Fighting Allies And Polygamy Returns (Wednesday's Show)

Hey guys. We begin tonight with emmy award winning Anderson Cooper giving us what is perhaps the Best Flub Ever. Anderson corrected himself quickly, so probably not many people caught it, but as he went to say "president Bush", it came out "president duh." He was either going for Dubya or it was just an awesome Freudian slip. Whatever it was, I certainly got a kick out of it. Anyway, I guess I should get on with the show. The lead story tonight is the bickering going on between Hamid Karzai and Perez Musharraf. In a piece by Suzanne Malveaux we're told both presidents are accusing each other of not doiong enough to fight terrorists. Karzai is mad about the deal Pakistan cut with tribal leaders and Musharraf thinks Afghanistan is weak and Karzai is not taking responsibility for his failures. Oh boy. I can't say I didn't see this coming. My guess is that if it gets bad enough Karzai will be pushed out. Pushing out Musharraf is not possible. However, we're no where near that point yet. After the piece we get Suzanne live and she's basically cooling her heels and waiting for a dinner with Bush, Musharraf, and Karzai to be over.

Next up we have a John Robert's piece that aims to analyze just how good our allies really are. It is noted that both leaders have very complicated political situations and neither controls their whole country. The Taliban is currently gaining ground in Afghanistan, but that seems to be part of Pakistan's plan. Karzai is doing a bad job cracking down on poppy growing because he doesn't want to anger war lords and Musharraf is doing a bad job tracking down Bin Laden because to catch him would be political suicide. Basically these two aren't great, but Karzai is loyal and Musharraf is about as good as we're going to get. So...yay? When the piece ends we get Peter Bergen live and they pretty much go over stuff we've heard several times before. Peter thinks that Pakistan is using the Taliban as a kind of insurance card that they can play when need be.

On now to a Michael Ware piece that shows us some really fierce fighting going on in Ramadi. The battalion he is with has lost 17 guys in just seven months and the general admits he does not have enough troops to win the battle. Are you hearing this Bush? You say you listen to the guys on the ground. This is a guy on the ground saying he needs more troops to win. Give them more troops or pull them out. "Stay the course" is a slogan, not a policy. Michael then joins us live and Anderson asks, "Do they feel like their voices are being heard?" Michael says they basically just want their story told. Anderson also asks if they're still doing things like building schools (Remember when the media used to get slammed for not covering that stuff enough?) , but a departing civil affairs head has said they've given up on that. Basically the battle for hearts and minds is over and we lost big time. Now they're mostly just trying to prop up the government.

Next Anderson informs us that a new poll has found that 71% of Iraqis want the US out of their country within a year. Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't dear leader at one point say that we would leave when asked? I guess they were talking about the puppets they help prop up and not the actual Iraqi people. Because who really cares about them anyway, right? Not us obviously. We call that collateral damage. 3,000 Americans die and we completely freak out. Hundreds of Iraqis die EVERY SINGLE WEEK and we shrug. Sorry. Right before writing this I learned of the vote on the detainee bill, so I'm a little bitter. Anyway, the stats segway us into a piece from Jamie McIntyre concerning the internal military battle over war plans. Right now our strategy is "clear, hold, and build." For those keeping score at home, that's the same strategy we had for Vietnam. And that worked out just peachy, didn't it? General Casey believes the war is in transition and basically everyone is now putting all their victory eggs in a unity government basket. Sorry if I'm not optimistic.

Big transition now to...polygamy! This story just won't die. I guess I should be thankful they didn't play that creepy tape of Warren Jeffs singing. Because I swear to God if they do that again I will find a way to make them all listen to John Ashcroft singing "Let the Eagle Soar". Be kind to your viewers, 360. Torture is bad. So anyway, Jeffs is in court and he's charged with arranging marriages to underage girls. His attorney has this really freaky looking bow tie. Maybe he's Tucker Carlson's dad. You all can probably figure out by my comments I didn't pay much attention to all this because I don't care. I'm really, really glad he's caught, but I don't want to see full pieces on him anymore Poor Gary Tuchman is on the case again and he says Jeffs' followers have become even more insular (if that's possible) and he's never been anywhere on the planet where he gets such an unwelcome reception. Aw Gary, I would totally talk to you. Poor Gary is going to have self esteem issues when this is all over.

We move on to a taped Harry Reid interview that Anderson intros as "in his own words." In the tape, Reid, a mormon himself, rails against polygamy, but I wasn't really listening because I was too fascinated by meta issues. I want to know where this interview came from. Reid looks to be in his office and he's talking to someone, but our camera isn't over the interviewer's shoulder like normal, it looks to be coming at him from the side. And we never hear or see the interviewer. Did 360 jack someone else's interview? Inquiring minds want to know. Following the interview we have a Rick Sanchez piece where he goes up in a plane and shows us this big polygamist compound in Texas. I have a really hard time taking Rick seriously.

Next Anderson gives us a clarification about the clogging piece they did the night before. Oh good. Because if you'll remember I was a little confused. Apparently the money Hal Rogers got did not build the center. Well that clears things up. Except, uh, ...it totally doesn't. In fact that makes it even more confusing. You know what? I'm just going to let it go and choose to believe someone at 360 is just really amused by clogging. Maybe there was some sort of bet made. Who knows? But that's all the brain space I'm using on this. The Shot tonight is....OUCH! This woman totally got pierced through the foot and you pretty much have to see it. After The Shot there is a little piece on Musharraf's Daily Show appearance. Did you guys watch it? So funny. Anderson agrees, "pretty darn funny." And so weird to see someone like that on there. Jon is my fake news hero. And he's got a little Oprah effect going on too because Musharraf's book bumped up to #4 on Amazon.

This is about the time that 360 does their best to totally confuse me. Anderson had said there would be a taped second hour, so I figured I was done for the night. However, when the second hour began they ran the (now taped) beginning from the first hour, which really threw me. And then suddenly Anderson's live again. WTF? The reason for this is apparently because that dinner Suzanne Malveaux was waiting on just ended, lasting longer than expected. She and Anderson then discuss stuff like body language and basically a bunch of speculation that's really not helpful and not worth staying live.

Next we have a repeat of the John Robert's piece and at this point I don't know if they're staying live for the hour, reruning the first hour, or running a special. After the piece, there's Peter live again. He and Anderson talk a little and Peter says Afghanistan is starting to look like 2003 Iraq. However, Afghans tend to be more pro-American than Iraqis. Eh, give them time, Peter. Give them time Peter then takes a breath to say more, but Anderson totally cuts him off. He is ready to go, people. I think Anderson has a hot date. In his hurry, Anderson proceeds to completely butcher the word "proliferation". It takes him about three tries to get it out and even he can't help but laugh. "It's getting late," he tells us. Yes it is. But, uh, you do this the same time every night. Heh. Like I said, Anderson totally has a hot date. Tonight was a pretty eh show. C+

Screencaps by liberation337 and stormi0611.

So what do you guys think about the bickering between Musharraf and Karzai? And...have you had enough of polygamy?