Anderson Cooper 360 Review: Following Campaign Cash And Bullying Prevention Awareness

Hello everyone. If you missed it, be sure to check out my latest newsy musings post. Anderson Cooper, Jon Klein, and Rick Sanchez--oh my! Tonight the bullet points are back, though they will admittedly be leaning heavy on the video. Let's get this party started! Or, you know, keep people honest. Whatev!

The 360 kids kick us off with the question of just where (where!) all this cash is coming from to pay for these shiny campaign ads we all know and love. Issues of transparency and factiness? Be still my news-loving heart!

Okay, they didn't actually get to the bottom of anything, but points for effort! In seriousness, the fact that they couldn't get anywhere is the story. And a very important one at that.

But to prove the point that they really did try to find out, we're shown clips of staffers actually making calls. Because that's necessary. Look, the 360 kids know how to use phones! Sorry guys. I don't mean to rain on your five seconds of fame, but it had to be said.

We then had discussion with Jeff Toobin and Bill Allison, editorial director of the Sunlight Foundation. I love that foundation! The talk mostly revolved around the Supreme Court decision that basically said corporations are like people and have the right to screw us over by buying elections. Or something like that! Very good segment.

Next we had Tom Foreman tackling the ads in the narrowing Connecticut senate race between State Attorney General Dick Blumenthal and former WWE CEO Linda McMahon. Yes, the WWE stands for what you think it stands for. We're told that it's just come out that WWE teamed up with "Girls Gone Wild" several years ago for a pay-per-view event of scandalousness. As we're told this information by Anderson Cooper, we're played a racy clip of scantily clad women. There is licking involved. C'mon 360. I commented to a friend that it was a very Fox-like move to pull, and she reminded me that no, no, Fox would have played the clip and then had those ladies on for an interview afterward. Touche. Score one for CNN...I guess.

We're played an attack ad against McMahon, which is followed up with this from Anderson to Tom: "A lot of body-slams there. So, what's true here?" Ha. Ha. Ha. I see what you did there. Yeah...don't do it again. Heh.

As for the actual fact-checking, not bad. Yay for context! Video below:

For those wondering if our anchor still has a cold, I would take that sneeze (which sounded like it went directly into the mic--sneeze attack!) as confirmation. Aw. (This is why I could never be on live television--the possibility of these things is just too nerve-wracking.)

We had Gary Tuchman live for some Sharron Angle news. Funny story! See, Angle is running against Harry Reid in Nevada, but Tea Party candidate Scott Ashjian is also running, and apparently Angle is nervous about this third guy stealing some of her mojo. How do we know this? She met with Ashjian in the hopes of getting him to drop out and instead...he recorded the meeting! Oh, lollers. So now, after criticizing Reid for backroom dealing, she's caught on tape trying to make it worth it for Ashjian to step aside. Angle, apparently, forgot that politics is a contact sport and you should always be on guard. Hide your kids, hide your wife, cuz they be recording everybody up in here! (Yes, yes, Ashjian is a douchebag for doing that.)

From the crazy politics, we next moved onto sadness. Oh, sadness. Randi Kaye had a piece on the heart-breaking death of Rutgers University student Tyler Clementi, a teen who jumped off the George Washington Bridge after his roommate, Dharun Ravi, secretly streamed video of Tyler kissing another man.

At the top of the broadcast, Anderson noted that they'd be looking into Tyler's life and the life of his roommate, which totally made me cringe. Given that his death was likely precipitated by a gross invasion of privacy, examining Tyler's life too closely would have been in very poor taste. I was relieved to see that this was not the case. The piece actually spends more time on Ravi. We get the requisite conversation with the neighbor (this is so out of character for him!), and, well,--you know the drill. The piece is below:

Randi's piece was followed by a very good conversation with Jeffrey Toobin and Rosalind Wiseman regarding the subject of bullying. Toobin made the great point that everyone needs to be careful about how much we really want to bring law enforcement into the issue. He's right, that could easily turn into a disaster.

Anderson brought up the anti-gay groups who are actually fighting against bullying prevention measures and Toobin followed up with the win (emphasis mine): "Let's be clear, too. These groups don't think homosexuality is normal. They think it's wrong. They think it is a menace to society. So they are the ones who are making it harder for kids, who feel isolated enough as it is, to come forward. I mean, this is not some sort of value-neutral approach by these conservative groups. They are trying to make homosexuality an outcast condition, and that's part of the problem." These groups can't be treated as just people with another point of view--kids are dying.

Kudos to Anderson for noting the "that's so gay" issue, especially in regards to "The Dilemma" movie trailer (with Vince Vaughn). I didn't remember until the moment our anchor brought it up, but I watched that trailer online a week or so ago (yeah, sometimes I sit around and watch movie trailers. I'm a loser--now you know). Anyway! Yes, I was shocked (and I don't shock easy). WTF?! Seriously, watch it. So unacceptable. Also, I like that Anderson name-checked Queen Latifah. I mean, c'mon.

The good news? There's actually a PSA campaign underway to combat this, and I have seen one of their ads on TV. Here's another one. The bad news? Apparently it's needed worse than I thought. No sooner had I tweeted about that trailer, than I found myself in a debate with someone--an educated non-bigoted someone--who thought the movie line wasn't a big deal. So...ugh.

Toobin: "We should see which company makes the movie. It may be our own." You all know I hate the celebrity interviews, but having Vaughn or Latifah on to answer for this would be kinda awesome. Yeah...never gonna happen. Segment video below:

The segment on the Mexican pirates:

The "shot" was Levi Johnson in a music video. Yeah,...I don't think so. But I do now have a suddenly urge to get some Purell, so thanks for that, 360.