Anderson Cooper 360 Review: In Katrina's Wake: Live From New Orleans Day Two

Hi everyone. The bullet points might be a bit all over the place tonight. I did some channel flipping during the broadcast because my St. Louis Cardinals decided to play 13 innings...and then break my heart. No, no, it's fine. Anyway. The 360 kids are continuing their stint in New Orleans for the Hurricane Katrina anniversary, tonight coming at us from Musicians' Village in the Upper Ninth Ward. Let's get the party started, shall we?

I liked the recap of all the official's bungles, but it seems odd to call out Ray Nagin for becoming a disaster consultant and not note that Michael Brown became one not long after the hurricane--especially when they have him on for an interview.

I'm not sure I've ever seen that Blanco whisper clip. Dude!

I remember that Soledad O'Brien clip well. I watched that interview live. I can still remember her saying (paraphrased), "But it's Friday. It's Friday."

As for the Brown interview itself, my feelings are pretty meh. I'm not sure if "false premise" is the right phrasing here, but the whole thing just seemed off. The theme Anderson Cooper was apparently pushing involved learning from one's mistakes. You know Brownie's biggest mistake? Accepting the position in the first place. That man had no business heading FEMA. Period. All of his excuses about context were just that--excuses. For Pete's sake, New Orleans was drowning and he was emailing about his wardrobe. Everything Brownie said tonight was meaningless. It felt like nothing more than an opportunity for him to work on rebuilding his reputation, and Anderson pretty much let him.

Our anchor: "Well, I thought it was interesting to hear Michael Brown say that he didn't believe what he was saying as he said it, that, basically, these were talking points that he was giving, but he wasn't really given -- technically, they may have been accurate, but he wasn't really giving the full picture. And he just said he didn't believe it when he said it -- pretty interesting stuff." Not really. Infuriating? Yes. But interesting? This was pretty much standard operating procedure

I felt like Tom Foreman's piece on the levees was way too short and way too shallow. New Orleans flooded because the levees failed. That's a fact. It's kind of a huge part of the story, and I would have hoped that they'd focus on it a bit more.

The piece from Soledad O'Brien on the formaldehyde-y FEMA trailers was unbelievable. FEMA told them how to pass?! WTF? And now the people are sick. Shocker!

Sad that Dr. Greg Henderson felt he needed to leave the city. I remember him well.

You have to laugh at how General Russel Honore made Anderson and Doug Brinkley look like miniature people. I want to put them in my pocket!

Dragonflies saved the city from disease carrying mosquitoes? Who knew?

Our anchor is really stuck on this "lessons" thing, huh? I know the locals effed up too, but here's a lesson for us all: don't elect people who don't believe in government. They tend not to be too concerned in making sure it works.

I liked Anderson talking to charter school students Otis Holmes, Jovan Guss, Jazmine Sylve, and David Leblanc. ~~I'll try to add the video later if they post it.~~ Posted!