Obama Transitioning, Bush's Last Presser, The Israel-Gaza Conflict Goes On, Prince Harry In Hot Water, Obama Puppy Picking, And Inside FLDS Compound
Hi everybody. Happy New Week! Weirdly, we're not starting with BREAKING NEWS tonight. What's up with that? Eh, savor while you can, people. It'll be back tomorrow. Candy Crowley kicks things off with a piece on how our future prez is, well, looking presidential. Obama's been doing some foreign policy meetin', releasing-of-bailout-money convincin', and stimulus plan promotin'. I don't know why I just went all Sarah Palin on you. Sorry, was it scary? Anyhoo, we also learn that one of the first executive orders of our incoming leader is going to be to close Gitmo. Sweet! The times, they are a-changing. But it seems the past just won't shut up. Today Bush took it upon himself to give the prez-elect some advice. Psst, Obama. Do the opposite!
Speaking of he-that-ducks-shoes, next up we have a piece from Ed Henry on Bush's final press conference. Aw, I feel a little nostalgic. No wait, that's revulsion. Got them confused. Hey press corps, it's the last time you have to be referred to by condescending nicknames. Happy-dance! So okay, about the press conference. I'm going to try to recap this thing without ending up with just a paragraph of obscenities. We'll see how it goes. Bush was his usual lovely arrogant self and at one point even starts mock-whining, which makes me want to reach through the screen and just...*deep breath* Okay. I think instead of talking about Iraq, I shall leave you with this oldie-but-goodie video that shows all the lies of the run-up to the war and this Bush retrospective from the comedy kids at 23/6.
So far I've been able to refrain from thoughts of violence, but then Bush says this regarding Hurricane Katrina: "Don't tell me the federal response was slow when there was 30,000 people pulled off roofs right after the storm passed." And...this is the point where I yell obscenities at my television. Man, it's been a while since I've done that. Probably has something to do with the Bush camp not getting much air time lately. Wow, where to begin? Maybe a good jumping off point would be friggin Exhibit A, which is the picture I've posted of what Bush was doing on the day Katrina hit. And the federal government pulled 30,000 people off the roof? It was the Coast Guard that did all that rescuing, with absolutely no help from "the decider." I'm not surprised he's peddling this crap. But my God. People rotted in the streets for days. His administration didn't even know about the Convention Center. Where the fuck does he get the gall to belittle us for telling him the response was slow? Jebus, where's an Iraqi journalist and two shoes when you need them?
For discussion of this, we're joined by David Gergen, Ed Rollins, and Errol Lewis. This was one panel I was actually looking forward to because after that Katrina comment, it was a given we would have ourselves one fired-up Anderson Cooper. Our anchor starts off saying how surprising the comment was after Bush had said he had given so much thought to Katrina. Um, yeah, insert bridge-selling joke here. The Gerg is also surprised and then admits that he thinks he was wrong when he previously stated people would have some warmth towards Dubya when he left office. You think? I know you play the part of the optimist, David, but what are we supposed to feel warm about? The war? The debt? Maybe the inattention to global warming? That works in the literal sense.
Even Ed, who is doing the pontification for the president's own party says the guy, "has failed as miserably as any president in modern times." Ouch! Errol then goes into the federal government mismanagement of the levees, and the bungled aftermath of the disaster that still STILL goes on (formaldehyde trailer, anyone?). The discussion moved onto other things in the press conference, but I'm too mad to really recap it. To add insult to injury, we learn that we're still going to have to be appalled all over again on Thursday when 43 plans to give a prime-time farewell address. Screwing with the TV schedule, huh? Yeah, that'll win him more approval points. One last FU America for the road.
Transitioning now to something more pleasant, we go live to Nic Robertson at the Israel-Gaza border. Okay, yes, I'm kidding about the more pleasant, but I'm serious about my desire for more shoe-throwing. Anyway, Nic tells us he's hearing explosions and tanks are moving in. In a subsequent piece from him, we learn there have been accusations against Israel that they're using white phosphorus, which is a horrible substance that burns the skin. It is legal when used for illumination and Israel does not deny they have used it for that purpose. I was wondering when that would get a mention. I'd say I hope they could look into it further, but they can't look into anything further.
Nic speaks with an Israeli Foreign Ministry Spokesperson about the civilian suffering in Gaza and is told they can move out of combat zones. Nic asks if they're providing the people of Gaza somewhere safe to go and the mouthpiece says that, "I think they know. I mean, the people of Gaza know better than most where Hamas keeps their military installations." To which Nic most excellently replies, "But, if they did, then all these civilians wouldn't be killed." Exactly. Then Nic is told you have to be careful with the numbers. The numbers might be a bit inflated, but you can't just make up 900 dead people (300 of which are children). And if it's really fighters and not civilians who are being killed, why not let journalists in so they can tell the world? Yeah, that's what I thought.
Next up, we have a David Mattingly piece about this dude who probably tried to fake his own death, but I'm going to skip ahead to the Randi Kaye piece about Prince Harry. Back in 2006, the younger bro of William took a home video of some of his fellow soldiers and he can be heard saying a racial slur. The video was recently leaked to a British tabloid and, well, now Harry's a racist. The slur in question is the word "Paki" and the only reason I know it's bad (besides Randi's voice over) is from watching the movie "Bend it Like Beckham."
Harry also jokingly called another soldier a "raghead" (due to his head attire), so that's probably not helping either. I'm usually one of the first people to say something when someone is being less than politically correct, but I don't know, I kinda think Harry should get a pass on this. He's a soldier. And while that' s not an excuse, it's pretty ridiculous to be all, "Kill the bad guys! Oh, but don't call anyone a bad name." People use inappropriate humor in stressful situations. My jury is still out on this one.
Moving on now to puppies! In an Erica Hill piece we learn that the Obamas have narrowed down their puppy choices to two breeds. Oh my God! Where's the BREAKING NEWS banner? Normally I might roll my eyes at a whole piece on this, but after that Bush presser, I think we could all use a little puppy-time. Will it be a labradoodle or a Portuguese Water Dog? C'mon Obamas, an anxious nation awaits.
Our final piece of the night is from Gary Tuchman and he is once again on the polygamy beat, this time getting an exclusive look inside that Texas ranch that they raided last year. The kids are back now and seemingly look happy, but who knows what that means. In any regards, the FLDS community is still feeling the heat. Last week Winston Blackmore was arrested in Canada on charges of plural marriage and others are being charged with sexual abuse and bigamy. After the piece, Anderson notes the community was much more welcoming to Gary than what we've seen in the past.
"I've lost count of the car doors that have been slammed on me, the people who have sworn at me, the people who have run away from me, the people who have yelled at me," says Gary. And he's not exaggerating, people. Gary's been getting it bad for a few years now. I think I've seen every one of those disses (that are on tape), always leading me to ask, "don't they know that Gary is the nicest guy ever?" Well, they may not have figured that out yet, but they are slowly warming to the benefits of good PR, hence the open ranch and non door-slamming. Wait until they learn to just sue everybody like the Scientologists.
"The shot" tonight is inflatable trash. Just watch it. You know, I'm almost positive I heard about this a year or so ago. Anyhoo, if they were going to pilfer from Andrew Sullivan, I'm surprised they didn't go for the Beyonce mini me. You shake it, girlfriend! Yeah, I'm a little disturbed.
Not much interesting on the webcast tonight, though I do have to give a cyber high-five to Erica Hill for her love of mutts. Best dogs evah. There was also some talk of Jack Gray's very successful Golden Globes blogging, which I have to say, was quite fun. Apparently, Anderson left himself a Post-it or something as a reminder to take a gander at the merriment, but then, I don't know, something happened. Whatev. Erica says she actually did follow along for a while, but didn't say anything. Ooh, lurker. The watchee becomes the watcher. Or something. Yeah, I got nothing.
The show was pretty good. It's always nice to see impassioned Anderson peek out every once and a while. Finally, when I went to 23/6 to get that video, I found something else. Enjoy (Edit: oh, bummer. Now he's not dancing. Well, go here to watch the Wolfbot get down):
Speaking of he-that-ducks-shoes, next up we have a piece from Ed Henry on Bush's final press conference. Aw, I feel a little nostalgic. No wait, that's revulsion. Got them confused. Hey press corps, it's the last time you have to be referred to by condescending nicknames. Happy-dance! So okay, about the press conference. I'm going to try to recap this thing without ending up with just a paragraph of obscenities. We'll see how it goes. Bush was his usual lovely arrogant self and at one point even starts mock-whining, which makes me want to reach through the screen and just...*deep breath* Okay. I think instead of talking about Iraq, I shall leave you with this oldie-but-goodie video that shows all the lies of the run-up to the war and this Bush retrospective from the comedy kids at 23/6.
So far I've been able to refrain from thoughts of violence, but then Bush says this regarding Hurricane Katrina: "Don't tell me the federal response was slow when there was 30,000 people pulled off roofs right after the storm passed." And...this is the point where I yell obscenities at my television. Man, it's been a while since I've done that. Probably has something to do with the Bush camp not getting much air time lately. Wow, where to begin? Maybe a good jumping off point would be friggin Exhibit A, which is the picture I've posted of what Bush was doing on the day Katrina hit. And the federal government pulled 30,000 people off the roof? It was the Coast Guard that did all that rescuing, with absolutely no help from "the decider." I'm not surprised he's peddling this crap. But my God. People rotted in the streets for days. His administration didn't even know about the Convention Center. Where the fuck does he get the gall to belittle us for telling him the response was slow? Jebus, where's an Iraqi journalist and two shoes when you need them?For discussion of this, we're joined by David Gergen, Ed Rollins, and Errol Lewis. This was one panel I was actually looking forward to because after that Katrina comment, it was a given we would have ourselves one fired-up Anderson Cooper. Our anchor starts off saying how surprising the comment was after Bush had said he had given so much thought to Katrina. Um, yeah, insert bridge-selling joke here. The Gerg is also surprised and then admits that he thinks he was wrong when he previously stated people would have some warmth towards Dubya when he left office. You think? I know you play the part of the optimist, David, but what are we supposed to feel warm about? The war? The debt? Maybe the inattention to global warming? That works in the literal sense.
Even Ed, who is doing the pontification for the president's own party says the guy, "has failed as miserably as any president in modern times." Ouch! Errol then goes into the federal government mismanagement of the levees, and the bungled aftermath of the disaster that still STILL goes on (formaldehyde trailer, anyone?). The discussion moved onto other things in the press conference, but I'm too mad to really recap it. To add insult to injury, we learn that we're still going to have to be appalled all over again on Thursday when 43 plans to give a prime-time farewell address. Screwing with the TV schedule, huh? Yeah, that'll win him more approval points. One last FU America for the road.
Transitioning now to something more pleasant, we go live to Nic Robertson at the Israel-Gaza border. Okay, yes, I'm kidding about the more pleasant, but I'm serious about my desire for more shoe-throwing. Anyway, Nic tells us he's hearing explosions and tanks are moving in. In a subsequent piece from him, we learn there have been accusations against Israel that they're using white phosphorus, which is a horrible substance that burns the skin. It is legal when used for illumination and Israel does not deny they have used it for that purpose. I was wondering when that would get a mention. I'd say I hope they could look into it further, but they can't look into anything further.
Nic speaks with an Israeli Foreign Ministry Spokesperson about the civilian suffering in Gaza and is told they can move out of combat zones. Nic asks if they're providing the people of Gaza somewhere safe to go and the mouthpiece says that, "I think they know. I mean, the people of Gaza know better than most where Hamas keeps their military installations." To which Nic most excellently replies, "But, if they did, then all these civilians wouldn't be killed." Exactly. Then Nic is told you have to be careful with the numbers. The numbers might be a bit inflated, but you can't just make up 900 dead people (300 of which are children). And if it's really fighters and not civilians who are being killed, why not let journalists in so they can tell the world? Yeah, that's what I thought.
Next up, we have a David Mattingly piece about this dude who probably tried to fake his own death, but I'm going to skip ahead to the Randi Kaye piece about Prince Harry. Back in 2006, the younger bro of William took a home video of some of his fellow soldiers and he can be heard saying a racial slur. The video was recently leaked to a British tabloid and, well, now Harry's a racist. The slur in question is the word "Paki" and the only reason I know it's bad (besides Randi's voice over) is from watching the movie "Bend it Like Beckham."
Harry also jokingly called another soldier a "raghead" (due to his head attire), so that's probably not helping either. I'm usually one of the first people to say something when someone is being less than politically correct, but I don't know, I kinda think Harry should get a pass on this. He's a soldier. And while that' s not an excuse, it's pretty ridiculous to be all, "Kill the bad guys! Oh, but don't call anyone a bad name." People use inappropriate humor in stressful situations. My jury is still out on this one.
Moving on now to puppies! In an Erica Hill piece we learn that the Obamas have narrowed down their puppy choices to two breeds. Oh my God! Where's the BREAKING NEWS banner? Normally I might roll my eyes at a whole piece on this, but after that Bush presser, I think we could all use a little puppy-time. Will it be a labradoodle or a Portuguese Water Dog? C'mon Obamas, an anxious nation awaits.
Our final piece of the night is from Gary Tuchman and he is once again on the polygamy beat, this time getting an exclusive look inside that Texas ranch that they raided last year. The kids are back now and seemingly look happy, but who knows what that means. In any regards, the FLDS community is still feeling the heat. Last week Winston Blackmore was arrested in Canada on charges of plural marriage and others are being charged with sexual abuse and bigamy. After the piece, Anderson notes the community was much more welcoming to Gary than what we've seen in the past.
"I've lost count of the car doors that have been slammed on me, the people who have sworn at me, the people who have run away from me, the people who have yelled at me," says Gary. And he's not exaggerating, people. Gary's been getting it bad for a few years now. I think I've seen every one of those disses (that are on tape), always leading me to ask, "don't they know that Gary is the nicest guy ever?" Well, they may not have figured that out yet, but they are slowly warming to the benefits of good PR, hence the open ranch and non door-slamming. Wait until they learn to just sue everybody like the Scientologists.
"The shot" tonight is inflatable trash. Just watch it. You know, I'm almost positive I heard about this a year or so ago. Anyhoo, if they were going to pilfer from Andrew Sullivan, I'm surprised they didn't go for the Beyonce mini me. You shake it, girlfriend! Yeah, I'm a little disturbed.
Not much interesting on the webcast tonight, though I do have to give a cyber high-five to Erica Hill for her love of mutts. Best dogs evah. There was also some talk of Jack Gray's very successful Golden Globes blogging, which I have to say, was quite fun. Apparently, Anderson left himself a Post-it or something as a reminder to take a gander at the merriment, but then, I don't know, something happened. Whatev. Erica says she actually did follow along for a while, but didn't say anything. Ooh, lurker. The watchee becomes the watcher. Or something. Yeah, I got nothing.
The show was pretty good. It's always nice to see impassioned Anderson peek out every once and a while. Finally, when I went to 23/6 to get that video, I found something else. Enjoy (Edit: oh, bummer. Now he's not dancing. Well, go here to watch the Wolfbot get down):
posted by eliza at 11:53 PM
3 Comments:
Hi Eliza,
This post had me laughing to keep from crying/cursing out Bush. I just could not believe his comments about 30,000 being rescued. It was the Coast Guard, neighbors, and locals from surrounding areas in their own boats rescuing these people. When ever one is guilty, the ususal recation is one of anger like what he displayed. While people were crying for mercy, water, help, and rescue, Bush found the time to celebrate McCain's birthday. Posing with the cake is not the image he can ever erase now matter how much he whines and throws hissy fits. Oh, Bush can't leave soon enough. Your bit about the shoes made me laugh. I'm with you on the Harry situation. At this point I don't care, the guy isn't a world leader, he has no influence on world events. I don't understand the news media treating this story like it ranks with the economic meltdown or the Gaza war. Anne D.
Let's hope that ''W'' does not forget his rose-colored glasses next week when he leaves,
and does not let the door hit him in his ass on the way out!
Boy,what a state of denial he has going on!
Of all the gall and stupidity and arrogance of that jerk to stand there and basically say everything was fine during Katrina.
Yeah,hell of a job,like Brownie!
Maybe he and Anderson should have had a conversation,to straighten him out on a few facts.
Anderson knew only TOO well what was REALLY going on down there,and was actually one of the few,or only one,who had the guts to tell US about it.
Would love to smash that damn cake across BOTH their faces,to be honest.
Sorry for the rant,but that press conference,made me furious!
@Anne--Bush thinks he can rewrite history. He has another thing coming. I will NEVER forget what he's done to this country and I'll especially never forget what happened during Katrina.
I say we drop his ass at the Convention Center for days and make him live in squalor with no food, water, or safety. Then we'll split him up from his family and send them all over the country with no way to contact each other or even find out what city they ended up in.
After that, we'll let him make his way back to the city to look for his mother, who he will eventually find himself, half disintegrated on the street. When he finally gets his family back together, we'll let him go through months and months of red-tape to get a little federal assistance that comes in the form of a formaldehyde-filled trailer.
Let him go through all that and then we'll see if he still says the response was okey-dokey. Asshole.
@anonymous--No apologizing for rants. You'll note that I just had my own.
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