Tornadoes Rip Through The South And More Time Wasted On Birther Crap

Oh, y'all! Where do I begin? It seems our media is having one of their trademark embarrassing episodes. You know how it goes: Something ridiculous finds its way into the news cycle, gets massively hyped up by the press to an embarrassing degree, and then everyone does a good naval gazing. I think we're somewhere between step two and three with Trump-inspired birther-palooza, but if you'd like a reminder of this process played out, please see: Jones, Terry.

As for the 360 kids, Anderson Cooper is coming at us live from London because he's there for the royal wedding. Another story totally deserving of massive amounts of coverage! To their credit, they begin with the actual news of horrific tornadoes pounding the South, specifically Alabama. As someone who just recently had an EF4 pass near my house and devastate neighboring communities (it wasn't just the airport that was hit badly), I was feeling major sympathy pains today as this story unfolded. The death toll is already astonishing and continues to grow. Chad Myers filled us in with the latest.

After four minutes of real news, it was on to the birthers. I suppose I'm being a bit unfair seeing as Obama released his long-form birth certificate today and that's not something they could exactly ignore. Still. It's hard not to place some of the blame on the media for the fact that we've gotten to this Trump-saturated place. Part of this monster is their creation. Speaking of that monster, guess who's currently beating his chest in victory? Yeah. At least our anchor calls him out. But everyone ignoring him would be better.

Says Anderson: "We haven't heard any prominent birthers simply admit they got anything wrong in the last few years." Shocker! He tweeted something similar. Did anyone seriously believe the Orly Taitzs of the world were going to be like, "oh, my bad"? Trump is an opportunist. But your average birther? Are we still pretending this isn't about racism? It's time to cut the crap.



Next Anderson talked with Ed Henry, Gloria Borger, and John King. Apparently King sat down with Trump today. Stop. Giving. Him. Airtime.

Then there was even more discussion with Andy Card and Paul Begala. So, is Card a dick or what? Yes, all the media has been driving the story, but c'mon, he knows why he was booked. And he showed up because he wants his face on the teevee. Don't blame Anderson for that.



Transitioning back to real news, our anchor spoke with William Bell, the mayor of Birmingham, via phone. The phrase 'total devastation' was used. So sad. From there Anderson talked with photographer Christopher England who shot video of the twister that tore through Tuscaloosa. Unreal.

The show wrapped up with royal wedding talk with Anderson, Richard Quest, Isha Sesay, and Cat Dealey. Yes, from "So You Think You Can Dance." I knew she looked familiar. Don't judge me, people. It wasn't my idea to watch that show. Anyway. The segment was...interesting. Very British. I enjoyed Anderson calling Richard 'Piers Morgan' after he talked about name dropping. Oh, Silver Fox, you. So anyway, as I'm watching our anchor be all uninformed and kinda awkward (but always charming!), I wondered why he was even there. Then it hit me; that's exactly why he's there. Anderson will be playing the comedic role of the guy who just doesn't get it. Even the coverage is a performance.

That'll do it. The show has seen better days. Props and everything for the hustle with the breaking news, but c'mon dudes, it shouldn't have been the only real news in the broadcast.