Genarlow Wilson Update, More From New Orleans, Paris, Political Talk, And Gonzales Update (Monday's Second Hour)
Hi everybody. The hour kicks off with an update on the story of Genarlow Wilson, which 360 covered earlier this year. You might remember that Genarlow was sentenced to 10 years in jail for, um, oral sex with a minor. Of course that minor was consenting and Genarlow was only a couple of years older, so the whole thing is ridiculous. In this current piece, Rick Sanchez is present when Genarlow's lawyer gets the fax that he's free. So, yay, right? Wrong. Only an hour and a half later the attorney general announced they were appealing. Okay, what is this AG's childhood trauma? Look, Eliza doesn't particularly think any teenager should be doing, uh, that, but c'mon!
Next up we have a Gary Tuchman piece on New Orleans crime. As we heard in the first hour, there's a real problem with witnesses to crimes coming forward. And no witness; most of the time no conviction. After the piece Anderson asks if New Orleans offers protection for witnesses. Surprisingly, Gary says that they do, but not everyone believes them. Well, can you blame them? And as Gary further explains, they even have a budget for the protection. Wow. I'm impressed. Moving on to an interview with Colonel Jeff Bedey of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on New Orlean's pumps. You see, there's this new report out about the pumps and how they're not really going to uh...work. That's probably going to be a problem. Anderson flat out asks if they will work and Jeff doesn't really give a straight answer. Anderson tries again and Jeff gives an answer that still doesn't convince me. We pretty much get the same thing regarding whether the levees are stronger and whether it's safe to live in the lower ninth ward. I know he has to play the CYA game, but if the Corps know things aren't up to snuff and they're not telling the people, that's not right.
Transitioning now to Paris Hilton crap that even pulls in poor Jeffrey Toobin. I've had more than my share for the night, so moving on to a Bill Schneider piece on, what else? New polls! Post-debate polls specifically. Okay, so Clinton got a bump, Obama basically stayed the same, Richards hit the double digits, and Edwards took a hit. Interesting. For discussion, we're joined by Amy Holmes, Jennifer Donahue (a senior adviser for political affairs at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics), and Paul Begala. Anderson begins by asking about Clinton's war vote, that apparently isn't hurting her like everyone said it would. Paul is shocked by this and states that these polls are myth busting. Step outside that beltway bubble, Paul. Amy is surprised Clinton's debate performance seems to have helped her because she doesn't think public speaking is exactly a strength. They then bring up the hit that Edwards took in the polls and Jennifer notes that all his points went straight to Clinton because he hasn't spent much time in New Hampshire and she has. Paul also brings up the fact that right now Edwards only has two kinds of stories: the $400 haircut and his wife's cancer. As for electability, Amy explains that the republican front runners have much better numbers than Clinton. Ruh-roh. Anderson asks about people like Richardson and Biden and why Biden didn't get a poll bump even though people were talking about him after the debate. Jennifer thinks it all comes down to retail politics-Richardson has gotten himself out there more than Biden.
Moving on now to a Candy Crowley piece on how much Bush sucks. And how he sucks more now that his immigration reform imploded. But we already knew all that. The interesting thing in this piece is we learn there is a country that loves Bush. No, really. Apparently Albanians can't get enough of him. So here's my suggestion to Bush: stay! I don't know why, but people like you there. Don't leave! You may never get this chance again. I'd love to know what they love about him. I guess the suckiness gets lost in translation.
Finally tonight we're joined by Jeffrey Toobin for analysis of an actual news story. Anderson tells us that a no confidence vote on Gonzales failed in the Senate today and Toobin tells us he's here to stay now. Anderson wonders why he would even want to stay because he's pretty much taking down Justice with him. Like Gonzales cares about that. Toobin is nicer than me, stating it's because he's a proud guy. Whatever. Then they transition to the awesome ruling handed down today regarding enemy combatants. Toobin explains, "Again the Bush administration is trying to create a separate new category for these war on terror prisoners. They're not criminal defendants, they're not the subject of court martials, they are in this new category where they have fewer rights. And time after time, the courts have said no, this category you have created is not constitutionally appropriate. And here yet again, the administration has been told by a very conservative court, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia, that this system is not good enough for this defendant." Yay for the constitution! That'll do it for the hour.
I don't know how informed you all are on the net neutrality debate that's currently taking place, but the FCC is taking comments through the 15th. I know the mainstream media has been mum on this, but if you're on the Internet this is VERY IMPORTANT to you. Give this article a read for background and then go here to leave your comment with the FCC. If you click on only one link on this blog, make it that one.
Next up we have a Gary Tuchman piece on New Orleans crime. As we heard in the first hour, there's a real problem with witnesses to crimes coming forward. And no witness; most of the time no conviction. After the piece Anderson asks if New Orleans offers protection for witnesses. Surprisingly, Gary says that they do, but not everyone believes them. Well, can you blame them? And as Gary further explains, they even have a budget for the protection. Wow. I'm impressed. Moving on to an interview with Colonel Jeff Bedey of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on New Orlean's pumps. You see, there's this new report out about the pumps and how they're not really going to uh...work. That's probably going to be a problem. Anderson flat out asks if they will work and Jeff doesn't really give a straight answer. Anderson tries again and Jeff gives an answer that still doesn't convince me. We pretty much get the same thing regarding whether the levees are stronger and whether it's safe to live in the lower ninth ward. I know he has to play the CYA game, but if the Corps know things aren't up to snuff and they're not telling the people, that's not right.
Transitioning now to Paris Hilton crap that even pulls in poor Jeffrey Toobin. I've had more than my share for the night, so moving on to a Bill Schneider piece on, what else? New polls! Post-debate polls specifically. Okay, so Clinton got a bump, Obama basically stayed the same, Richards hit the double digits, and Edwards took a hit. Interesting. For discussion, we're joined by Amy Holmes, Jennifer Donahue (a senior adviser for political affairs at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics), and Paul Begala. Anderson begins by asking about Clinton's war vote, that apparently isn't hurting her like everyone said it would. Paul is shocked by this and states that these polls are myth busting. Step outside that beltway bubble, Paul. Amy is surprised Clinton's debate performance seems to have helped her because she doesn't think public speaking is exactly a strength. They then bring up the hit that Edwards took in the polls and Jennifer notes that all his points went straight to Clinton because he hasn't spent much time in New Hampshire and she has. Paul also brings up the fact that right now Edwards only has two kinds of stories: the $400 haircut and his wife's cancer. As for electability, Amy explains that the republican front runners have much better numbers than Clinton. Ruh-roh. Anderson asks about people like Richardson and Biden and why Biden didn't get a poll bump even though people were talking about him after the debate. Jennifer thinks it all comes down to retail politics-Richardson has gotten himself out there more than Biden.
Moving on now to a Candy Crowley piece on how much Bush sucks. And how he sucks more now that his immigration reform imploded. But we already knew all that. The interesting thing in this piece is we learn there is a country that loves Bush. No, really. Apparently Albanians can't get enough of him. So here's my suggestion to Bush: stay! I don't know why, but people like you there. Don't leave! You may never get this chance again. I'd love to know what they love about him. I guess the suckiness gets lost in translation.
Finally tonight we're joined by Jeffrey Toobin for analysis of an actual news story. Anderson tells us that a no confidence vote on Gonzales failed in the Senate today and Toobin tells us he's here to stay now. Anderson wonders why he would even want to stay because he's pretty much taking down Justice with him. Like Gonzales cares about that. Toobin is nicer than me, stating it's because he's a proud guy. Whatever. Then they transition to the awesome ruling handed down today regarding enemy combatants. Toobin explains, "Again the Bush administration is trying to create a separate new category for these war on terror prisoners. They're not criminal defendants, they're not the subject of court martials, they are in this new category where they have fewer rights. And time after time, the courts have said no, this category you have created is not constitutionally appropriate. And here yet again, the administration has been told by a very conservative court, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia, that this system is not good enough for this defendant." Yay for the constitution! That'll do it for the hour.
I don't know how informed you all are on the net neutrality debate that's currently taking place, but the FCC is taking comments through the 15th. I know the mainstream media has been mum on this, but if you're on the Internet this is VERY IMPORTANT to you. Give this article a read for background and then go here to leave your comment with the FCC. If you click on only one link on this blog, make it that one.
posted by eliza at 7:36 PM
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