President Obama Is Everywhere, Palin Turns Down Stimulus Money, Recession Scams, Plastic Surgery For Work, And A White House Veggie Garden
Hi everyone. Well, home sweet home. No more road tripping. Our anchor is safely in studio, uh, anchored to his chair. I'm just going to get right to this thang. We kick the night off with a Candy Crowley piece that trails our commander in chief through his very busy week. President Obama has been giving the country quite a bit of face time--17 sitings by Candy's count. He's meeting about the stimulus, taking questions at town halls, and even going on Leno. Dude's day planner is filled!
But every story needs a concern troll: enter Mitt Romney who moans about no one being home reading about the economy. He sets up a total straw man about AIG, positing that it was something the Obama administration missed because they were too busy being other places, when in reality they knew all along. Also? Our problems are much bigger that AIG bonuses. Yeah, they're an outrage, but guess what. No one asked about them at the town halls.
Regular Americans have more pressing problems. If Romney thinks that going out and talking to real Americans (yes, even via Leno) is the problem here, he's more out-of-touch than I thought. Actually, this whole piece is kinda framed in a missing-the-point kind of way, but whatever.
Ali Velshi is at the Wall of Doom again. On a side note, last week I learned that Jon Stewart once called Ali a "prophet of doom" on the Daily Show and even though I don't remember seeing that, I'm sorta wondering now if I did some unconscious internalizing that popped out when it came time to name his wall. Just having a ponder, that's all. Anyway! Turns out, there might be some bright spots that are making the wall less doomey. The Dow has had two weeks in a row of increases, the jobless claims are down a bit, and the Fed injected money into the economy. These aren't trends, so we can't say we're saved yet, but it's better than nothing.
After Ali, we have a taped clip of our prez talking to the people of Iran, which I think is a good move. I'm guessing a couple of wingnut heads just exploded. From here we go to the dreaded panel, tonight being rocked out by Joe Johns, Ed Henry, and Dana Bash. There is only one thing of note here and it is of note for its stupidity. Anderson Cooper asks Ed what the consensus is regarding whether the week was a win or loss for Obama. Because that is totally relevant to the majority of Americans. *Sigh* Oh, 360. You're better that this. I don't know why you walked into the media bubble, but it's time to come out.
On now to a Tom Foreman piece on how Governor Sarah Palin (Ah! She's back!) is turning down about 30% of the stimulus money meant for her state. So what's getting denied? Eh, nothing important. Just, you know, money for senior care, immunizations, and unemployment benefits. Suck it, seniors! For her part, she claims that taking the money will expand programs that the state will not be able to afford once the stimulus money runs out. Oh, c'mon that...wait, that actually kinda makes sense to me. Oh, I'm sure this has more to do with an anti-government stance than what she said, but it still makes a little sense to me. Sarah Palin just made sense. I don't know what to do. World spinning! Help!
Thank God we next have a clip of Obama on Leno. I'm feeling better now. I confused you back there though, didn't I? After the clip, we have our panel back and Anderson notes that on Leno our prez said a lot of banks that got bailout money aren't lending yet. This leads our anchor to wonder if Obama just admitted the plan isn't working. Ed says yes, but hold up. Both Ali and Tom Foreman have previously reported that the credit situation has slightly improved, so...what's up with that guys?
Ed then goes on to say that the prez is going to have to ask for more money too. "That's how messed up the situation is." Yes, the situation is quite messed up. Anderson asks Dana how the whole asking for more money thing is going to be received by Congress and Dana actually makes this weird laughing noise in reply. She then says words, but the noise pretty much said it all. Joe notes that despite all this, Obama is pretty loved by the public. Anderson then asks if Obama is overexposed. New meme alert! For the love of God! If he wasn't showing his face everywhere, they'd be concern trolling about that.
I'm not accusing you of being partisan, 360, but can we get away from this idiotic beltway stuff? Anderson wraps this thing up by stating that, "If he shows up on 'American Idol,' we're in trouble." Yes, a president who would go on "American Idol" is definitely someone who could do some damage to this country.
The swooshing sound effect is still here. And still very annoying. But anyway, we're on to a Joe John's piece on recession scams. Actually, they're pretty much just plain old scams. I've heard the lottery one before: guy gets notice that he won the lottery, but needs to pay the taxes. Yeah, obvious scam. But there's stimulus scamming going on too. People calling and saying they're from the government and asking for your social security number. Or sending official looking emails. You give up the info, your identify is stolen. The bottom line is the government will NEVER call you up or email for that kind of information, so don't give it out. People suck.
On now to a Gary Tuchman piece on how those who were supposed to be entering their golden years in life are actually re-entering, or holding tight to the job market. Times are too tough for a lot of people to retire and not only are they not retiring, they're taking extreme measures to stay competitive with the youngins--including plastic surgery. We see before and after pictures of a real estate agent, who admittedly looks better now, but she's more done-up and smiley now as well. I don't know. I find the whole thing fairly disturbing, but you do what you need to survive, I guess.
Transitioning now to discussion with Sanjay Gupta and attorney Chris Davis regarding the news that there's a discrepancy in the timeline of when Natasha Richardson arrived at the hospital following her fall. The resort had said about an hour, the ambulance service said it was about four. This results in speculation of whether or not she could have been saved and whether the resort is at fault. Honestly, this whole segment left a bad taste in my mouth. Lots of implication, not a lot of facts.
But there was a bright spot: Anderson notes that Sanjay is back for the first time after having his third daughter. The good doctor says he is "delighted and overwhelmed." You're overwhelmed now, wait until they're all teenagers. Dude's not going to know what hit him. "You're glowing," says Anderson. Aw, that he is. But Sanjay always glows.
Next up, we have a Randi Kaye piece on Michelle Obama's new White House vegetable garden, but before that, Anderson informs us that he doesn't like vegetables. Heh. He's like a 10 year old in a 40-something year old's body. Anyway! The First Lady and some student broke ground on the south lawn today to plant a 1,100-square-foot vegetable garden. Everything grown there will be cooked in the White House kitchen or donated to a local soup kitchen. Very cool.
The "shot" tonight is Sesame Street explaining the Madoff scandal. This is courtesy of Jimmy Kimmel, so the ending is decidedly not for the kiddies. Oh my. But hilarious.
I really wasn't feeling the show tonight. The pieces from Tom, Joe, and Gary were good, but the rest? Eh, not so much. Olbermann beat them again in the demo on Thursday. It's not going so well for 360 right now. As I said before, it's a shame too because their Road to Rescue coverage wasn't bad. Reportedly they're doing two days live from Mexico next week, so we'll see what that does. If they keep up shows like tonight though, I don't see their numbers improving.
On another note, some kind soul uploaded a bunch of YouTube clips from the Hofstra broadcast and Anderson's speech there. It's interesting to see the behind-the-scenes workings if you're interested. Also, if you are like me and have a hilariously amusing crush on hottie producer Charlie Moore, you will not be disappointed. Usually it takes more than hotness to fulfill my requirements of crush-worthiness, so I'm not sure what's going on there. I think it's his Where's Waldo-like mystique. Heh. That'll do it.
Follow me on twitter! You know you want to.
Updated to add: Friday was the six anniversary of the start of the Iraq war and the conflict didn't even get a mention. Damn.
But every story needs a concern troll: enter Mitt Romney who moans about no one being home reading about the economy. He sets up a total straw man about AIG, positing that it was something the Obama administration missed because they were too busy being other places, when in reality they knew all along. Also? Our problems are much bigger that AIG bonuses. Yeah, they're an outrage, but guess what. No one asked about them at the town halls.
Regular Americans have more pressing problems. If Romney thinks that going out and talking to real Americans (yes, even via Leno) is the problem here, he's more out-of-touch than I thought. Actually, this whole piece is kinda framed in a missing-the-point kind of way, but whatever.
Ali Velshi is at the Wall of Doom again. On a side note, last week I learned that Jon Stewart once called Ali a "prophet of doom" on the Daily Show and even though I don't remember seeing that, I'm sorta wondering now if I did some unconscious internalizing that popped out when it came time to name his wall. Just having a ponder, that's all. Anyway! Turns out, there might be some bright spots that are making the wall less doomey. The Dow has had two weeks in a row of increases, the jobless claims are down a bit, and the Fed injected money into the economy. These aren't trends, so we can't say we're saved yet, but it's better than nothing.
After Ali, we have a taped clip of our prez talking to the people of Iran, which I think is a good move. I'm guessing a couple of wingnut heads just exploded. From here we go to the dreaded panel, tonight being rocked out by Joe Johns, Ed Henry, and Dana Bash. There is only one thing of note here and it is of note for its stupidity. Anderson Cooper asks Ed what the consensus is regarding whether the week was a win or loss for Obama. Because that is totally relevant to the majority of Americans. *Sigh* Oh, 360. You're better that this. I don't know why you walked into the media bubble, but it's time to come out.
On now to a Tom Foreman piece on how Governor Sarah Palin (Ah! She's back!) is turning down about 30% of the stimulus money meant for her state. So what's getting denied? Eh, nothing important. Just, you know, money for senior care, immunizations, and unemployment benefits. Suck it, seniors! For her part, she claims that taking the money will expand programs that the state will not be able to afford once the stimulus money runs out. Oh, c'mon that...wait, that actually kinda makes sense to me. Oh, I'm sure this has more to do with an anti-government stance than what she said, but it still makes a little sense to me. Sarah Palin just made sense. I don't know what to do. World spinning! Help!
Thank God we next have a clip of Obama on Leno. I'm feeling better now. I confused you back there though, didn't I? After the clip, we have our panel back and Anderson notes that on Leno our prez said a lot of banks that got bailout money aren't lending yet. This leads our anchor to wonder if Obama just admitted the plan isn't working. Ed says yes, but hold up. Both Ali and Tom Foreman have previously reported that the credit situation has slightly improved, so...what's up with that guys?
Ed then goes on to say that the prez is going to have to ask for more money too. "That's how messed up the situation is." Yes, the situation is quite messed up. Anderson asks Dana how the whole asking for more money thing is going to be received by Congress and Dana actually makes this weird laughing noise in reply. She then says words, but the noise pretty much said it all. Joe notes that despite all this, Obama is pretty loved by the public. Anderson then asks if Obama is overexposed. New meme alert! For the love of God! If he wasn't showing his face everywhere, they'd be concern trolling about that.
I'm not accusing you of being partisan, 360, but can we get away from this idiotic beltway stuff? Anderson wraps this thing up by stating that, "If he shows up on 'American Idol,' we're in trouble." Yes, a president who would go on "American Idol" is definitely someone who could do some damage to this country.
The swooshing sound effect is still here. And still very annoying. But anyway, we're on to a Joe John's piece on recession scams. Actually, they're pretty much just plain old scams. I've heard the lottery one before: guy gets notice that he won the lottery, but needs to pay the taxes. Yeah, obvious scam. But there's stimulus scamming going on too. People calling and saying they're from the government and asking for your social security number. Or sending official looking emails. You give up the info, your identify is stolen. The bottom line is the government will NEVER call you up or email for that kind of information, so don't give it out. People suck.
On now to a Gary Tuchman piece on how those who were supposed to be entering their golden years in life are actually re-entering, or holding tight to the job market. Times are too tough for a lot of people to retire and not only are they not retiring, they're taking extreme measures to stay competitive with the youngins--including plastic surgery. We see before and after pictures of a real estate agent, who admittedly looks better now, but she's more done-up and smiley now as well. I don't know. I find the whole thing fairly disturbing, but you do what you need to survive, I guess.
Transitioning now to discussion with Sanjay Gupta and attorney Chris Davis regarding the news that there's a discrepancy in the timeline of when Natasha Richardson arrived at the hospital following her fall. The resort had said about an hour, the ambulance service said it was about four. This results in speculation of whether or not she could have been saved and whether the resort is at fault. Honestly, this whole segment left a bad taste in my mouth. Lots of implication, not a lot of facts.
But there was a bright spot: Anderson notes that Sanjay is back for the first time after having his third daughter. The good doctor says he is "delighted and overwhelmed." You're overwhelmed now, wait until they're all teenagers. Dude's not going to know what hit him. "You're glowing," says Anderson. Aw, that he is. But Sanjay always glows.
Next up, we have a Randi Kaye piece on Michelle Obama's new White House vegetable garden, but before that, Anderson informs us that he doesn't like vegetables. Heh. He's like a 10 year old in a 40-something year old's body. Anyway! The First Lady and some student broke ground on the south lawn today to plant a 1,100-square-foot vegetable garden. Everything grown there will be cooked in the White House kitchen or donated to a local soup kitchen. Very cool.
The "shot" tonight is Sesame Street explaining the Madoff scandal. This is courtesy of Jimmy Kimmel, so the ending is decidedly not for the kiddies. Oh my. But hilarious.
I really wasn't feeling the show tonight. The pieces from Tom, Joe, and Gary were good, but the rest? Eh, not so much. Olbermann beat them again in the demo on Thursday. It's not going so well for 360 right now. As I said before, it's a shame too because their Road to Rescue coverage wasn't bad. Reportedly they're doing two days live from Mexico next week, so we'll see what that does. If they keep up shows like tonight though, I don't see their numbers improving.
On another note, some kind soul uploaded a bunch of YouTube clips from the Hofstra broadcast and Anderson's speech there. It's interesting to see the behind-the-scenes workings if you're interested. Also, if you are like me and have a hilariously amusing crush on hottie producer Charlie Moore, you will not be disappointed. Usually it takes more than hotness to fulfill my requirements of crush-worthiness, so I'm not sure what's going on there. I think it's his Where's Waldo-like mystique. Heh. That'll do it.
Follow me on twitter! You know you want to.
Updated to add: Friday was the six anniversary of the start of the Iraq war and the conflict didn't even get a mention. Damn.
posted by eliza at 11:55 PM
1 Comments:
Hi Eliza,
Great post tonight. If wingnuts respond in a negative way to Obama's message to Iran; they need to note Bush had to do an aboutface on one "axis of evil", North Korea. It doesn't make sense to ignore those you don't like, communication helps contain and solve explosive situations. I'm with you on the dumb panel topic, "is Obama overexposed?" On the CNN scroll, that keeps coming up. It makes CNN look idiotic, in my opinion. Like you said, there would be concern trolling for too little exposure. On the Palin issue, it makes a little sense but then why have people suffer even more? When the economy in her state improves, Alaska can take continue the programs. Anne D. I'm going to figue out twitter.
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