CBS Evening News Online Edition - 2005-11-02
Channel: malgent
Transcript
Language: English (YouTube automatic captions)
[0:00] Hello, I'm Bob Schaefer and welcome to
[0:02] the CBS Evening News online edition.
[0:04] Just ahead, some very bad poll numbers
[0:06] for the president. The worst since Nixon
[0:09] was in the White House. John Roberts
[0:10] will have the story. Also, suicide car
[0:13] bomber strike in both northern and
[0:15] southern Iraq. Kimberly Doer reports on
[0:18] what's behind the high level of
[0:19] violence. And from what fork to use to
[0:22] dressing for success, we'll take you to
[0:24] a top school that's teaching manners.
[0:26] It's all starting now on the CBS Evening
[0:28] News online edition.
[0:33] Not much got done in Washington today,
[0:35] but tempers did cool a little after the
[0:37] partisan meltdown that brought Senate
[0:39] business to a halt yesterday. Even so,
[0:42] neither Congress nor the White House
[0:44] will find much in a new CBS News poll.
[0:46] To put them in a better humor, the
[0:48] president's job approval has reached the
[0:50] lowest level yet. Only 35% approve of
[0:54] the job he's doing. Congress is rated
[0:56] even lower. Only 34% approve its work.
[1:00] Vice President Cheney has never been as
[1:02] popular as the president, but his
[1:04] favorable rating is down 9 points this
[1:06] year to just 19%.
[1:10] So, where does the White House go from
[1:11] here? The president is finding no
[1:13] shortage of advice. And we go now to
[1:16] John Roberts for more on that.
[1:19] >> The plunge in poll numbers is another
[1:21] dose of bad news for a White House mired
[1:24] in it. The only recent president lower
[1:26] at this point in their second term was
[1:27] Richard Nixon.
[1:30] What's behind the slide? 2,000 war dead
[1:32] in Iraq. An indictment in the CIA
[1:34] league. The aborted Harriet Meyers
[1:36] nomination. The disastrous response to
[1:38] Hurricane Katrina.
[1:40] >> The president I think has bottomed out.
[1:42] I think last week was the bottom.
[1:44] >> Kim Dubberstein doesn't like what he
[1:46] sees. Part of a team Ronald Reagan
[1:48] brought in to help recover from the Iran
[1:49] Contra scandal. Dubberstein wrote a
[1:52] prescription for change in today's New
[1:54] York Times.
[1:55] >> I think that they need to bring in some
[1:56] new blood, but new blood that would give
[1:59] the president a different differing
[2:01] opinions. Not somebody who's been burned
[2:04] out for four or 5 years, but somebody
[2:06] who has a fresh perspective.
[2:08] >> I now move that Senate go into close
[2:10] session.
[2:11] >> Yesterday's shutdown of the Senate shows
[2:13] the political danger of presidential
[2:15] drift. Democrats sat back and watched
[2:17] for an opening, then moved right in.
[2:20] >> Over 60% of the American people say, "We
[2:22] want this country moving in a
[2:23] significantly new direction." They're
[2:26] looking for vision and leadership.
[2:27] They're looking for a voice, and that's
[2:29] where the Democrats have to step up.
[2:31] >> The battle is over momentum heading into
[2:33] an election year. The White House lost
[2:36] it. The Democrats want it, and
[2:37] Republicans in Congress are desperate to
[2:39] hang on to whatever threads are left.
[2:42] Well, the progress is there and the
[2:43] momentum is there and we're going to
[2:45] deliver for the American people. Uh I
[2:47] see signs of obstruction around here all
[2:49] the time. Too much for me, but we're
[2:50] just going to kind of move and try to
[2:52] stay above it. This week's Alto
[2:54] nomination and the president's bird flu
[2:56] speech were the first steps in a
[2:58] turnaround, says Duberstein. But the
[3:00] White House still needs to lose the
[3:01] bunker mentality led in new ideas.
[3:04] >> This country, it can't afford three
[3:06] years of drift, and neither can the
[3:09] world. The president of the United
[3:10] States has to be at the top of his game.
[3:13] >> So far, there's no indication that
[3:15] President Bush is considering any of the
[3:17] outside advice to shake up the White
[3:19] House. But one thing is clear. If he
[3:20] doesn't find his footing soon,
[3:22] suggestions for change will quickly turn
[3:24] into demands. Bob, John, our political
[3:28] correspondent, Gloria Bourer, is in
[3:29] Boston tonight on another assignment.
[3:31] Let's bring her into this for a little
[3:33] analysis. Gloria, if the president did
[3:35] decide to bring in some new people, do
[3:37] you have any idea who he might bring in?
[3:39] Well, I can tell you, Bob, that he would
[3:42] only bring in people that he feels very
[3:44] comfortable with. This is not a
[3:45] president who would bring in somebody he
[3:47] doesn't know, say, to be his new chief
[3:50] of sca staff. There's word that Andy
[3:52] Card, his current chief of staff, might
[3:54] want to be Treasury Secretary. So, if he
[3:56] brings in somebody new, it's going to be
[3:58] somebody he knows possibly from his days
[4:01] in Texas.
[4:02] >> John, one thing and one person we
[4:04] haven't talked about much lately is Carl
[4:05] Rove. We do know he's still under
[4:07] investigation by the federal prosecutor,
[4:10] but we also know he's still on the job.
[4:12] Do you think he's going to stay with the
[4:14] president?
[4:15] >> I I think so, but uh perhaps uh in the
[4:17] future in a reduced capacity. Senator
[4:20] Trent Lodge said it yesterday. Other
[4:21] Republicans have said it today that they
[4:23] don't think he can handle both the
[4:24] politics as the president's closest
[4:26] adviser and the policy of being the
[4:28] deputy chief of staff. So, at some point
[4:30] down the road, and perhaps not in the
[4:32] far too distant future, he may have to
[4:33] separate those two positions. And
[4:35] Gloria, you were up on the hill
[4:36] yesterday when we had that meltdown that
[4:38] brought the Senate to a halt. Obviously,
[4:41] uh, congressional Republicans have
[4:42] problems of their own. Do you think that
[4:45] if the president reaches out to them,
[4:47] they'll offer him any help?
[4:50] >> Not with his popularity uh, at 35%, Bob.
[4:53] Uh, these people say it's each man for
[4:55] himself right now. There are 80 House
[4:58] seats up for grabs and they're not going
[4:59] to line up behind an unpopular
[5:01] president. They need to get reelected.
[5:03] George W. Bush does not.
[5:05] >> All right. Well, thanks to both of you.
[5:07] Getting back to that CDS poll, it also
[5:09] shows that Americans 2 to one now say
[5:12] going to war in Iraq was not worth the
[5:14] cost. And that cost is rising fast. In
[5:17] the past 24 hours, six more US service
[5:20] members and dozens of Iraqis were
[5:22] killed. Here's Kimberly Doer with that.
[5:25] Suicide car bombers hit north and south
[5:28] of Baghdad today. In Kirkook, the
[5:30] explosion struck near an American
[5:32] patrol. And in the south, another bomber
[5:34] driving a minibus hit a busy market.
[5:39] As the Muslim holy month of Ramadan
[5:41] ends, radical militants believe this is
[5:43] one of their last chances to receive
[5:45] extra blessings for an act of violence.
[5:47] US forces also suffered losses in
[5:50] Rammani. A Cobra helicopter like this
[5:52] one crashed, killing two. One Iraqi
[5:55] witness claims it was shot down, but the
[5:57] US is still investigating. and a marine
[6:00] and a sailor were killed by what has
[6:01] become the deadliest weapon in the
[6:03] insurgents arsenal, a roadside bomb.
[6:06] Americans are detecting more than half
[6:08] the explosives in Baghdad, at least
[6:10] before they go off, thanks to new
[6:12] technology or to local residents. Many
[6:15] Iraqis tip the Americans off to the
[6:17] bombs because they're tired of the
[6:19] violence. A roadside device today hit a
[6:21] bus, killing at least five. The
[6:24] insurgents counter strategy has been
[6:26] three-fold. They're building bigger
[6:27] bombs to overcome the armor and planting
[6:30] more of them. And they're often using a
[6:32] new infrared trigger to make sure
[6:35] military convoys get hit, not civilians.
[6:38] US and British officials say that
[6:40] technology came along with the new, more
[6:42] lethal shaped charges smuggled in from
[6:44] Iran. Officials also fear Iraqis are
[6:47] learning how to make them right here. US
[6:50] forces have found several of these
[6:52] shaped charges before they've gone off
[6:54] and figured out how they worked. and in
[6:56] some cases how to stop them. But as soon
[6:59] as the enemy figures out what the
[7:00] Americans know, they change their
[7:02] methods. It's a continuing game of cat
[7:04] and mouse technology with deadly
[7:07] consequences. Kimberly Doer, CBS News,
[7:10] Baghdad.
[7:11] >> Well, the royal tour rolled into
[7:13] Washington today. President and Mrs.
[7:15] Bush welcome Prince Charles and his wife
[7:17] Camila to the White House. They are the
[7:19] guests of honor for a black tie dinner
[7:21] which will feature celery and shrimp
[7:23] soup, buffalo medallions, and chartreuse
[7:27] ice cream for dessert, which always goes
[7:29] well after buffalo. It goes without
[7:31] saying everyone will be minding his or
[7:34] her manners, but do Americans really
[7:36] know how to behave in such a situations.
[7:38] It used to be that little kids got
[7:41] taught manners. Now they're teaching the
[7:43] basics of etiquette in college. Here's
[7:46] Joe Maxel.
[7:48] They are some of the nation's brightest,
[7:49] but Cornell University's engineering
[7:51] students still have a thing or two to
[7:53] learn.
[7:54] >> And when we use a napkin, we just
[7:55] >> about etiquette.
[7:56] >> Gently blot our lips. We don't clean.
[7:59] >> After hearing from prospective employers
[8:01] that today's graduates are about as
[8:03] familiar with table manners as
[8:05] typewriters, Cornell, like a lot of
[8:07] schools these days, brought in an
[8:10] expert.
[8:10] >> Don't spit. No spitting into it. kids
[8:12] today by because of the conditions that
[8:15] they grew up in uh haven't had as much
[8:17] education as some previous generations.
[8:19] >> You're trying to be polite and show
[8:21] etiquette, but what you're telling me is
[8:23] they're lousy.
[8:24] >> Well, I hate to use the word lousy.
[8:26] They're just uninformed often.
[8:28] >> Of course, it's not just table manners.
[8:30] It's everything from what to wear to
[8:32] what you say. Meet Julie Frasier. How
[8:34] are you an exception?
[8:35] >> I think I have these dirty flip-flops on
[8:38] that. We've been talking for 5 minutes
[8:41] and we have to bleep you. Don't you
[8:43] think there's a little something you
[8:44] need to learn about etiquette?
[8:45] >> Probably.
[8:46] >> But bad manners have meant good business
[8:48] for people like Robert Shut.
[8:50] >> Research says that 85% of an
[8:52] individual's success in getting a job,
[8:54] keeping a job, and getting promoted on a
[8:56] job are based on their interpersonal
[8:58] skills and manners are part of your
[8:59] interpersonal skills.
[9:00] >> 85% that's huge. huge. I mean, if you
[9:02] spend 40 grand a year, 20 grand a year,
[9:04] a college education, 120 grand, and it
[9:06] comes down to you picking up your cup
[9:08] wrong or something.
[9:10] >> That night, Amos Shaw was just about to
[9:12] head off to his first college
[9:14] internship.
[9:15] >> We did this at sequel.
[9:16] >> Today, he's there. And while he hasn't
[9:18] exactly been picking up linen napkins,
[9:21] so it's not like you're exactly eating
[9:22] at fivestar restaurants,
[9:24] >> we're not we're not
[9:25] >> We're not worried about your salad fork.
[9:26] >> No. He did pick up a notion during that
[9:29] etiquette dinner that he's brought with
[9:30] him to the business world.
[9:32] >> Do you have the confidence, the poise,
[9:34] the etiquette to interact with superiors
[9:38] to interact with someone above you?
[9:40] >> Which is to say that even with an Ivy
[9:42] League education, never talk with your
[9:44] mouth full.
[9:45] >> Manners still matter.
[9:49] >> Jim Axelrod, CBS News, Ithaca, New York.
[9:52] More stories are just a click away, but
[9:54] don't forget to join me on television
[9:56] for the onair edition of the CBS Evening
[9:58] News. On Thursday's broadcast, novelist
[10:01] Anne Rice has written a new book, but
[10:03] this time her main character is no
[10:05] vampire. He's a young Jesus. She'll tell
[10:08] you why her work has taken a religious
[10:11] turn. for cbsnews.com.