Continued Election Aftermath, Military Recruiting, And The Death Of Ed Bradley (Thursday's First Hour)
Hey everybody. I'm still hanging onto my post-election buzz. How about you? We kick it off tonight with a Jeanne Meserve piece on Webb's victory. It's official now! Webb then joins Anderson for a taped interview and he's feeling good. I'll bet. Anderson asks him about his priorities and Webb replies that first they will focus on the transition and then move onto things like economic equality. I like the sound of that. Regarding Iraq, Webb echos a lot of stuff we've heard before and also points out that we need a clear statement that we won't be seeking permanent bases in the country. That's key. The Iraqis need to know we're not planning on occupying them forever.
On next to a Dana Bash piece that explores how the new leadership will work with the White House. Reid and Pelosi will compromise to a point, but they're going to flat out strike down things like extremist judges. After the piece we get some "Raw Data" that 40.4% of eligible voters cast a vote on Tuesday. I guess that's pretty good, though I'd like to see over 90%.
Moving on to a piece from John King on the new conservative democrats and no offense to John,
but this piece is stupid. Just because there is a division on some social issues in the party doesn't mean there's going to be some big huge problem. If you talk to the average democrat I don't think guns, gays, or abortion are going to be at the top of their list of priorities. The democrats want to focus on things like healthcare, education, and fair wages. Harry Reid is pro life, but he's not going to vote for an extremist judge that will overturn Roe v. Wade. The media is making way too big a deal that some democrats are more conservative than others. It's called having a big tent. I know they're used to republicans only catering to a select group of crazies, but it's different with the democrats. What's funny is that all these "conservative" democrats were greatly helped by "crazy liberal" Howard Dean's 50-state strategy. And that was the plan, which is something the media establishment obviously doesn't get.
Joining us live we have John King again and Joe Klein and Joe thinks the republicans are actually in more disarray than the democrats. It's noted that the democrats will stay away from issues like flag burning and gay marriage. Um, why the hell would they address those anyway?
Flag burning? The country is falling apart and no one in their right mind could possibly think that flag burning needs to be a priority. This is why the country threw the republicans out; they actually gave time away to debating things that only a select group of crazies wanted debated in the first place. John King thinks that the White House and democrats will end up working together because there's such pressure on both sides to produce. He also lets us in on the news that RNC chairman Ken Mehlman will be stepping down. The reason given is that he's tired, but I'm wondering how much of the little outing that happened on Larry King last night factored into the timing. What Maher said was no big secret, so way to be a total wimp CNN by editing it out of the rebroadcast. For the record, I'm generally against outing, but when you're a hypocrite it's something different.
On now to a Brian Todd piece on how the evil genius Karl Rove ain't really such a genius after all. Before the election he put on a confident face, proclaiming that they would actually keep both houses, but looks like he went to the crazy base well one too many times. Some defend Rove and blame the loss completely on Iraq, but others fault him for alienating moderates. I hope he's the next guy to go and I hope he goes far away. Such a vile, vile little man.
Transitioning now to an investigative piece from Jim Hoffer of WABC that had students go undercover as potential military recruits. What they found is disturbing, but not surprising. Basically a large number of recruiters are just flat out lying to these kids. They're telling them things like there's not even a war in the first place, they have a better chance of dying in the states, no one is going to Iraq anymore, and you can just quit the military if you don't like it. I've heard several stories like this over the past couple of years and this is happening because the recruiters are under intense pressure to make their quotas, which lead them to do anything they can. In the second part of the piece we learn that the recruiters are even giving tips on how to pass the drug test and if the person doesn't pass they let them take it over and over again until they do. So of course now it's inevitable that there are drug users over their fighting, which really is not what we need. How would you like it if the guy that had your back was high? Just another way our government fails to support the troops.
Finally tonight we have a very nice tribute to "60 Minutes" journalist, Ed Bradley who died today of leukemia. Ed started out as a teacher in Philadelphia and when riots broke out he covered them for radio. He then moved onto television and even bigger stories, such as the Vietnam War, where he was struck by a mortar round. Throughout his career Ed won 19 emmy awards and no doubt deserved every one of them. As we go out to commercial we linger on Ed's picture with the regular music cut. Very nice. Tonight was pretty good. The couple Iraq stories were really good, but some of the speculation on the new leadership was really off the mark and pointless. B+
Screencaps by stillife.
Do you think it really matters that some democrats are more liberal that others? Also, anyone have a recruiter experience they'd like to share?
On next to a Dana Bash piece that explores how the new leadership will work with the White House. Reid and Pelosi will compromise to a point, but they're going to flat out strike down things like extremist judges. After the piece we get some "Raw Data" that 40.4% of eligible voters cast a vote on Tuesday. I guess that's pretty good, though I'd like to see over 90%.
Moving on to a piece from John King on the new conservative democrats and no offense to John,
but this piece is stupid. Just because there is a division on some social issues in the party doesn't mean there's going to be some big huge problem. If you talk to the average democrat I don't think guns, gays, or abortion are going to be at the top of their list of priorities. The democrats want to focus on things like healthcare, education, and fair wages. Harry Reid is pro life, but he's not going to vote for an extremist judge that will overturn Roe v. Wade. The media is making way too big a deal that some democrats are more conservative than others. It's called having a big tent. I know they're used to republicans only catering to a select group of crazies, but it's different with the democrats. What's funny is that all these "conservative" democrats were greatly helped by "crazy liberal" Howard Dean's 50-state strategy. And that was the plan, which is something the media establishment obviously doesn't get.Joining us live we have John King again and Joe Klein and Joe thinks the republicans are actually in more disarray than the democrats. It's noted that the democrats will stay away from issues like flag burning and gay marriage. Um, why the hell would they address those anyway?
Flag burning? The country is falling apart and no one in their right mind could possibly think that flag burning needs to be a priority. This is why the country threw the republicans out; they actually gave time away to debating things that only a select group of crazies wanted debated in the first place. John King thinks that the White House and democrats will end up working together because there's such pressure on both sides to produce. He also lets us in on the news that RNC chairman Ken Mehlman will be stepping down. The reason given is that he's tired, but I'm wondering how much of the little outing that happened on Larry King last night factored into the timing. What Maher said was no big secret, so way to be a total wimp CNN by editing it out of the rebroadcast. For the record, I'm generally against outing, but when you're a hypocrite it's something different.On now to a Brian Todd piece on how the evil genius Karl Rove ain't really such a genius after all. Before the election he put on a confident face, proclaiming that they would actually keep both houses, but looks like he went to the crazy base well one too many times. Some defend Rove and blame the loss completely on Iraq, but others fault him for alienating moderates. I hope he's the next guy to go and I hope he goes far away. Such a vile, vile little man.
Transitioning now to an investigative piece from Jim Hoffer of WABC that had students go undercover as potential military recruits. What they found is disturbing, but not surprising. Basically a large number of recruiters are just flat out lying to these kids. They're telling them things like there's not even a war in the first place, they have a better chance of dying in the states, no one is going to Iraq anymore, and you can just quit the military if you don't like it. I've heard several stories like this over the past couple of years and this is happening because the recruiters are under intense pressure to make their quotas, which lead them to do anything they can. In the second part of the piece we learn that the recruiters are even giving tips on how to pass the drug test and if the person doesn't pass they let them take it over and over again until they do. So of course now it's inevitable that there are drug users over their fighting, which really is not what we need. How would you like it if the guy that had your back was high? Just another way our government fails to support the troops.
Finally tonight we have a very nice tribute to "60 Minutes" journalist, Ed Bradley who died today of leukemia. Ed started out as a teacher in Philadelphia and when riots broke out he covered them for radio. He then moved onto television and even bigger stories, such as the Vietnam War, where he was struck by a mortar round. Throughout his career Ed won 19 emmy awards and no doubt deserved every one of them. As we go out to commercial we linger on Ed's picture with the regular music cut. Very nice. Tonight was pretty good. The couple Iraq stories were really good, but some of the speculation on the new leadership was really off the mark and pointless. B+Screencaps by stillife.
Do you think it really matters that some democrats are more liberal that others? Also, anyone have a recruiter experience they'd like to share?
posted by eliza at 1:09 AM
4 Comments:
Wasn't his tie just gorgeous tonight? That burgandy was killer.
As for whether some Dems are more liberal than others- of course. Does it matter? Hmmm. It's more like, we've got to have people thinking differently or things wouldn't ever change.
Recruiter stories? OMG. Well, my recruiter was in such a tizzle to fulfill his quota that when they told me they could get me to boot camp three months earlier than the original date, they didn't tell me that I would (a) have my contract changed from six years to four and (b) that I would not be an Avionics Engineer as planned but would get the next open billet which happened to be as a military police officer!
Eliza, I have been reading your posts, and as always they are top notch. It is my first time posting. I do believe we need different views in a party; to balance things and to prevent the "one size fits all" mentality. I was blown away by the piece on the recruiters. I just don't know what to say at this point. I think they should be fired immediately.
@sharla-you know, someone who is more fangirly than me may as well break down and create a blog to track Anderson's ties. It's hilarious how much time is spent talking about them. The only one I ever notice is the young republican one.
And wow about the recruiter. I guess they lie to you even during peace time.
@anonymous-Thanks! Please post again. In regards to the recruiters, unfortunately I think the problem is probably systemic. The story last night wasn't the first time I'd heard about these kind of things.
Ah, what a great idea! I think I'll start tracking his ties :) I never realized how much I liked them. Of course, I like his normal-looking field clothes the best!
Sharla
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