Live From Port Fourchon, Louisiana For Coverage Of The BP-Created Oil Disaster

Hi everyone. Road trip! I hope you didn't forget your toothbrush...or your hazmat suit. Tonight the 360 kids came at us live from Port Fouchon, Louisiana, to give us an on-the-ground look at what is turning out to be a disaster of unimaginable proportions. Earlier today, I was watching BriWi and he reported that if we don't get this oil leak plugged, it's just going to keep leaking throughout our lifetime. I don't even know how to put into words how bad that would be. Can we send BP to Gitmo? No? Fiiiine. On with the bullet points!:

• Tonight is Glee night and I was subsequently a minute or two late to the 360 party. When I flipped over to CNN, all I saw was a big white marshmallow on the beach, talking at me with Anderson Cooper's voice. The top part of my satellite's info screen was still up, cutting his head off, so literally all I saw was the white. Amusing. Also? When did they start making hazmat suits out of white trash bags?
  

• I keep hearing about problems regarding communication with the Coast Guard. I'm assuming no one related is doing interviews? I'd like to hear their side. They kicked ass during Hurricane Katrina.

• This is my special bullet point where we all cross our fingers and pray the top kill thing works.

• I like that they continue to report on the corruption within the Mineral Management Service (Tom Foreman's piece), though I hope in the future we get some more context. That's not a criticism and it's not directed specifically at 360. I was reading about the inspector general's report earlier today and wondered what percentage of MMS employees had actually engaged in the abhorrent behavior/conflicts of interest. How far gone is this agency?
  

• David Gergen! I guess it's true that absence really does make the heart grow fonder. There's been a bit of love lost between the Gerg and I lately. Okay, well, probably just on my end, given that I don't think he knows of my existence (if he did, he would cry sad, sad tears over my lost love!). But we haven't seen much of him lately and I was generally happy when his reasonableness popped up on my TeeVee.
  

• And he was very reasonable during the panel with Douglas Brinkley on Obama's leadership. Mostly. I was totally into the discussion...and then the Gerg said this: "Doug Brinkley may think this is stretching a little too far, but I do believe that, if our government had fought World War II the way we're fighting the oil spill, there's a good chance many of us would be speaking German today." While I do appreciate that he basically gave us a disclaimer that he was about to say something crazy (who else but the Gerg would do that?), duuuude. Really? Since when did the Gerg start saying the lines of a curmudgeonly sitcom dad? Stick to being reasonable, Gergen! By the way, I love that the response from Douglas, the historian, was simply to stare, speechless.

• Douglas Brinkley is a smart man. Made some good points about how Obama needs to step it up, but also kept the situation in context. Though I'm sure he's right about the political ramifications, I personally disagree that Obama needs to be emotive. As long as our prez is doing his Jedi moves behind-the-scenes, that's good enough for me. Whether or not that's happening, I couldn't tell you.
  

• Anderson Cooper brought up Katrina again: "...for a president who watched Katrina and saw the failures of the Bush administration--and there were failures, also, on the state and local level, we all know in Katrina. But for a president who saw that and was very critical of it to now find himself in a situation in which he's being criticized for the lack of response or lack of coordination is kind of stunning." Meh. There are so many different variables here. I've been talking to a New Orleans friend and one thing I find almost comforting is that, unlike during Katrina, there seems to be a real willingness among all levels of government to work together. That's great if true, and I tip my hat to Bobby Jindal. Unfortunately, this time around everyone has to deal with the idiots at BP, which completely changes the ballgame.
  

• I wasn't really that bugged by our anchor's comments tonight because the fact of the matter is that the narrative will change on Friday when Obama visits the gulf. And whether that change is for the worse or for the better will likely be his own doing. Don't screw this up, Obama. Step it up and stay away from photo-ops.

• While I'm currently tepid in my criticism of our president, I have to say, if he opts to "move forward" rather than unleashing the Justice Department on BP, I will be the first one to cheer if 360 goes after him.
  

• Rob Marciano's piece and Jack Hanna's segment were disturbing. This is a monumental ecological disaster. (Also, Rob wears scruffy well. I'm just sayin'.)
  

• Ed Lavandera has been doing a really nice job with the dispersants story. I don't trust the EPA. The Bush administration destroyed that agency, and unless they've since completely cleaned house and I didn't hear about it, they're still worthless.

• Well, Anderson's just a big "shot" tease, isn't he? He's all like, usually this is where we show you something to make you smile before bed, but tonight we're just going to further bum you out by showing you more oil. Okay, it's possible that's not exactly how he said it. But dudes, if ever there was a need for a cute animal video. Yes, yes, tone wasn't appropriate. Still. Sad face.

• So okay, Gary Tuchman is in Haiti where there is lots of news happening and I haven't seen him anywhere on my TeeVee screen. You couldn't spare three minutes, 360? Below is the only clip I could find of his coverage, less than a minute long:
  

• That'll do it. The show went by really fast, which I guess is a good sign. In light of our anchor's initial get-up, this bullet point contains marshmallows for your toasting enjoyment.