Morning Show Wrap, by ABC News Political Unit

N E W Y O R K, July 19, 2004 —
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ABC led with Martha Stewart, CBS led with fires and floods, NBC led with the coming 9/11 Commission report raising new questions about who is to blame.

Appearing from the Fleet Center in Boston, Vanessa Kerry, the daughter of Sen. John Kerry, previewed the interactive design of the Democratic convention's stage for NBC, CBS, Fox and CNN.

9/11 Commission Report

Lisa Meyers reported that NBC News has learned that the 9/11 Commission report is silent on the judgment of whether 9/11 could have been prevented.

Meyers noted that the report criticizes President Clinton for failing to retaliate for the attack on the USS Cole and that it criticizes President Bush for failing to galvanize the bureaucracy in the summer of 2001.

ABC's Pierre Thomas reported on "Good Morning America" that the 9/11 Commission's report chronicles "failure after failure." Thomas highlighted the findings about Iran, saying that there's not evidence the Iranian government knew about 9/11 beforehand. "Still the report raises troubling questions. Iran is a much more well-known, well-established and persistent support of terrorists than Iraq ever was."

On NBC's "Today," President Clinton's former CIA Director James Woolsey defended the Bush Administration's decision to go to war with Iraq. In response to Katie Couric's comments that the 9/11 Commission's report downplays the connections between Iraq and Al Qaeda, Woolsey directed her attention to the Senate's report which, he said, "has far more details about the Iraqi-Al Qaeda connections, particularly in Chapter 12. People ought to go over that with some care." Given the new evidence about Iran's ties to Al Qaeda, NBC's Katie Couric asked Woolsey if the US invaded the wrong country. Woolsey argued that the invasion of Iraq, which he said he prefers to think of as the "freeing" of Iraq, "didn't hinge on whether Iraq was involved with 9/11 itself." Woolsey said it was the general connection with terrorist groups by Saddam's regime, work of one kind or another on weapons of mass destruction programs, and the terrible record he had. "After all, we went to war twice with Milosevic in the 1990s, and he killed about 10 percent as many people as Saddam Hussein." Woolsey said the creation of a national director position "may be a wise move," although objected to the title "national intelligence czar": "I think 500 years of stupidity followed by Bolshevism is not a good" idea.

Former CIA Director Stansfield Turner appeared on CNN's "American Morning" and argued for the creation of a national intelligence director and called John McLaughlin's opposition to such a move "predictable."

When asked skeptically by Bill Hemmer whether a national director could have prevented the Sept. 11 attacks, Turner replied, "It could have certainly have helped."

Vanessa Kerry's Democratic Convention Preview

In all of her morning interviews, Vanessa Kerry described the Democratic convention's more interactive stage with its two podiums, plenty of plasma screens, convention goers positioned close to the speakers and convention workers on display that will "bring the faces of America into the convention hall" while Kerry works to get out his message of "stronger at home, respected in the world."

On "Fox & Friends," Steve Doocy asked Vanessa Kerry about her quip to USA Today that she would like her secret service code name to be, "The Hot One."

Vanessa said she was mortified by the appearance of that comment and noted that sarcasm doesn't always translate so well in print.

On "Fox & Friends," Vanessa praised her father for "listening to me and respecting my opinion." Vanessa said she's a lot closer to her father than a lot of her girlfriends are to their own mothers.

Vanessa told CNN's Bill Hemmer that people would get to see the fighter, passionate, laughing side of her father through his biography and the issues he wants to fight on: 10 million new jobs, energy independence, early education, health care for all Americans and protecting civil liberties.

Asked about Judith Hope's comment that Sen. Clinton's exclusion from the list of speakers was a "slap in the face," Vanessa said, "Sen. Clinton was always a part of next week. She was going to be a part of the event with women senators. My father had the great pleasure of asking her to introduce her husband."

Vanessa told CBS that the looming Democratic convention is an "incredibly exciting time" for her father, "when the country is going to get to know him."

"He's like a little boy," she said.

Vanessa told NBC's Lester Holt about all of the women who will be addressing the convention, including the women senators and Gov. Jennifer Granholm of Michigan. Asked about her own speaking role, Vanessa said she's "getting as many pointers" as she can.

"Public speaking in front of a massive crowd is not something that I have done," she said.

Schwarzenegger Calls Opponents "Girlie Men"

Calif. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who is having trouble getting his budget passed, was shown on ABC, NBC, CBS and CNN lashing into his opponents as "girlie men." NBC's Natalie Morales handled the story as a tell for "Today," noting that Schwarzenegger's comment has been called "sexist and homophobic." ABC's Kate Snow handled the story for GMA, including footage of the Hans and Franz skit on "Saturday Night Live." CBS led its 8 am block with Schwarzenegger's "girlie men" comment and Democrats' demand for an apology. CNN's Jack Cafferty made it his question of the day, asking viewers if Schwarzenegger's comment was sexist and demeaning.

Tommy Thompson on Obesity

Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson discussed the effort to reclassify obesity as a disease on the CBS "Early Show," CNN's "American Morning" and "Fox & Friends."