Thursday, April 02, 2009

Day Two Live From London With Coverage Of The G-20, Protesters, An Interview With Geithner, And Rod "Crazy Hair" Blagojevich Gets Indicted

Hi everyone. Anderson Cooper is still chilling across the pond while our world leaders get their G-20 summit on. We begin with a clip of President Obama waving a big foam finger for the United States. Yeah, our country may be a bit down lately, but as our prez tells us, we're nowhere near out. We're number one, yo! We've got the largest economy, the biggest military, and the most people in prison in the world! Um, actually, we don't need to talk about that last one. After the clip, we catch Anderson a wee bit off guard and he amusingly turns from guy-smiling-at-something-we-can't-see to Mr. Serious Anchorman in a split second flat.

Next up, we have an Ed Henry piece on all that economic stuff. Yeah, it's not all about queen-meeting and gift-giving, people. After getting his world leader peeps to toss $1.1 trillion into the economy, Obama is calling this summit thingee a success. The money is going to the International Monetary Fund though, so it's anybody's guess as to whether real stimulating will occur. Also? Despite threatening to walk out of everything, France's Sarkozy was unable to get his wish-list financial regulatory body. Instead, they're going with a financial stability board. Board. Body. Whatever. To quote Keenan Thompson on SNL, "Fix it!"

For discussion of all this, we're joined by Ed, and yes, Richard Quest. They talk about the communique, which both Ed and Richard have with them, and we're told it basically lays the framework for future financial regulation. Ed reminds us that nothing is a guarantee and Congress could still balk at Obama legislation. "And bear in mind that these communiques are renowned for being ignored as soon as the meeting is over," says Richard. Maybe this really was just about the queen-meeting and gift-giving.

Anderson brings up Sarkozy not getting his global regulator and Richard says he thinks the communique actually does lay the foundation for that. Then Ed's all like, nuh uh, and the next thing I know they're hunched over their papers. Ha! Anderson asks if that's like a new world order, which, by the way, is also on the chyron. There are people in a deep dark corner of the Internets totally freaking out right now. Anyway, then Ed and Richard argue some more and they settle it by arm wrestling. Okay, not really. But that would have been cool.

On to a clip of Anderson on the streets of London asking people what they think about the protests. These particular Londoners sound suspiciously like Americans. Probably because they are. "This is like the '60s, where everyone was protesting then," says one of them. Yes, a bloody war/racial injustice versus the Bank of Scotland. Totally the same thing.

Next up, we have an interview Anderson did with Timothy Geithner. Ooh, a "get." We learn that not only is Timmeh totally cool with the Wagoner firing, he's prepared to chop off some more CEO heads as well. What's that noise? Oh, that's the sound of the Right going insane. Well, more insane. They then talk about accomplishments and finger pointing at the US. Anderson brings up how France and Germany were unwilling to play ball and Geithner plays it off, pretty much implying Anderson is mischaracterizing and our anchor does not push the point.

Anderson next asks about Sarkozy and the global regulator thing, which Geithner firmly says will not happen. "He said that was nonnegotiable," says Anderson. Good little follow up there. The interview ends on a light note with Anderson asking about him meeting the queen and whether or not he practiced his bow. For the record, he did not. Pretty good interview, especially since it's seems fairly apparent Anderson wasn't given much time to talk to him. It's nice to see these kind of interviews on the show again.

Next up, we have a piece from ITN Channel 4's Alex Thomson on the protesters. I guess none of the CNN peeps wanted to mingle with the unwashed masses. I find this whole situation immensely frustrating. On the chyron we have the question "protesting what?" And it's true that the disorganization is pretty ridiculous. You've got your people protesting about human rights. Genocide in Tibet. Dying polar bears. Joblessness. You name it. I'm sure there's some "free Mumia!" people in there somewhere too. I just really hate that the absurdness usually overshadows the causes and in a way gives the media permission to dismiss the police brutality that usually accompanies these kinds of things.

On now to a whole piece from Anderson on Michelle Obama, gasp, touching the queen! It seems there are some who still have their knickers in a twist over it. But then there are others who say the queen did the touching first. Zoh. Mah. God. What if someone accidentally knocked the queen down? Would London collectively have a heart attack? Would the world implode? Anyway, I liked Anderson's amusing reading of the blurb from the paper that was bemoaning the broken protocol. Also? Dubya winked at the queen (and molested Merkel) and she got over it. I think it's gonna be okay.

After Anderson piece, we have more wacky British fun with Richard, who tells us the queen is used to this stuff, but he does wonder how Michelle managed to be on the side of her majesty. "The mind boggles," he says. Okay then. We're next played a clip of Richard meeting the queen and he talks about that a bit. Anderson admits he would like to meet the queen as well. Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no. "I would blow it," he says. Sorry Silver Fox, step away from the royalty. He would totally break protocol. But then again, you know she'd find him adorable, so there you go.

Transitioning now to the BREAKING NEWS that Rod Blagojevich has been indicted. Big surprise there, and, uh, not really breaking. Jeffrey Toobin is back for the legal lowdown and we learn that Mr. Scary Hair is very confident. Well, good for him. "I mean, he may be crazy. In fact, there's a good argument for that, but he's certainly confident," says Toobin. Anyway, he's looking at at least 10 years in prison if convicted on most charges. A twist is that Raaaahm Emanuel will most likely be called as a witness because he was apparently extorted in all this. They extorted Rahm? Are they nuts? Oh man, there's going to be a lot of dead fish in the mail.

Actual BREAKING NEWS now of a gunman at large at Radford University. CNN has no real information, so they're moving on. Good for that. Apparently the suspect shot a man off campus and then fled onto the grounds.

On now to a Dan Simon piece of a convenience store robbery. Not something you'd usually see on even ratings-driven cable news, but this is different because the guy did the stick-up with his nine-year-old daughter in tow. Classy! The dad ran off and the girl is with her mother now. Some people just shouldn't be parents.

Then we're onto a Randi Kaye piece about Michelle Obama visiting and getting emotional at a girls school. I really like Michelle and I know her approval rating is very high, but I'm starting to get sick of all these pieces about her. They're all beginning to look the same.

Back with Anderson and Richard and the Brit is again reading us the tabloids. Tonight it's the "Sun," which he attempts to open "without giving viewers a nasty shock," leading Anderson to explain that this particular rag has some nakedness going on inside. Hm, I did not know that. Anything for cash, huh Murdoch? Anyway, the paper is opened without incident and then we move on to clips of Richard over the past two days making Anderson giggle. This segment totally needed subtitles.

Finally, we learn that Richard has a goal: he wants to crush Rick Sanchez on Twitter. He needs you to follow him, people! On the off chance that he might follow back, I'm going to have to take a pass on that right now since I, uh, kinda tweeted stuff about him. Ahem. "People would love to Twitter with you," says Anderson. Oh man. I'm going to let that one go here, but if you want to know what I had to say about that comment, well, you're going to have to follow me. Sneaky, I know.

Also? The Cult of Jack Gray has finally come into being. There's now a Facebook fan page called Gray Groupies. Go be a groupie!

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

COOPER CRAP!

11:52 PM  

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