America's Many Enemies (Thursday's First Hour)

What's up, people? Anderson is sporting his young republican tie again. I told you he wears it a lot. We begin tonight discussing Hugo Chavez, who's having a grand old time calling Bush any name that pops in his head. Anderson refers to him and Ahmadinejad as, "blowhards with plenty of oil." Christine Romans then gives us a piece regarding Chavez's most recent comments, which referred to Bush as a "cowboy" and "ex-alcoholic." We learn that though very loud and annoying, Chavez is giving 100 million gallons of oil to US poor. And I know that was mostly political, but I don't think Chavez is all bad. I mean, we don't even see our own country helping the poor that much. I just wish he'd shut up.

Next we have Rick Sanchez live from Caracas and he indicates that Chavez's comments play well there. Of note is that the government wanted to see some of the video that Rick and crew shot. That certainly doesn't make you feel all warm and fuzzy. We also learn that as the fifth largest oil producer in the world, Venezuela is swimming in petrol dollars. After this we get a clip of Ahmadinejad and then some rehash of the interview Anderson did with him Wednesday.

On now to a Tom Foreman piece that fact checks Ahmadinejad's claims about nuclear programs. First off, he basically called the US hypocritical because we have our own nukes, but Tom reports we haven't done any testing for 14 years. However, a quick google brought up this, so I don't know what to think. I admit I haven't really done any research. Anyway, Ahmadinejad claims the IAEA has been monitoring the program, but in reality the Iranians started in secret--initially flat out lying to them. Regarding Israel, Ahmadinejad says, "zionists are zionists period...they are a power group." It's unclear how much he really believes and how much is a sales job.

Transitioning now to a taped interview with The Gerg (David Gergen) who thinks that all this criticism of Bush might actually help him at home. Anderson notes that Holocaust denial doesn't play well here. You think? I'm loathed to admit it, but I am a little annoyed at them coming to our country and criticizing Bush so harshly. That's my job! Apparently Charles Rangel and Nancy Pelosi feel that way too. The Gerg thinks this has been the best three or four weeks Bush has had since Katrina and Anderson seems surprised by this. Also noted is that Bush's crazy base is starting to come back to the mothership and the republicans have more money than the democrats. You'd think that it should be who governs the best, not who has more money. You'd think that, but you'd be oh so wrong.

Next up we've got Michael Ware live from Baghdad, where things seem to be getting worse everyday. Michael says that Al Qaeda-inspired or Al Qaeda-backed death squads-some backed by the US-are responsible for massive numbers of dead. Who dies is both random and targeted and the government death squads might be the scariest because they can just show up at your home in uniform in the middle of the night and take you away. No one can trust anyone anymore and you especially can't trust that checkpoints are legitimate. Sigh. Stay safe Michael.

On now to a piece from Suzanne Malvaeux regarding Bush's recent comment that if we knew Bin Laden was in Pakistan we'd go get him with or without permission. You can probably guess Musharraf did not take kindly to that because he'd rather do it himself. The last time we violated their soverignty there were huge protests and it is noted that Musharraf has survived two assasination attempts. When it comes to him and Karzai, both men think the other should be doing more to stop the terror.

Transitioning now to Sarah Chayes, Nic Robertson, and Peter Bergen live in a discussion that is basically a rehash of most of what regular viewers learned last week. Sarah says Pakistan is actively helping insurgents in Afghanistan because they want to gain control of the country. Peter notes that violating Pakistan's soverignty isn't new because we did it under Clinton and recently when we tried to get Zawahiri. Anderson mentions that when he went to Afghanistan he was surprised to find there really is no one actively hunting for Bin Laden and Nic agrees the trail has gone cold. Finally, Sarah believes Bin Laden might not be in Pakistan because they would most likely turn him over due to the fact that they're only concerned with Taliban. Interesting, though I don't know if I buy it.

Next up we have a Delia Gallagher piece about how now the Vatican is on high alert and some Muslims are planning a "Day of Hate" due to the Pope's comments. Day of hate? Guys it's time to let it go. Oh and apparently the guy who shot the last Pope is now threatening this Pope not to go to Turkey. The Pope is not having The Best Week Ever. I really hate how a small group of wackos can taint a whole religion.

Tonight was just okay. When Erica gave the update it reminded me of things that weren't being covered. There's been a whole big battle regarding the Geneva Conventions and 360 has been somewhat MIA. Also, for those that were wondering, Atlantis landed smoothly. C+

Just for fun, here's Anderson's reaction to the prospect of eating a roach:


Screencaps by liberation337.