Rest In Peace Ann Richards (Second Hour)

We begin the hour with the sad breaking news of the passing of Ann Richards and go right into a piece by Ed Lavandera on her life. Okay, the AP literally just picked up this story about 20 minutes before so...they already had this piece made and were waiting for her to die? Creepy. I get it, but still creepy. Focused in the piece is Ann's famous line about George the elder that she gave at the democratic national convention: "Poor George. He can't help it. He was born with a silver foot in his mouth." Heh. I like her. After the piece we go to John Roberts and he and Anderson talk about her life some more. We get Ed on the phone from Texas too. It seems Ann was a pretty cool lady and really helped open up government to minorities and the disfranchised.

Next we transition back to Anderson with Nic who tells us that he called up the Taliban. Yup, just freakin called them up on a satellite phone from what looks to be his hotel room. You know, if they're taking calls maybe somebody in our government who's not retarded should give them a ring. I'm trying to think of someone. I think I'll have to get back to you on that. Anyway, through a translator, the Taliban guy on the other end gabs for 30 minutes, which is a pretty brazen move since the phones are easily traceable. It's interesting, because as Anderson points out, when the Taliban ran the country they banned things like video and poppy growing, but now they're apparently fine and dandy. Terrorists and hypocrites to boot.

On now back to Anderson who has Wayne Slate from the Dallas Morning News on the line. They talk about Ann and for some reason Anderson is really focused on her timing of that famous line. Thinking of a career in comedy if this reporter deal doesn't work out, Anderson? Anyway, Wayne then goes on to say something quite mind boggling. According to him, the campaign Bush 43 ran against in Ann in 1996 was very respectful. Uh, come again? We're talking about Rove here. Rove. He that is pure evil. I mean, check out this piece in The Atlantic Monthly:

More often a Rove campaign questions an opponent's sexual orientation. Bush's 1994 race against Ann Richards featured a rumor that she was a lesbian, along with a rare instance of such a tactic's making it into the public record—when a regional chairman of the Bush campaign allowed himself, perhaps inadvertently, to be quoted criticizing Richards for "appointing avowed homosexual activists" to state jobs.

I cannot believe this man is not aware of this. He's from Texas. He's either leaving it out in order to keep this about Ann rather than negativity, is a Bush apologist, or is just plain clueless. But Geez. Now we've got Larry King on the phone. Isn't it past his bedtime? Oh, right, it's earlier there. But still, isn't it past his bedtime? Larry talks some about Ann and then totally cracks me up because apparently his wife is right by his side reminding him what to say. I can totally see this, "Honey, tell them how she had osteoporosis." Also, Larry thinks 73 is much too young to die. I can see why he would think that. Exactly how old is Larry now?

Transitioning now to an Allan Chernoff piece on the shooting in Montreal today. This looked pretty terrifying and I'm a little surprised they haven't touched on it until this late in the show. Good on 360 for not going all sensational and just giving us the facts we need. Twenty people were shot and one died. The gunman is dead too. Shades of Columbine. Scary.

Next we're on to a Tom Foreman piece about why the world hates us. I love Tom's delivery. He's just sarcastic enough to let us know that, oh yeah, he gets it, but not so much that he's over the top. So anyway, people around the world think we're using this whole terror thing to gain more power and further our interests. Okay, who leaked the memo? Seriously, I think they're pretty much on the mark here. But no worries cuz Karen Hughes is on the case. Oh yeah, it's all good now. Lord have mercy. And the best part? We're ranked at the same level as our pals Iran and North Korea. Awesome.

We're back with Anderson now and he's talking to a cute little writer named Rory Stewart who freaking walked all over Afghanistan. Walked, people. And he looks like he's 15. Rory believes the US needs to empower local politicians and trust them because they know their country. He thinks Karzai should get the benefit of the doubt and we need to rethink the more troops thing because part of the population there is just flat out against foreign troops. Interesting perspective. Rory here is making me miss Reza Aslan. We need some Reza, 360!

On now to a piece by David Mattingly concerning Mike Spann, the first US casualty in Afghanistan. His father could never get a clear answer how he died, so he went to the country himself and was able to get a video of some of his son's last moments. It seems Mike was most likely shot in a prison uprising. Sad. The night comes to a close with more Ann talk with John Roberts. That's all folks.

Awesome screencaps by sherynroyce.