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Vice President Campaigns in Florida; Presidential Candidates Prepare for Final Debate; Girl Attacked by Taliban Recovering from Gunshot Wounds; Lance Armstrong May Be Stripped of Tour de France Titles; Final Presidential Debate to be on Foreign Policy; Movie Critic Assesses Box Office Arrivals
Aired October 20, 2012 - 14:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: In just two days, President Obama and Mitt Romney will face off for a third and final time. This weekend, both candidates are working hard preparing behind closed doors in the hopes of winning the last showdown.
Their running mates, though, they're busy campaigning in key states this weekend. You're looking at live pictures of Vice President Biden at a rally in St. Augustine, Florida. So let's listen in.
JOE BIDEN, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: Instead of spending $800 billion over the next ten years, that money is going to be spent here, reduce the deficit, and begin to build roads in America, bridges in America, ports in America, schools in America.
And on housing, no state has been devastated more by housing than this state. Ladies and gentlemen, we're going to continue to push for people to be able to modify and refinance their mortgages. There are 14 million people, I don't know, probably over a million right here in this state, who have never missed a mortgage payment in their life, played by the rules, did everything right. But what happened is two guys down the street went under. All of a sudden they find out they lost all of the equity in their home or a big chunk of it. They're paying six percent, seven percent, they could be paying at 3.5 percent, 4 percent, saving themselves $3,000 a year. We have a proposal, doesn't cost the taxpayers a penny. If any bank got bailed out that has more than $50 billion, they have to put pennies on hundred dollars for a fund to insure the banks so when you go down and say I never missed a payment, let me refinance, they'll say OK. They're against this. We will get that done.
(APPLAUSE)
Folks, look. This is all about expanding the middle class. It's about giving people a way. So many hard working folks trying to climb into the middle class and so many hard working folks have been banged out of the middle class. As my dad used to say, it's a lot more. It's a lot more.
When my dad had to leave Scranton for a year to go to Wilmington to get set up, get a new job to bring the family down and things would be OK, I will never forget what my siblings, it rings in our ears. From that point on, my dad used to say every time a job would come up. He said, honey, a job is about a lot more than a paycheck. It's about your dignity. It's about your sense of self-worth. It's about self0respect. It's mainly if you're a parent about being able to turn and look your child in the eye and say with confidence, honey, it's going to be OK. It's going -- and so many middle class people and working class people have been decimated, not only in the loss of a job and the financial impact, but the psychological impact. They have been stripped of their dignity.
And this is all about, all about, I promise you in our private conversations, this is all about restoring that sense of dignity for the people who have lost -- to be able to say, Barack and I have an expression among the two of us and senior staffers, we're not going to rest until every parent can turn to their child and say with a degree of confidence, honey, it's going to be -- it's going to be OK, because that's the reason, that's the reason why we have to grow the middle class. It's about giving people and families peace of mind.
They have been crushed by this Republican -- this great recession. Ryan and Romney -- Ryan and Romney's plan is all about the same old thing. What did Romney say the first thing he would do as president? He would get rid of the new regulations on Wall Street and the banks. He would let Wall Street go back to being a casino, my words, not his, and let the banks go back to writing their rules.
The Ryan proposal, to continue and expand massive tax cuts. More than $2 billion in tax cuts for people making $1 million and beyond. We have seen that movie before. We know how it ends. The last time --
SAVIDGE: You are listening to Vice President Joe Biden as he addressed a gathering in St. Augustine, Florida. One of those pushing for Obama is the man who chaired the Democratic National Convention, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Mayor, thank you for joining us.
MAYOR ANTONIO VILLARAIGOSA, (D) LOS ANGELES: Thank you for having me.
SAVIDGE: Uncertain whether you could hear me. Let me ask you first, you're in Iowa today for the Jackson day dinner. The president spent a lot of time there. The latest polls show the president is still leading in Iowa, but ever so slightly. So what more can the president do in these closing days to outpace Mitt Romney?
VILLARAIGOSA: Well, what we're doing today is encouraging people to early vote. We're making sure the people get to the polls. We have a very extensive ground operation. I think there are like 67 offices or so in the state of Iowa, field offices talking to voters, getting them to vote early, and getting them to go to the polls. This is going to be a very close election. I have said that for a long time. I never thought that this was going to be a landslide for us. It's going to be very close. But in the end, I think Iowa and Ohio and Wisconsin are going to be our line, if you will, in the sand, and they're going to help the president get re-elected.
SAVIDGE: Do you think the president should put forward new ideas -- excuse me, new ideas, new thoughts, or just simply continue as is? In other words, do you bring in a new campaign tactic now or it's two weeks, let's just focus on what we said and hold on?
VILLARAIGOSA: I think you have to focus on the plan forward. As an example, on his plan to cut the deficit by $4 trillion, but to do so in a way that is very similar to the Simpson-Bowles framework which says you have to cut spending but you also have to raise revenues. That's why he doesn't want to extend the Bush tax cuts. He wants to keep them where they were during the Clinton administration when we went from deficits to surplus and created 23 million jobs.
According to Moody Analytics, if we stay the path, we will create 12 million jobs in the next four years. I think he's got to talk about why Obama care is good for the American people. He's got to talk about the fact that 32 million people will have health care. He's got to make sure that we compare and contrast between his policies that are balanced and the policies of Mr. Romney, which don't add up on the math, and which change from day to day. and as you heard the president today, he talked about "Romnesia" and this tendency on the part of Mr. Romney to forget what his positions are from day to day and almost minute to minute.
SAVIDGE: Before we run out of time, I want to ask you, voter turnout is crucial for Democrats. And this is not the election of 2008 where there was so much excitement. Are you concerned?
VILLARAIGOSA: We're always concerned about voter turnout. You know, we've got -- that's why we have such an extensive voter outreach and effort. That's why we're focused primarily in the places where we'll make a difference, in Nevada, Colorado, Iowa, Ohio, Wisconsin, Virginia, North Carolina, and Florida. We're focused on getting the vote out. That's why we put a lot of money for the last year, a lot of effort in cultivating volunteers, getting neighbor to neighbor to talk to one another and get them out to vote to make sure that they know what's at stake in this election.
But, yes, we are very concerned. And we're not relying just on commercials and on the super PACs and the super smears. We're getting people out. We're getting neighbor to neighbor, telling them this election is important. It's about our children's future.
SAVIDGE: Mr. Mayor, thank you very much for joining us today. We appreciate it greatly.
And just a reminder to all of you, coming up in a few minutes, I'll be talking with a representative of the Mitt Romney campaign, Representative Tom Price, to see how things are looking on the other side of the ticket.
Diplomatic cables have just been released and they show that the U.S. ambassador to Libya saw his security manpower dwindle from 34 to 27 in July with plans to go down to seven officers in August. Christopher Stevens was one of four to die September 11th in a terrorist attack against the consulate in Benghazi. Stevens wrote in one cable about, quote, a security vacuum. The cable was part of 160 pages of documents the chairmen of the House oversight committee made public. State department officials have told CNN previously they consider the attack unprecedented, even impossible to defend. And insiders just yesterday said they detected no evidence of the fact it was planned or ordered by Al Qaeda.
The Pakistani teen who was shot point blank for her outspokenness on girls' education has send the world a message from her hospital bed. "Thank you." Malala Yousufzai extends her gratitude to well-wishers and doctors and nurses now treating her in England. Much of the world has cheered on that 15-year-old who has been able to stand and write coherent sentences after the bullet grazed her brain. The Taliban said they plan on going after the girl again.
Lance Armstrong was defied in his first public appearance after a report accusing him of running the most sophisticated doping report in history. Armstrong took the stage at a gala marking the 15th anniversary of his cancer charity, Live Strong. The seven time Tour de France champion stepped down this week as the organizers chairman. Armstrong didn't address the doping allegations, but he did thank reporters and the employees.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LANCE ARMSTRONG: This mission is bigger than me. It's bigger than any individual. There's 28 million people around the world living with this disease. Martin Luther King said once, he said we must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAVIDGE: Coming up in about a half hour from now, I'm going to be talking to Bill Strickland. He's the editor of "Bicycling" magazine. And he's known Lance Armstrong since they were both in their early 20s, and he's got some thoughts on what Lance Armstrong will say when he finally does address his current situation. Again, that will be about a half hour from now. It should be very interesting.
More politics next. Don't forget, you can check out the final presidential debate Monday night right here on CNN. Our live coverage will begin at 7:00 p.m. eastern time.
So we have heard from the Democrats. Now we're going to hear from one of Romney's key supporters, Congressman Tom Price of Georgia.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SAVIDGE: Earlier in Florida, GOP vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan appealed to small business interests and how the Romney team approaches them.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PAUL RYAN, (R) VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We are not going to duck the tough issues. We're going to run at our country's economic and fiscal problems before they get out of our control. That's what leaders do. And when you look at the engine of economic growth and job creation in this country, it's small businesses. It's risk takers. It's entrepreneurs. It's the workers who work overtime to make the small businesses work and succeed. We're going to champion the small businesses. We're not going to keep attacking the small businesses and regulating them and spending us into a debt crisis.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAVIDGE: We're just, if you can believe it, 17 days away now from the presidential election. And it could not probably be any closer. President Obama and Mitt Romney's last joint appearance was a fundraiser in New York that took place Thursday where they had some lighter moments and poked fun at each other. But the campaigns wasted no time getting back to the fight in the battleground states while the candidates are now preparing for their final showdown, which is going to be Monday night in the debate. Dr. Tom Price, who represents Georgia's seventh district in Atlanta, joins us now. Thank you for coming here.
REP. TOM PRICE, (R) GEORGIA: Good to be with you.
SAVIDGE: We saw of course a very aggressive Mitt Romney. A pretty closely fought debate the last time around. Yet, foreign policy which is the primary focus of this one tends to favor the incumbent president. What do you think?
PRICE: Well, I think what Governor Romney's challenge is to present his positive vision of their role in the world. I think voters will get a chance to see how Governor Romney would lead America, because we certainly can't afford four more years of President Obama leading from behind.
If you think about the last four you years, Iran is four years closer to a nuclear weapon, our relationship with Israel, arguably our closest ally, are at levels unheard of. This famous reset button with Russia has resulted in no increase in cooperation whatsoever. And our military is threatened with a $1 trillion spending reduction. So I think Mitt Romney will be able to make clear that friends of America will know our resolve and our commitment and enemies who attack America know we will not rest until they're defeated.
SAVIDGE: If we look beyond this debate and we're down to the last two weeks, what is the message you think that Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan have to deliver?
PRICE: Well, it's that positive vision of America. This is really a contrast between two visions of what the role of America ought to be in the world and what the role of the government ought to be in America. The president won't tell you what his agenda is, but we know what it is. It's higher taxes, it's fewer jobs. It's another stimulus, even though we don't know where the last one went. We certainly know it wasn't productive. Under a Romney/Ryan administration, we'll see increase in jobs, 12 million new jobs, lower taxes for all Americans, an energy plan.
SAVIDGE: It's keeping that message out there. You don't see Mr. Romney coming forward with new ideas or something completely different? It's just hammer home the points he has made?
PRICE: Right, and if you think about it, the only thing that's changed in the last two weeks is Governor Romney and Paul Ryan have had an opportunity to communicate with the American people unfiltered. When the American people have seen Governor Romney and Congressman Ryan unfiltered, they say yes, that's the team we want to lead the country, because they know there's a better future for America than what the president has laid out.
SAVIDGE: Let's talk about women, because we have seen the polls go back and forth. In many cases, it is women, at least, according to the pollsters. What is the approach? How does Mitt Romney reach out and solidify his position with women voters? It seems he's had problems with that in the past.
PRICE: Again, I think what the president -- the president can't run on his record, so he wants to divide America. And it's division along racial lines, division along gender lines, division along economic lines.
SAVIDGE: But what Mitt Romney will do?
PRICE: That's why we see this constraints. What Governor Romney has done and Paul Ryan has done has laid out the positive vision, and it's not just a positive vision for a certain sector of our society. It's a positive vision for all of society, more jobs. If you look at Governor Romney's record when he was governor of Massachusetts, top 20 jobs in that state, top 20 jobs in the government of that state, 50 percent, ten of them, held by women. This is an individual who recognizes that every work has worth, and every individual has -- ought to have an opportunity to gain the work and the occupation they desire.
SAVIDGE: All right, we're out of time. Dr. Price, thank you for coming and talking to us.
PRICE: Vice President Joe Biden just wrapped up a rally in the battleground state of Florida and he wept after Mitt Romney's economic plans. CNN's political reporter Shannon Travis was at that event, and that was in St. Augustine, and joins us now live. Shannon, are the rallies getting more intense as the election draws closer. Is the crowd more wrapped up in them?
SHANNON TRAVIS, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: The crowd is getting a lot more raucous in terms of chanting four more years for President Obama and Vice President Biden. The enthusiasm level is high. The crowd count has been cent over the past few weeks I have been following Vice President Biden. You can probably see him behind me. If you can't see him, you can see his supporters. He's still here. This is the third rally over the last two days here in Florida, Obviously, a critical battleground state.
The president has been here alone nine times in 2012. A few things he's mentioned are similar things he mentioned in the last few days, Romney in terms of describing him as a flip-flopper. He went after Romney for the whole binder thing, for the second day in a row, holding up the binder for the "binders full of women" moment.
And one interesting moment, there was a baby crying, a baby in Biden's speech. He acknowledged the baby and said that baby is crying because he or she knows what would happen under a Romney presidency. A little bit interesting there, obviously 29 electoral votes for Florida. Critical battleground for both campaigns. Martin?
SAVIDGE: The biggest of the swing states right now. Where is Paul Ryan focusing his -- excuse me -- his efforts this weekend?
TRAVIS: Obviously, two other important battlegrounds, Pennsylvania and Ohio. The vice presidential nominee on the Republican side focusing his attention here today. One other thing of note, Ann Romney was in Orlando earlier today. That's not very far at all from where we are right here. Martin?
SAVIDGE: All right, thanks very much. Following the vice president and Paul Ryan as they are out on the campaign filling in for their surrogates, I guess. Thank you very much.
Don't forget, you can check out the final presidential debate Monday night right here on CNN. Our live coverage will begin at 7:00 p.m. eastern time.
One of the topics that may come up again, China and the money America owes it. Barack Obama and Mitt Romney are using it as a punching bag, China, that is, trying to see who could be the toughest on China and trying to also woo voters.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SAVIDGE: Monday night in Florida, President Obama and Mitt Romney will have their final debate of the season, and foreign policy is scheduled to be the main focus. America's presence in Afghanistan and Pakistan are sure to come up. Both sparred vigorously in their last debate and in New York and with the race so close, you might expect more of the same. Peter Bergen is CNN's national security analyst and he joins us from Washington. Good to see you.
PETER BERGEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Good afternoon.
SAVIDGE: Polls are showing that most Americans want to get out of Afghanistan. They have shown that for quite some time, actually. But I'm wondering, does that help the president heading into this debate and the election? Or does it hurt Romney since he appears or tries to appear to be more military hawkish?
BERGEN: I think both campaigns have had somewhat confused public positions on this one martin, because if you think back to the debate between Paul Ryan and Vice President Biden, Biden was pretty adamant, saying we're going to be out of Afghanistan in 2014, period. But the fact is the Obama administration has negotiated a strategic partnership with the Afghan government indicating America will have some kind of presence still being worked out until 2024. So if on Monday's debate people get into details, in fact, the Obama administration's position is really a long-term presence in Afghanistan for more than a decade.
On the other side of the coin, martin, you know, the Romney administration line seems to be we'll listen to our generals. The fact is the Obama administration is, you know, the fact that they have negotiated an agreement to get combat troops out in 2014 and some longer term advisory position has been discussed with U.S. generals, but not only U.S. generals but the Afghan government and with our NATO allies and 40 plus countries in Afghanistan. It's not as simple as saying I'm going to listen to my generals because the fact is there are a lot of people who have a vote in this, not least the Afghan government, but also NATO in general and our other allies.
SAVIDGE: We saw that in the case in point in Iraq where the U.S. wanted to extend and due to the agreement that could not be worked out, it was just the opposite. We pulled our troops out quickly or ahead of what was anticipated.
BERGEN: Right. My guess is that the Afghans, I think it will be a different outcome in Afghanistan. Most do want a U.S.-NATO presence as a guarantee of some form of stability there. The Afghan parliament could say at the end of December 2014, we don't want anybody to stay.
SAVIDGE: Let's talk about next door, Pakistan, and the shooting of the 15-year-old mala, and how this has struck such a chord with the world, international outrage. In Pakistan, there's starting to be outrage, but it seems to have faded and the argument seems to have turned in a way that favors the Taliban. What is happening?
BERGEN: I think, martin, the Taliban's image as sort of a group of robin hoods long ago have operated in Pakistan, and you may recall in 2009, the Pakistani military mounted serious operations not far from the capital of Islamabad against the Taliban and had some success. So, you know, the fact that the terrible incident with Malala certainly has kind of confirmed, I think, there view in Pakistan that the Taliban are not some sort of religious warriors.
But there is a small and vocal minority of religious parties in Pakistan who tend to have a conspiracist view of the United States, and some people are saying perhaps America was involved in this incident or Al Qaeda, and there's no evidence of that. And more to the point, the Taliban itself has released a seven-page memo outlining why it did this terrible act. So, you know, I think overtime the Taliban, favorable views of the Taliban are fading in Pakistan, and this will 1 firm that.
SAVIDGE: Real quick, we're out of time, but do you think this was naive for the rest of the world to think Pakistan would throw out the Taliban as a result of this?
BERGEN: The Taliban -- the Taliban are giving U.S. and NATO troops quite a run for their money in Afghanistan. It's not just as simple as to say, we're going to throw them out. You know, a military operation against the Taliban in north Waziristan would be pretty complicated. We have seen that on the other side of the border.
SAVIDGE: Yes, we have. Peter Bergen, as always, thank you for your insights.
CNN has your front row seat to the final debate, Obama versus Romney in Boca Raton, Florida. Our coverage will begin at 7:00 eastern on CNN.
A teenager dreams of becoming a baseball player. But then a medical condition changes his life forever. Dr. Sanjay Gupta has his story in today's human factor.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA: As a drum major for Marching Mizzou, the University of Missouri's famed marching band, Paul Heddings is living his dream. It's a new dream because his original dream of playing professional baseball was disappearing.
PAUL HEDDINGS, UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI DRUM MAJOR: September 7, 2007, just barely into my junior year of high school.
GUPTA: The 17-year-old woke up and his world was changing.
HEDDINGS: Everything was just a little blurry. It didn't seem like anything was wrong.
GUPTA: But something was terribly wrong. His retinas had detached and started to tear apart in both eyes.
HEDDINGS: I didn't know how my life would change, what I'd be able to do, what I wouldn't be able to do. I could potentially go completely blind.
GUPTA: Paul says this was not caused by disease or trauma but by genetics.
HEDDINGS: This happened to my mom, my grandma, a couple uncles, even my little sister is having similar issues.
GUPTA: They didn't lose much vision. Paul, on the other hand, is now legally blind. Sight in his best eye can't be corrected beyond 20/200.
HEDDINGS: My left eye has blind spots. My peripheral vision is great, and that's why I'm so high functioning. The right eye is just kind of there.
GUPTA: He can read but not well by digitally scanning books into a computer that has magnification software. He said family, friends, and music saved his life. He joined the high school's drum line, taking it home, magnifying it, memorizing it.
HEDDINGS: I strapped up my boots and went to work.
GUPTA: He made the Mizzou drum line first playing symbols and then after an extensive interview process, clinched the coveted drum major spot. Most in the band didn't even know he was legally blind. He suffered three detachments and cataracts in both eyes. One has now been removed. So far he's had more than ten operations and countless laser procedures.
HEDDINGS: I could wake up tomorrow and lose more vision. I could walk away from here today and something could happen and I could lose vision.
GUPTA: Headings hopes his time on the ladder will change the perception of visually impaired people.
HEDDINGS: I want to be able to say when I leave here that I did something special. And that I didn't let this hold me back.
GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting.
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SAVIDGE: Thanks for joining us. I'm Martin Savidge in for Fredricka Whitfield. It's half past the hour, and these are the stories we're watching right now.
A manhunt underway in Inglewood, California, after five people believed to be related were shot earlier this morning. According to police, three of the victims were children, two were adults. A four- year-old boy has died along with a 30-year-old male victim. Three others are in stable condition. Police are now searching for a 55- year-old black male who was last seen wearing a dark hat and painter's mask.
I want to bring in now Art Barron from our affiliate, KCAL-KCBS. Art, the police say that the family may know who the shooter is. What is the connection? And what sparked this?
ART BARRON, REPORTER, KCAL-KCBS: Martin, I have been speaking with some neighbors today in Inglewood, and what I'm hearing time after time is the person they believe is the gunman, the suspect, was someone who rented out a room, a back house, if you will, from the residents there in Inglewood. And the other thing that we're hearing is that apparently he became behind on his rent, and so they sued for the back-rent, and then served an eviction notice, and then came back and shot the family.
Now, that is unconfirmed. I did ask the police chief of Inglewood, he said, I know of that. I have heard that story, we're looking into that. But at this point but he couldn't say if that is confirmed or not. That's an angle they're looking at right now.
As far as the gunman himself, we don't know his whereabouts, but the police believe he may have died inside the fire because when authorities got this call this morning, it came in as several people shot and so they found five family members, they say are family members, who were shot. And then they also found a back house on fire. So it took them a while to put out the fire because it was a safety concern for the firefighters themselves. They didn't know where the suspect was.
SAVIDGE: All right, I have to stop you there, but we will continue to stay in touch with you. Thank you for the update.
BARRON: You're welcome.
SAVIDGE: Just in to CNN, numbers are up again in the deadly fungal meningitis outbreak. The CDC is reporting 13 new cases of fungal meningitis. There are 281 overall cases. And here's another new number, 21 deaths. The FDA raided the company blamed for causing the deadly outbreak this week. Most patients got sick after being contaminated steroid injections used for back and neck pain.
Well, the cycling union weighs in Monday on Lance Armstrong. But in a minute, we'll hear from a man who has known him almost 20 years and why he says Armstrong needs to come clean.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SAVIDGE: You are watching an exploding meteor that lit up the skies over northern California on Wednesday night. Some observers say the sight was accompanied by a large crash, which could have been the sound of the sound barrier breaking. The annual shower made up of debris from Haley's comet. It may be appropriate to move on to our next story, falling star.
Lance Armstrong's finally made a public appearance. He took center stage at his charity's 15th gala event. It was the first time he has spoken publicly after he was accused of running the most sophisticating doping program ever in sports. He's also lost major endorsements, and on Monday, the International Cycling Union will respond to calls for Armstrong to be stripped of his medals from the Tour de France.
Bill Strickland is the editor at large for "Bicycling" magazine. He's. He's also the author of the book "Tour de Lance," and he's known Armstrong for 18 years. He joins me now. And Bill, let me play you a few seconds of Lance Armstrong's appearance last night at the event for his Live Strong charity.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ARMSTRONG: It's been an interesting couple of weeks. It's been a difficult couple of weeks for me, for my family, for my friends, for this foundation. I get asked a lot, people say, man, how are you doing?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAVIDGE: Bill, you know Lance Armstrong. I'm wondering, is that the look of a man who is resigned to his fate at this point?
BILL STRICKLAND, EDITOR AT LARGE, "BICYCLING" MAGAZINE: No, lance would never be resigned to his fate. He's sort of like a chess master always looking for the various options he can play. You can be assured that he's going to run this out as far as he can. And one of those options, I think, I'm starting to hear that they're thinking about what an admission would be like.
SAVIDGE: When you say a man looking for options, it almost sounds like a man looking for any escape route he can find. That begs the question of how sincere if an apology route is taken. Do you think he really is feeling a sense of remorse and a sense of responsibility to speak out? STRICKLAND: It's hard to say. I would say that concern for his cancer awareness foundation is sincere, and I would say from there, he's probably looking at the implications of letting the jerseys be stripped, a lot of legal implications, and the sort of the cultural implications of what it would mean for him to continue to proclaim his innocence or to try to find some sort of way to repent for what he's done.
SAVIDGE: How would Lance Armstrong say I'm sorry? How does it sound from him?
STRICKLAND: Well, that's a good question. One thing you would imagine that he would try to put the era in context, a little like baseball's steroid era, the homerun era. When he was racing, pretty much if you wanted to win, if you wanted to compete or help those at the top level, you had to be using EPO or blood doping as well as other drugs.
SAVIDGE: All right, I don't buy that, but I understand the context in which you phrase it.
Let me ask you this. As he comes forward and in the days that come ahead, he has done a lot of good. And I don't think anybody doubts that Lance Armstrong has done a tremendous amount of good. But he's also done a lot of bad. It wasn't just the doping. It was also the allegations he applied pressure to other people, he intimidated other people. And he carried out this front for such a long time and we all bought into it, right or wrong. Has he been blamed too much in this?
STRICKLAND: Well, absolutely. Sort of, it's so unsavory because so many people viewed him as a hero, not just a sports figure who had done amazing things, but a hero culturally. I don't know if an apology is too much. Generally, it seems to be Michael Vick has come back, a lot of other athletes. But Lance is a whole different stratosphere. We don't know.
SAVIDGE: Where were the cycling journalists in all of this? This has been known, suspected, talked about for years. I know you came out in 2011, but prior to that, we knew or heard of this. Where were the tough questions from the cycling journalists?
STRICKLAND: There were tough questions asked. There were journalists such as David Walsh and Paul Kimmage who pursued the story, who published books, who were the subject of lawsuits because of this. A lot of it, everyone would talk about it, but there was never the absolute proof that the journalists felt they needed to come out with the story once and for all.
SAVIDGE: The cycling union is expected to come up with a ruling. What do you expect them to do and say?
STRICKLAND: It seems likely they're going to have to take the jerseys away. It's a little bit confusing for people. USADA has stripped the jerseys, but it needs to formally happen from the worldwide agency, the UCI. So it seems almost like they have to do it. There's some question over whether they will because if you read the entire report, al 1,000 pages of it, there could be arguments made that they're sort of bound up in all of this with Lance Armstrong.
SAVIDGE: You definitely could make that argument. Bill Strickland, thank you for coming on and talking about your friend as well as a person you follow as a journalist. Thank you.
STRICKLAND: Thank you.
SAVIDGE: He's an actor, producer, and director. And now Tyler Perry is taking on the role of detective in a new action thriller. No wig, no dress, it's Tyler. Hear what he has to say about that.
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SAVIDGE: Whether you're looking to go out to the theater or stay inside and watch a DVD, there are lots of new movies. Actor, producer, and director Tyler Perry is taking on the role of detective in the action thriller "Alex Cross," and then also "Moon Rise Kingdom" is out on DVD. Grae Drake is the senior editor of RottenTomatoes.com, and of course she joins me now to review both movies. So let's start with Tyler Perry. No dress, no wig, and playing very serious. How did he do?
GRAE DRAKE, MOVIE CRITIC: Exactly. This is his moment as an action star. And he actually pulls it off. Now, Tyler Perry's movies, whether he's directing them or just starring in them like Alex Cross, they have always caused a war between critics and audiences, because people love to watch him, but critics oftentimes are not in love with the way he attacks things.
But this time he's attacking Picasso who is a serial killer, and Matthew Fox, the dude from "Lost" is scarier than any time anybody has talked smack to Medea, for sure. That's the best part of the movie. The rest of it, critics are saying a little predictable, and I have to agree with them. I didn't think it was the most compelling thing, but again, Matthew Fox. It's all about him doing a lot of pull-ups and you know, giving crazy eyes.
SAVIDGE: "Moon Rise Kingdom" with Tyler, is he believable? Is this a new future for him or back to hot he used to?
DRAKE: Yes, there's already a sequel in the works. They didn't even need to see the box office to know he's going to be Alex Cross again. Fans of the book, you're welcome.
SAVIDGE: "Moon Rise Kingdom," a movie I very much want to see and is out on DVD. Is it worth the purchase price?
DRAKE: It's definitely worth it because this movie is spectacular. For everybody wondering what is going to pop up during award season, put this on your list. Bill Murray, Edward Norton, Bruce Willis, all of these people are in this great movie directed by one of my favorite folks, Wes Anderson. The special features are a little light on the Blu-ray but it doesn't matter because it's about boy scouts and pop French music and falling in love and little kids running away together much to the protest of their parents. It's fun and magical and it's going to keep coming up more and more. This is a perfect rental for the weekend.
SAVIDGE: Sorry, I was waiting. We were going to play a little bit of it but apparently we don't have time for it. I'm looking forward to it. It's a superb cast. I just would say that's the movie for me.
DRAKE: Absolutely. It's really the movie for everyone. It's one of Wes Anderson's best. I loved it.
SAVIDGE: OK, I guess we're leaving it there. Thanks very much. Appreciate it, Grae. Thank you and you have a great weekend and we'll look forward to more movies next weekend.
Remember, you can get all of Grae's movie interviews at RottenTomatoes.com.
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SAVIDGE: A soccer fan in England takes his anger right to the field and attacks one of the goalies. You see the goalie trying to compose himself after giving up a goal. Then a fan runs toward him and shoved him right in the face, knocks him down to the ground. The fan then goes back to the stands, and unbelievably isn't caught. Police are still looking for him. He was up, a bit shaken. But after some treatment, he returned to the game.
From an assault on a goalie to an amazing field goal -- a high school senior in Spokane, Washington, nailed a 67-yard kick to tie the record for the second longest field goal in high school football history. The NFL record, by the way, is just 63 yards. Austin Wreckhouse's team was losing with seven seconds on the clock, but he got the kick that sent the game into overtime. And you know what, they won. Congratulations.
Police in Detroit have a mystery on their hands and a lot of people who are scared, 15 shootings in just two days. People in cars have been the targets. Nobody, fortunately, has been killed, but it's stirring up echoes of the past. We'll tell you why.
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