kerry, a wholly owned and operated subsidiary of George Soros, one of his wealthy backers. There's no end to the speculation about the villain played by Meryl Streep.</s>STREEP: Make no mistake, the American people are terrified. They know something is coming. They can feel it. And we can either shovel them the same old sugar, or we can arm them. We can arm them with a young, vibrant vice president.</s>SCHNEIDER: Notice the haircut. One conservative web site asks, "A cold, diabolical, manipulative member of the U.S. Senate. Any thoughts on a real life middle-aged blonde who might fit the description?" Bill Schneider, CNN, Washington.</s>KAGAN: All right. We'll leave that to you to figure that out and answer that question. Meanwhile, we want to let you know that President and Mrs. Bush will be sitting down for our "LARRY KING LIVE." That's next Thursday for an exclusive joint interview. That will come your way 9 p.m. Eastern Thursday on CNN. It's 9 p.m. every night. The Brits say they are doing it in the name of the war on terror, removing something important from British passports. It's a story guarantee to do make you frown. That's later. But next, Cialis, Prilosec, Nexium, Streptera (ph)? These days, everything's a disease and can be all treated with something that's advertised on television. Our "Daily Dose" segment asks if America is overdosing on prescription meds.