A Sick Senator, Troop Talk, The Saudis And Iraq, Climbers Still Missing, Mel Gibson Is Crazy, And...Polygamy! (Wednesday's First Hour)
Hi everyone! We begin tonight with the news that Democratic Senator Tim Johnson of South Dakota has suffered a possible stroke. Oh noes! Dana Bash joins us live to explain. Apparently the senator was on a call when he began stammering and having trouble speaking. CNN plays the tape for us, which is oh so tacky. Seriously, was that necessary? Dana then tells us that if Johnson were to have to step down, the governor of South Dakota would appoint his replacement. And guess what? The governor is republican. A republican appointee would flip the balance of power in the senate to the republicans because Cheney would break the 50/50 tie. This is not happening! All over the country democrats are suddenly praying intensely. Even the atheists. Get better Senator Johnson!
On now to a Jamie McIntyre piece on the belief that Bush wants to send more troops to Iraq. However, General Abizaid recently testified that no more troops should be added, so... Yeah, they don't know what the hell they're doing. Moving on to a John Roberts piece on how Saudi
Arabia's King Abdullah just read Cheney the riot act. The Saudis are pledging to possibly financially support the insurgency if we pull out of Iraq. Although it's noted that they are already kind of doing that. I honestly don't know what to think anymore, other than the fact that we all might be seeing a huge regional war soon. Next up we have Michael Ware safe and sound in the studio with Anderson. It must be nice to just sit there and not have to worry about the whole death thing. Michael talks about the possibility of regional war and also mentions that in private, commanders say they need more troops, but 50,000 or less is not going to be enough. Anderson asks if the security forces are getting better and Michael flat out says no. Well, that's encouraging.
Transitioning to a Dan Simon story on the three climbers that are stuck on Mount Hood. One of the three called his family with a cell phone, but they haven't been able to track him down yet. However, they are using technology such as drones to find their location. After the piece,
Anderson has an interview with one of the climber's brother and a guy who climbed with them. This whole trapped in the snow stuff reminds me of when CNN and other networks fleetingly became obsessed with emergency landings. Remember that? For a week or so it seemed like the whole air system was imploding. Except for the fact that emergency landings happen all the time, they just don't usually get nonstop coverage. People get lost in the snow all the time too and I'm not saying don't cover it, but CNN clearly thinks they've found their new emergency landing type story. I don't get it. Next year something else will be going on and none of the stranded incidents will be covered. It would be nice if my favorite news network didn't have the same attention span as a five year old with ADD.
Up next we have an Anderson piece that sets up the interview he did with Mel Gibson. That's right. He did an interview with Mel Gibson. I have no idea why. It's not like it's newsworthy. Sometimes I think Anderson wants to be Larry King. I guess I won't complain though. Hey, I like to be entertained too you know. I don't think I need to recap Mel's anti-semitic drunken tirade. Anderson begins the interview by asking about Mel's film Apocalypto. Apparently there are stark parallels in the film to what is going on in the US today and Anderson asks Mel if he thinks we're destroying ourselves from within. Mel kind of downplays that, saying the film is just a warning, but he also mentions things like consumption and fear as a manipulation tool. He also states that we're in Iraq for "no damn reason" and he talks about the destruction of the environment. Man, I hate it when crazy people say things I agree with. I do think we're destroying ourselves from within. Why couldn't somebody like Spielberg tackle that instead of Mel?
Anderson then brings up the violence in the film (apparently it's pretty violent) and Mel dismisses it, saying critics have an ax to grind. Anderson also brings up "the incident" and Mel starts to act weirder. If that's possible. I mean seriously, he looking all over the place like someone who is very disturbed. Anderson asks why people should believe that he's not anti-semitic and Mel replies, "Beats me. It's not my problem." Well! Mel does not want to talk about this, but Anderson presses the issue and Mel gets really dicky and defensive. Poor Anderson had more quotes and stuff ready to go, but kind of just rushes through them because Mel is not amused. I wonder if the interview was suppose to be longer. Anyway, my overall and scientific assessment of the interview is that dude is weird. And what's with the cup? Who does he think he is, Christopher Hitchens? Well, he's got the drunken tirade part down.
Moving on to something saner: polygamists! We've got Gary Tuchman (who else?) on the case
again. We've seen this piece before, not literally, but I think you know what I mean. Nice as can be Gary goes into FLDS town and gets yelled at and shunned when he tries to talk to people. What does CNN have against Gary? Oh, there's also a police angle to this story. The cops in Colorado City are more loyal to the church than the law. Lovely. After the piece Anderson echos my Gary love, calling him, "literally the nicest guy on the planet." Well, it's nice someone noticed! Gary is even overly nice in thanking Anderson for that comment. Note to CNN: send Rick Sanchez next time and give Gary a piece where people don't shun him. That is all. At the end of the hour we learn that the sweepstakes word is Austrailia. I hope you entered. Okay show. B-
Screencaps by stillife.
Who else freaked out when they first heard about Senator Johnson? What was up with that Mel Gibson interview? Why does CNN keep sending Gary?
On now to a Jamie McIntyre piece on the belief that Bush wants to send more troops to Iraq. However, General Abizaid recently testified that no more troops should be added, so... Yeah, they don't know what the hell they're doing. Moving on to a John Roberts piece on how Saudi
Arabia's King Abdullah just read Cheney the riot act. The Saudis are pledging to possibly financially support the insurgency if we pull out of Iraq. Although it's noted that they are already kind of doing that. I honestly don't know what to think anymore, other than the fact that we all might be seeing a huge regional war soon. Next up we have Michael Ware safe and sound in the studio with Anderson. It must be nice to just sit there and not have to worry about the whole death thing. Michael talks about the possibility of regional war and also mentions that in private, commanders say they need more troops, but 50,000 or less is not going to be enough. Anderson asks if the security forces are getting better and Michael flat out says no. Well, that's encouraging.Transitioning to a Dan Simon story on the three climbers that are stuck on Mount Hood. One of the three called his family with a cell phone, but they haven't been able to track him down yet. However, they are using technology such as drones to find their location. After the piece,
Anderson has an interview with one of the climber's brother and a guy who climbed with them. This whole trapped in the snow stuff reminds me of when CNN and other networks fleetingly became obsessed with emergency landings. Remember that? For a week or so it seemed like the whole air system was imploding. Except for the fact that emergency landings happen all the time, they just don't usually get nonstop coverage. People get lost in the snow all the time too and I'm not saying don't cover it, but CNN clearly thinks they've found their new emergency landing type story. I don't get it. Next year something else will be going on and none of the stranded incidents will be covered. It would be nice if my favorite news network didn't have the same attention span as a five year old with ADD.
Up next we have an Anderson piece that sets up the interview he did with Mel Gibson. That's right. He did an interview with Mel Gibson. I have no idea why. It's not like it's newsworthy. Sometimes I think Anderson wants to be Larry King. I guess I won't complain though. Hey, I like to be entertained too you know. I don't think I need to recap Mel's anti-semitic drunken tirade. Anderson begins the interview by asking about Mel's film Apocalypto. Apparently there are stark parallels in the film to what is going on in the US today and Anderson asks Mel if he thinks we're destroying ourselves from within. Mel kind of downplays that, saying the film is just a warning, but he also mentions things like consumption and fear as a manipulation tool. He also states that we're in Iraq for "no damn reason" and he talks about the destruction of the environment. Man, I hate it when crazy people say things I agree with. I do think we're destroying ourselves from within. Why couldn't somebody like Spielberg tackle that instead of Mel?Anderson then brings up the violence in the film (apparently it's pretty violent) and Mel dismisses it, saying critics have an ax to grind. Anderson also brings up "the incident" and Mel starts to act weirder. If that's possible. I mean seriously, he looking all over the place like someone who is very disturbed. Anderson asks why people should believe that he's not anti-semitic and Mel replies, "Beats me. It's not my problem." Well! Mel does not want to talk about this, but Anderson presses the issue and Mel gets really dicky and defensive. Poor Anderson had more quotes and stuff ready to go, but kind of just rushes through them because Mel is not amused. I wonder if the interview was suppose to be longer. Anyway, my overall and scientific assessment of the interview is that dude is weird. And what's with the cup? Who does he think he is, Christopher Hitchens? Well, he's got the drunken tirade part down.
Moving on to something saner: polygamists! We've got Gary Tuchman (who else?) on the case
again. We've seen this piece before, not literally, but I think you know what I mean. Nice as can be Gary goes into FLDS town and gets yelled at and shunned when he tries to talk to people. What does CNN have against Gary? Oh, there's also a police angle to this story. The cops in Colorado City are more loyal to the church than the law. Lovely. After the piece Anderson echos my Gary love, calling him, "literally the nicest guy on the planet." Well, it's nice someone noticed! Gary is even overly nice in thanking Anderson for that comment. Note to CNN: send Rick Sanchez next time and give Gary a piece where people don't shun him. That is all. At the end of the hour we learn that the sweepstakes word is Austrailia. I hope you entered. Okay show. B-Screencaps by stillife.
Who else freaked out when they first heard about Senator Johnson? What was up with that Mel Gibson interview? Why does CNN keep sending Gary?
posted by eliza at 6:17 PM
6 Comments:
I really hope the Senator recovers soon, I'm sorry to hear about this for his sake and also the implications it holds for the shift in power. It's amazing how quickly things can change.
It was great seeing Michael Ware all cleaned up and in the studio, but as usual, his thoughts on Iraq were discouraging. What's going on with the training of the Iraqi troops? I've been hearing for months that they're abilities leave a lot to be desired and Michael said something about how the training the troops are receiving will ultimately benefit their various sects, militias and tribes should there be a civil war. Scary.
Mel doesn't come across like he's really worked through his issues or that he even has any intention to. I thought the interview ended abruptly and I could sort of hear Mel in the background kind of saying "jeez" and making dismissive sounds or something when AC kept asking about the diatribe. I don't like him. Mel that is.
I don't get why they showed that Gary Tuchman piece again, but it was nice hearing how highly AC thinks of Gary.
AC was in a good mood, I loved his "rotsa ruck" and snark about the 360 contest Grand Prize. Despite his sarcasm, I'd get a kick out of seeing the 360 studio, but I'm really going after the autographed copy of Dispatches.
Eliza,
You crack me up with your analysis-love the snark!
I feel sorry for Gary too but what do you have against Rick? I guess I should be grateful you didn't volunteer John Roberts-more often than not, he seems to get the short end of the stick in blogs.
As far as Mel's interview, I said it once and I'll say it again, I'm convinced Anderson is angling for Mary Hart's job. I thought it was below the belt to bring up the summer incident again. The guy apologized. Let it go. I do think Mel came across as odd and unapologetic but maybe these guys have to do junkets and if you have to repeat the same crap over and over again I don't know how many of us would be on our best behaviour. I'm not trying to defend the man but how many of us have said things that we regret later. One should be able to apologize and be forgiven. What is in his heart is ultimately only evident to him and his God.
Gissou
@midnight-I'm so tired of training people we can't trust because it always comes back to bite us in the butt. After all, we backed the muhajadeen against the Soviets.
@Gissou-I don't have much respect for Rick as a journalist based on the work he has done (taser anyone?) and there's also an incident from his personal life that plays into it too (though not that much). You can email me if you'd like to know. I try not to talk about AC's personal life on the blog, so I'll be fair to Rick. I never disliked John Roberts.
God I hope Anderson isn't angling for Mary Hart's job. *shudders* I'd have to stop watching. I thought it was fine to bring up the incident from last summer and believe it to be the only reason he was on in the first place. 360 isn't a talk show. A celebrity isn't going to go on just to promote their movie even if it is controversial.
I'm not trying to defend the man but how many of us have said things that we regret later.
Saying something you regret is one thing. Going on an anti-semitic rant is another. No matter how much he says it, alcohol doesn't make you hate the Jews. Just my two cents. :)
Eliza,
If an apology isn't good enough for you then what do you suggest he do?
Gissou
@Gissou-Oh, I don't really care about him. I'm just saying that if he goes on a news show he should expect to get asked about it because that's why they had him on. He's been around the biz enough to know that. I actually stopped liking him before the rant because of how he was presenting himself in his public appearances. And what can he do? He can stop blaming his beliefs on alcohol.
Exactly. It is known throughout the Jewish community and amongst many Christians, etc., that Mel is a hateful anti-semite. There is nothing he can do to diminish the truth. Shoving it under the rug, blaming his hatred on booze, isn't going to soften his true perspective. He is what he is. No need to sugarcoat his persona with lies so that he can continue to amass millions.
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