Rubber Bullets At May Day Rally, Mission Accomplished Four Years Later, Raw Politics, And Immigration Issues (Tuesday's First Hour)
Hi everyone. Anderson is still in Los Angeles and we're kicking it off with the BREAKING NEWS that, uh oh, the LAPD has fired rubber bullets at the May Day rally marchers. Well...crap. Now that's going to be the story. It doesn't matter how few people it involved, all coverage of the May Day events will now include this video. I don't know exactly where I stand on the whole immigration debate, but I do know having their whole event defined by this now isn't fair. Anyway, since this BREAKING NEWS seems to have actually been breaking, they don't know much else, so we're moving on to the news that Bush just vetoed the Iraq spending bill. Not a shocker. And you know what today is, don't you? Four years after he strutted on that aircraft carrier underneath the "mission accomplished" banner. Four years after thousands of people have died. Four years after thousands of more have been injured. Four years after billions wasted. Four years after dozens upon dozens of excuses. 360 plays us a clip of what Bush said today and what he said back then. Nice touch.
To talk about this we're joined by two of my favorites, David Gergen and Michael Ware. Anderson wonders if either side came out on top politically in the Iraq timeline debate. David doesn't really think so, but he thinks there might be a compromise involving benchmarks in the future. But then Anderson turns to Michael and asks if benchmarks will really work when it comes to putting pressure on Maliki. Michael is so over this question. We know the drill by now: he's never lived up to them before and he doesn't have the real power in Iraq anyway. Michael thinks that at some point we're going to have deal with Iran. Anderson then asks David if politically the Bush Administration has too many eggs in the Maliki basket. That totally sounds like a phrase I would use. Oh, and hey, I did. Ha! Well, it amused me anyway. David points out that so far we can't leave and we can't stay. As I've said before, we're stuck in a Clash song. But he's optimistically looking at these possible benchmarks as a way out of that. Yeah, I don't really see that happening. Anderson then brings up how Maliki is running an office in the government that's pushing a Shia agenda and he wonders if there's even any support for a Sunni/Shia democracy. Michael says no and notes that the true power is going to lie with the Iraq intelligence community. Now the Shia are setting up their own parallel agencies. Hey, just like Douglas Feith. Sigh.
For more discussion we're joined by Kendrick Meek (D) of Florida and Mike Pence (R) of Indiana. Hmm, not the normal players, are they? Anyway, Anderson starts by playing a Bush clip and then asking Meek if a timed withdrawl makes sense. Meek points out that it's not a hard withdrawl date and then he kind of wanders off topic. Anderson presses and then presses again, asking if the terrorists will just lie low until we're gone. Meek basically says we can't win it militarily anyway. I should probably point out that Bush has no leg to stand on here since he advocated a timed withdrawl in regards to Kosovo. Anderson then notes that Bush states he doesn't want the troops taking directions from politicians and civilians. However, he points out that's basically what they've been doing this whole time. Pence doesn't agree. Anderson tries again, stating basically everyone agrees now that we didn't go in with enough troops and that was because of Rumsfeld. But Pence still doesn't see the light. Anderson tells us that Pence stated he saw signs of modest success in Iraq and wonders where that was. Pence then talks about certain areas of Baghdad and al Anbar province. Yeah, and what about Diyala? I'm with Michael, let's start talking to the militias and Iran. It's not pretty, but it's our only way out.
Transitioning now to Ted Rowlands live, looking a little freaked because he was just in the middle of that May Day chaos with the rubber bullets shot by police. There's no concrete info yet, but he states that dozens were shot into the crowd with basically no warning. He says police were clearly trying to clear the crowd, but he's not sure exactly why. He notes that children had been in the crowd. We're shown a clip of Ted talking to a guy that got shot. He is not happy and has a nasty welt on his side. Ted then shows us a bullet and indicates they're not lethal. Well, not normally, but that's not really true. Ask the Red Sox fan that got hit with one in the eye. Oh, you can't. Because she's dead. These aren't love pats here folks, this is the real deal.
Moving on now to some immigration talk with Glenn Beck. Oh, 360. Seriously? We've been through this. Do we need to sit down and have a talk? Glenn is no better than Don Imus and having him on makes you enablers of his racism and misogyny. Because I love you guys I'm just going to blame this on all Klein. He's got a gun to your head, right? Right? Anyway, Glenn doesn't think the rallies help the cause and Anderson asks what we should do about the 12 million people already here illegally. Glenn basically doesn't answer and instead focuses on security. Anderson wants to know why we can't have both: security and comprehensive immigration reform. Glenn's not having it. Then Anderson brings up the fact that Glenn thinks this could all lead to a civil war in America. Well, at least he's bringing up one crazy thing he's said. Glenn starts talking about how most people are in the middle and he basically tries to paint himself as some sort of centrist uniter and not the fringe right provoker that he is. After the interview Anderson pimps Glenn's special and I throw up in my mouth a little. Okay, I'm exaggerating (obviously). Hell, if we're going to really do this let's go for it. Ann Coulter next week. What do you say, 360? Lower that discourse!
Next up we have an Anderson piece on our "Planet in Peril." Okay, so they're in LA and LA is the most polluted city in the US...and I think that's pretty much what this piece is built on. Don't get me wrong, I love the environmental news. It's just that I no longer have any idea what they're trying to do with this "Planet in Peril" stuff and quite frankly, I don't think they do either. Moving on to "Raw Politics" with Tom Foreman and we learn that Joe Biden has opened his big mouth again, stating he wants to shove the veto down Bush's throat. Presidential. CNN then does some pimping of their debates and Tom tells us to "Mark your calendars, put the kids to bed, lock up your dog." My dog can't watch? He's very into politics. We also learn that Bono is teaming up with Senator Clinton on an education bill for the poor. However, Tom tells us "he's not endorsing her at this point. Perhaps he still hasn't found what he's looking for." Groooaan. Maybe he'll tell her he can do it 'with or without you'. Hey look, I can do it too. Finally, McCain has found himself back on top, but it's still early. Really early.
We're back to the immigration chaos footage now and Anderson notes that the rubber bullets are "very soft". Oh, Anderson. To be fair, he points out that they leave welts, but still. Perhaps he needs to be shot with one and then he can report how soft they are. Though really, that sounds more like a Rick Sanchez piece. Nobody wants to see Anderson get hurt. Just saying. On now to a Joe Johns "Keeping Them Honest" piece on what the heck happened with all that promised immigration reform. As Joe tells us, the midterm elections got in the way, but what's unclear is what the voters actually said. Both sides are pretty much claiming victory. We're told, "republican Peter Roskam beat Democrat Tammy Duckworth, claiming she was too soft on illegal immigrants." Whoa, whoa, whoa. Tammy Duckworth was a victim of major robocalling by the NRCC. Is that what lost her the election? I don't know, but it's definitely worth noting if you're going to talk about a reason why she might have lost.
Next we've got more May Day footage and then a Gary Tuchman piece about crossing into the US. He's hanging out on the Rio Grande and even sees a dude swimming. Funny thing is, as soon as the guy sees the camera, he swims back, claiming he was just doing the breast stroke for leisure. Uh huh. Gary tells us the word on the Mexican street is you have to be careful now because the US is cracking down. I guess that's a good thing. Erica with the headlines tonight and some of what she bring us includes Anna Nicole's daughter and where she'll live. "That's for up to "Access Hollywood" or "ET" or something to decide maybe," says Anderson. I'm holding you to that Anderson Cooper! The Shot tonight is Mt. Etna in Italy blowing its top. Wow. Pretty amazing shots of the lava. Afterwards Anderson urges us to send them our Shots, but not to get too close to a volcano just to get on tv. Um, not a problem in St. Louis. Again, a really good show, though I did think they were a little casual about the rubber bullets. B+
To talk about this we're joined by two of my favorites, David Gergen and Michael Ware. Anderson wonders if either side came out on top politically in the Iraq timeline debate. David doesn't really think so, but he thinks there might be a compromise involving benchmarks in the future. But then Anderson turns to Michael and asks if benchmarks will really work when it comes to putting pressure on Maliki. Michael is so over this question. We know the drill by now: he's never lived up to them before and he doesn't have the real power in Iraq anyway. Michael thinks that at some point we're going to have deal with Iran. Anderson then asks David if politically the Bush Administration has too many eggs in the Maliki basket. That totally sounds like a phrase I would use. Oh, and hey, I did. Ha! Well, it amused me anyway. David points out that so far we can't leave and we can't stay. As I've said before, we're stuck in a Clash song. But he's optimistically looking at these possible benchmarks as a way out of that. Yeah, I don't really see that happening. Anderson then brings up how Maliki is running an office in the government that's pushing a Shia agenda and he wonders if there's even any support for a Sunni/Shia democracy. Michael says no and notes that the true power is going to lie with the Iraq intelligence community. Now the Shia are setting up their own parallel agencies. Hey, just like Douglas Feith. Sigh.
For more discussion we're joined by Kendrick Meek (D) of Florida and Mike Pence (R) of Indiana. Hmm, not the normal players, are they? Anyway, Anderson starts by playing a Bush clip and then asking Meek if a timed withdrawl makes sense. Meek points out that it's not a hard withdrawl date and then he kind of wanders off topic. Anderson presses and then presses again, asking if the terrorists will just lie low until we're gone. Meek basically says we can't win it militarily anyway. I should probably point out that Bush has no leg to stand on here since he advocated a timed withdrawl in regards to Kosovo. Anderson then notes that Bush states he doesn't want the troops taking directions from politicians and civilians. However, he points out that's basically what they've been doing this whole time. Pence doesn't agree. Anderson tries again, stating basically everyone agrees now that we didn't go in with enough troops and that was because of Rumsfeld. But Pence still doesn't see the light. Anderson tells us that Pence stated he saw signs of modest success in Iraq and wonders where that was. Pence then talks about certain areas of Baghdad and al Anbar province. Yeah, and what about Diyala? I'm with Michael, let's start talking to the militias and Iran. It's not pretty, but it's our only way out.
Transitioning now to Ted Rowlands live, looking a little freaked because he was just in the middle of that May Day chaos with the rubber bullets shot by police. There's no concrete info yet, but he states that dozens were shot into the crowd with basically no warning. He says police were clearly trying to clear the crowd, but he's not sure exactly why. He notes that children had been in the crowd. We're shown a clip of Ted talking to a guy that got shot. He is not happy and has a nasty welt on his side. Ted then shows us a bullet and indicates they're not lethal. Well, not normally, but that's not really true. Ask the Red Sox fan that got hit with one in the eye. Oh, you can't. Because she's dead. These aren't love pats here folks, this is the real deal.
Moving on now to some immigration talk with Glenn Beck. Oh, 360. Seriously? We've been through this. Do we need to sit down and have a talk? Glenn is no better than Don Imus and having him on makes you enablers of his racism and misogyny. Because I love you guys I'm just going to blame this on all Klein. He's got a gun to your head, right? Right? Anyway, Glenn doesn't think the rallies help the cause and Anderson asks what we should do about the 12 million people already here illegally. Glenn basically doesn't answer and instead focuses on security. Anderson wants to know why we can't have both: security and comprehensive immigration reform. Glenn's not having it. Then Anderson brings up the fact that Glenn thinks this could all lead to a civil war in America. Well, at least he's bringing up one crazy thing he's said. Glenn starts talking about how most people are in the middle and he basically tries to paint himself as some sort of centrist uniter and not the fringe right provoker that he is. After the interview Anderson pimps Glenn's special and I throw up in my mouth a little. Okay, I'm exaggerating (obviously). Hell, if we're going to really do this let's go for it. Ann Coulter next week. What do you say, 360? Lower that discourse!
Next up we have an Anderson piece on our "Planet in Peril." Okay, so they're in LA and LA is the most polluted city in the US...and I think that's pretty much what this piece is built on. Don't get me wrong, I love the environmental news. It's just that I no longer have any idea what they're trying to do with this "Planet in Peril" stuff and quite frankly, I don't think they do either. Moving on to "Raw Politics" with Tom Foreman and we learn that Joe Biden has opened his big mouth again, stating he wants to shove the veto down Bush's throat. Presidential. CNN then does some pimping of their debates and Tom tells us to "Mark your calendars, put the kids to bed, lock up your dog." My dog can't watch? He's very into politics. We also learn that Bono is teaming up with Senator Clinton on an education bill for the poor. However, Tom tells us "he's not endorsing her at this point. Perhaps he still hasn't found what he's looking for." Groooaan. Maybe he'll tell her he can do it 'with or without you'. Hey look, I can do it too. Finally, McCain has found himself back on top, but it's still early. Really early.
We're back to the immigration chaos footage now and Anderson notes that the rubber bullets are "very soft". Oh, Anderson. To be fair, he points out that they leave welts, but still. Perhaps he needs to be shot with one and then he can report how soft they are. Though really, that sounds more like a Rick Sanchez piece. Nobody wants to see Anderson get hurt. Just saying. On now to a Joe Johns "Keeping Them Honest" piece on what the heck happened with all that promised immigration reform. As Joe tells us, the midterm elections got in the way, but what's unclear is what the voters actually said. Both sides are pretty much claiming victory. We're told, "republican Peter Roskam beat Democrat Tammy Duckworth, claiming she was too soft on illegal immigrants." Whoa, whoa, whoa. Tammy Duckworth was a victim of major robocalling by the NRCC. Is that what lost her the election? I don't know, but it's definitely worth noting if you're going to talk about a reason why she might have lost.
Next we've got more May Day footage and then a Gary Tuchman piece about crossing into the US. He's hanging out on the Rio Grande and even sees a dude swimming. Funny thing is, as soon as the guy sees the camera, he swims back, claiming he was just doing the breast stroke for leisure. Uh huh. Gary tells us the word on the Mexican street is you have to be careful now because the US is cracking down. I guess that's a good thing. Erica with the headlines tonight and some of what she bring us includes Anna Nicole's daughter and where she'll live. "That's for up to "Access Hollywood" or "ET" or something to decide maybe," says Anderson. I'm holding you to that Anderson Cooper! The Shot tonight is Mt. Etna in Italy blowing its top. Wow. Pretty amazing shots of the lava. Afterwards Anderson urges us to send them our Shots, but not to get too close to a volcano just to get on tv. Um, not a problem in St. Louis. Again, a really good show, though I did think they were a little casual about the rubber bullets. B+
posted by eliza at 12:55 AM
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