Michael Ware Again Smacks Down McCain, Money And Politics, And A Creation Museum (Monday's Show)

Hi everybody. Before I start I want to note that this post contains both hours and is abbreviated in a lot of places because tomorrow I'm going out after work and won't be home until late. Therefore, I won't be able to do the second hour post then like usual. And since I won't be home I obviously won't be watching 360 (here's their chance to suck without being berated by an Internet pest), so no review for Tuesday's show. But fear not, dear readers. I've got you covered. About a week ago my friend Arachnae asked if she could guest blog a 360-related editorial, so she will entertain you in lieu of a review. Also, I've taken the comments off moderation, though I won't hesitate to put them back on if need be. That covers that; now on with the show.

We've got John Roberts holding down the fort tonight because apparently it's vacation week at CNN. Either that or Anderson Cooper, Wolf Blitzer, Paula Zahn, Miles O'Brien, and Larry King are all off together plotting something. Oooh maybe they're forming a shadow network. We begin with a Michael Ware piece on the ever diminishing crediblity of John McCain. You might remember McCain's previous comments that there are areas in Baghdad where one can walk around safely. Well, this weekend McCain "proved" his point by walking around a Baghdad market...with a flak jacket...surrounded by over 100 soldiers that had locked the place down...with snipers hiding...and two Apache gunships overhead. Uh huh. Sounds like it's safe to me. Tell me, does every Iraqi get two Apache gunships? So anyway, McCain says we're not getting the full picture on Iraq, but Michael recaps all the massive violence that's been going on there lately and I think it's a fuller picture than any of us would like.

After his piece Michael joins us live and John notes there has been a recent kerfuffle on conservative blogs regarding Michael allegedly heckling McCain at a press conference. John doesn't go into details, but basically Drudge (big surprise) ran a a totally blind accusation and all the Righty blogs ate it up. Michael tells us it's completely untrue, he didn't even ask a question, and people should look at the tape for proof. In fact Michael told Soledad this morning that when he tried to ask a question the press conference abruptly ended. John wonders if Michael calling McCain on his BS last week had anything to do with this. Um, duh. And in so many words that's Michael's answer too. Hey, out of curiousity, what the hell has happened to John McCain? Sure, the straight talk express got stuck at pander junction a while ago, but I'm beginning to think there is something actually wrong with the man. Last week on the "Today" show he warned that failure in Iraq could mean that Bin Laden and Zarqawi follow us home. And I have to say if that happens we've got bigger problems than I thought because Zarqawi is totally DEAD! It's not even war stuff that he's gone crazy on. Recently the "straight talker" was totally stumped when asked his position on tax-payer subsidized condoms. It was really awkward . So seriously, what's going on with him?

Next up we have an Ed Henry piece on war spending and we learn that Senator Russ Feingold is sponsoring a bill "that would only allow war spending in three areas, fighting al Qaeda, training Iraqis, and securing the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad." And that dreadful sound effect is still here. Do I need to do a whole post about this? After Ed we move on to some political talk with David Gergen. All the 2008 candidates are counting up their fundraising money from the first quarter and it seems Hillary Clinton and Mitt Romney are the winners of their respective parties. I think the whole thing is a complete waste and pretty disgusting. Just think of the things those millions of dollars could do. John notes that Obama is keeping quiet and hasn't released his numbers yet. The Gerg thinks it will be a positive surprise. He also points out that McCain seems to be having some trouble. Yeah, well, read the previous paragraph of this post for the reasons why.

On now to Tom Foreman with "Raw Politics." But John is right there. And he does it so well. Oh well, Tom's fun too, though I hope he doesn't get the shakes without his maps. First up, balking at tradition, Bush did not throw out any first pitches at opening day. Yeah, because he knew he was going to get booed. The guy's not totally stupid. Continuing on with our ball theme we learn that Rudy Giuliani is "playing defense" because his wife took part in unnecessary fatal surgery on dogs for her medical job. Animal-rights people are not happy. Next we find that some want Newt Gingrich "tossed from the game" because he compared bilingual education with ghetto speak. Lovely. There was more, but I missed it. Sorry, people.

Transitioning now to a John piece on an Ohio standoff where a woman falls off a roof. They have video. Uh huh. Then John talks to a woman on the phone who was in a pub across the street. Okay then. After this there is a Rick Sanchez piece on a woman they call the black widow because her husbands kept dying, leaving her with large insurance payouts. The Shot tonight is a cop totally shoving some skateboarding teen into a bush. Ha! I'd like to do that. She's in trouble though. Oops.

The second hour kicks off with some discussion with Peter Bergen about al Qaeda. John asks how this generation differs and Peter tells us they are younger and not as much is known about them. John also asks where Bin Laden fits in now and Peter tells us he doesn't have to call people to do things. Basically he just puts out a general strategy that people follow. After more discussion we have a disconcerting Nic Robertson piece on how Perez Musharraf has suspended his country's chief justice over some of his decisions. Now there is an outcry in the country and it looks as if the decison might have been over the line for Musharraf. Let's hope not. We really can't afford to have him fall right now.

Next up we have repeated stuff on McCain and then a David Mattingly piece that gives us a nice little history lesson on the 1979 hostage crisis. I don't have time for indepth blogging, but I like when they do these kind of pieces. After this we have another David Mattingly piece, though this time about a 24 year old woman in Kansas City who was placed on the FBI's most wanted list and then captured the same day. A little birdie told me that John pronounced Missouri as "Missourah." My regular readers know that drives me crazy. It's Missouree!!! Anyway, I can't confirm myself because I obviously wasn't paying good attention, so let me just say I'm watching you John.

Transitioning to a Tom Foreman piece on the epic battle between evolution and creationism. Apparently there's a new "creation museum" in Kentucky that preaches that the Earth is 6,000 years old and was made in six days. Oh, and there are dinosaurs in the Garden of Eden. Uh huh. Anyway, scientists are not happy. Hey, has it ever occurred to anyone that maybe the time in the Bible is not the same as time on earth? Maybe the Earth is 6,000 years old-in God years. Creationism and evolution do not have to be mutually exclusive. It's a false debate. After Tom's piece we learn that Jesus is on the lam in an undisclosed location. Oh noes! Okay, they're actually referring to the chocolate Jesus and now we get to see all that coverage from Friday all over again because the story lit up the blogosphere and probably their ratings. That'll do it for tonight. The show was good B+

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