Hurricane Ike Becomes A Monster, Sarah Palin's First TV Interview, And Obama/McCain At The Service Forum

Hi everybody. Anderson Cooper is once again preparing to become "hurricane guy" and tonight comes at us live from Houston, a city that quite possibly has a problem (lame, I know). And that problem's name is Ike. We start things off with the BREAKING NEWS that the National Weather Service (NWS) does not play. They've just issued a pee-your-pants kind of warning to individuals living in the coastal areas of Texas: "Persons not heeding evacuation orders in single-family one- or two-story homes will face certain death." So . . . wow. Actually, that's extremely similar to the warning I was reading on blogs prior to Hurricane Katrina, though those weren't issued by the NWS. There's obviously a chicken little risk here that could result in people not heeding serious warnings in the future, but I'm going to go ahead and assume the NWS would never have used such strong language unless they thought it was absolutely necessary. And that kind of freaks me out. Chad Myers joins us with the latest on what Ike is up to. He says nothing comforting.

Transitioning now to coverage of the interview that Sarah Palin did with ABC's Charles Gibson. You know, I'm getting really sick of the news noting how both candidates stopped campaigning today in honor of 9-11. I mean, hello! What the hell is this interview? And this date was specifically chosen. Kind of sickeningly, really. Anyway, we first get a clip of Palin's response to Gibson's question of whether or not she has the experience for the job of VP. Apparently, she doesn't blink. I have to say, that is such a Bush-like way of thinking that it scares me too much to even joke about.

Our next clip is about whether or not she believes in the Bush Doctrine and anyone watching can so obviously tell she doesn't even know what the Bush Doctrine is. John King (sorry, I didn't keep track of the pundits that well tonight) tells us that the Obama camp is annoyed that they've called this 9-11 truce and have to wait until tomorrow to hit on this issue. David Gergen agrees that she's clueless about the doctrine, but doesn't see it as a big deal because he doesn't think most Americans are familiar with it either. Oh good lord, Gerg. Most people aren't running for VP. I know what the Bush Doctrine is and I'm a political nobody from the middle of the country. Apparently I can be the second most powerful person in the US and arguably the world. Who knew?

Continuing with the foreign policy theme, we get a clip of Charlie asking Palin about the Russia/Georgia conflict. People are jumping on her comment regarding possible war with Russia, but really, in full context it is much less troubling. On the other hand, I'm aghast at her absurd assertion that Russia's proximity to Alaska gives her insight into Russia's leadership. Though to be fair, Gibson led the question. Still, she actually said these words: "They're our next door neighbors and you can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska, from an island in Alaska." You can see them from there, people! The mind boggles. Oh, and I also liked her offense at Russia invading Georgia unprovoked. Because we're the authority when it comes to railing against preemptive war.

Moving to an Iraq clip now, Palin is asked about her claim that Iraq is a "task that is from God." First Palin attempts to say it isn't her exact quote. When that doesn't work she claims she's repeating some Abraham Lincoln quote. Or something. This was a major dodge. Not only that, but as Robert Zimmerman points out, Palin utterly fails in explaining how her ticket will handle the Iraq war differently than Bush. Bay Buchanan, on the other hand, just loved Palin's answer. Well, of course she did. Also? Bay Buchanan is unwatchable. Just saying. Give me Amy Holmes, Ed Rollins, even Bill Bennett, but Bay needs to go. Anyway, Robert notes that Palin isn't running for "Reverend in Chief." Seriously. Look, I'll handle the praying; I need our leaders to actually, you know, lead.

Our next clip involves how much travel Palin has done outside the US. Turns out? Not much. Something else she has in common with Bush (prior to his presidency). Bay thinks this is just great. Because it makes Palin real! Just like you! Good lord. Anderson then tries his journalistic best to squeeze something different out of these partisan pundits by flipping things around. He asks Bay if there was anything that disappointed her about Palin's performance and she immediately says no and goes right back into her talking points. *Sigh* Good try anyway, Anderson. Once he finally gets Bay to shut up (seriously 360, do not have her back), he asks Robert if there was anything that impressed him about Palin's interview. Robert rather liked her answer about Pakistan . . . because that's Obama's plan, which McCain opposed. You see what he did there, people? Robert gets half a point.

Transitioning back to Chad Myers to scare us some more about this impending hurricane. Anderson wants Chad to email him on where they should go. He wonders if they should go to Galveston and Chad replies with an emphatic Ted Stevens-like, "No!" Ha! Aww. Send him somewhere really safe, Chad! We viewers worry so.

Okay, back to politics. We're joined by Candy Crowley, Mark Halperin, and David Gergen to discuss the Service Forum that Obama and McCain participated in tonight. I actually had every intention of watching it, but as soon as I saw McCain I had a sudden urge to spew profanity. And when you find yourself at that point, well, it's time for a nap, which is how I instead spent the two hours. No regrets here. So anyway, apparently McCain got asked about Palin's community organizer diss and wouldn't you know, it turns out he loves community organizers. I am shocked, shocked by that answer.

Anderson notes that whenever a candidate is asked about these kind of controversies, they always back away, yet still allow it to go on. Ain't politics grand? The Gerg has a reply to this, but I'm way too distracted by the yahoo behind him acting like an idiot. Where the hell is The Gerg? Obama then continues with the whole tone by stating how hard he thinks it is to be a mayor. Mark apparently was not thrilled with McCain's answer and states that he needs a seven second delay for the profanity he's feeling right now. Whoa. Mark has kinda been being awesome lately. But I should note he felt Obama wasn't entirely honest either. I know I didn't watch the forum, but from these clips it seems like it was a pretty big waste. Wake me for the debates.

Next up, we have a Candy Crowley piece that I am quite frankly not thrilled about. See, she starts off talking about 9-11 and today's political truce and then goes on into the Iraq war. I may have missed it, but I'm pretty sure she at no time notes that 9-11 had nothing to do with Iraq. I'm not in any way insinuating she was trying to make a connection and in fact you would think that in 2008 the non connection wouldn't need to be noted. It does though. There is still a percentage of the population that believes the false connection. And conflating the two in a piece without pointing out that they're not connected just feeds the myth.

We turn back now to the topic of Hurricane Ike and go live to Gary Tuchman in . . . Galveston. Ohhhh noes. What are you doing there?! Gary tells us that people in the area are freaked out. Well, I would think so. Anderson asks if Gary will be in Galveston when Ike makes landfall. Now it's my turn to do the emphatic, "No!" Of course, no one can hear me, so I'm forced to listen to Gary say he's not sure, but they have a safe hotel. *Sigh* Also? Gary's hair is doing amusing things in the wind, but I'm too nervous to sufficiently mock (with love). After Gary, we get Susan Candiotti coming at us from Surfside Beach. I can't really get a handle on what kind of danger she's in there, so I shall save any freaking out on her behalf for later.

On now to another update from Chad. He's got his map and his coffee analogy. Hopefully real coffee too because here comes a very long 24 plus hours. Anderson tells us that though he's not sure where he'll be, when Ike makes landfall he'll be covering it. Well, you're not going to be in Galveston! You hear that, mister? Man, I need to, like, be a fan of people with less dangerous jobs. Maybe accountants or something. Anyway, I'm going to try to watch (through my fingers of course) most of Ike when he makes landfall tomorrow night. I have to get up at the crack of dawn on Saturday to go out of town, so, uh, this should be interesting. I'll try to post something before I go though. Hey, maybe I'll do a little live-blogging. You can witness the evolution of a nervous breakdown. Heh. We'll see. But seriously, good thoughts go out to everyone in this monster's path. Stay safe.