Out of Control Afghanistan, ANS Crap, More Obama/Clinton Tussle, Iraq Refugee Talk With A Smackdown (Friday's Show)
Hi everyone. This blog is coming at you from the Oscars. Okay, yeah, that's a lie. But I am watching the Oscars while I type this. Oh, Al Gore, your little gag was both predictable and a little mean...to me. Anyways, tonight we begin with a warning from the Taliban and a new terror tape from al Qaeda. Don't they know it's Friday? Stupid terrorists are bringing down my weekend. We then learn more about the al Qaeda tape from an Anderson piece. This particular tape is from al Qaeda in Pakistan along the Afghanistan border and was reportedly make in early 2006. That area, specifically Waziristan, is also a popular hang out for Taliban, who are picking up some nasty habits from their more explosive terror peers. So basically everything is going to crap there and one of the main causes is that deal that Pakistan struck with pro-Taliban militants. Oh the deal's going great...for the Taliban. Everybody else? Not so much. And what a great ally Pakistan is, huh? Love you like a cold sore, guys!
Joining us to discuss this more we've got Nic Robertson and Rick Barton with the Center For Strategic and International Studies. Nic notes that attacks are up and the deal Pakistan struck is not working. Uh, you think? And he tells us that sometimes security forces will have al Qaeda people in custody and Pakistani intelligence will let them go. Oh, WTF? Rick thinks we need double the troops in Afghanistan and more helicopters. Well the army's a little busy right now fighting a war we never should have started. Unless of course you want to send the Salvation Army, which actually, we're probably pretty close to doing. Rick points out the Afghans are noticing the insecurity in their country too. Yeah, that whole death thing is probably pretty hard to ignore. Anderson then talks about massive NATO red tape. I actually almost typed FEMA there. Habit I guess. So okay, NATO is all cool with sending troops, but apparently they have a problem with sending them where there's actual fighting. I know I'm a layman with all this, but that seems...crazy. Maybe they think this is opposite world. Nic confirms that that the red tape is a huge issue and even Bush apparently stopped clearing brush for a second (or biking or coming up with stupid names for the press) to complain about it. NATO members find it politically unpleasant to put troops in harm's way. Oh brother. Do they not understand what a war entails? I know the US leadership majorly blows right now, but the other countries could maybe step up a little. Lord.
Transitioning suddenly now to Anna Nicole Smith crap. Very suddenly. Man, it's like they're addicted. They could only make it through eight minutes of actual news before they needed a hit of their ratings smack. After all the crap we get a kind of meta "Raw Data" where we learn that "Over the last 24 hours alone, U.S. TV stationed aired about 148,000 segments about Smith. As for the name Anna Nicole Smith, a Google search came up with more than 22 million hits." Then Anderson literally promises us more coverage of it. So basically they're all, "OMG, look at how much air this thing is getting...still to come more Anna Nicole Smith!" Somebody kill me now. Oh, and if that doesn't make your head explode, check out the preview for the Clinton/Obama story coming up. I kid you not, they're actually using fighting sound effects. I would expect that from Faux. I think 360 needs a time out to think about what they've done.
On now to a Candy Crowley piece about the Obama/Clinton flap over David Geffens' comments. Now Obama is saying he didn't know his staff issued a statement. The Clinton team totally doesn't believe that and frankly I'm not sure if I do either. Also, I don't care much. This whole thing seems pretty stupid to me. Can we get on with saving the world please? Oh, that's not on the schedule? Bummer. David Gergen then pops in to give us the requisite political low down. He thinks Clinton is actually the big loser in this and should have just let Geffen's comments in Maureen Dowd's column go. He's probably right. I mean, who reads Maureen Dowd anymore? Even liberals are starting to hate her. Anderson notes that Clinton's critics say she's unelectable and The Gerg points out that this little incident reinforces her critics sterotypes about her. Although The Gerg doesn't think Obama came out clean in this either. Anderson brings up Obama's staff and The Gerg states that they're green. Actually I think they know exactly what they're doing. I guess only time will tell.
Next up we have the Randi Kaye piece on Iraq refugees and it's been re-edited with updates. Apparently Democratic Governor Ted Strickland of Ohio stated that Ohio doesn't want to take in any Iraqis because they've suffered enough for this war. Um, what? Yeah, that didn't really fly, so now he's back tracking, saying he was misunderstood. You see, he loves him some Iraqis. Republican Congressman Tom Tancredo also made comments against accepting refugees, but racism tinged comments from Tancredo aren't exactly news. Besides, he gets his in about 10 minutes. After the piece Randi tells us that the process for accepting Iraqis in the US is very complicated with those that have helped in the war effort getting highest priority.
On now to a debate about the subject with Tom Tancredo and Edina Lekovic of the Muslim Public Affairs Council. Anderson points out that some Iraqis have risked their lives working with the US, but Tancredo is hung up on this law. See, apparently Iraq is refusing to take back their citizens that are deported from other countries for crimes. I can't imagine why. Everything seems to be so orderly over there. Surely they could handle it. Tancredo tells us that there's a law that says if they don't take them back, the US can't give out visas and he's all about the law, man. Well, he's good at hiding behind it anyway. Edina points out that, hello, there's a humanitarian crisis going on. Anderson wonders what Tancredo would think if they changed the law. Tancredo then says he'd be okay with it, but throws up all these conditions. Oh, and then he goes into BS about how it's not like these people are trapped in Iraq. Oh yeah, they're fine. WTF? Edina states that 100,000 Iraqis are fleeing each month and once again reinterates that this is a huge crisis.
Anderson then asks Tacredo what he thinks should be done and Tancredo states that we need to get the Iraqi government strong enough so the Iraqis can come back and feel safe. Um, have you checked out the Iraq government lately? Because people over there will tell you there basically is no government. I think you're going to need a plan B. It's at this point that Edina, who has been fairly reserved throughout this interview, suddenly goes nuclear, "Congressman Tancredo is the same man who a few years ago said that we should consider taking out Mecca in order to send a message to the terrorists. So..." Ohh, snap! I had forgotten about that. She was probably just quietly waiting to bring that up. Tancredo then goes ballistic. He starts bleeting that she has no respect and that he didn't say that. Um, yeah you did, I remember. He claims it wasn't to "send a message." Yeah, because taking out Mecca for other reasons is perfectly okay. Then Anderson does something amazing: He reads the transcript of the interview with Tancredo's Mecca comment:
What do you guys think about the Obama/Clinton tussle? What about the Iraq refugee debate?
Joining us to discuss this more we've got Nic Robertson and Rick Barton with the Center For Strategic and International Studies. Nic notes that attacks are up and the deal Pakistan struck is not working. Uh, you think? And he tells us that sometimes security forces will have al Qaeda people in custody and Pakistani intelligence will let them go. Oh, WTF? Rick thinks we need double the troops in Afghanistan and more helicopters. Well the army's a little busy right now fighting a war we never should have started. Unless of course you want to send the Salvation Army, which actually, we're probably pretty close to doing. Rick points out the Afghans are noticing the insecurity in their country too. Yeah, that whole death thing is probably pretty hard to ignore. Anderson then talks about massive NATO red tape. I actually almost typed FEMA there. Habit I guess. So okay, NATO is all cool with sending troops, but apparently they have a problem with sending them where there's actual fighting. I know I'm a layman with all this, but that seems...crazy. Maybe they think this is opposite world. Nic confirms that that the red tape is a huge issue and even Bush apparently stopped clearing brush for a second (or biking or coming up with stupid names for the press) to complain about it. NATO members find it politically unpleasant to put troops in harm's way. Oh brother. Do they not understand what a war entails? I know the US leadership majorly blows right now, but the other countries could maybe step up a little. Lord.
Transitioning suddenly now to Anna Nicole Smith crap. Very suddenly. Man, it's like they're addicted. They could only make it through eight minutes of actual news before they needed a hit of their ratings smack. After all the crap we get a kind of meta "Raw Data" where we learn that "Over the last 24 hours alone, U.S. TV stationed aired about 148,000 segments about Smith. As for the name Anna Nicole Smith, a Google search came up with more than 22 million hits." Then Anderson literally promises us more coverage of it. So basically they're all, "OMG, look at how much air this thing is getting...still to come more Anna Nicole Smith!" Somebody kill me now. Oh, and if that doesn't make your head explode, check out the preview for the Clinton/Obama story coming up. I kid you not, they're actually using fighting sound effects. I would expect that from Faux. I think 360 needs a time out to think about what they've done.
On now to a Candy Crowley piece about the Obama/Clinton flap over David Geffens' comments. Now Obama is saying he didn't know his staff issued a statement. The Clinton team totally doesn't believe that and frankly I'm not sure if I do either. Also, I don't care much. This whole thing seems pretty stupid to me. Can we get on with saving the world please? Oh, that's not on the schedule? Bummer. David Gergen then pops in to give us the requisite political low down. He thinks Clinton is actually the big loser in this and should have just let Geffen's comments in Maureen Dowd's column go. He's probably right. I mean, who reads Maureen Dowd anymore? Even liberals are starting to hate her. Anderson notes that Clinton's critics say she's unelectable and The Gerg points out that this little incident reinforces her critics sterotypes about her. Although The Gerg doesn't think Obama came out clean in this either. Anderson brings up Obama's staff and The Gerg states that they're green. Actually I think they know exactly what they're doing. I guess only time will tell.
Next up we have the Randi Kaye piece on Iraq refugees and it's been re-edited with updates. Apparently Democratic Governor Ted Strickland of Ohio stated that Ohio doesn't want to take in any Iraqis because they've suffered enough for this war. Um, what? Yeah, that didn't really fly, so now he's back tracking, saying he was misunderstood. You see, he loves him some Iraqis. Republican Congressman Tom Tancredo also made comments against accepting refugees, but racism tinged comments from Tancredo aren't exactly news. Besides, he gets his in about 10 minutes. After the piece Randi tells us that the process for accepting Iraqis in the US is very complicated with those that have helped in the war effort getting highest priority.
On now to a debate about the subject with Tom Tancredo and Edina Lekovic of the Muslim Public Affairs Council. Anderson points out that some Iraqis have risked their lives working with the US, but Tancredo is hung up on this law. See, apparently Iraq is refusing to take back their citizens that are deported from other countries for crimes. I can't imagine why. Everything seems to be so orderly over there. Surely they could handle it. Tancredo tells us that there's a law that says if they don't take them back, the US can't give out visas and he's all about the law, man. Well, he's good at hiding behind it anyway. Edina points out that, hello, there's a humanitarian crisis going on. Anderson wonders what Tancredo would think if they changed the law. Tancredo then says he'd be okay with it, but throws up all these conditions. Oh, and then he goes into BS about how it's not like these people are trapped in Iraq. Oh yeah, they're fine. WTF? Edina states that 100,000 Iraqis are fleeing each month and once again reinterates that this is a huge crisis.
Anderson then asks Tacredo what he thinks should be done and Tancredo states that we need to get the Iraqi government strong enough so the Iraqis can come back and feel safe. Um, have you checked out the Iraq government lately? Because people over there will tell you there basically is no government. I think you're going to need a plan B. It's at this point that Edina, who has been fairly reserved throughout this interview, suddenly goes nuclear, "Congressman Tancredo is the same man who a few years ago said that we should consider taking out Mecca in order to send a message to the terrorists. So..." Ohh, snap! I had forgotten about that. She was probably just quietly waiting to bring that up. Tancredo then goes ballistic. He starts bleeting that she has no respect and that he didn't say that. Um, yeah you did, I remember. He claims it wasn't to "send a message." Yeah, because taking out Mecca for other reasons is perfectly okay. Then Anderson does something amazing: He reads the transcript of the interview with Tancredo's Mecca comment:
When asked how he would respond if terrorists struck several U.S. cities with nuclear weapons, he said, quote, "If this happens in the United States and we determined that it is the result of extremist fundamentalist Muslims, you know, you could take out their holy sites."Busted! Fact checking? Oh, 360 you get a total gold star. I probably shouldn't get so excited about accountability and actual journalism, but that was awesome! Oh, but, apparently I'm not allowed to bask in the awesomeness for too long because we've got more ANS crap! Oh yay! Don't make me take away that gold star. Tonight's show was okay. B.
Campbell said, "You're talking about bombing Mecca?"
And Tancredo responded, "Yes."
What do you guys think about the Obama/Clinton tussle? What about the Iraq refugee debate?
posted by eliza at 9:10 PM
3 Comments:
I laughed out loud at some of your comments, Eliza! Heh. I must say- Friday's show was a definite improvement over the preceding week. I thought the "smackdown" sound effects with Clinton/Obama were pretty funny, actually.
And yeah- the gold star? Definitely. I actually said "Oh, Damn!" at my TV when Anderson read that quote. Real journalism- yay.
I'm all for some smackdown sound effects. These people take themselves way too seriously anyway.
Of course Obamo knew about those comments, but he's using the whole "she said it, not me" excuse. It's too early for me to care about much of it anyway. Unless someone is impeaching Dubya soon, we still have more than a year of this crap.
As for not taking Iraqi refugees, it's really pathetic that we won't do more to help clean up the mess we've made.
The Obama/Clinton thing reminds me of two little kids fighting...who cares! Even those within the same party can't respect each other....oh wait...I guess that's called politics.
For a Friday nite show, I thought AC360 was pretty good, even though, the 2nd. hour was repeat.
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