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THE LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER
Cancelation and Delay for Air Travel; Dropping Temperatures in the Northeast; Escalation of Conflict in Eastern Ukraine; Are Brash Ads A Thing Of The Past?; More Commercials Target Dads, Families; "American Sniper" Top War Film Ever
Aired February 2, 2015 - 16:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: As the snow moves out of New England tonight, bitter cold temperatures settle in. Meteorologist Jennifer Gray joins me now from Boston.
Jennifer, a lot of people in that area are probably feeling good today, they are pumped about the Pats' victory in the Super Bowl last night. But you tell me, the storm is going to throw a wrench into their celebration.
JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, actually the rally was canceled. Still going on with the parade but it is going to be cold. I can tell you temperatures have dropped about 20 degrees in the past two hours. It is now 10, feels about six degrees below zero. so it is going to be cold overnight, it will be cold for the parade tomorrow.
And not only that, look at the slush behind me. I mean, the roads are just a mess. They are very slushy. Plows have been out, but it's really hard to keep up when you have snowfall rates at one to two inches per hour. And then, on the side of the road, look at the snow mounds.
And so that's going to be the issue as we roll into tomorrow, Parade Day. Where are these people going to stand? We have snow piled all over the city but we hear that it's a number one priority at this moment besides getting people's streets clear is to get the sidewalks clear for folks to enjoy the parade. But it is going to be cold with these temperatures dropping like they are, all of this slush is going to freeze, and so we do have a flash freeze that's happening across the northeast.
Of course, that is going to make travel very, very difficult as we go into the overnight hours and into tomorrow morning. So let's get to the forecast. Because we are still seeing snow here in Boston. It is going to push out by 10:30 or 11:00 tonight, and then just very, very cold temperatures will settle in behind that. Jake?
TAPPER: All right, Jennifer Gray, thank you so much. Go get warm.
Now let's bring in Jason Carroll on how this snowstorm is affecting air travel. Jason in warm and cozy LaGuardia airport in New York, one of the nation's busiest. The storm has been horrible for today's air travel. How is tomorrow looking? JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, you give me a hard time
because I'm warm today but this is the only day that I have actually been warm. And it's not been a good day, Jake, for a lot of the people who have been coming out here and checking out the board. I just spoke to one man trying to get to Toronto. And he said he has been canceled twice.
Seeing a lot of cancellations like this, especially these folks trying to head to places like Detroit and to Boston. Jake, basically we have been keeping track of the cancellations at all the major airports, actually LaGuardia is not number one. I'm going to give you the list here. Number one is actually Chicago. Latest numbers show 524 cancellations there. Here at LaGuardia, 423. Newark stands at 310. Boston, 294. And JFK at 141.
Back out here live, you can see some folks who are coming out now just to check that board with the hopes that their flight is going to be taking off and running on time. At JFK, we have been watching a lot of Twitter traffic from folks talking about difficulties. Some planes have been having trying to land and take off in that inclement weather. Many airlines basically at this point, what they are doing is they are offering weather waivers, basically saying that if you call up, find that your flight has been in some way canceled or delayed due to the weather, they are offering a waiver allowing you to change your flight without incurring costs. So, that's definitely helping some of the passengers who are coming out. We are going to keep track of the numbers but for now, based on what we have seen so far with each passing hour, the numbers just seem to be going up and up. Hopefully they will go down pretty soon.
Jake?
TAPPER: All right, Jason Carroll, thank you so much. Appreciate it.
Back to our world lead. Violence exploding in Ukraine. The leader of rebel forces now threatening up to 100,000 militant recruits as the United States government weighs whether to send weapons to Ukrainian forces, but how will Russian president Vladimir Putin respond to that? We will go live to Ukraine next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TAPPER: Welcome back to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper. In other world news today, after months of bloodshed, the U.S. government is now seriously considering giving lethal aid to the Ukrainian military in its war against pro-Russian rebels and, according to the Ukrainians, Russian troops as well. At least 50 people were killed over the weekend, more than 5,000 since the fighting began last year. The separatists backed by Russian President Vladimir Putin have taken control of key Ukrainian cities along the border, and the group's leader says they are planning to mobilize 100,000 more for the latest offensive. CNN senior international correspondent Nick Paton Walsh is in eastern Ukraine, where some of the heaviest clashes have taken place. Nick, what's the latest on the ground there?
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We are seeing increased clashes here and Jake, what's so remarkable is in the last month or so, there has been a sea change, really, and now heavy weapons, artillery and often, their indiscriminate use in civilian areas is pretty omnipresent, I have to say, unfortunately, by both sides as far as we have seen. But today we have access, rare access, in fact, to a key heart to the battleground, (INAUDIBLE), the main international airport there held by the Ukrainians for so long as their stronghold but then overrun by separatists now. They gave us access.
We still saw the dead bodies of Ukrainian troops left behind. They said by retreating Ukrainian forces, but a real sense that, too, of the sheer volume of destruction. That airport, I flew out of that about eight months ago. Then it was relatively high tech and you could fly anywhere, frankly, around Europe you wanted, but today, it is simply charred series of mulch and remains and I think a terrible symbol for many of where quite eastern Ukraine is going given the swirling violence around it and the absence of negotiation, Jake.
TAPPER: Nick, what type of military assistance does the Ukrainian military want?
WALSH: I have to say seeing them, they could do with anything, frankly. They are piecing together that body armor, weaponry, helmets from often voluntary donations, from private citizens, oligarchs, you name it. Their equipment, that tanks, well, often - you see it, being towed. They are in a bit of a mess. They are doing a very valiant job in trying to hold land, but compared to the separatists who NATO and Ukraine say frankly are a proxy for the Russian army, in fact if not sometimes Russian Army regulars themselves with sometimes very good equipment indeed. They are facing certainly an uphill battle and losing many in that particular fight.
It's a stark difference when you see the separatists and how organized they are and then you see the Ukrainian military so underfunded for so long. I think, frankly, anything that defenders there will improve their chances holding territory would be very welcome, Jake.
TAPPER: Nick Paton Walsh in eastern Ukraine, thank you, my friend. Stay safe. Let's bring in CNN national security correspondent Jim Sciutto, who has been speaking with his sources. Now, Jim, we know that President Obama's national security advisor, Dr. Susan Rice, has expressed opposition to providing this lethal aid to the Ukrainian military in the past, but we now hear that the Pentagon and the State Department, others in the military, are talking about maybe pushing for this. What has changed?
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATINOAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: And others on the hill as well, including Democrats. What has changed is that Ukraine is losing, they are losing on the ground, they are losing ground, and Putin has proved to be Putin the undeterrable, really. The sanctions are working in that they are punishing the economy, but they are not working in the sense of deterring further Russian military action on the ground. No one, when you listen to the NATO supreme allied commander and others, they are not mincing words about this being a separatist operation. They call this a Russian operation, Russian forces on the ground, Russian weaponry on the ground, et cetera. They use the term invasion even if you don't hear that here in Washington.
TAPPER: So, I know one of the things that's held back any provision of lethal aid, weapons to the Ukrainian military by the United States has been the fear that that would only provoke Putin further. Do they still here that in the administration?
SCIUTTO: They still do fear. And that's the balance that they have been trying to strike. Is that they want to deter, they want to punish, they want to raise the cost as the administration has said. They worried from the beginning, but if you start sending lethal weapons that that will provoke an even worse response from Vladimir Putin. The trouble is he's very hard to read. From the beginning, there has been a misreading of what his intentions are.
Early on, you would hear often well, he's not really going to go in, this is just a show of force on the border. He's long since crossed the border. That's the difficulty, though. But they also still want to keep open what they call a diplomatic off ramp, an off ramp towards a negotiated solution to this. But they tried that, it hasn't worked and in that situation, they are considering things that they had dismissed in the past.
TAPPER: And the most concerned about this are America's European allies. Obviously, some of them are even afraid that they are next on the list, not NATO members, necessarily, but others. Where are they? What does the European Union think?
SCIUTTO: Well, the one who matters is Germany. And Angela Merkel on the record today, she was traveling in Hungary, she said that Germany will not arm Ukraine and considers the diplomatic solution the only way forward. There is no military solution, et cetera, which is frankly a position that has been echoed by the Obama administration from the beginning. It's just that now it seems that there's an internal debate about whether the U.S. should reconsider. It appears that Germany is not reconsidering.
TAPPER: Fascinating stuff. Jim Sciutto, thank you so much. Really appreciate it.
Coming up next, it was one of the most exciting ends to a football game ever. But of course, the Super Bowl isn't just about that final score. What was with all those incredibly serious or sentimental or even depressing ads? That's next.
Plus, the Hollywood hit movie "American Sniper" just earned another record. What is it? We'll tell you, coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TAPPER: Welcome back to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper. The Sports Lead now, just moments ago, NBC confirmed that this year's Super Bowl matchup was the most watched show in American television history.
Drawing more than 114 million viewers, it also set records in social media as the most talked about Super Bowl ever on Facebook and on Twitter. But none of that I guess is really a surprise, considering how the game ended.
Our Seattle viewers might want to get back under the covers before we show this again. It was this last play, the last minute interception at the 1 yard line that ended the Seattle Seahawks' bid for becoming back-to-back Super Bowl champions.
The New England Patriots won, making quarterback, Tom Brady, a four- time champion. NBC says more than 114 million viewers watched, as I said. With all those eyeballs it's no wonder advertisers were willing to spend top dollar for commercial time.
That brings us to our Money Lead. It cost a record $4.5 million, $4.5 million for just 30 seconds of ad time during the game. That is a ghastly amount of money, but from an advertiser's perspective it's worth it because when else are they going to have a shot to reach so many people at one time.
The strategy to win the ad race, however, seems to be changing. Not long ago most Super Bowl ads looked like they were green lit by a focus group of my former fraternity brothers.
(VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: But during last night's game, there was a noticeably different shift in tone from sexy to sentimental. Sure, many of the ads still appealed to guys, but not beer guzzling party animals, dads. They are even calling it dad-vertising.
(VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: I'm getting all emotional here instead of super models prancing around in lingerie, we saw ads that focused on the sentimental, but also on the macabre, tackling topics like accidental child deaths and even the apocalypse because what else would you want to think about in between high fives and pizza?
I'm joined by Barbara Lippert, she is a media critic from mediapost.com. Barbara, is this officially a new dawn of a new era for Super Bowl advertising?
BARBARA LIPPERT, MEDIA CRITIC, MEDIAPOST.COM: Well, it was the dawn of the sad bowl, definitely, which is very different than previous years. I think it's a pendulum swing. I think advertisers will respond to the fact that everybody was really freaked out and depressed this year and they are going to bring back some jokes.
That being said, I didn't mind that we didn't get any like groin polls or farting horses or the cleavage of yesteryear that you showed. Some of the ads made lovely points.
TAPPER: Let's check out one ad that got a lot of derision on Twitter from nationwide insurance.
(VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: This poor kid, obviously Nationwide was trying to encourage parents to be safe and not leave kids alone in the tub and not put chemicals under the sink and all that stuff, but the reaction was harsh. The commercial inspired its own mean.
This one tweet said, I couldn't stop the Patriots from winning because I died. So who do you think made the worst call, the coach of the Seattle Seahawks or Nationwide?
LIPPERT: Yes, I think Nationwide with sudden death, just terrible and so morbid. Here we are seeing this kid, we think it's a take-off on the boyhood movie and he's talking about these wonderful boy-like things, even getting cooties.
And they animated them so they were so cute and next thing we know we see a bathtub and he's dead. It was such a shock and they are just sort of selling fear and it was so manipulative that I don't think parents appreciated it at all.
TAPPER: We only want to dwell on the horrific. We asked you which ad we thought was the best and most effective. Here's what you picked.
(VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: I have a 7-year-old girl and I have to say I absolutely loved this, loved this ad.
LIPPERT: I know. I got complete shivers. It's been around for a while but still, to have a feminine care product on and get number two on the ad meter is unbelievable. I have to say, for the 30 or 40 or 50-year-old women in the room, they loved it because they had never seen anything that was so respectful and supportive and straightforward.
TAPPER: Do you think -- you are talking about all the women in the room, do you think the shifting demographics of Super Bowl viewers with so many more women, millions more tuning in, have something to do with this dad-vertising trend?
LIPPERT: Well, I think it had something to do with the empowering girl's trend. As for dad-vertising, it was a way given so much surrounded the NFL this year with domestic violence, it was a way to cheer up ourselves about our families and certainly dads have been doing this for 30 years and been very there and very involved.
But it was nice that they finally acknowledged it. Although, you know, when you are a super glamorous race car driver, I'm not sure you're there much anyway.
TAPPER: You talked about the domestic violence issue. The NFL obviously made a big splash with a public service announcement about domestic violence. Let's roll a little of that, if we can.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED OPERATOR: 911, Operator 911. Where's the emergency?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 127 Brimmer. UNIDENTIFIED OPERATOR: OK, what's going on there?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I would like to order a pizza for delivery.
UNIDENTIFIED OPERATOR: Ma'am, you have reached 911. This is an emergency line.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Large with half pepperoni, half mushroom.
UNIDENTIFIED OPERATOR: You know you've called 911. This is an emergency line.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you know how long it will be?
UNIDENTIFIED OPERATOR: Ma'am, is everything OK over there? Do you have an emergency or not?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED OPERATOR: And you are unable to talk?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: This is reportedly based on an actual incident. How do you think this ad played?
LIPPERT: I thought it was beautifully produced and very subtle and it was based on a true incident and they chose a perfect thing. I think they put it on at the perfect time so that it wouldn't be buttressed against something embarrassing. That went over well, too. Then the question is well, is this great window dressing or is anything really being done.
TAPPER: Right. Well, one hopes that Roger Goodell was watching that public service announcement.
LIPPERT: Yes, it was beautifully made.
TAPPER: Barbara Lippert, thank you so much. We appreciate it.
LIPPERT: Thank you.
TAPPER: When we come back, a television actor on a children's show arrested for murder after allegedly stabbing his roommate with a sword. That bizarre story next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TAPPER: We're back on THE LEAD with today's Pop Culture Lead. A movie theater wasn't exactly the place to be on Super Bowl Sunday, but one film managed to set a new record this weekend.
"American Sniper" is now the number one war movie of all time. It has made more than $215 million, surpassing 1998's "Saving Private Ryan," which may made $216 million. "American Sniper" has been number one at the Box Office since it opened in mid-January. Here's this weekend's top five, the family film, "Paddington" came in second with $8.5 million followed by "Project Almanac," then it was the Kevin Costner movie, "Black or White" followed by J. Lo's new release, "The Boy Next Door." We should also note that today is Chris Kyle Day in Texas.
An actor who was best known for his role as the red Power Ranger is now being charged with murder for a deadly sword attack. If you have seen the movies, you will remember this guy, 36-year-old Ricardo Medina Jr.
He starred in Power Rangers Wild Force, Power Rangers Samurai, which you don't really get the references unless you have seen Power Rangers Wild Force. He's done voiceover work for the animated TV show.
Police say Medina stabbed his roommate with a sword after they got into a fight yesterday afternoon. They say the two got into an argument that turned physical and when Medina's roommate followed him into his room, Medina grabbed the sword and stabbed him in the stomach. He is being held on $1 million bond, awful story.
Make sure to follow me on Twitter @jaketapper and also @theleadcnn. That's it for THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper. I now turn you over to one Mr. Wolf Blitzer. He is right next door in a place we like to call "THE SITUATION ROOM" -- Wolf.
