Friday, June 15, 2007

Immigration Reform Back, Political Talk, Killer King, Possible Libby Pardon, Raw Politics, Family Murdered, And Two Princes (Thursday's First Hour)

Hi everybody. John King's still doing anchoring duty for us and we begin with the BREAKING NEWS that immigration reform has gone zombified. It's back from the dead! Dana Bash joins us live and intros a piece that breaks down what I find to be actually surprising news. We learn the bill is going back to the Senate floor and now "opponents will be allowed to offer some 20 amendments to change what they don't like about the bill." Only 20? Do I hear 21? Apparently what breathed life back into the debate was Bush convincing conservatives the bill would actually help secure the border. However, as Dana notes after her piece, this bill is in no way ready to take to the bank yet. John points out that Bush seems to have changed his tone a bit and Dana agrees, noting that a couple weeks ago he gave a speech where he basically said if you oppose the bill you're un-American. As you might imagine, the Republicans were not happy. Yeah, people don't tend to enjoy being called un-American. I'm a liberal. Trust me, I know. After this we're joined by Chris Simcox, president and founder of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, and Frank Sharry, executive director of the National Immigration Forum. No surprises here. Chris doesn't like the bill and Frank is very "rah rah" about it getting passed.

Next up we've got some political talk about our awesome president and Congress with Joe Klein and Candy Crowley. Oh look, three beltway insiders here to tell us what the average American is thinking. Geez. John begins by noting Bush's really sucky approval rating and wonders if the immigration bill will help him. Candy doesn't think so since most of the disapproval is due to the war. Joe points out that Bush isn't a lame duck because he's still the president and has lots of important decisions to make. He's the decider, dammit! John then plays us a clip from Dan Bartlett, who plays off Bush's poll numbers as something that's systemic to Washington right now. Candy then informs us that us little people outside the beltway don't care much for Washington. I'm glad I have someone to tell me how I think. John gives us some examples of government getting things done on the local level and wonders if that's the way to go now. Joe uses that to talk about big ideas and totally pimps out his new "Time" article, which I'm guessing calls for politicians to tell us the things we don't want to hear. I'm actually down with this, but I doubt most other people are. I'm totally ready for Jimmy Carter in a sweater telling me things suck (because that's reality), but everybody else wants morning in America. Candy thinks it's dangerous for everything out of your mouth to be broccoli. Well yeah, I don't want just broccoli. I want broccoli with solutions. Broccoli with dip, if you will. "The Bushes don't like broccoli," John quips. Oh John, I don't think the Bushes even know what broccoli looks like.

Transitioning now to a Ted Rowlands piece that follows up on the death of Edith Rodriguez at Martin Luther King Jr. Harbor Hospital. It seems she's not the only one treated horribly by what's been dubbed "killer king." Juan Ponce was diagnosed with a brain tumor and then forgotten about in the ER for four days. When it got so bad that he couldn't see or speak, family members were able to get the staff to move him. Damn. Ted speaks with an anonymous ER employee (his face is blurred) who says that incompetence is a big issue there. I guess so. After this we've got Gary Tuchman mixing it up with the headlines and then we're on to my favorite story, the trials and tribulations of Paris Hilton. Once again, I am amused by John seeming to almost crack up while talking about it. He has an interview with some reporter and...I so don't care. At the end John says (referring to Paris being in prison), "If she's released, do you think we'll stop talking about her?" Well you know, you could always just decide to, um, not talk about her. Just a thought.

Speaking of jailbirds, it seems Scooter Libby will not get to appeal his case out of prison. Aw, I'm playing a tiny little violin for him. Next we're played an interview that John did with outgoing White House counselor Dan Bartlett. John asks about a pardon for Libby and of couse Dan won't really answer because he says the appeals process is still going on. It's the whole "ongoing investigation" meme with a tweak, basically. John then tries again, but gets nowhere, so he switches up and asks about what Bush is like in the morning when he reads the newspaper. Oh John, you don't want to know about that. Bed head. Morning breath. It's not pretty. Or, actually, maybe John was referring to how he reacts to what he reads in the paper. In that case, Dan says he keeps it all in perspective and blah blah blah. John then notes Bush is reading about Lincoln and asks about that. Why do people always ask about what Bush is reading? We don't care. Really. We're only concerned with what he's doing. Dan tells us what's great about this president is that when all is said and done he can look in the mirror and know that he did what was best. Man, he's gonna need to find him one majorly revisionist mirror.

On now to some "Raw Politics" with Candy Crowley. First up, Bush is out there raising money again, though he's not pulling in the same dough as he once could. That's what below 30% will do to you. Next we learn the White House has got their ire up because Harry Reid may have called Peter Pace incompetent and criticized David Petraeus. According to them, it's outrageous to issue slanders in a time of war. Which leads one to wonder if it's okay if it's not a time of war... and if the White House knows what "slanders" means. It's not slander if it's true. Candy tells us that Bill Clinton made $10 million giving speeches last year. Good gig. Next we meet Obama Girl, a viral video that's taking the Internet by storm. Yes, these are the same people that brought us the lovely "my box in a box." (Google if you don't know). They say they're Obama supporters, but I'm not sure how thankful he is to have them. They do up the amusing factor though.

Next up we have a Randi Kaye piece on a family stabbed to death in a quiet little neighborhood. The only survivor was the 20 year old daughter that ran across the street for help. So far there are no motives. Scary stuff. Moving on now to..."one, two, princes kneel before you
(thats what I said, now). Princes, princes who adore you (just go ahead, now)." Okay no, it's not a Spin Doctors concert (I used to love them!), it's a BBC interview with William and Harry. And man, I guess I really haven't seen an interview of Harry in a long time because he's all growed up. So what's the point here? It's because Diana died about a decade ago and they're holding a concert to commemorate her life. That's nice of them. The Shot tonight is a cow in a swimming pool. I guess it got hot. The show was...eh. We get Paris before we get the mideast implosion? And this is subjective (actually most everything I say is subjective), but all the immigration stuff is starting to bore. Not the breaking news aspect, but all the pieces in the second hour. C+

1 Comments:

Blogger The Staff @ Unanchored said...

John then notes Bush is reading about Lincoln and asks about that. Why do people always ask about what Bush is reading? We don't care. Really.

I worse than don't care. I don't believe a word of it.

You would have to show me proof that that man can actually read before I'll believe it. And even then I wouldn't believe he was reading a bio of Lincoln unless it was written for gradeschoolers.

6:28 PM  

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