Anderson Cooper 360 Review

So What's The Deal With AC360 Review?

2011-09-05T02:17:00.003-04:00

What's this? Eliza is blogging?! Madness!

So.

As to the question of what's up with this blog, the short answer? I don't know! Blame Twitter or perhaps alien abduction, but the desire to post just hasn't been there. Yet it seems sad somehow to let this little labor of love go out with such an anticlimactic shrug. A part of me envisioned the end someday occurring with an epic Goodbye Cruel World post fueled by an overabundance of Keyboard Smash.

But a funny thing happened on the way to the news-induced mental breakdown: Anderson Cooper 360 became everything I hoped it would someday be. Okay wait, no. Let's back up. I'm certainly not suggesting this show has become perfect, and we should all now go running through a field, singing in triumph. Um, not that I've ever run that scenario in my head or anything...

Anyway. CNN is still a cable news network and cable news is still occasionally ridiculous, cringe-worthy, unintentionally hilarious, harmful...You get the picture. Dana Loesch inexplicably on my screen. Excessive Casey Anthony coverage. Political panels that are a complete waste of everyone's time. These are characteristics I have filed under Things I have Accepted With A Moderate Amount Of Hostility. This is not a promise to shut up about them, but it's not exactly going to blow anyone's mind to point out that, hey, there's a lot of sensationalism on the teevee news!

For anyone who has read this entire blog from the beginning (and I'm not sure such a person exists), I've always sort of viewed 360 as this little show with such potential. And...over the years they have endlessly frustrated me. But lately I've been placing a lot of checks on my invisible Wish They'd Do List. Fact-checking? Yep. Using politicians own statements to point out hypocrisy a la The Daily Show? Uh huh. More focus on international stories? Consistent segments that help viewers distinguish 360 from the rest of the CNN landscape? Okay, we might need to talk about how many times Snooki has shown up on the RidicuList, but in general? Yay.

I still watch the show almost every night. I just haven't had many of those ZOMG I Must Expand On My Feelings In Blog Post Form kind of moments. As for not posting the good work they've been doing (and they have been doing a lot of good work), well, that's just simple laziness on my part. So. While the initial 'review' concept is basically dead (this is where we pause to mourn), I've decided to keep the blog around. Why? The answer is pretty simple: Election 2012.

There was a time when I felt 360 was winding down and 2011 would perhaps be the last year. I don't really feel that way anymore. Sure, anything can happen, especially with Anderson becoming a talk show host (this is where we pause to marvel at the weirdness of that), but now I think the show is sticking around. And y'all! Do you realize we might be going through a general election with a candidate Palin or Bachmann? Can you think of anything more simultaneously terrifying and hilarious? And the news will be covering the whole thing with no doubt a big helping of idiocy. How could I possibly quit now?

So what's the deal with Eliza and AC360 Review? I'll be around. Lurking. Waiting to pounce with a post. Can you hear the maniacal laughter? Okay, perhaps I'm being dramatic. If something strikes my fancy, whether it be due to awesomeness, newsworthyness, unintentional hilarity, or poor coverage, I'll blog. Otherwise it will likely be sparse around these parts. But do not despair! You can still find my commentary in 140-character bursts on the Twitter. Say hi! I'm nice!

The 360 kids have come a long way. They should be proud of themselves.

PS: About the whole timeslot change. AC360 when it's still light outside? Unnatural, man. Unnatural.

Anderson Cooper Vs. Stephen Colbert: Oh, It's On!

2011-05-10T23:59:00.003-04:00

Hi all. I wasn't feeling very bloggy again, but who could resist posting this bit of hilarity? Mr. White Bread Ripple's delivery is getting pretty good. Stephen, I believe it's your move.

Bin Laden Is Gone, But The Questions Are Just Beginning

2011-05-04T23:59:00.003-04:00

Hi everyone. Hey, remember how on Sunday night we all took in the bin Laden news and kind of came together for a moment? Yeah, well that's OVAH. Now it's time for the nitpicking and the bitching and I...just...can't. This is not a specific statement about the 360 kids, but rather the chattering class (and really nation) as a whole.

There are people who swear Obama can do no wrong. There are people who swear the administration intentionally lied about facets of the Osama raid to make them look good. And these are just the liberals! Don't even get me started on the conservatives. I remember the lies of the Bush Administration (much better than I want to), so yes, I agree being skeptical and asking questions is a must. But by the same token, can we maybe give them a little bit of breathing room before we jump down their throats? Can I get a little bit of reasonableness up in here, yo?

Then there's the dead bin Laden picture debate, which seems to inexplicably be taking up a good chunk of the news cycle. I guess I don't see the big deal. We've released potentially inflammatory pictures before (Abu Ghraib, dead al-Zarqawi), and I really can't fathom how the picture doesn't eventually get leaked anyway. That being said, I don't need to see it to believe he's dead. So release it or not. I really don't care. It just feels like a distraction from the bigger questions of the future of the War on Terror and our presence in Afghanistan.

Anyway, those are my general thoughts. I'm still avoiding any recapping because the story is so fluid, and as alluded to, there's a lot of focus being given to narrow subjects. I hope the show soon begins to pull back a little from this story, giving us all pertinent developments, but also making room for other coverage, such as what's happening in the South and Midwest. I don't need to know about bin Laden's family history.

Like last night, Anderson Cooper ended tonight's broadcast with a brief commentary, this time focusing on those who have sacrificed in this long War on Terror. It's good to see our troops getting some coverage. As I watched, I thought about the fact that their sacrifice is not over. The war in Afghanistan limps on (as does Iraq, sort of), though you're not reminded of that fact very much when you watch your teevee. One of the last times there was a huge amount of focus on the country was when it was revealed Prince Harry was there. Pretty much says everything, doesn't it?

Anderson Cooper: The Ocean Is A Very Big Place, And In The End Osama bin Laden Was A Very Small Man

2011-05-03T23:59:00.002-04:00

Hi all. I had planned to write something more substantial for you, but...I am tired. And you know what's a really smart thing to do? Put critical comments and musings about controversial subjects on the interwebs when you can barely string two sentences together. So instead, I shall leave you with how Anderson Cooper closed the show. In a rare and poignant commentary, he expressed his hope that in the future we will remember not the man behind the 9/11 attacks, but those who were taken. The realist in me knows that's probably not how things will play out, but it's a nice goal for which to strive. Hopefully some day we'll be living in the future he's painted.

Bin Laden Dead

2011-05-02T23:59:00.006-04:00

Wow. Just wow. Almost a decade ago, Osama Bin Laden masterminded the worst terrorist attack in American history. Now he is dead. I can't say I ever thought we would see this day. I think a part of me had given up on seeing justice so concretely served. But now it has, and in turn, history has been made.

Sunday night I was on Twitter, getting ready to chat up some tweeps about AMC's show "The Killing," when I read about an unexpected presidential address, subject unknown. On a Sunday night, short notice. It's the kind of thing you see in movies. You know, when the country is about to find out there's an asteroid headed to earth. Did we have Bruce Willis on call? Needless to say, all the unknowing had people a wee bit freaked out.

When Bin Laden's name first came up, I didn't believe it. The news cycle had been filled with Libya. Bin Laden? He was forgotten. But soon it became clear that though they couldn't outright say so, the newsers on TV knew what Obama would tell us. From there the story exploded. Social networking is amazing. Before POTUS even took to the podium, I think a good portion of the country knew the news.

It was an unforgettable night. The spontaneous celebrations and singing made me want to cry and cheer all at once. I know there are those who say we shouldn't be so happy about a death. In theory, I suppose that's true. But Osama wasn't just a man. He was a symbol for hate and murder and intolerance and pain.

For the long decade that we've hunted him, this country has seen war and natural disaster and economic collapse. It's been a hard road. This generation will never see the equivalent of a VJ Day. Our soldiers come home quietly from multiple tours. We all know there will never be a true win of any of the wars we're fighting. On the political front, we're marred in partisanship that continues to prevent true progress.

We've had little to celebrate lately. So when the man behind the attacks that killed 3,000 people is finally taken out in an operation where no American lives are lost, is it okay to take a rare moment to come together and cheer? I think it is. America, fuck yeah.

Tonight Anderson Cooper came at us live from Ground Zero for two hours. I won't be recapping. As I forgot in the jubilation of Sunday night, but was later reminded, it's still very early. We're in the rough draft of history. In the coming days, facts will change--maybe significantly, maybe not. Below you can see our anchor's piece that takes us through how the raid went down:

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

2011-04-27T23:59:00.001-04:00

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.

Birther Debunking Part Deux

2011-04-26T23:59:00.003-04:00

Hello readers. Step aboard the birther train, because we're going on another trip. Anderson Cooper kicks things off by throwing down some birth certificate facts, and recapping what we went through last night. Then it's straight into part two of Gary Tuchman's Hawaii investigation. In this piece, our correspondent goes to check out the address listed in the Obama birth announcement. What he finds is disturbing: McCain voters! Okay, maybe not that disturbing, though the guy there now might be a birther. Ironic.

From there we play a game of 'let's talk to people who claim to have seen POTUS in his early years.' First we have the Hawaii governor who apparently hung out with baby Obama. Then there's the college professor who met Lil' Barry while his momma was taking classes. Finally, there's the mother of another infant who was born at the same time and swears she remembers seeing the future president in the nursery. So there you go, people. Barack Obama: Citizen of these here United States. Case closed.

This is followed up by part two of the Trump interview, which was pretty painful. What the Donald lacked in facts, he tried to make up with volume, not to mention dickishness. Now he's even questioning POTUS' grades. Though ultimately I didn't think the segment was the best use of airtime, Anderson did get in some good debunking, such as the millions spent for lawyers myth. Loved Trump's response: "Look, he spent a lot of money, whether it was millions of dollars or hundreds of thousands, but I have a feeling it was millions." Oh, you have a feeling? Well, then it must be true.

After the hot mess is over, our anchor promises that in the coming days we'll hear more from Trump about such subjects as the Middle East and broader foreign policy. What's that you just saw? Oh yes, I believe it was a shark jumping. Because seriously? You have more with this douchebag? He's not even running yet. Is the show going to talk foreign policy with every kinda sorta maybe candidate? Hey y'all, remember Fred Thompson and how the media talked about him non stop? Yeah, that really went somewhere, didn't it?

Wrapping up this nonsense, we have discussion with Ed Henry and Cornell Belcher. We learn from Ed that Obama is not releasing the so-called long form, because as Trump has so eloquently demonstrated, it still won't be good enough for birthers--they'll just find something else to dispute. Such is the way of conspiracy theorists.

Moving on to the crackdown currently occurring in Syria. CNN is not allowed in the country and therefore they are relying on witnesses and YouTube videos. Anderson speaks with Razan Zaytouni, a Syrian woman in Damascus. She reports that dead bodies remain in the streets because anyone who attempts to retrieve them are targeted as well. So horrible.

The requisite royal coverage tonight was a Randi Kaye piece on the relationship between Will and Diana.

Isha Sesay also talked about the very important subject of whether or not Kate is going to wear a tiara. Our anchor is fascinated by the fascination. He swears he's not mocking, but yeah, whatevs, Silver Fox. "If we found you the right tiara, you'd be all for it." says Isha. "For her, yes. I suppose so," he replies. Oh c'mon, Anderson. You know you wanna rock the tiara...

The RidicuList tonight features Levi Johnston...because apparently he waited so long to write a book. Or something. Meh. I don't know, something about that dude renders me unable to even enjoy the snark.

And there you have it. We're done with the birthers now, right? Right??? Also, if I may make a request of the 360 kids, let's rethink that forthcoming Trump segment, mmkay? That's pretty much all there is to say. If we're not all wedding all the time tomorrow, I'll catch you cats then.

AC360 Is Getting To The Bottom Of This Birth Certificate Thing Once And For All (Hopefully)

2011-04-25T23:59:00.002-04:00

Hi everyone! After some of you showed you cared about this little space by inquiring about my blogging whereabouts (um, thanks, mom), I decided to dip my toes back in the posting waters. The show seems to have mostly returned to normal after the blanket coverage of Japan and Libya. There wasn't much I felt like saying back then, but good on the 360 kids for the coverage and the ratings it brought them. Fair warning, I may also do a disappearing act for the royal wedding. We shall see. For now, on to a kinda sorta review of tonight's broadcast.

We begin with birthers. Again. Yep. For you see, during my hiatus, one Mr. Donald Trump made noises about presidential ambitions and started a supposed investigation into the current prez's birth place. Unfortunately for all us, this is not a joke I am currently making. No, this crap is really happening. And the media is like, ZOMG, new Charlie Sheen!

But our 360 kids are facty little devils, so Anderson Cooper starts us off with the basics regarding proof of Obama's birth in the U.S. Nice job.

CNN did not stop there. Oh, no. They sent Gary Tuchman all the way to Hawaii to investigate. "Was President Obama really born in the United States?" Gary asks. "The answer: yes." And to sane people, that answer is not at all surprising. I guess I'm just flummoxed that they sent a correspondent to cover this. How many times does birtherism need to be debunked? The sad fact of the matter is that birthers will be around until the day Obama leaves office.

Not that it wasn't a good piece. Gary and producer Susan Chun did a very thorough job. He talked with the former director of the Hawaii Department of Health (a former Republican) who has seen the birth certificate, took someone born 13 hours earlier than Obama to see what would happen when he requested his birth certificate, confirmed that birth announcements come from records, and found the certificates have no space for religion (so no, he's not trying to hide secret Muslim-ness). All in all a great debunking.

Now we get to Trump. Oy. Things start off well with a nice montage, but the actual interview just left me annoyed and without any further insight into why The Donald is doing what he's doing. To be fair to Anderson, he tried. He really did. And he was prepared. Having the audio of Obama's grandmother (through a translator) was impressive.

I know some people feel Trump shouldn't have been invited on at all. With our anchor's reputation as a birther slayer (and the fact that they'd talked about Trump on the show previously), I don't think 360 had a choice. People would wonder why if they didn't. But that being said, once it was clear Trump wasn't going to answer anything (especially about the investigators), I think Anderson should have just wrapped it up. What's the point, really? Feeding Trump's ego?

For the record, my view on Trump? I don't think he believes the birther crap. I don't think he cares, frankly. He's an opportunist. Whether he's doing it to try to create a base for running for POTUS or to just feed his ego, I couldn't tell you. What I will say is that he's a terrible person. We're talking about our country. This isn't a reality show, Donald. Douchebag. At least if he truly believed this I could maybe feel sorry for him for being mentally ill.

Anyway. We then had Gary back live with the facts. He adorably uses the phrase "tall tale" to describe Trump's claim that the birth certificate is missing. You can say 'lie,' Gary. It's okay. Plus there was this from Jeffrey Toobin on birthers as a whole: "Most of these people are crazy and/or bigots." Yep. And I cracked up over Anderson trying to apply logic to these people, and Jeffrey being like, duuuude.

So...okay. I know we have more birther fun coming tomorrow, but after that, can we, like, be done already? I'm really hoping that any time a news-maker brings this crap up, our 360 friends will simply note it (if they must) and then follow it up with something along the lines of, "an extensive CNN investigation conducted in April shows Ms./Mr. Birther's claims to be completely without merit." And then they will MOVE ON. Too much to ask for?

Our Libya portion of the evening included an interview from Misrata with Marie Colvin of The Sunday Times. Harrowing stuff.

We also had a piece from Isha Sesay on the royal wedding. Now, I love me some Isha, but this wedding, I just can't. Honestly, I couldn't care less. Hell, I initially thought William was already married. It just drives me nuts that even though a very small percentage of Americans actually care about this thing, CNN is sending Anderson and others overseas. Keep in mind our country is currently involved in three, count them, THREE, wars. Priorities.

Did you see the AC360 blog got all fancypants? It looks nice, though it's still unclear whether the changes will actually drive me back. I'm looking for a more bloggy behind-the-scenes experience. I guess we'll see what happens.

The bulletin contained video of my city's airport (Lambert) getting hit by a tornado. St. Louis has been having a time, y'all! I'm beginning to feel like Mother Nature and I are in an abusive relationship. But I guess a lot of regions could say that. Anyway, I'm pretty sure I know exactly what I was thinking as that destruction was happening. I was taking cover in my basement, looking at the radar, and realizing it had just become eerily quiet outside. That was the only moment when I was really nervous. Too close for comfort.

The RidicuList tonight featured Sean Hannity. Oh, anchor feud! Except, the Silver Fox is quick to knock that notion down. Such a killjoy, that one. Surprise, surprise, Hannity took our anchor out of context, a fact that you can clearly tell without even seeing the extended clip. I mean, I'm pretty sure Anderson would rather poke his eye out than make such an opinionated statement. Thing is, I know that, but Fox News viewers do not. For the most part, they're going to believe what they're shown. And that's good enough for Hannity. Anderson gives him way too much credit in assuming he didn't know.

Also? Can we go back to that mention of geographic bias? Because God yes. Nice to hear it acknowledged, albeit in a very off-handed way. Yes, national media, the states in the middle are not just something you fly over. Anyway. I liked Anderson's little vanity freak out over his aging. Relax, Silver Fox. You're still pretty.

So that'll do it. The birther stuff was mostly done well, but...too much! Hopefully soon we can put it all behind us.

The Revolution Continues

2011-02-28T23:59:00.000-05:00

Hello readers! Should I bother apologizing for dropping off the face of the blogosphere or are you guys pretty much used to this by now? I wish I had some sort of cool excuse, like I was busy saving disabled orphans or something, but no, I just haven't felt like posting. The blogging malaise strikes again!

Last Thursday I got it in my head that I would return...and then I didn't. That night the Gerg made a cameo in my dreams, informing me that he was a regular reader, and referring to AC360 Review as a 'complainer blog.' Actually, he might have said 'complainer-y,' which would have been even more awesome. Either way...ha! Still less weird than when I dreamed Ali Velshi was a cult leader...

Anyway! As for the 360 kids' coverage, your humble 'complainer' doesn't really have anything major to say. The show's been doing a great job keeping up with the ongoing turmoil in the Middle East. I do, however, need to hand out a WTF demerit for tonight's booking of the discredited Paul Wolfowitz. Yes, let's totally listen to advice from one of the guys behind the Iraq bungle. I mean, seriously?

The only other little issue I have involves Fouad Ajami and really isn't even a criticism. I actually like him a lot as a guest, but he reminds me of Billy Nungesser. Not in a literal sense, of course. I'm referring to how he's become the go-to guest for this story. As I noted at the time, the show's relationship with Nungesser eventually led to slanted coverage of the BP oil spill. It appears they're having on more voices for this current story, so hopefully any slanting will be avoided. Still. Anderson Cooper is clearly enamored. Something to think about.

What a few weeks it's been, huh? A part of me is watching the coverage and thinking, what an amazing time for the world. People rising up; dictators falling. This is awesome. But the other part of me is watching the coverage and thinking, what a terrible time for the world. People murdered in the streets; fear/uncertainty abounding. This is horrific. And basically both parts of me are right. It's an astounding time to be a newsjunkie. I may not be blogging it all, but I'm most certainly following.

I'll return again when the urge strikes me (or I start to feel overly guilty). Sorry I didn't give you much this go-around. Pretty much I just wanted to check in...and apparently tell you about my hilariously weird David Gergen dream. You're welcome!

The Revolution Was Televised

2011-02-11T23:59:00.001-05:00

Mubarak Punks The World

2011-02-10T23:59:00.003-05:00

Hello everyone. What a day! The world waited with bated breath, expecting to see a historic event unfold as a dictator stepped down. Instead, what we got was a rambling speech by Hosni Mubarak that can be summed up as, yeah, not so much. Unbelievable.

Your humble blogger actually missed the majority of the special two hour AC360 (sorry kids!), so this post is mainly for historical purposes. Below you can watch a summary of the day's events:

Anderson Cooper's very passionate reaction to the Mubarak speech:

The opening of tonight's broadcast:

Also, here's a great segment with Anderson, Ben Wedeman, and Robert Tait, a journalist who was held by Egyptian authorities. Watching this actually made me feel sick. Tait describes the abuse he heard being inflicted on Egyptians. No, wait, 'abuse' doesn't do it justice. We're talking beatings, electrocution, and threats of rape. Horrifying. And to think we sent our own prisoners to these people to do our dirty work.

That'll do it for me. I'm a little nervous about tomorrow. Prayers for no violence.

Dear Egyptian Regime, Anderson Cooper Will Not Be Shying Away From Keeping You Honest

2011-02-09T23:59:00.001-05:00

Hello peoples! Last night I was a very tired little blogger and subsequently skipped out on you. But the show was a rockin'. As for tonight, can I just say holy shit? Because damn, Anderson Cooper and the 360 kids are not playing, y'all! Oh yeah, they see those Mubarak regime lies and call them out they will. The opening of tonight's broadcast was total balls to the wall coverage.

I also like that our anchor smacked down critics who are accusing him of having a personal vendetta against the government because his team was attacked. Look, the joke is very easy to make: Wow, he's on fire! Don't ever punch Anderson Cooper in the face. But the truth of the matter is that he's displaying an extremely similar level of passion now as he did against BP last summer. And I'm pretty sure Tony Hayward never punched him in the face (though eventually he probably wanted to). Watch the awesomeness below:

The next segment contained discussion with Ivan Watson and Professor Fouad Ajami. I knew last week when I read about the escaped prisoners that the government was behind it. Orwellian indeed.

Ivan Watson also did a fantastic interview with Wael Ghonim, a very brave Google executive turned activist who was held by the secret police. He vows to not stop until the protesters get their country back. "I work in the best company to work for in the world. I have the best wife and I love my kids. But I'm willing to lose all of that for my dream to happen. And no one is going to go against our desire. No one." Makes some American problems seem small, no? The interview I've posted is from John King's show.

Finally, I want to post the segment with Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Peter Bergen on the Muslim Brotherhood. I was prepared to be not thrilled. Ali has some pretty extremist views, yet I've seen her time and time again go unchallenged. This was not the case tonight. It was a good pairing with Peter, and Anderson did a nice job with his questioning as well. All in all a surprisingly impressive segment.

That's going to do it for me. Yeah, I know we also had news of a married Congressman who answered a personal ad on Craigslist and then sent a shirtless picture of himself to a random woman. But really, at this point if the story doesn't contain alleged naked hiking or toe-tapping in a bathroom stall, it almost seems quaint. Oh, Congresscritters. Anyway. Show was excellent. Keep it up, 360.

Home From Egypt, But The Story Continues

2011-02-07T23:59:00.002-05:00

Hi everyone. I'm a lot shorter on time tonight that I had hoped, so I think mostly I'm just going to highlight some video. I am both relieved and saddened that Anderson Cooper, Neil Hallsworth, and Mary Anne Fox have come home (actually, I'm just assuming about Neil).

The fact that they are now safe has allowed me to leave ulcer-inducing territory, but I know they wanted to stay longer, and though some might think that's nuts, I get it. Of course, what I think is irrelevant. No one should be second-guessing the decisions of people whose lives were at risk, and Team 360 certainly shouldn't feel guilty for the decision that they made.

It seems our anchor is not going to allow me to totally jump off the Worry Train. Yeah, I heard that comment about him not being able to watch things due to a headache. At least he says he's getting checked out tomorrow. I would have preferred that to have occurred, like, 10 minutes after he got punched, but I suppose beggars can't be choosers.

Below is video of Anderson keeping the Egyptian government honest, and he does not hold back! "Now, I know lies is a strong word; it's one we rarely use. We have talked about different facts, but we can't think of another word right now to describe what the Egyptian government has been saying, because what they have been saying is the direct opposite of what they have been doing." Sing it!

Then our anchor interviewed opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei, who also trashes the Egyptian regime:

Nic Robertson investigated the shooting death of a protester by police in Alexandria, Egypt:

The political angle with David Gergen and Jill Dougherty:

Then on to an interview with Egyptian actor and current protester, Khalid Abdalla, who starred in "The Kite Runner." I didn't see the movie, but it was an excellent book.

Finally, for fun, we have the RidicuList. Tonight's contestant is rapper B.o.B., who I have actually never heard of. I think that means I'm an old. Anyway! Mr. B (?) is on the list because he dared to provide a little bit of in-flight entertainment to the captive passengers. And Anderson Cooper does not like that one bit! When it comes to flying, the Silver Fox is kind of a crab. Also? Tonight did nothing to combat my theory that our anchor is actually turning into Andy Rooney. Good thing he's ~~so hot~~ such an excellent reporter!

I'm sorry I don't have any of the video of Ben Wedeman and Ivan Watson. Both men are still on the ground and continue to do excellent reporting. Other shout outs I need to give go to Arwa Damon, Nic Robertson, Hala Gorani, and Frederik Pleitgen. All doing yeoman's work on this story.

The show was great tonight. Cookies for all.

Anderson Cooper's Reporter's Notebook Of Egypt

2011-02-04T23:59:00.001-05:00

Hi everyone. Thank God today seemed to be a little better. Not great, but Team AC360 were actually able to broadcast outside with real lights. Can I get a cautiously optimistic woo hoo? I guess we'll see how Egypt fares these next few days. My thoughts and prayers are with the people of the country and the journalists covering their story. I leave you with Anderson Cooper's Reporter's Notebook:

Anderson Cooper: I don't mind telling you I am a little bit scared

2011-02-03T23:59:00.001-05:00

Hey kids. Look at me back so soon! I've been a newsjunkie a very long time and have witnessed many an amazing broadcast, but I don't think I've ever seen anything like the stripped down program we had tonight. Coming at us from an undisclosed location (a phrase I haven't heard this much since Cheney was in office) for their safety, Anderson Cooper kicked things off by explaining the extent to which reporters have been intimidated.

Then, as my heading suggests, he noted that he was a little bit scared about the uncertainty to come, a fact that quite frankly was fairly evident before he even said the words. He has good reason. Anderson and colleagues were attacked yet again today, along with many, many other journalists, and all signs point to tomorrow being possibly worse. I hope not.

I'm very impressed by the dedication of the CNN people on the ground. Katie Couric has gone home, Brian Williams left. I don't begrudge anyone making a decision about their own safety, but you have to respect the journalists who are standing their ground against remarkable resistance to tell this story--a story that may very well change the entire Middle East. Kudos to them. Now let's all pray they, and everyone else, stays safe.

Egypt On The Brink

2011-02-02T23:59:00.003-05:00

Hello readers! Sorry for so much blog silence. When last I left you, I was a wee bit unhappy with the 360 kids' coverage, wondering when they were going to give the developing Egypt story some notice. My how things have changed! Unless you've been living under a rock (and my readers would never be rock-dwellers), you know by now that Anderson Cooper, producer Mary Anne Fox, and photojournalist Neil Hallsworth have been in the country since the weekend.

My non posting should not be taken as any reflection of their reporting, which has been most excellent. How does one snarkily review the ever-changing coverage of an uprising? One doesn't. But as a viewer I have most definitely been riveted. We're seeing history (for better or worse) in the making. The turn of events today was nothing short of horrific. As for our CNN friends on the ground, are they making me bite my nails off and develop an ulcer? Yes, we have hit ulcer-developing territory. But in all honesty, there is no place else I'd rather they be right now. This is the job they're trained to do and because of their dedication, the revolution will be televised.

Below I've posted the videos of Anderson and crew getting roughed up (punched in the face!) by pro-Mubarak thugs, and Hala Gorani having a similar experience. Also, I have been engaging in copious amounts of tweeting lately (seriously, I think I broke some sort of record) due to the unfolding events, and, uh, being iced-in. I have to say, if you're not following Ben Wedeman (@bencnn), I don't think I can help you. He's been providing indispensable information.

Other CNN musts can be found on this Twitter list, which includes Neil and Mary Anne, who very much deserve your love. I've created my own Twitter list of those on the ground in Egypt, ranging from network anchors to ordinary citizens. I definitely encourage you to check it out. And...I guess that's about it for now. I'm not sure when I'll be back on the blog, but as stated previously, I'm very findable on the Twitter. Here's hoping the new day brings less bloodshed and everyone remains safe.

9-11 Coin Scam, Bible Park Controversy, Dr. Phil Weighs In On Bullying And Homophobia (For Some Reason), And Kucinich Does Himself No Favors

2011-01-26T23:59:00.001-05:00

Hi all. I'm just going to blast through most of this, and then give you some more general criticism to chew on at the end. The bullet points await!:

The 360 kids began with some honesty-keeping regarding commemorative 9-11 coins. We're coming up on the 10 year anniversary, and though it's only still January, it's never too soon for exploitation!

Then it was on to the controversy over the building of a biblical theme park in Kentucky. The sticking point is the tax incentives the park's backers will be receiving. Separation of Church and State, yo! Reverend Barry Lynn, the founder of Americans United For Separation of Church and State, joined us to argue that very point. Jeff Toobin brought the legal lowdown, and Ken Ham, president of Answers in Genesis USA and the Creation Museum, well,...I think you know where he stands.

I'm weirdly not overly bothered by this. Of course, the irony hasn't escaped me that the same type of people behind this project are usually the ones who emphasize private charity over government assistance. Looks like they want their government help now!

Isha Sesay told us about a new study that found men don't retain as much information from the news when the anchor is a sexy female. That a fact! I would have never guessed. Anderson Cooper takes the opportunity to pretend like he didn't hear what Isha was saying. Oh, I see what you did there, Silver Fox.

As for the lady news consumers? They actually didn't test us. But I maintain that I take in everything our anchor says. Oh, sure, I may on occasion mute the repeat and have myself a little stare, but are we not human?!

Moving on to a story about a teacher who acted quickly to deal with a bully...and was subsequently reprimanded by the school. I had read about this situation and was glad to see 360 giving it coverage, but, as all too frequently, they ruined it by having Dr. Phil weigh in. Ugh. He went on to say absolutely nothing enlightening. Seriously, are there not actual experts on this subject?

If that wasn't bad enough, Anderson also had Dr. Phil comment on Harps grocery store placing a 'family shield' over a magazine featuring a picture of Elton John's family. After an outcry over the homophobia, the store took the shield down.

Dr. Phil called the situation "absolutely, unequivocally absurd," so phew, I can now rest easy that my intolerance of hate has been validated. WTF, 360?

Dennis Kucinich got the RidicuList treatment because he's suing the congressional cafeteria for $150,000 due to a surprise olive pit. Seriously. Oh, Dennis Kucinich. I mostly like your politics, but sometimes you start talking about aliens or do something like this and I just wanna be like, duuuude!

I'd like to think all those stuttery screw-ups by our anchor (which I normally find endearing) were a punishment from the News Gods for having on Dr. Phil. Oh, also? Why the D.C. hate? You're gonna get emails!

The show was just meh. I'm not going to say that the stories were unimportant, but um, hard news? None of the stuff tonight felt like top story material--or even really first half hour material. There are big things going on in the world today, and 360 seems to be taking a pass. I've previously noted that the news magazine format appears to work better for them (and especially Anderson), but c'mon, I shouldn't have to get the majority of my Egypt news from Rick Sanchez's twitter account (check out this amazing report from a Guardian correspondent). That's sort of embarrassing, don't you think? Here's hoping for more (some?) hard news in the future.

Michele Bachmann Still Merely Truthy, Andrew Shirvell Even Worse Than We Thought, Keith Olbermann Talk, And Anderson Is Not Happy With AMC

2011-01-24T23:59:00.001-05:00

Hello party people! Another week is upon us. I actually don't have much to say about the broadcast, so...you want some bullet points? Of course you do!

The 360 kids kicked things off with keeping Michele Bachmann honest regarding some statements she made about the history of these here United States. You might find this hard to believe, but it turns out some of the stuff she said wasn't true. I know, right? So unlike her!

Bachmann is going to give the "Tea Party response" to Tuesday's State of the Union Address (no, I don't think anyone asked her), and I have to admit, I'm a little excited. I didn't think anything would top Kenneth the Page's performance in the category of unintentional hilarity, but we just might have a contender!

There was discussion with former Republican Congresswoman Susan Molinari, Paul Begala, and historian Professor Eddie Glaude Jr., which was totally not worth watching. But! Was anyone else amused at Molinari's passive aggressiveness when Anderson Cooper dared (DARED!) to ask her about something other than the exact topic she was told they'd be discussing?

You know that creeper guy, Andrew Shirvell? Turns out he's a creepier creeper than anyone knew. Seriously dude, get some therapy (and maybe some medication).

Discussion with Jeff Toobin and Chris Armstrong's attorney, Deborah Gordon:

Today Jared Lee Loughner pled not guilty to three counts of attempted murder. Ted Rowlands reported, Sunnie Hostin discussed:

The Keith Olbermann speculation is still going strong. Well, on CNN anyway. I have to roll my eyes at the hypocrisy when it comes to these media stories. They were all over the Jon Klein and Rick Sanchez firings, weren't they? Oh, wait...

Colby Hall and Bill Carter discussed:

Tonight's RidicuList dealt with the AMC show Mad Men, which Isha Sesay tells us she has never seen. Anderson notes that he should have asked her that question before she got the job because it might have been a deal breaker. I've actually never seen Mad Men either, Anderson. Am I not worthy of watching your show now? You and your impossibly high standards!

Okay, so, our anchor is really not thrilled that the companies behind the show are squabbling and now he may have to wait to get his Mad Men fix. Why are you depriving the Silver Fox, AMC? I love that Anderson has basically finagled this segment into being a block of airtime specifically designated for ranting about what ticks him off. He's now Andy Rooney...with snark!

Props for the SNL reference. I believe I've used the same on this here blog. Anyway, Anderson? It's going to be okay...even without Mad Men. (But anyone ever messes with Dexter, there will be blood on more than just the show.)

The show wasn't bad. Not spectacular, but no real complaints.

Keith Olbermann Out At MSNBC

2011-01-21T23:59:00.003-05:00

Hi everyone. Wow. Another one bites the dust. After spending the day working and running errands in this brutal weather, I decided to take a nice evening nap. I got up just in time to watch George Clooney on Piers Morgan, logged onto the Twitter, and discovered that the media world had turned upside down. Not quite what I was expecting.

The details of Olbermann's firing (escape?) are still murky, but it's no secret to anyone who pays attention to this sort of thing that he has quite the reputation in the industry. Even among certain liberals, the sometimes joke has been, "sure he's an asshole, but he's our asshole." Right now the conventional wisdom seems to be that the Comcast merger and loss of Jeff Zucker finally forced the pink slip, though NBC denies. The Wrap has a completely different take, reporting that Olbermann left on his own with dreams of creating a media empire.

Though I stopped watching Countdown in recent years, I'm still a little sad to see Olbermann go, especially if it wasn't on his terms. He was an anchor monster, yes, but his heart seemed to be in the right place. Before Anderson Cooper was really even on my radar, Countdown was the cable news show I watched every night. Following the election of 2004, because Kerry had conceded, no television anchor would significantly touch the story of election irregularities in Ohio. No television anchor except Keith.

I know some of you are now picturing him bombastically ranting about stolen votes, but it wasn't like that--he mostly just reported the facts. Olbermann was different in those days. Though it wasn't hard to peg him as a liberal, he did a lot more reporting than he did commentating. What attracted me to the show was that he gave light to stories that others didn't seem to have the courage to report.

It was a different time then. There was still significant support for Bush, there was still significant support for the war. It was a very, very hard time to be a liberal. This was compounded by the fact that while conservatives had a strong voice on the airwaves, liberals had none. Then there was Keith. He took a chance and spoke out against what was happening in the country, and it laid the foundation for what MSNBC primetime is today.

I'll always be grateful to him for having the courage to say something when others didn't. He made me feel a little less alone. I just wish he didn't let it overtake him. Eventually Keith became a little too similar to that which he mocked. My readers know I hate false equivalency. I am not saying he became the exact opposite of those who inhabit primetime at Fox News, but the constant childish voices and harping on the Right was something I couldn't handle anymore. I wanted a news anchor, not a performer.

Worse still, at some point I felt like I could no longer trust him. Segments from the show, coupled with comments he made online, left me feeling uneasy. I wasn't sure that he wouldn't stretch accuracy to make a political point. Sure, he's never simply made things up like the other side does, but I have higher standards than that. As a result, and with sadness, I slowly began to stop watching. I couldn't tell you the last time I saw an entire Countdown broadcast.

That's the short story of Keith Olbermann's tenure at MSNBC--through my eyes anyway. I wish him well, and hope he lands somewhere else soon. I also hope the network does their best to place all of his staff. TV news is one crazy industry, huh?

As for the 360 kids, they were all over this story. It was manna for a news junkie, but sometimes I wonder exactly what viewers they're targeting. Because the majority of the country? They don't care about this story--in fact, many have probably never heard of Olbermann. This sort of gets at the heart of CNN's problem: they have no identity, and their audience is subsequently all over the place. I won't be surprised if they pull a really good demo tonight, but nor will I be surprised if they get completely demolished. It's because I don't know who's watching, and many times I get the impression they don't either.

To end these musings with some fun, below are the two RidicuLists from this week concerning Fountain Lady. Hilarious stuff. They appear to be taking a lot greater care to write the segments in Anderson's voice, which is really helping his now almost pitch perfect delivery. I'd previously noted that sometimes the segment seemed to be nothing more than a hot mess of random references, clearly not written by Anderson, as evidenced by his awkward delivery. But this week has been really good. Enjoy:

Anderson Cooper Rightly Calls Out Rep. Steve Cohen On His Hypocrisy Regarding Inflamed Rhetoric, Fails To Touch The Facts Of The Actual Issue

2011-01-19T23:59:00.003-05:00

Hello readers! It seems Anderson Cooper and the 360 kids are intent on driving me insane. But let's step back a bit first. See, this random Congress dude, Steve Cohen, is none too happy about the House Republicans' little health care reform repeal stunt vote. Everything's good so far, right? Well, he goes on the House floor and gets his vent on about the GOPers: "They say it's a government takeover of health care, a big lie..." Dude is speaking truth to power, woo! Go him! "...just like Goebbels." Wait, what? Ohhh noeees.

Really? REALLY, Steve Cohen? You pull this crap right after everyone's calling for a new civility? Apparently, the Congressman is not familiar with Godwin's law. Anyway, this always happens. At this point, I could write the script in my sleep. A Democrat has the facts completely on their side, they inexplicably say something extreme, the GOP freaks out (ZOMG, he's calling us Nazis!), and the media latches onto the controversy, completely brushing by the substance of the argument (welcome to your first segment on AC360).

Honestly, after watching the interview twice, Cohen doesn't come off all that badly. The show was right to call him out on his hypocrisy, and I agree with the notion that bringing up anything related to Nazi Germany is never helpful (and offensive to many), but he made a very clear distinction that his comment was about tactics, and there's some validity there. I wish he would have found another way to make his point.

But what really makes this a big fail on the 360 kids' part is that we had an entire discussion that was essentially about GOP lies regarding health care reform, and not once did Anderson, you know, talk about those lies. Can a viewer get a little fact-checking up in this segment that is supposing to 'keep 'em honest'? What lies? Doesn't that sound like a question our anchor maybe should have asked? Then he could have checked to see if they are actually lies.

Maybe Cohen is accusing them of lying about some things that are actually true. Wouldn't that be an interesting thing to find out? And if Cohen is right about the lying, that means the Republican's reasoning for trying to repeal landmark legislation is one big snow job. Maybe it's just me, but that seems like a rather big news story, no? Not for this news show, apparently! The irony? If Cohen had made his argument with more civility, you think he would have been invited on 360 to discuss? Yeah, that's what I thought. Lies can be just as poisonous as any inflamed rhetoric--maybe even more so.

After the interview with the Congressman, there was discussion with Dana Bash and Cornell Belcher. Anderson did his whole false equivalency thing, which, yeah, annoying. I'm not sure if he does it because he thinks it's a good way to position himself as neutral, or if he really is just naive. But anyway, how much are we loving Cornell these days? He's like the new Gerg, all calm and rational. I want to clone him and spread him all over cable news.

By the way, for a lesson in how it's done, I think Representative Cohen needs a pointer or two from the awesomeness that is Anthony Weiner.

Anderson Cooper Totally Pwns Dr. Laura

2011-01-18T23:59:00.002-05:00

Hey kids! I'm tired and was going to just skip the blog post tonight, but I couldn't pass up sharing the RidicuList due to awesomeness. Anderson Cooper sees Dr. Laura Schlessinger's bullshit and he will fight it with email records and snark! "Take your own advice and stop whining." Indeed.

School Board Member Attacks MLK, Sarah Palin Always The Victim, And Baby Doc Returns to Haiti

2011-01-17T23:59:00.003-05:00

Hi everyone. I think I'm going to give myself some space to spread out and mostly forgo the bullet points tonight. They will no doubt be back shortly. Raise your hand if you're shocked that the broadcast didn't contain an Oprah/Piers Morgan segment. I know, right? Aw, is Anderson Cooper not an Oprah fanboy anymore? As for how the Piers dude did, I watched, and I will give him a resounding 'meh.' Trust me, this is way better than my reaction to Parker/Spitzer, which was to gawk in horror at my television before turning it off five minutes later, never to watch again.

But this here blog post is about the 360 kids. Tonight, in keeping with the holiday, they kicked us off with some Martin Luther King related news. Colorado school board member Brett Reese has been broadcasting attacks on King (via a small radio station) for the past two weeks. Some of what he says is true, but most? Not so much, and the information in fact comes from a white supremacist's website. Because those guys are always so accurate when it comes to information on African Americans.

After more explanation, Anderson tells us they had booked Reese on the show, but then decided they didn't want to give his nonsense the exposure. I'm torn on this whole segment. It sounds like they saw something controversial, immediately jumped into coverage mode, had second thoughts, and finally just split the difference between being sensational and responsible. So...yay? Good on them for re-evaluating, but should this have been covered at all? They said it was a small radio station and these smears are not new. I don't know. Anyway, below is the segment, which is followed by discussion with Bryan Wright, the principal of the Greeley West High School, and Professor Eddie Glaude Jr., chair of African-American studies at Princeton University.

Anderson also interviewed Stevie Wonder about King:

After six people lost their lives in Arizona, you know who the biggest victim was? Sarah Palin that's who! At least, that's the impression she's been giving lately. Anderson began the segment by reminding us that accusations of blame began to fly as soon as the shooting occurred. He played us examples of those on the left engaging in such behavior, which is a perfectly legitimate thing for him to do (and actually encouraged over vague statements). I would like to point out that according to this, Palin apparently immediately went into defense mode before all the fingers started pointing. Strange that a person would think to do that.

Honestly, I think there is a lot being missed here by conservatives, the media, and even liberals. Personally I feel there has been way too much focus on that map. If it were just the crosshairs, I would feel sorry for Palin. Even coupled with the tweet, it would be irresponsible, but not worthy of all this blame. Thing is, it's not just the crosshairs and the tweet (those are just symptoms); it's her entire political philosophy. Sarah Palin and her cohorts in the media don't just disagree with this president and this government, they consistently attempt to delegitimize them.

They want to take back America. Talk of tyranny runs rampant, gun culture is practically fetishized. When it comes to policy, there is no rational debate offered. Instead there are death panels, and proclamations of a government takeover. Lurking around every corner is the implication that something sinister is a-foot. Glenn Beck gets out his chalkboard and points the Tea Partiers to the latest conspiracy. He's not directly accusing, mind you, but he's just saying...with a wink and a nod.

Did Sarah Palin's crosshairs cause this shooting? No. There is absolutely no evidence of that. But this shit doesn't happen in a vacuum. She's mainstreamed a culture that breeds anti-government resentment. You don't even need to be a Palin follower or Fox News watcher to be affected by what's happening--we've all become immersed. And not only the stable are listening. Did Loughner get caught up in this monster Palin and her cohorts have brought to the forefront? I don't know. But it's absolutely despicable that she won't even consider changing her rhetoric.

The discussion with Cornell Belcher and Dana Loesch was ridiculous. Mostly they focused on Palin's use of 'blood libel,' which I don't even care that much about. Actually, I think it just shows how unoriginal she is, since it looks like she had to go running to the Wall Street Journal's opinion page to get her response.

Loesch did not disappoint, in that she proved herself a total hypocrite in less than five seconds. Ever since the shooting, she's been mocking the calls for a more toned-down rhetoric, yet the first thing she mentions is a death threat that occurred, according to her, "because of all of the things that are being said about conservatives and being said about Tea Partiers and Sarah Palin." And you know what? She's probably right. Yes, Dana, as some of us have been saying, words matter.

Pretty sad that Cornell had to actually ask Anderson to keep her honest. I guess when it comes to these segments, the rest of us have to do his job for him. At least he noted that Palin never ever backs off. I had to laugh at Dana's claim that upwards of a million private citizens were "absolutely persecuted without any evidence because of this tragedy." Persecuted? Really? And she says it on MLK day no less. Good lord. Oh, and here's that Media Curves study she mentioned. She is, of course, spinning like a top.

Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier returned to Haiti. John Zarrella reports:

Also, I wanted to share this great Haiti piece from 360 kids Vladimir Duthiers and Hannah Yi. They visited a camp for the deaf, reporting on the struggles of people who rarely if ever get coverage. It's a sad, yet fascinating watch.

Isha Sesay is now an official 360 kid! Remember when we had that petition to get her on the show? I'm totally taking partial credit. And that's not deluded thinking at all! No sir. Below is Anderson's SNL digital short cameo, which was tonight's "shot." Oh, that Pee Wee Herman...

Starbucks is on the RidicuList tonight due to the trenta, their new 31 ounce size. That's a lot of caffeine. I actually don't drink coffee, so my main takeaway from this is I really need to see the movie "Role Models," because Paul Rudd is adorable and that scene was hilarious. "Congratulations, you're stupid in three languages." Ha!

That's going to do it for me. The show was okay. They're killing me with these Loesch bookings.

This Exists: Pee Wee Herman & Andy Samberg Drunkenly Beat The Crap Out Of Anderson Cooper

2011-01-16T02:10:00.005-05:00

Because the world can never have too much bizarre hilarity, let's all watch the Silver Fox get his ass handed to him by the dude known for the Tequila Dance:

Slow Progress In Haiti

2011-01-13T23:59:00.001-05:00

Hi all. I've been avoiding blogging due to disgust/sadness/horror over the Arizona shootings and subsequent reaction. Maybe I'll write something about that at some point, but not now. I thought President Obama gave an amazing and much needed speech.

Tonight I just wanted to share Gary Tuchman's piece on Haiti, and all the rubble that remains. Unfortunately the shooting meant that the quake's anniversary passed without near as much coverage as I was hoping to see. So much sadness all around.

The Best & Worst Of AC360 In 2010

2011-01-09T03:29:00.007-05:00

Hello, kids. I was hoping you would get to read this wrap-up when we were actually in 2010, but at least it's still January, right? Anyway, listicle time! After having a ponder about breaking up my little end-of-year review foray into two separate posts, ultimately I decided to let you digest all the bloggy goodness in one big meal. The 360 kids will find that some morsels go down quite smoothly, others are a bit bitter, and still more are a mixture of both.

In your humble blogger's view, save a few hiccups, this was a banner year for our little show. Oh, sure, in terms of ratings, things are still...not good, but quality? Team 360 has been workin' it! Before I get to that, I would be remiss if I didn't note some 2010 personnel changes that likely contributed to tinkering of the broadcast.

CNN Prez Jon Klein finally bit the big one and found himself no longer employed by the network, while his replacement, Ken Jautz, decided that Senior Executive Producer David Doss would be better used...elsewhere. Fan favorite (I'm just sayin') Charlie Moore took over the role of show head honcho. Also, to be filed under bittersweet sadness, sub-anchor Erica Hill made her exit earlier in the year. Many of us miss her energetic presence, but are thrilled she's experiencing such success.

So there we are! What you will find below is a year of 360 filtered through my critical little blogger brain. There's enthusiastic cookie-giving (with sprinkles!); there's measured criticism; and yeah, there might be an instance (or two) of Keyboard Smash. I tried my best to skim through most of my 2010 archive, but no doubt there was coverage that slipped by. If you think there's something important (good or bad) that I forgot, or you disagree with something I've said, I invite you to make a visit to my very comfy comment section (free drinks!). And with that, we say goodbye to 2010, in no particular order:

CELEBRITY OBSESSION

This year I sometimes wasn't sure if I was watching CNN or Entertainment Tonight. Faith Hill, Demi Moore, Andre Agassi, Lenny Kravitz...the list went on. It seems like not a week went by that we didn't get an inexplicable celebrity appearance. I'm not a total killjoy when it comes to this issue--even the awesome 60 Minutes profiles entertainers every now and then. But did we really need, say, Jimmy Buffett opining on the oil spill? Sean Penn talking Haiti is legitimate. Trace Adkins pontificating about politics? Not so much. If 360 wants to give us a (rare) fun interview, I can deal with that. Let's just leave the real news talk to the experts, mmkay?

KEEPING THEM HONEST

When it came time to succinctly write the mission of this blog (up top, people), there's a possibility I may have been snarking on our 360 friends. Post-Katrina, the show's motto became "Keeping Them Honest." While I cannot deny that honesty-keeping has occurred since that time, for the most it was an exercise in half-assness--usually saying the words more than actually doing the deed. That changed in 2010.

This show is not playing around anymore, yo! The 360 kids will find your untruths and they will hunt you down and smother you with facts! And I could not be more delighted. Do you know how many times I have begged on this blog to get just one friggin' fact-check? Now they are EVERYWHERE. Particularly inducing giddiness are the new rampant Daily Show-style Montages of Accountability. Seriously, dudes, color me impressed with the whole segment.

HAITI COVERAGE

Though the earthquake was a horrific event, the subsequent reporting brought a passion to the broadcast that frankly I don't think we had seen for quite some time. Team 360 not only gave us excellent coverage initially, they continued to follow up, returning to the country themselves, as well as keeping us up-to-date on developments via Sean Penn. I personally may wish that the story of Haiti occupied more broadcast minutes, but their efforts on this story should be commended. Special kudos to Anderson Cooper, Charlie Moore, Neil Hallsworth, Gary Tuchman, Sanjay Gupta, Danielle Dellorto, Ivan Watson, Karl Penhaul, and Vladimir Duthiers.

SENSATIONALISM

This being cable news, I guess ridiculousness is a bit of a given. Let's talk about Tiger Woods! Killer whale! Dating Game Killer! Dun dun dun! Yeah, these kind of stories will be with us forever (annoyingly eating up airtime). But it doesn't mean I can't put them on my listicle!

MIND-NUMBING POLITICAL PANELS

Hey, you know what would be fun? Let's listen to the arguing of people who make their careers being on the teevee! Wait, did I say fun? What I meant is...that is something I really do not want to see, like, ever. Yet almost every night it seems...there we are. Particularly troubling is the unchecked speculation and flat out wrong information that these panels inject into our discourse, but more on that below. Anderson is fond of saying that no one wants to listen to the opinions of a blow-dried anchor. Guess what! Blow-dried pundit? Same feeling of do not want. Stick to reporting, 360.

FALSE EQUIVALENCY

With the current ideological positioning of cable news' primetime hours, we hear a lot of talk about partisan anchors. Mentioned less frequently is the very real problem of nonpartisan journalists treating 'balance' and 'objectivity' as one in the same. They are not. A true objective reporter gathers viewpoints from all sides of an issue, and then to the best of their ability, determines what side is most supported by fact. They do not simply present two diametrically opposed perspectives and then "let the viewers decide," as 360 is wont to do. Rarely are all sides equal, and presenting them as so in of itself creates bias, and quite frankly, poor journalism.

To be fair to the 360 kids, they seem to have engaged in false equivalency less often in 2010 (though we did just have a big slip-up involving death panels), instead focusing on more factual reporting (yay!). Even Anderson Cooper--unfortunately a huge perpetrator of the disturbing practice--recently signaled he understands that balancing two unequal sides can have grave ramifications. Here's hoping 2011 brings more context.

ANDERSON COOPER'S INTERVIEWS

To be honest, I never thought all that much of our anchor's interviewing skills (of the accountability variety). Sure, he had wowed me a few times, but I could count those instances on my hands. Worse still, there was a long period in 2008 when he simply wasn't interviewing any news-makers at all. The bookings began to improve in 2009. Then came 2010. Can I just say, holy crap? Because the Silver Fox was on fire! Slaying birthers, helping get bullies fired, calling out congresscritters with questionable ethics.

Anderson Cooper sees your bullshit and he is having none of it! Though our anchor deserves a major pat on the back for sky-rocketing from 'mediocrity' to 'kick-ass' regarding his questioning skills (seriously man, good job), I suspect there have been some rock star staffers behind him providing irreplaceable research. A few of the Silver Fox's interviews have been nothing short of beautiful. Kudos all around.

ANDERSON COOPER'S LAUGHABLE STATEMENT

Though some of 360's reporting on the Sherrod fiasco was quite good, instances of excellence were marred by false equivalency and kowtowing to right-wing extremists. This culminated in our anchor making one of the most eye roll-worthy statements I've ever heard on the teevee that came from someone I respect.

During a bizarre apology for not challenging one of Sherrod's assertions, Anderson said the following: "I don't want anyone on my show to get away with saying things that cannot be supported by facts." Obviously this made my jaw drop because that very infraction occurs almost constantly during those panels of which I previously blogged so lovingly. In fairness, the 360 kids have on rare occasion done a fact-check on one of their pontificators, but for the most part, untruths continually go by without note.

BOOKINGS THAT HURT CREDIBILITY, AKA WHY IS DANA LOESCH ON MY TEEVEE SCREEN?

This listicle topic is almost a continuation of where we just left, and it is perhaps the one that has me most flummoxed. After watching this show seriously up their game when it comes to living up to their mission of keeping people honest, it is beyond disappointing to watch them stain that credibility by continually inviting on Andrew Breitbart blogger Dana Loesch. And I love how they neglect to mention his name when introducing her. I suppose that might make Anderson Cooper look like a bit of a hypocrite.

After all, our anchor didn't speak very highly of Breitbart's brand of "journalism" (which is also favored by Loesch) during the Sherrod debacle. Not to mention Loesch's Breitbart-like penchant for attacking people (my recent favorite is probably when she called Eric Boehlert a "Soros buttboy"--classy!), while our anchor makes calls for civility.

I understand why the show invites her on: she's young, conservative, and attractive. But she's also a bully, has a severe aversion to facts, and is not only a supporter and editor for the discredited Andrew Breitbart, she's also a promoter of the work of James O'Keefe, a man who once attempted to sexually humiliate a former CNNer. This is the guest 360 wants to lend their credibility? Surely there are better individuals in the supposedly vast Tea Party that could provide their perspective. If the show is fully informed of everything I have just posted, I can only assume this is just a game to them, and they do not respect their viewers as much as I would have hoped.

ELECTION COVERAGE

Compared to 2008, coverage of the 2010 midterms was a regular fact extravaganza. Much improvement. Unfortunately, the 360 kids became hypnotized by some shininess and spent way too much time covering certain races--races that weren't even close, while not even touching on others. Also, the Sarah Palin obsession remains ridiculous.

COVERAGE OF BULLYING/SUICIDES

There's not much to say here other than to commend 360 for being at the forefront of covering this horrible story.

THE BP OIL DISASTER

Though the dedication to this story should be applauded, at some point the 360 kids' coverage fell into a rut. Not only did we seem to hear more from political punditry (hello Ragin' Cajun!) than regular people, the show's reliance on Billy Nungesser ultimately resulted in slanted coverage. This is not to say there was no reporting--the packages were often quite good. It should also be noted that the show tried their darndest to accountability-keep, a surely frustrating endeavor, given how hard it was for them to book related guests. Plus what the heck happened to "Culprits of the Catastrophe"? Perhaps I missed some segments, but it seems like it just petered out pretty quickly. Finally, given how much effort the 360 kids put into the story initially, I would have expected more of a follow up.

GARY TUCHMAN AND SANJAY GUPTA

I know I already gave these two some love regarding Haiti coverage, but I think their awesomeness requires special kudos. Was there any story this year that Gary Tuchman didn't cover? Haiti, Chile, all over the United States--the man seemed to be everywhere, continually providing us with only the best on-the-ground reporting. Truly the hardest working correspondent around.

As for our Dr. Gupta, I'm beginning to suspect that he may in fact be Superman...or perhaps a robot. He's a journalist! He's a neurosurgeon! He's a triathlete! Seriously! Not only that, he's quickly become my favorite AC360 sub-anchor, as well as a phenomenal field correspondent. Here's hoping we see a lot of Sanjay and Gary in 2011.

THE 360 KIDS ON THE TWITTER

Sure, their taste in baseball teams may be questionable, and their obsession with Jersey Shore disturbing, but for the most part, the staffers on the Twitter add informative and interactive fun to the AC360 viewing experience. I considered being service-y and linking them individually for the purposes of this listicle, but then I remembered I'm really lazy. So instead, check out my not-quite-current AC360 Twitter list. Oh, also? Charlie Moore, I'm still waiting for you to join. I mean, what's a girl gotta do?!

Haiti One Year Later, Interview With Retracted Autism Study Author Andrew Wakefield, And Anderson Cooper Asks A Question About False Equivalency

2011-01-05T23:59:00.003-05:00

Hi everyone. Sorry I've been scarce since my New Year's Eve post. There's just been so much AC360 to digest! Our anchor has been playing the role of place-holder for the apparently DANGEROUS Piers Morgan. Double dose of Anderson Cooper? I'm not complaining. The lighter hour is a nice change of pace, though not exactly something I'd want to view every day.

Tonight, for example, could only be classified as a train wreck. Ted Nugent and Roseanne Barr? If someone took a picture of me when I learned that guest list I'm pretty sure it would look like I was sucking a lemon...and that was before they started screaming at each other. Did I mention that the measured, reasonable Cornell Belcher was ~~trapped~~ sitting between them the whole time? I almost organized a rescue mission. I suppose our CNN friends would argue it was good teevee. I'd argue it was a perfect example of what makes cable news so horrible to watch, and it showcased our anchor's weakness when it comes to moderating combative guests. I guess you can't win them all. We did, however, get a good interview with Sean Penn regarding Haiti, which is posted below:

Though Anderson brought us a bit of fail when it came to Nugent vs. Roseanne, he was on his total A game to report on the British Medical Journal's accusation that Andrew Wakefield's 1998 autism study was fraudulent. Wakefield Skyped into the show--apparently from his lair--to defend himself. Anderson: "Sir, I'm not here to let you pitch your book." Oh snap!

You know Sanjay had to get in on the action too. You go, Dr. Gupta:

Afterward, there was discussion with Seth Mnookin, author of "Panic Virus."

Frequenters of this here blog space know that perhaps my biggest pet peeve when it comes to news is the perpetration of false equivalency. Tonight something amazing happened: Anderson Cooper signaled that he understands my pain, well, so to speak. Unfortunately, CNN has a nasty (and puzzling) habit of not posting the entire video of their segments, so the good part got cut out of the discussion above. But we still have the transcript, so I block-quoted that bad boy out:

COOPER: Has the media played a role in perpetuating this? Because you see in a lot of TV shows, you know, on this subject, several sides represented. You have the people who believe the vaccines cause autism and the people who don't. And it seems to give equal credence, you know.

Or you have a famous person, you know, like Jenny McCarthy, and nothing against her personally, but you know, who is going to get a lot of attention. Has that made the problem worse? Has that given the -- this side more credence?

MNOOKIN: I think absolutely. And an example I use is there are people who believe the earth is flat. Most people obviously do not, but if you had one person who believed the earth is flat and one person who said, "No, it's actually round," and they were discussing the issue together, it would seem that the consensus was split 50/50.

So here you have a situation in which you have millions of doctors, public health officials, all coming down on one side, and then Andrew Wakefield and a very small number of people who are associated with him, a miniscule number of people, saying, "No, this is what's actually going on." But because we can't present millions of points of view or millions of people, it ends up sounding -- there's this false equivalency. It ends up sounding on the one hand, on the other hand, when there really is only one hand in this case.

COOPER: Do you agree with that, there is only one hand in this?

GUPTA: Yes, and I mean, the one thing I would say with the earth, flat earth, round thing, is we know the answer to that now.

One of the things that again has made this discussion so difficult is that, at the end of the discussion, no matter how much you disagree with the other person, if they come back to you and say, "So what does cause it?" We still don't have that great answer. It could be some environmental unknown with a genetic predisposition. Who knows? But that, in part, has made this difficult.

Also, you know, just as a parent, I can tell you, it's so deeply personal. And that also, despite what's happened today, I think many parents who are dealing with this right now are still believing this, despite all the evidence to the contrary.

Yes, yes, yes! I'm am not ashamed to say I audibly squeed a little when he brought this up, and then remained giddy for a good five minutes afterward. And you're damn right the media played a part in this. One of the reasons I disliked Larry King's show was that he continually gave credence to people like Jenny McCarthy. It's not responsible. So, Anderson Cooper, we now know you're aware of the problem of false equivalency, but do you understand that it can apply to any subject, especially politics? Global warming, death panels...etc. When it comes to factual support, both sides are not always equal; in fact they seldom are. Treating them as such in of itself results in bias. Some day all journalists will understand this...and Jay Rosen and I will smile.

Happy New Year!!!

2011-01-03T19:05:00.017-05:00

Hey kids! Yep, I'm late. But since this has become standard operating procedure for me, really, I'm right on time. It's the rest of you that are annoyingly early. See how that works?! Anyhoo, this is your post o' fun involving CNN's New Year's hijinks. Once again, we watched the ball drop with Kathy Griffin and Anderson Cooper--torturer and torturee.

Opinions of Kathy can run the gamut from love to downright hostility, but I find myself somewhere in the middle. Sometimes she cracks me up; sometimes she really doesn't. My view is that if you went into the broadcast with the belief that she was going to be annoying, that's probably how things turned out for you. But I went in ready for fun, and fun was had.

Ms. Griffin informed us that due to her past behavior (ahem!), the network had promised to literally yank her off the show if she stepped out of line. Suuure, CNN. Cute. So yeah, obviously that wasn't going to happen, but it allowed for some fun with a "No Swearing" sign. Because if there's anything that makes Kathy mind her P's and Q's, it's signage.

Are you ready for the bullet points?! Though their overuse in 2010 has perhaps worn down the specialness of these posts, I assure you I tried very hard to make them extra shiny and awesome. Time to jump into 2011:

What better way to kick things off than with our duo regaling us with their adventures in crashing Carson Daly's live show? Also a great reminder that Daly continues to exist!

This is the obligatory bullet point where I state that I could watch Anderson Cooper giggle all day. Extremely dorky, but he works it!

Ok, Kathy, I can (shamelessly) get behind the molesting and undressing of the Silver Fox, but the punching needs to go. No bruising of the anchor!

In years past, the broadcast featured New Orleans. For 2010, Nashville got the love due to their struggles with flooding. Brooke Baldwin rocking out the cowboy hat was a sight, though not quite the sight as the weird guy behind her. Anderson and Kathy giggling about him like high schoolers was mean yet hilarious: "Don't turn around!"

Is anyone else worried that the meshing of New Kids on the Block and the Backstreet Boys will result in some sort of apocalyptic event? ZOMG, is that why all those birds died?!

Throughout the night, Kathy asked Anderson Twitter questions (no people, I didn't tweet one). One question was who won the World Cup, which he never answered. This makes one of my friends very sad inside (shout out, bb!).

Was really excited to see Sushi back. I thought she was retiring. It's not New Year's unless a drag queen drops in a pump.

We also had Gary Tuchman back doing the four mile Fun Run in Central Park with his daughter Samantha. It's impossible to not love Gary. "I'm talking to a banana right now...I've never met this banana before." Bwah! And, "It's a dance party," complete with semi-boogying. Adorable.

I think I'm over being horrified about Anderson's glasses. They've grown on me, Silver Fox! Now please wear them.

One of the funniest moments to me was Jack Gray's little cameo at the hands of our anchor. Anderson should always just randomly man-handle his staffers into the shot.

Kathy: "You know, your staff, they really run rampant." Truth. (And I love it.)

Gloria Vanderbilt phone in! I love how it said "Anderson's Mom" on screen.

Another tweeter asked what was our anchor's favorite curse word. "I don't tolerate such talk," said the Silver Fox. Oh Anderson, you adorable liar you. Me thinks Mr. WASP has a secret potty mouth.

Isha Sesay is a great addition, but is she unaware of our anchor's aesthetic appeal? A crowd-goer excitedly relayed her picture-taking with the Silver Fox, and Isha was all, "ohhkay." Ha!

Well! I'd say our Jack Gray has really come out of his shell. It was only about two years ago when a friend and I ~~demanded~~ politely asked him to post a picture of himself on the 360 blog, and now...dude's gone a little slutty! Kidding. But I was definitely a bit shocked by that make out session with Kathy. I literally asked someone, "did that really just happen?" Oh, it did. Plus? This.

Not enough camera time on our duo when the ball dropped. What did we miss???

Twitter question: What does Anderson smell like? I reject Kathy's long answer. I have it on good authority that the Silver Fox smells like peppermint sticks and truth!

I feel out of breath just watching Gary running and talking. I don't know how he does it. Samantha was by his side and as cute as ever. A teenager now! How did that happen? (Gary's probably wondering the same thing-heh.) I feel like I'm watching this ~~child~~ young lady grow up one mile at a time. Also? Her shark hat was awesome.

Anderson: "How great is Gary Tuchman?" So great! Even Kathy couldn't bring herself to mock him: "By the way, you know, I can't bring myself to make fun of Gary Tuchman anymore. I used to love to make fun of him, but after I saw him with you in Haiti and the Gulf disaster, he gets a pass this year." And more gratuitous Gary love from Anderson: "Gary Tuchman is the greatest guy on the planet." As I said on Twitter, damn straight!

Anyone else get nervous when they drop Sushi? She's a trooper.

John Zarrella cracks me up. Every year, just chilling with the drag queens. And I think he loves it. Plus? Cher.

Did the Silver Fox dance for a second?!

This is what you look like when your famous mother becomes besties with the woman who molests you and you're disturbed by the whole situation:

This was about the end of the road for Kathy and Anderson, lest they again get heckled by the few stragglers left in Times Square. While I would have preferred to do my countdown with this duo, at least CNN threw the central time zoners a little love by staying live with Brooke Baldwin through our midnight. My Seacrest reprieve!

More Gary and Samantha! Post-race this time. No actual win for them (sad face), but according to Samantha, it was a moral victory. Those are the best kind!

All together now: Awww!

Gary was also kind enough to give the behind-the sceners a little love. There was Bob the cameraman (congrats on the marriage!), Deb the technician, and one of my favorite 360 kids, Joneil* the producer.

Our correspondent explains that, no, the crew did not run with him--instead they had the luxury of sitting on a truck. Now, Gary is too nice to say it, but I think the implication of slackerdom was clearly there. Brooke, by the way, just flat out says they were "cheating."

When it comes to the behind-the-sceners it wasn't all just truck-riding and making out with divas--some of the 360 kids brought a little class to the occasion.

I think that's about it. Twas fun. Thanks to everyone who participated on the Twitter.

Below is gratuitous hilarity. It was that kind of night.

*AC360 Review does not endorse that hat.

Blog Housekeeping, New Year's Eve

2010-12-30T23:59:00.005-05:00

Hello party people! So remember when I said I was crossing my fingers to get my post of AC360's best and worst moments of 2010 up by the end of the year? It seems I should have crossed my toes as well! I had my day all planned out, people. Sure, there were bumps in the road, but I was like an obstacle-slaying ninja. I came home this evening feeling accomplished and fully prepared to get my blog on, when my interwebs decided they would be having none of that. Oh, Eliza. Getting things done on time. Really? That's adorable.

Cut to me spending hours trying to figure out why won't you work?!! And you know what? I never did figure out why. They were not working, and then suddenly they were. It was like a miracle from the Baby Jesus. And who am I to question that? Thing is, I wasted all that time! And now I am tired. But I do still want to do the post. The 360 kids have had themselves quite the year. Though my listicles will undoubtedly contain a bit of Keyboard Smash (hello, Loesch!), there's actually a fair amount of praise to be heaped. And I like saying nice things. Really!

So! Since AC360 Review has never been the most conventional blog anyway, we're gonna do this thang backwards. Sometime this weekend (hopefully) you will find bullet points of awesomeness (and pictures of adorableness), of all the debauchery (HOPEFULLY!) that went down on New Year's Eve. Then sometime next week I'll hit you with the serious 2010 breakdown. Problem solved. And now I get to sleep tonight.

If you're not one of those hoity-toity people who have lives and actually, like, leave their homes on New Year's Eve, I encourage you to watch the ball drop with Anderson Cooper and Kathy Griffin. Whatever happens, it's sure to be interesting (and perhaps lawsuit-inducing!). Join me on the Twitter come showtime! Though I used to feel a little pathetic spending the night at home, I'm now fully confident that I have way more fun than mingling with party-goers I may not even like. Shut-ins unite! Happy New Year, everyone. Be safe.

Updated to add video hilarity that includes Rachel Maddow glasses, Valium, and Jack Gray in a compromising position:

Paul Waggoner Freed From Haiti Prison

2010-12-29T23:59:00.002-05:00

Hi everyone. I'm really hoping to have an end-of-the-year post up sometime early Friday. Fingers crossed! For tonight, I thought we'd go with a Haiti theme. The release of Paul Waggoner (AKA Little Paul) was what most interested me in Wednesday's broadcast. Thank God he's out of there. You can watch his interview with Randi Kaye below:

Also, I previously blogged about the independent Haiti reporting done by AC360 staffers Vladimir Duthiers and Hannah Yi (as well as NBCer Adam Desiderio) regarding Doug Perlitz, an American missionary who abused Haitian boys. At the time, I was only able to provide the web piece, but since then the video from the broadcast has been made available. So if you missed it the first go around, check out Vlad in all his reporter glory, and watch this important but disturbing story:

AC360 Apparently Forgets 'Death Panels' Have Been Debunked, Holds Idiotic Political Debate

2010-12-27T23:59:00.002-05:00

Hi everyone. For those of you who celebrated, I hope you had a great Christmas. I'm not quite ready to come out of my holiday slacking. There probably won't be any full regular posts this week since I have the 'best' and 'worst' listicles to keep me busy, but I did want to say a quick word about tonight's broadcast.

Conservatives are apparently freaking out because starting the first of January, the government will pay doctors who advise their Medicare patients on their options regarding end-of-life care. To normal people, no bit whoop--perhaps even a plus. To the Palin crowd? ZOMG, death panels! And here we are. Suddenly the so-called death panel debate has been 'reignited.' Except, um, can you really reignite a debate about something that's complete and utter BS?

According to 360, apparently you can. They actually started the segment out pretty well, just laying out the facts. But the train really went off the tracks when Randi Kaye (our anchor for the evening) finished her summation with the question "But what does it mean for your family's health?" and then proceeded to introduce...two political strategists. Um, what? Because that makes sense. If we were actually going to learn what the provision means for our family's health, one would assume the guests might be, you know, health care professionals.

Instead, we have the constantly employed political left/right parameters. Since everything in life is about politics, apparently! And by the way, a former McCain adviser? Shouldn't those people be, like, hiding in shame? I mean, I don't know what the hell has happened to that man, but I can't think of a bigger fall from grace that didn't involve some sort of corruption charges or tapping feet in a bathroom stall.

Anyway. As most of you know, I have had it up to here with false equivalency BS. Politifact--a very respected non-partisan site--named 'death panels' their biggest lie of 2009. So 360, what does it take?! There are no death panels. Next! What more do you possibly need before you can just say that? Keeping them honest? Sorry kids, not this time.

HAPPY FESTIVUS!!!

2010-12-23T03:43:00.002-05:00

Hello dear readers! It's that time of year again--a time for excessive eating, (forced) family togetherness, and most importantly, lots of chillaxing. The bullet points are well on their way to getting their party on, so I'm afraid there will be no more regular posts for a while. I'm already brainstorming my picks for the best and worst of AC360 in 2010. Make sure you check back next week! If you just can't live without me until then, hit me up on the Twitter. I wish everyone a safe and happy break. As always, Merry Christmas, Happy (belated) Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa, and greetings to all those hanging at Osama's homo-abortion-pot-and-commie-jizzporium.

Senator Tom Coburn Threatens To Block Health Care Bill For 9/11 Responders

2010-12-21T23:59:00.002-05:00

Hi everyone. Sanjay Gupta is again holding down the anchor chair for Anderson Cooper. Tonight was a pretty meh show, so I'm just going to hit on a few things. Me thinks a lot of the 360 kids are already on their holiday break.

Tom Coburn must have no shame. There's not much more to say. For him to claim there was no committee debate when he's on the damn committee and didn't show up to the hearings...I can't even. He wants to run out the clock in the Senate. Unfortunately, that also means running out the clock on people's lives. I've been trying to be nicer lately, but you know what? Tom Coburn, you're a douchebag.

On a happier note, Anthony Weiner is one awesome mofo. I can't even tell you how many times I have watched that clip. The way he slams down the mic and walks away is just beautiful.

For discussion we were joined by Dana Loesch by phone and Steve Kornacki. Once again, 360 puts a stain on their credibility by failing to hold their guests accountable. Said Dana regarding Coburn:

Well, and I think what Coburn's doing is, he's being legitimate in his hesitancy, believe there is not a single person to whom I have spoken, nor I myself, concerning perspective on this, believe that that the people who committed heroic acts on 9/11 and that were there, our first-responders, no one in their right mind believes that they shouldn't have help with dealing with what was the worst terrorist attack, worst at on our country's soil.

(crosstalk)

But the thing is, is that, even though it's a great cause, the right cause, that doesn't mean -- and I think that the people who are going to be helped from this, they deserve a little bit more than having a piece of slipshod legislation be thrown in. And one of the biggest concerns that I know Coburn has, as well as a lot of other Republicans, is that this remains unfunded. They have no idea how they're going to fund this.

And my suggestion is let's find something to cut immediately, so that, A, we can make sure these people get the help they deserve, and, B, let's make sure that the people who have been injured and are dealing with bad health issues and are dealing with bills, make sure that they can get funded, and that what they're receiving doesn't get looted by people who are committing fraud.

And we saw such a precedent already go down this month with the passing of the second Pigford settlement, because there's a ton of fraud in that. So, I think those concerns are legitimate. And no one's arguing that this shouldn't be done. They're just saying, you know what? Let's make sure that these people get the help that they need...

Wow. First of all, totally not surprised that she's backing Coburn on this. But slipshod legislation? No idea how to fund the bill? Are you kidding me? The entire first segment of the program was about keeping Coburn honest and Sanjay just lets her make these statements with no push back? He even talked about funding in that prior segment. Yeah, Coburn doesn't like how they plan to fund the bill, but that's very different than implying there is no funding plan. The fact of the matter is that there is a plan to fully fund the bill. One wonders if Dana had these same concerns about tax cuts for the wealthy.

And WTF with bringing up the Pigford settlements? Didn't 360 already cover that and determine there wasn't much fraud? I really hope they follow up on this statement. Consistently inviting on a guest who has a less than stellar reputation when it comes to the truth, and then failing to hold said guest accountable is not good journalism. Actually, it's rather pathetic. 360, you've really upped your game this year when it comes to fact-checking. Please don't let that all be undone by letting your guests spout bullshit.

If you thought Loesch was bad, next we were played a clip of Philip Greaves, author of that pedophile guide. Gross.

Then something interesting happened. Sanjay said this: "His book is no longer available online on Amazon, in part, I will tell you, because 360 was out front on this story, trying to hold Amazon accountable for selling it and others similar material." Next thing I know, we're being segued into a replay of the Andrew Shirvell interview. WTF? Last night I joked about the 360 kids finding a way to give us some Silver Fox face time, but this is kind of ridiculous.

The theme here, obviously, (besides killing time) is that 360 kept people honest and got results! And I'm fully on board with giving out the cookies, but the whole keeping them honest thing is kinda their job, so this self pat on the back feels a bit tacky. Besides, that's my job (but only when they're good!).

Tom Foreman previewed his look back on 2010. We heard from Anderson Cooper, Jack Gray, and a bunch of other people I don't particularly care about. But I'll still probably watch. Shame-faced.

Julian Assange got the RidicuList treatment, which I basically agree with, but man, what a hot mess of random references, huh? Sometimes I wonder where the hell this segment is going. Always an interesting ride though.

The show wasn't too great. Nice opening and then it was all downhill from there. The Loesch issue really does make me think less of them. Are you listening, Charlie Moore? Are you listening, Ken Jautz? Yeah, probably not, but with the sinking ratings they need every viewer they can get.

Author Of Pedophile Guide Arrested, Pundits Are Dumb, Michael Vick Gets Support From The Humane Society, & Food Safety

2010-12-20T23:59:00.001-05:00

Hi everyone. Perhaps Anderson Cooper had some Christmas shopping to finish up, because tonight we were treated to anchoring from CNN's own Dr. McDreamy, Sanjay Gupta. Yeah, I've started watching Grey's Anatomy again. It's a sickness! Anyhoo, the bullet points of awesomeness await:

We begin with the news that the creepy author of the sick pedophile guide has been arrested. The twist? He's in Colorado; it was the state of Florida who made the arrest. But we'll get to that in a minute. First we're given a sum up of the 360 kid's prior coverage. This gives us some Silver Fox face time and brings everyone up to speed. Two birds, one stone.

Okay, I think we all agree that the pedophile book is gross and shocking and just all around full of fail. But did Florida really have the right to arrest this creep? It's not clear that he violated federal law. Free speech doesn't just pertain to speech we like. To ponder this very subject, we were joined by Jeffrey Toobin and Grady Judd, sheriff from Polk County, Florida.

A good discussion. For some random lulz, check out Toobin's reaction when the sheriff says, "You know, our lawyer friend [referring to Jeffrey] is still calling it kiddie porn. That is offensive to all the children that are victims of child sex in this country." It was actually a pretty unfair thing for him to say. At no point did Toobin even hint that he thought child porn was anything less than an extremely serious crime.

I almost enjoyed tonight's political segment, which might be a first for me. I think it was because the 360 kids were basically like, hey, let's gawk at the stupidity of the beltway chattering class! Loved the "one-term president" montage. Anyone who would make that claim when the Commander in Chief still has two years to go is just an effing moron, I'm sorry.

Sanjay: "A pair of Democratic pollsters writing -- quote -- 'To be great, Obama should not seek reelection in 2012.'" This kind of thing really needs to be stated with more context. Like, first of all, names.

Sanjay: "Well, if you're wondering how Washington can be so fickle, well, so are we. We also couldn't help but wonder if Mr. Obama is finally getting some credit, in some corners, at least, for all the heavy lifting he's been doing since day one. You can agree or disagree with the policies. The fact is, though, from getting Detroit in and out of bankruptcy to passing 'don't ask, don't tell' he's now put together a pretty long record of keeping campaign promises." Wow. All true, but I never expected to hear it said.

For discussion, we had Paul Begala and Erick Erickson. Erick's take of the new Obama Comeback Kid meme: "This news story is exactly what's wrong with Washington and the way politics is covered. Events change things. I could have told you the day after the election that, within a month or two, we would start hearing positive stories about the president's agenda. Here's another news flash, some time in 2012, we're going to hear ominous stories about infighting within the Obama administration and the campaign..." Though it pains me to agree with Erick (WHAT IS HAPPENING?), he's spot on. I've said it once and I know I'll say it again, the majority of these media narratives are idiotic and a waste of time. Remember when Obama wasn't angry enough about the BP oil spill? Yeah.

I wish the 360 kids would take this no BS approach more often.

Moving on to the subject of Michael Vick maybe again having a dog someday. This is kinda strange. We were just snarking over this last week in the RidicuList and now we're going to be all serious about it? Okay. Hope they don't get in a habit of that. We were joined by Wayne Pacelle of the Humane Society, who gives Vick more support than you might guess. Interesting.

Good segment on the food safety bill. I love that they (semi) called out Glenn Beck on his, well, batshittery. Also loved the fact-check on Senator Coburn, and I was particularly tickled that Sanjay spoke directly to him, addressing him as 'Dr. Coburn.' You could practically hear him thinking, I can't believe this man is a doctor. The accountability-keeping was followed up with discussion from Erick (oh why not) and Top Chef's Tom Colicchio.

Senator Joe Manchin made tonight's RidicuList. His crime? Skipping out on important Senate votes (DADT, Dream Act) to attend a "holiday gathering." Meanwhile, his cancer-striken colleague, Ron Wyden, showed up to work. Nice. Look Congresscritters, if you don't want the job, we can find someone who does.

Finally tonight, a huge congrats to AC360 staffers Vladimir Duthiers and Hannah Yi, as well as NBCer Adam Desiderio for their story that ran in the show's second hour. A few months ago the trio went to Haiti to do some independent reporting and tonight we saw some of the fruits of their labor. The package focused on Douglas Perlitz, an American who started a charity in 1997 to care for homeless Haitian boys, and who has recently admitted to sexually abusing some of those same children. You can read more here, and I'll try to post the video if CNN ever puts it up.

The show wasn't bad. A little bland. I'm not sure the pedophile thing deserved top story treatment.

Why Won't Republicans Support The Heroic 9/11 First Responders?

2010-12-17T23:59:00.004-05:00

This is just going to be a short post to highlight some video. As we all know, the Republicans have been childishly filibustering legislation in order to ensure that the rich get their tax cuts. One of their victims included the James Zadroga bill, which would have provided health care for ailing 9/11 first responders. Yes, the very same party that has spent years exploiting the tragedy is now turning their back when heroes of that day actually need them. Simply immoral.

To their credit, the House has already (finally) passed the bill (though mostly on party lines). Now that Obama and the Democrats have conceded the tax cuts issue, and the nation's wealthy has been promised their millions, one would assume that the Senate would be more than happy to vote again for the responders. Well, one would assume wrong. Apparently, the Republicans' new excuse is the cost of the bill and fear of fraud. This is consistent with the times they filibustered the Iraq supplemental spending bills due to those same fears. Oh, wait.

Championing the responders' cause more than perhaps anyone in the media has been Jon Stewart, who has been expressing righteous anger over this for months. Thursday night he used his last program before holiday break to go at the issue full-bore, proving once again he is more than just a comedian. Unsurprisingly, the Zadroga bill was then featured prominently on many of Friday's newscasts, including AC360 (though they failed--wrongly, in my opinion--to mention Jon's coverage).

Below is 360's first block, which is entirely dedicated to the responders. They did a very nice job summing up the situation, as well as calling out the Republicans on their hypocrisy. I particularly enjoyed that they played a good portion of Anthony Weiner's impassioned speech he gave when the bill was initially defeated in the House. "The gentleman will sit! The gentlemen is correct in sitting!" An interview with Weiner from today is also included.

The Daily Show's first segment from last night. Jon at his finest.

In an uncharacteristic move, the show's second segment featured a somber Jon interviewing four actual ailing 9/11 responders.

A bonus related Daily Show clip that aired back in August. Some more Anthony Weiner awesomeness.

AC360 also covered the story of Paul Waggoner (aka Little Paul), an American aid worker jailed in Haiti after being accused of kidnapping a boy and turning him into a zombie. A truly bizarre and scary situation.

Finally, the RidicuList took on Dr. Jennifer Morse, founder of the Ruth Institute, which is affiliated with the National Organization for Marriage. She wants to take back the rainbow. You know, from the gays who apparently stole it for their evil gay pride. What follows is a cornucopia of rainbow references and puns. These segments are amusing, but I do wish Anderson Cooper would at least slow down a bit. It's pretty obvious he doesn't write these, and when he rushes, it comes off as if someone literally just handed him the copy. Strangely, one of my favorites has been the one that featured Steven Seagal because our anchor really owned it with his deadpan snark.

The show was good. Happy holidays to those of you skipping town already. I plan on posting for at least the first part of next week.

Spending Bill Yanked, Birther Sentenced, Checking In On Afghanistan, And Playing Tribute To Larry King

2010-12-16T23:59:00.001-05:00

Hi everyone. Quite the historic night for CNN! Larry King will be missed. But we'll talk about that later. The bullet points first have other business to attend to, so pop on your solidarity suspenders and let's get this show on the road.

Hey, raise your hand if you hate Congress. It seems that these days our legislators aren't effective at anything...except sucking. See, they were supposed to get this spending bill passed (you know, to fund the government--important!), but Harry Reid had to yank it because some Republicans are going back on their word to vote for the thing because they're in a tizzy over earmarks. Sigh. Also? Senator Jim DeMint is kinda being a dick. I mean, I'm just sayin'.

Anderson Cooper: "We should point out that Senator DeMint was the star of tonight's game-playing, but there has been plenty of blame to go around on both sides of the aisle. What's amazing, though, is how many politicians on both sides of the aisle can stand up, that is when they're not playing games and speak out against -- wait for it -- all the game-playing." Balance! But the latter part of this statement was backed up with a montage showing legislators from "both sides of the aisle" talking about game playing. Good job. In this case they proved their balance-y statement. That's all I'm ever asking for.

For discussion, we were joined by Erick Erickson, Gloria Borger, and Steve Kornacki of Salon.com. Despite my rather strong dislike of Erick, this panel wasn't too bad. Well, it didn't make me want to jab something sharp in my eye, anyway. Improvement!

Our anchor: "This is probably a naive question, but, I mean, when it comes down to it, what's wrong with letting a bill come up for a vote?" Oh, honey...

Actually, there's nothing wrong with that happening. That would be great! But unfortunately, the Silver Fox is using the reasoning of a moral sane person, and, well, we're talking about the senate. Remember when you learned about Congress in your ninth grade civics class and you thought it was this noble institution? If you're a political junkie, eventually you learn how things really work...and you cry sad tears.

Anderson responding to Gloria's statement that the White House wants to get it all: "Yes. Well, I want a pony for Christmas. I don't think I'm going to get it. So, we will see." I don't know. I think you have a better shot at that than the rest of us.

Tonight we learned that Lieutenant Colonel Terrence Lakin--a birther previously humiliated by our anchor--was sentenced to six months in military prison for defying orders. Basically his distinguished career is now over, his pension gone. All because of a batshit conspiracy theory. Since feeling the heat, Lakin has done a 180, expressing his regrets regarding the entire thing.

This whole story is just sad. It's pretty obvious he was used by the birther movement, but it's hard to feel sorry for him. As Anderson said to his lawyer during that weird and contentious interview, "the guy's an adult."

We were joined by Jeffrey Toobin and JAG officer Thomas Kenniff for the legal lowdown.

Toobin: "Well, you know, you asked at the beginning, was he a pawn or he did get what he deserved? I think the answer is yes to both of them. I mean, he was a pawn. But I'm sorry. You know, this is not some 18- year-old private who had his head turned by some fancy lawyer. This is a doctor, 18 years in the military. He has to know that, in the military, you have to follow orders." Bingo.

We were then shown a clip of Mike Jones, the security officer who took down school board shooter Clay Duke. He sounds like a pretty humble and awesome guy. As for the 360 kids, they get points for foregoing airing the video during the teases as they had been doing the past couple days, but they still ran it too much as Mike was talking.

The "shot" tonight was a video that contained the Pope, and half-naked men eagerly demonstrating their flexibility. I gotta say, the watchful eye of His Holiness is a total buzzkill when you're trying to enjoy some good old fashioned softcore porn.

Afghanistan coverage! Is it my birthday? A new strategic review says things are not so bright and sunny in the country, and really, we didn't need a report to tell us that. To keep Obama honest, the 360 kids hit us with a montage that shows the Commander in Chief continuously talking about the war's progress. That was very finely edited, so I guess we'll just have to trust that he was really talking about Afghanistan in every one of those clips. Because seriously, in one clip he simply said, "I would add that." Um, okay. This isn't exactly a criticism, but more like a word of caution: don't fall into the trap of making the clips fit the agenda, 360. It might someday get you into trouble. Still love those montages though!

Great discussion with Peter Bergen and Sebastian Junger. I want to see "Restrepo."

Michael Vick earned himself a spot on the RidicuList tonight after expressing his desire to once again be a dog owner. Um, what? Yeah, that's not happening. The 360 kids suggested that he maybe start out with a goldfish or a Pepperidge Farm goldfish cracker. ("Friends" fan on staff? "That's not a fish. That's a goldfish cracker." Oh, Chandler.) They then introduced us to a German toy called the Cackle Dackle, and hilarity ensued. It's a toy dog that, well, does his business. "You see that? See that?" asked Anderson. The look on his face was priceless. Yes, we saw. And you are 12. Hilarious.

Tonight an icon left his chair. I've had my issues with Larry King (softball questions, occasional shocking tactlessness, promotion of unsavory figures, etc.), but you cannot deny that the man has had an amazing career. It seems that 360 had plans to go to Larry live at the party he was attending, though that apparently didn't work out. Instead they played this look back:

His last broadcast, like the man himself, contained a lot of awkwardness, but was ultimately pretty charming. Loved BriWi, Katie Couric's poem, and Cannon's impression. Also, our anchor succeeded in expertly sucking the snark right out of me. God damn, Silver Fox. God damn. Below is Anderson's very touching thank you to Larry, including words from his own father:

Still no Gary Tuchman in Haiti. Sad face.

The show was pretty good. Honesty-keeping. Variety. Some humor. No Loesch. Ahem. Yes, I'm fairly pleased.

House Votes To Repeal DADT, Congressional Whining, Jim DeMint Stalls Changing Death On High Seas Act, Exploiting The Shooting Video, & Obesity Surgery

2010-12-15T23:59:00.002-05:00

Hi everyone. I'm short on time tonight, so this will be an abbreviated version. On we go!

Yay for the House passing the 'don't ask, don't tell' repeal. This may actually happen.

Harry Reid, why do you hate Christmas? Making those poor Congresscritters work next week? Such a Scrooge! I'm playing my tiny little violin for them right now.

Um, yeah. This is their job. Most Americans work a hell of a lot harder than they do, so the whiners need to suck it up. I love that Anderson Cooper basically said the same thing, except, you know, politer.

I'd like to remind everyone that five years ago Congress found the time during their Easter recess to vote on the private life of one woman. Just saying.

Oh 360, you're bumping up against false equivalency again. After they played a clip of Harry Reid noting the Republicans had filibustered 87 times, our anchor had this to say: "But also for the record, Democrats joined some of those filibusters. And as recently as last week, with the clock ticking down toward the holidays, independent Senator Bernie Sanders took up nine hours of Senate time speaking against the tax deal." Yes, he did, but uh, there was nothing scheduled. He wasn't holding anything up. Are the 360 kids being factually accurate? Yep. Are they perhaps creating a false impression? What do you think?

Anderson spoke with Joe Lieberman about DADT. His sudden reasonableness is really starting to freak me out.

Lieberman: "I think that the overall movement to end discrimination against our fellow Americans, based on their sexual orientation, is the front lines today of the civil rights movement." I approve of this message and wish to subscribe to his newsletter. (It's just an Internet saying, Lieberman. Please don't actually send me your newsletter. It's bad enough I get emails from Paul Begala with the subject line "My Hair." *shudders*)

Oh Louie Gohmert, you're still all crazy, aren't you? Never change.

We had a segment with Paul Begala and Dana Loesch. All I have to say is that it surely made the baby Jesus cry.

Good follow up on the Death on the High Seas Act. Really telling that Senator Jim DeMint would support a change of the act 10 years ago, but not now.

Anderson spoke with Keith Jones, father of Gordon Jones who died on the Deepwater Horizon. I'd post the video for you, but they don't have it up.

It was very sad to hear Keith say he's dreading Christmas. I remember my first one after my dad died. Never easy, as Anderson noted.

Transitioning now to a Tom Foreman piece on the Florida school board shooting. We learn more about Clay Duke, and Ginger Littleton explains her actions. Once again, 360 continuously airs the shooting. It's getting kinda disgusting.

Good job keeping Allergen honest regarding lap-band surgery for obesity, but Dr. Phil? Really? You think Sanjay Gupta was wondering WTF he was doing in a split screen with that guy? Or maybe we were supposed to be playing a game of 'which one doesn't belong.' One is a respected neurosurgeon and journalist; the other one once made us all feel sorry for Britney Spears.

Tonight's RidicuList contestant was a Facebook thief with massive cojones. Taking a picture of yourself wearing stuff you stole and posting said picture to your victim's page? Wow. Also, maybe it's just me, but I'm sensing that our anchor is not a Facebook fan. I think I'm with him on that one. Now it wants me to get a new profile or whatever. No! And stop sending me requests for things I don't understand! *deep breath* Okay. I'm better now.

I'm pretty annoyed that the only Gary Tuchman Haiti coverage we've gotten so far this week has been Palin-related. Below is a Backstory video I found of him doing his rollerblading thing (yes, he rollerblades!):

Save a certain guest, actually two certain guests, tonight wasn't bad. I like all the mini fact checks everywhere. Oh 360, you're becoming so facty. Just, uh, maybe work on the booking a little.

Anderson Cooper Will Not Stop Until He Slays Every Birther

2010-12-14T23:59:00.003-05:00

Hi everyone. I don't really have much to say up top here, so let's just do this thing:

The birthers are back! Well, so says Anderson Cooper. Personally, I didn't think they had ever left. Remember Army Lieutenant Colonel Terrence Lakin? The guy who just sat there while our anchor smacked down his interrupting lawyer? That dude goes on trial today, hence this segment. Also, apparently 11 odd House Republicans are backing a bill that requires presidential candidates to submit an original birth certificate. Le sigh.

Nice clippage of Bill Posey, Ted Poe, Randy Neugebauer and John Campbell. Also loved the quiet notation of Dan Burton and Louie Gohmert's hypocrisy.

The Silver Fox has built quite the reputation as a birther demolisher (one more take-down on his punch-card and he gets a free Slurpee!), and thus, it now appears these people are a bit leery of coming on the show. What to do? I know, send Joe Johns! As you might imagine, Joe didn't get anywhere either, but I suppose it was amusing watching him try. Maybe?

Anyhoo, since they don't have a fresh birther for our anchor to pummel, they play the video of the lieutenant and his lawyer. Normally I would deem that move suspect, but, well, that interview is just so damn cathartic. Though it may not be all that news-worthy at this point, I could watch Anderson take down birthers all day.

The video is actually more relevant than I just painted it since the guy is back in the news. Still. You know the 360 kids are wishing their boss could take on some fresh crazy.

For discussion of Lakin's case, we were joined by Jeffrey Toobin and criminal defense attorney and former military judge advocate general officer Thomas Kenniff.

Toobin: "Just because a bunch of crazy people raise an issue, that doesn't mean the Supreme Court has to address it."

More Toobin: "You know, this is not a fight between Democrats and Republicans. This is a fight between the sane and the insane." Amen to that.

Anderson: "I wouldn't go so far as saying insane, but, I mean, it is interesting that people who seem rational have latched on to this issue in a way that defies rational explanation." Well, you should go as far! Anderson Cooper, sometimes you are too polite for your own good. Shall we compromise and call them 'fact-averse'?

Toobin: "Insane sounds right no me, but you're a nicer guy than I am, I guess" More diplomatic anyway.

In regards to the overall segment, it's gotten to the point that I'm torn on whether they should cover these people anymore. I love the smack-downs, but what are they accomplishing? It's like playing whack-a-mole; they're just going to keep popping back up. Birthers will exist as long as Barack Obama is in the White House. It's as simple as that. Should the 360 kids keep spending their time on them? I don't know.

Moving on now to extremely shocking video of a shooting that occurred at a school board meeting in Florida. This was actually teased at the top of the show, and I gotta say that even though Anderson warned it was graphic, they played the clip too fast for anyone to really heed the warning. Just the fact that they teased it left a bad taste in my mouth. Look, there's a shooting coming up! I guess this is the gross side of TV news.

Tom Foreman walked us through the video, which included shooter Clay Duke spray painting a 'V' on the wall, school board member Ginger Littleton attempting to knock the gun out of Duke's hand, William Husfelt (superintendent of Bay County Schools) calmly trying to reason with the shooter, shots fired, and Duke eventually going down at the hand of security officer Mike Jones. The entire thing is simply amazing. We learn that Duke eventually shot himself in the head, but no one else was hit.

Anderson then spoke with Husfelt in what turned out to be a fairly long interview. I thought the segment with Tom was a little much; this segment takes it over the line. Don't get me wrong, hearing the superintendent speak was compelling, but throughout the interview they played the shooting over and over. It reminded me a bit of the Cho pictures from Virginia Tech, though obviously this outcome was much, much better. There was a relatively happy ending here, but it was still a shooting, and Duke presumably has family. I wish they would have used the video more sparingly.

For the "shot" tonight, we have Conan O'Brien having a little fun at our anchor's expense. Said Coco in a clip of his monologue: "Anderson Cooper announced that the name of his new talk show is 'Anderson.' I think I speak for everyone here on the staff of 'Conan' when I say, 'God, what an ego on that guy.' You'd think people around him would tell him how bad that looks." But Conan, "Hanging with Mr. Cooper" had already been taken! Personally, I think our anchor should go all in: "Silver Fox." You know you'd watch!

Now onto earmark talk. Erm, I mean congressionally-directed spending. That's what the kids are calling it these days! Honestly? I just can't get my Angry Face on over this. I fully support the 360 kids pointing out the hypocrisy, but when it comes to the issue of earmarks themselves, they're not a big chunk of the budget, and the money will be spent anyway. For some reason it's become this easy thing for politicians to rail against in order to show their fiscal responsibility cred.

For discussion, we had Paul Begala and Erick Erickson.

Erick responding to Paul's assertion that earmarks are a small portion of the budget: "...when you look at how earmarks are used more often than not in Congress, yes, they themselves are a small portion of the budget but they're attached to larger pieces of legislation that aren't quite as popular and they get those unpopular pieces of legislation passed." Good point, I suppose. See how fair I am!

Paul: "If there were no earmarks, or there were no congressionally- directed spending, all you would do is, you wouldn't cut the spending. What you would do is empower some bureaucrat at the Department of Transportation to decide where that road or bridge should be. Often that bureaucrat might be wiser but often she might not be. Maybe the congressman knows better in his own district where the highway bypass ought to be." Exactly.

I'm afraid the 360 kids and I parted ways on the RidicuList tonight. They took on the ladies of "The View" for mocking John Boehner's tendency to end up in tears at the mention of, well, pretty much anything. Joy Behar has dubbed him "Weeper of the House," which I'm sorry, is funny.

Anderson Cooper is not amused. "But aren't people always saying they want politicians to be more real?" he asks. Actually, I just want them to pass legislation relevant to my life. "And aren't men always being told now that we're supposed to be more sensitive, more vulnerable, willing to show emotions?" Yes. We like that. But Boehner is doing it wrong. Look Silver Fox, there is a line, okay? I fully support a guy having a good cry every now and then. Every two minutes he's on camera? Not so much. And actually, this isn't even a gender thing. I'd feel the same way if it were a woman.

Also, this quote from Joy really brings home why Boehner's crying specifically is annoying: "He cries only when he talks about how sad his life was. he had to sweep floors. He was a janitor, and he pursued the American dream. And yet he has very little empathy for people who are in that position now."

Anderson: "I'm one of the most uptight people around, believe me, but I've been known to shed a tear from time to time. Sure, I, you know, try to keep it limited to a darkened theater while watching 'Bambi.'" Well c'mon, anybody who doesn't cry when Bambi's mom gets shot must be dead inside. Don't even get me started on Dumbo's "Baby Mine" scene.

Anyway, about the being uptight but known to shed a tear, yeah, we know. And though I'm assuming our anchor did not actually write this segment, one wonders if his not-completely-deserved emo-anchor label had anything to do with his feelings on this. But Anderson's "time to time" tear-shedding (which despite the proclamations of some write-ups, have never really been on camera) is quite different than Boehner's all the time.

So, to sum up, men, embrace your tears, but let's not overdo it, mmkay? And to Boehner, hey, at least they weren't talking about your tan, right?

Check out Rachel Maddow's take on the Boehner tears.

The show was okay. I'm torn on the birther issue and thought the shooting coverage went too far.

Richard Holbrooke Dies, Keeping Obama & McCain Honest On Tax Cuts, And Haiti Coverage That Is Unfortunately Focused On Sarah Palin

2010-12-13T23:52:00.008-05:00

Hi everyone! I'm baaaack. I know you all missed me oh so very much, especially the 360 kids. I'm assuming their lives are very empty without random criticism from people on the interwebs. Anyhoo, the news cycle keeps on spinning. Time to jump back into the bullet points, already pre-inspected for adequate levels of awesomeness:

We begin with the sad death of Richard Holbrooke, US special representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan. He fell ill on Friday and was diagnosed with a tear of his aorta, which was subsequently repaired surgically. Unfortunately, it was not enough to save him. When I first heard the news on Friday I feared this might be the outcome. Aortic dissections are serious, serious business.

Paul Begala, David Gergen, and Jill Dougherty joined us to talk about the diplomat's career, including the peace agreement he brokered among warring factions in Bosnia. Apparently he was one tough dude.

Reportedly, Holbrooke's last words were to his Pakistani surgeon: "You've got to stop this war in Afghanistan." Wow.

We were also joined by Sanjay Gupta for the medical aspect. I think it's actually been a while since he's played this role for us. I remember when he used to pop up all the time to explain every little irrelevant medical thing under the sun. I actually didn't need him for this one because I know way more about this subject than I would like. But the good doctor hits on the basics of aortic tears. They're pretty rare (often occurring due to genetic predisposition), but massively scary. You might remember that John Ritter died from the same condition. The only thing I'd mention that Sanjay didn't is that an aortic tear can actually begin in the abdomen, so stomach pain can be an indicator. Thus endeth Eliza's medical lesson for the day.

Moving on now to the tax deal. Your blogger is not at all happy. I understand why Obama is doing what he's doing, but do we really think the cuts for the wealthy are going to be allowed to expire two years from now? It will always be something. Also? The Republicans aren't doing much to convince me they're not evil.

The 360 kids are getting adorable with their montages, aren't they? We've got some montaging fools on our hands! First we've got clips of Campaign Obama repeatedly pledging to do away with the tax cuts for the richest Americans. That alone is excellent, but then hilarity ensues because McCain decided to go on Fox News and call out Obama for flip flipping. Yes, this was an idea he had!

At this point all you can really do is shake your head. Oh, grandpa. We know what's coming: the 360 kids jumped in the Wayback Machine to bring us an awesome montage of McCain 2000 pretty much saying the exact same things as Campaign Obama. Oh, lollers. I miss McCain 2000. He was all sane and stuff.

For discussion, we've got Erick Erickson, James Carville, and Cornell Belcher. I sooo do not care what these people have to say. But here we are. Of note is Carville and Erickson getting into a really annoying argument about whether or not the tax cuts for the wealthy worked, and the economic realities under Bush and Clinton. And viewers would want to subject themselves to this crap, why? Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.

But an interesting thing happened! Just as I was yelling at my TV about how pointless these segments are, especially without fact-checking, we went back to Anderson Cooper live for...some fact-checking. Sweet. Our anchor tries to play it off like he "always" holds his guests accountable. Oh, Silver Fox. But that's alright, because I love the way you lie. I love the way you lie. Er, actually, no I don't. And actually, I believe he really believes he does fact-check all the time. He's just wrong. Effort very much appreciated in this case though. Cookies for everyone!

In case you're still on the edge of your seat, yeah, things were better under Clinton. Point Carville.

Joe Johns talked about Bernie Madoff's son committing suicide:

The "shot" has apparently permanently moved to the middle of the show. I don't deal with change well, but don't worry about me, people, I'll be okay. Tonight we get to hear Vladimir Putin sing "Blueberry Hill." Well, everyone thinks that's what he's singing anyway. Either way, this "shot" is a win because we get to hear Anderson say 'Poodin.' Yes, I am 12.

Tom Foreman took care of the Crime and Punishment portion of the evening:

Next we have Gary Tuchman reporting live from Haiti. Yay! But he's mostly focusing on Sarah Palin. Oh. Ohhh. Well, that's rather disappointing, isn't it? What's ironic (and TOTALLY UNSURPRISING) is that she's given exclusive access to Fox News, so it's not like Gary has a huge amount to say about her trip anyway. Dear CNN, maybe just let your reporter cover the story and ignore the publicity hound. Some of the Haitians are tired of the poverty porn.

Gary did talk briefly about the situation on the ground in the country (not good), and the violence spawned by election unrest. We're told to remember the name Sweet Mickey Martelly, a man whose supporters believe is a victim of voter fraud. I hope we hear more about this throughout the week. (They didn't have Gary's 360 report up yet, but below is a similar earlier spot.)

Tonight's RidicuList focused on Sal Alosi of the New York Jets. The coach totally tripped Nolan Carroll. Classy. But more bemusing to me than the entire segment, was this quote from our anchor: "Of course, the offending knee and the offender attached to it has since been identified as a fan of 'Hard Knocks' on HBO. I don't know if you watch the show. I do. I've been watching the Jets a lot lately but this is one hard knock I never expected to see, although frankly we have seen unsportsmanlike behavior from coaches before." You've been watching the Jets a lot lately? Um...okay. Because, you know, when I think football, I think Anderson Cooper. He's always professed such a love of sports!

That'll do it. The show was okay. Love the montages of accountability. Was pleasantly surprised by the post-punditry fact-check (can you maybe do that all the time?). I hope Gary will be bringing us some non Palin-related Haiti news the rest of the week.

Interlude Part II

2010-12-08T23:05:00.002-05:00

Hi everyone. Okay. Yeah. I've been neglecting my little corner of the interwebs. I didn't expect to be gone this long. My excuse? I was kinda sick, and then I was kinda busy, and then I was fully busy, and then I was sad and busy, and then I was back to kinda sick. And that's pretty much exactly what happened. Right now I'm just taking it easy, hoping to slay this kinda-sickness before it becomes full-blown sickness. I definitely do not want Santa bringing me pneumonia for Christmas.

Anyhoo, so that's the story of your absentee blogger. I've been trying to watch 360 every night, but haven't always been successful. I did, however, see Anderson Cooper demolish that birther. Good times. You can usually catch me on the Twitter around showtime (or whenever). I'll try to be back to blogging next week.

I shall leave you with Gary Tuchman's report on Warren Jeffs. Our intrepid correspondent has been on the polygamist's case for literally years, and I think I've probably watched it all. It's insane that people still call that guy their prophet. You can check out producer Ismael Estrada's blog post on the subject here.

Interlude

2010-11-22T23:59:00.001-05:00

Hi everyone. Your blogger is not feeling well, and therefore the bullet points are seriously doubting their ability to be awesome. With the Thanksgiving holiday approaching, I think I'm going to join a good portion of the masses (including, it seems, Anderson Cooper) and go on a bit of a break. That's not to say I definitely won't be reviewing Tuesday or Wednesday's show, but right now it's looking that way.

As for tonight, though I always mourn the absence of the Silver Fox, I have to admit, I love me some Sanjay Gupta. He's getting really good at the guest anchoring thing. I know he has his own show, but I don't think it's quite the same animal. Anyway, tonight's show wasn't bad--no keyboard smash this time around. If you want my thoughts on the next two days, you can probably catch me on the Twitter around show time. Chat me up! Also, in case I don't make a post beforehand, be sure to watch CNN Heroes Thanksgiving night. I have my issues with the network, but have always respected their efforts to air this heartwarming show.

The Real Deal On Earmarks And Researching How Dogs Think

2010-11-18T23:59:00.002-05:00

Hi everyone. John Roberts is holding down the anchor chair tonight. I guess Anderson Cooper had a thing. The bullet points, however, always remain.

Oh. My. God. After watching this show do bad--sometimes bordering on atrocious--earmark reporting for years, tonight's opening segment was...awesome! Context and percentages and perspective and accountability...oh 360, you make a blogger so happy. (Don't worry, the happiness totally goes away in the next few minutes.)

John: "And, by the way, what Congresswoman Bachmann said there about the president's trip to Asia costing $200 million a day? Well, that was a lie. It didn't cost anywhere near that." Holy crap, he said the "L" word. I thought if you did that on CNN the studio would burst into flames. Calling a spade a spade. Loves it.

Seriously, watch the below video. Great job meshing perspective with montages of accountability.

For discussion of this, we're joined by David Gergen, Roland Martin, and...Dana Loesch. Keyboard smash! Why, 360? Why? Do you want me to email you with my polite yet strongly worded feedback? Because I'll do it! Tremble in fear.

The fact that Loesch is on to talk about earmarks is hilariously ironic. She and the St. Louis Tea Party are shocked (so shocked!) that newly elected Senator Roy Blunt is turning his back on them on the earmarks issue. Too bad Blunt didn't have some sort of record for them to go by. You know, besides the whole being in Congress since 1997. Needless to say, many people are laughing at them right now. But I guess the joke is currently on us because CNN thinks someone as politically naive as Loesch is someone we should hear from on this issue. Anyway. You can read more of the saga here. None of this was covered on the show.

There was really nothing of note from the actual panel.

Dear 360, if I wanted to watch Nancy Grace, I would watch Nancy Grace. (Seriously, we're still talking about Natalee Holloway?)

Randi Kaye's piece on dog communication and the subsequent interview with Cesar Milan were interesting. The part about man's best friend trying to get away with stuff is so true. The couch is the only piece of furniture where my dog is specifically not allowed. Where does he go to sleep after I've gone to bed? Yep. I knew he was doing it because I could hear him quickly jump down if I opened my bedroom door at night. He's such an old cranky man now that he pretty much doesn't even try to hide it anymore. A few weeks ago, I accidentally left a light on and later got up in the middle of the night. Unlike normal, when I walked in the living room I was actually able to see him up on the couch. What's hilarious is I don't think he realized this because he froze like a deer in headlights, eyes trained on me, no doubt thinking that if he was just quiet enough, I'd never notice. Finally, I loudly said, "yes, I can see you!" and with that he jumped down, groaning his displeasure. Ah, dogs.

That's going to do it for me because your blogger is tired. The show started out really strong...and then went to the dogs. Badabum!

Terror Trial Verdict, AC360's Palin Obsession Worsens, Another Victim of James O'Keefe's Smears, And Anderson Cooper Meets Some Bonobos

2010-11-17T23:59:00.000-05:00

Hi guys. A lot packed into the broadcast tonight. A little something for everyone--even furries! To the bullet points we go:

We finally have the verdict of the first Guantanamo detainee to be tried by a civilian court: guilty of only one of 285 counts. Admittedly I haven't been following this case very closely (haven't even done by Glenn Greenwald reading yet), but I don't think this should put the kibosh on trying these people in civilian courts. It's not like guy is going to walk free.

Ah yes, a statement from Peter King. Color me shocked.

Dear Bush administration, thank you so much for breaking the law and tainting our country's moral standing by torturing people. Now we get to deal with the consequences of your actions even as we try to revert back to the rule of law. Awesome. Well done.

The discussion with Kirk Lippold, Jeffrey Toobin, and Peter Bergen wasn't bad. As I said, I haven't really seen what other info is out there on this subject, so it's hard to judge the segment, but nothing stood out to me as being ridiculous. Video below.

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, this show is OBSESSED with Sarah Palin. Oh, oh, she might run for president in two years. Everyone stop everything! Yeesh. Talk about wasted airtime.

Anderson Cooper referring to Palin: " I mean, I'm fascinated by her." No, really? I hadn't noticed!

Our anchor: "Have you ever seen a candidate or a potential candidate who makes their critics' heads explode in the way that Sarah Palin does?" He then continues to show me he is completely clueless on this subject. Yeah, Anderson, watching a serial liar who traffics in falsehoods become the object of the media's obsession makes my head a little explode-y. As a journalist, one would think that you would understand this feeling. Perhaps not.

Erick Erickson--yes, sigh, he's there--brings up Bristol and "Dancing With the Stars," which leads Anderson to say: "Just in our defense, we have not discussed that on this show, though, tomorrow..." Um, yeah, you have no leg to stand on here.

Moving on to the Bulletin, oh look, someone literally shot their TV over Bristol Palin's performance. Yeah...

Also, the "shot"--again weirdly in the middle of the broadcast--made me die inside a little. Bristol Palin and The Situation in a badly acted PSA about teen pregnancy? No world. No.

My regular readers (and Twitter followers) probably know I was particularly interested in the teachers union story. Actually, when Anderson teased it I got all nervous and had myself a little "don't f*ck this up, 360" prayer.

James O'Keefe, the disgusting serial smear merchant, is at it again. This time one of his minions infiltrated a New Jersey Education Association conference, buddied up to a teacher, and got her to talk about the union, all the while taping what she said. The teacher, Alissa Ploshnick, was suspended and denied a raise. Oh, did I mention that she once saved her students' lives by literally throwing herself in front of a van? Yeah. I first read the story here and then took a day or so to look into it before tweeting out my feelings.

After watching the segment twice, and after talking with the author of that blog post, I think the 360 kids did a fair job. Obviously I wish they would have been more like, "O'Keefe is teh evil!" but, uh, that was probably never going to happen. Anyway. This video by O'Keefe is being promoted by 360 guest Dana Loesch. I cannot believe they continue to have her on the show. This isn't about differing viewpoints. This is about lending credibility to someone who traffics in smears, falsehoods, and severely questionable ethics. For a show that has been deservedly earning praise lately, her bookings are completely beneath them, and quite frankly, embarrassing.

The bunny suit is back! Anderson's piece about the bonobos at the Great Ape Trust in Iowa was just...wow. I mean, it's fascinating and the baby was adorable, but...I can not get past that suit! He hopped, people. He hopped. Bwah! This was way more humiliating than I even imagined.

The carrots from Kevin (at least I hope I'm remembering his name right) was a nice touch. And please guys, never stopped the mocking.

On tonight's RidicuList, Alvin Greene thinks he's going to be president because he's "the man." Oh, Alvin Greene, you're adorable. No, wait, I believe 'crazy' is the word I was looking for. Says Anderson: "We don't contest that Greene may, in fact, be the man. But president?" Ha! All in the delivery, people. All in the delivery.

The show wasn't bad. If we get an intervention going for the Palin problem, it might soon even be great!

Conflicts Of Interests Behind The Controversial Airport Scanners, McCain's History of Moving The Goal Posts On DADT, & Prince William Getting Hitched

2010-11-16T23:59:00.002-05:00

Hi everyone. Your blogger is tired tonight, so I'm afraid the bullet points will be doing a lot of leaning on the video. Will there be more groping? Stay tuned.

I thought the opening segment that primarily focused on Michael Chertoff's connection to Rapiscan was pretty strong. I'm glad to see the media probing this very important angle of the story and I hope they investigate further. Also, the company is named Rapiscan? I mean, really?

Below is the interview with Kate Hanni of flyersrights.org. Anderson Cooper did a nice job of pressing her on her points.

I loved the segment that chronicled John McCain's continued tendency to come up with excuses for avoiding a repeal of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell.' It very much looked like something we'd see on the Daily Show...probably because we did. A couple of days ago Jon Stewart and company ran a very similar segment. My view? The more outlets calling out this crap the better. But coincidence or not, they do probably want to be careful that this kind of thing doesn't happen too often, lest they get accused of copying a comedy show. I hope we see more of these kind of segments in the future. Both show's pieces are below.

So, I guess Prince William is getting married, and apparently a lot of people are excited by this. I don't really get the fuss. In all honesty, I thought the guy was already married. Anyway, in my opinion the 360 kids spent way too much time on what is essentially a celebrity story, but whaddaya gonna do? Tom Foreman's piece is below. I'm not going to bother with the rest.

The RidicuList remains. Tonight they tackled the controversy over PBS editing Tina Fey's political comments that she made while accepting the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. Not a bad contender. I am, however, still laughing at the name.

That'll do it for the show, which wasn't bad, despite being heavy on the fancy Brits. I hope 360 is now done with their Royal Watching. Yeah, I know, I'm dreaming. Cookies for accountability-keeping.

TSA Gets Frisky With Their Pat-Downs, Charles Rangel Still Totally Corrupt, And Dolpins Are Awesomely Smart

2010-11-15T23:59:00.002-05:00

Hi everyone. I didn't bother blogging the end of last week because I felt like I already covered all of the suckiness on Wednesday and, well, they didn't improve. ANYWAY. Let's hope for a better one this time around. Away we go:

Have you been lonely lately? Dateless perhaps? Well, you're in luck! Book yourself a trip and head on down to the airport security line because the TSA screeners are giving out free molestations! That's right, hide your kids, hide your wife, hide your husband too. Because though they may not be raping, they're getting pretty damn close to sexually assaulting everyone up in here.

So, by now we're all aware that the TSA has recently unveiled scanner machines that let them see you, well, NAKED. If you don't want to be virtually stripped for a stranger, your only other option is to have a stranger get all gropey with your most private of areas. Isn't modern day travel fun? Well, passenger John Tyner didn't think so. This past weekend he put his foot down and turned his camera on. The resulting video went viral. And now here we are again having the privacy versus security debate.

My view? We've all gone frickin' crazy. Obviously the threat of terrorism is real and sacrifices do need to be made in the name of security, but it's devastating to me to hear people say that anything is okay as long as it's done in the name of keeping us safe. When did we become such scared little cowards? Have Americans always been like this and 9-11 just brought it to the forefront? You're really willing to give up any right, no questions asked?

The thing is, some measures have been great (securing the cockpit doors gets a gold star, for example), but a lot of this stuff isn't consistent and sometimes makes no sense. We're traumatizing three-year-olds when the cargo isn't completely secure? At some point it all starts to feel like security theater--a bunch of rules to make us feel safe. Except, now a lot of us are feeling violated. Also? Homeland security is basically a business now and if you don't think some of these measures are being pushed primarily based on profit, there's a bridge I'd like to sell you.

Can the broadcast always start with Anderson Cooper saying, "If you touch my junk, I'm going to have you arrested." Okay, yes, he's quoting Mr. Tyner and not talking about his own bits and pieces, but still, funny.

I'm glad the 360 kids dug up the info that, contrary to the claims of the TSA, scan images actually can be stored and transmitted. Because, uh, duh? Seriously, is there anyone who really believes that this stuff isn't going to some day end up on the Internets? That's why I think I'll opt for the molestation. Not to mention the radiation factor. Segment below:

I found the discussion with Erick Erickson and Jeffrey Toobin highly disturbing. Why? Because I agreed with Erick and was annoyed by Jeffrey's attitude. WHAT IS HAPPENING?! Is this how the world ends?

I fear that some of these conservatives are going to use this situation to push for profiling. For the record, Erick mentions "behavior," which I'm cool with--unless of course that's code word for "Muslim-looking."

Anderson on his own personal experience with being groped: "I went through this for the first time this weekend flying out of Chicago. And everyone was very nice and professional, but I got to tell you, it feels incredibly intrusive. I had a pat-down after I had this thing, because I left my wallet in my pants. And, I mean, it's pretty rigorous." We're already all thinking the same thing, do I need to make the jokes? Yes, apparently some TSA agents have all the luck.

Seriously though, this must suck extra hard for celebrities. Obviously it would be unprofessional and a fireable offense for Mr. TSA Groper to relay his experience, but is he legally bound from doing so? I actually don't know.

Toobin on Tyner's accusation that the pat-downs are akin to sexual assault: "I'm not sure that's accurate. But so what?" So what? Oh man, when Erick is the reasonable one...I am so done. Unfortunately, he's still Erick, so he made his arguments pretty poorly.

Bah. I used up all my time on the prior story, so now we're in hyper-drive. Below is the segment on Charlie Rangel walking out of his own ethics trial. Also? Yay montage!

I want to mention the story in the Bulletin regarding the seventh grader whose parents are being sued for negligence after he was struck and killed while riding his bike without a helmet. I think my regular readers know where this is going. ANDERSON COOPER WEAR A DAMN HELMET! I know your bike has been stolen twice. THE UNIVERSE HAS SPOKEN.

Having "the shot" in the middle of the show? Madness!

Skipping ahead to Randi Kaye's piece on dolphins, which was awesome and adorable, and...can there always be dolphins?

New segment alert! Give a warm welcome to RidicuList. No, I'm not kidding. I really hope this is some kind of inside joke about Rick Sanchez. Anyhoo, calling out Cindy McCain over her bizarre 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' flip flop? Very nice. But the segment name? Am I supposed to be laughing?

The show wasn't bad. Though there were some disconcerting moments, at no time did my head want to explode. This is an improvement!

Controversy Over Amazon Selling A Pedophilia Guidebook, Deepwater Drilling Report Edited, And Elizabeth Smart Testifies

2010-11-10T23:59:00.002-05:00

Hi everyone. Wow, I think this week the bookers have made it their goal to make me cry sad tears. I'll be okay, people. Why? Because I have the bullet points of awesomeness!

The 360 kids kicked us off with a controversy over a pedophilia guidebook being sold on Amazon. I'm pretty torn on this story. First of all, obviously, ew--that's outrageous. But...isn't the coverage and curiosity over the outrage just increasing this perve's sales? If Gawker is to be believed, that's exactly what's happened. On the other hand, at the time of this blogging, it appears that Amazon took the book off the site. Still. Books have already been downloaded. There are a lot of outrages in this life that deserve light, but I can't help but think that this was probably one of those problems that really would have just gone away if ignored. We'll never know now.

As it turns out, there must be a little bit of a free market supporter inside of me after all because initially I was leaning toward backing Amazon (and I would likewise support anyone who wanted to boycott Amazon). But they have a ban on porn? You have to be consistent with your policies, yo! Otherwise you just look stupid, which is how you're looking right now.

Okay, admittedly I have a bias against Dr. Phil, but I still see absolutely no reason why he was interviewed for this segment. In fact, a lot of this was ridiculous. Anderson Cooper even started out asking him if it made sense that Amazon would be selling a guide for pedophiles. Is there more than one way to answer that question? And why is he asking it to Dr. Phil? What expertise does Dr. Phil have related to Amazon?

Half of what he says can be summed up as: "Pedophiles are bad; kids should be protected." Um, duh? This is part of the reason I don't like Dr. Phil. Most of what he says is so simplistic and obvious, I just want to ask America: why is he famous?! Anyway. Eventually he does get around to talking about his professional experiences with pedophiles, but the thing is, he very much implies he didn't read the book (and Anderson flat out says he didn't). WTF? A segment with two people discussing something they haven't read. Awesome.

Anderson: "During the interview, when I talked to Dr. Phil a short time ago, I hadn't read the book. I actually have subsequently read the book, so now I want to talk about it with Jeffrey Toobin." Later we learn that the book is more of a pamphlet, which cracked me up, because at the time our anchor said this quote, I was like, "Holy crap! How fast does Anderson read?!"

Toobin actually contributes valuable information (and good points!) and is really the only person we needed for this story. As he notes, this is more of a business problem. Segment below.

Next up, we learn that, surprise, surprise, a Pentagon study group has determined that getting rid of DADT won't hurt troop morale or the war efforts. To talk about this we're joined by Paul Begala and Erick Erickson. Hm. I realize there's a political aspect here, but I still couldn't care less about what either of them has to say. At least Toobin stuck around too.

The segment on the BP oil spill report was pretty good. It sounds like the editing was probably a mistake, but I'm still glad it's being pointed out. The Bush administration used to edit reports to their liking all the time. We know the drilling moratorium was unpopular in the Gulf. Being able to say it was supported by experts certainly would have been a plus.

We were joined by Louisiana Republican Congressman Steve Scalise and James Carville, the former being much more relevant than the latter in my opinion, but it was still fairly good. And Anderson did a pretty nice job as well. The whole thing can be watched below.

The night wrapped up with a Randi Kaye piece about Elizabeth Smart, and then an interview with John Walsh. Some of you already know that I have issues with Walsh (sixth paragraph), but this appearance actually made sense.

That'll do it. The show was better than last night, but still...eh. Even putting aside your blogger's biases, the booking has been less than desired in terms of relevancy. And it sorta feels like they're stretching with their KTH segments these past two nights. The Amazon thing didn't really feel like lead story material. Your mileage may vary. Also? I blame the Silver Fox for the Dr. Phil appearance. His feelings on the matter were pretty clear and me thinks he wanted a segment to vent, so to speak.

Sarah Palin Again Hits The 'Lamestream Media' And Republican Congressman Darrell Issa Wants To Investigate The White House (Or Does He?!)

2010-11-09T23:59:00.003-05:00

Hi everyone. Well, I'm afraid tonight went a bit off the rails. Disappointing. Oh well. I guess the best place to begin is the beginning. To the bullet points!

Did you hear? Sarah Palin made up crap, got called on it, and then played the victim of the 'lamestream media." Must be a day that ends in 'Y'! Seriously, this is in no way new.

Back story: Palin went off on the Federal Reserve, claiming 'pump priming' will push rising grocery prices even higher. A "Wall Street Journal" reporter called her out, noting prices haven't actually risen. She then did what she always does: spin and attack. (I haven't looked into this at all, and I'm loathe to even hint at agreeing with Palin, but it does kinda seem like prices have risen.)

So anyway, apparently this deserves a whole segment. I mean, don't get me wrong. Yay for calling out and all, but uh, she does this all the time. It's kind of her thing. Why does this one merit a segment? At this point can't we just fact-check and move on? She's not even an elected official.

Anderson Cooper was being kinda weird throughout. He had that whole wide-eye "can you believe this?" tone going on (yes, yes we believe it!), and then sorta gave us a little lecture about words mattering. Erm, we know.

Our anchor: "Now, supporters of Sarah Palin will say this story is nitpicking, much ado about nothing, a gotcha attack by both "The Wall Street Journal" and I guess now by me." Well, I am as far from a supporter as you can get, and while I don't think it's a gotcha attack, I do think having an entire lead segment about something that she does every damn day is a little much, especially given that she holds no office. Hold her accountable, yes. Don't go overboard.

Speaking of overboard, we have to talk about this, yo! We're joined by David Gergen and Dana Loesch. I have to say, I'm seriously disappointed that 360 continues to have Loesch on the show, and quite frankly I find it a little insulting to the viewers. We're told that she's the editor of BigJournalism.com, but we're not told that the blog is part of Andrew Breitbart's franchise. Remember him? The smear merchant with no credibility? Yeah, well, Loesch is one of his people, which apparently 360 thinks is good enough for their viewers.

This is a woman who once implied that Anderson got where he is by "riding the Vanderbilt coattails." She cleans herself up real nice for primetime, but on the Internet she's a different story. I get why they book her. I really do. She's pretty, articulate (not to be confused with having good arguments), and doesn't bring the crazy. I'm just so sick of these tea party-type pundits getting away with being one person online and another person on the teevee. You don't see that with David Gergen. If he puts out a blog post, it will contain the same tone and ideas of what you'd hear him discuss anywhere. Dana's continued presence on the show tells me they either haven't done their research, or they simply don't have respect for the viewers. Surely there are more credible conservatives.

The Gerg pushing back on Anderson was a bit interesting.

Anderson: "I do find it interesting, though, that she, like a lot of politicians -- and it's not just her, and it's Republicans and Democrats -- people don't admit when they make a mistake. And I don't get -- I think, frankly, people, the voting public, would like it if somebody just said, well, look, yes, look, OK, I made an error, we all make errors, rather than attacking the messenger." He's such a Pollyanna sometimes. Sure I'd love to live in that world, but I don't think it ever existed in the first place. He's acting like this behavior is new or something.

Moving on, we learn that Congressman Darrell Issa is probably going to be running the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform (subpoena power, baby!). Through some montage action we're shown that Campaign Issa was going to investigate the pants off Obama. Newly Elected Issa? Not so much. Walk back time! Or is it? The Congressman still has plans to hold a boat-load of hearings.

For discussion, we have Jeffrey Toobin, Cornell Belcher, and Erick Erickson. Oh yay, we're two for two with the right-wingers I loathe. Where's Ed Rollins these days? Or what about Frum? Frum has no friends now, right? He'd probably love to come on!

Jeffrey and Cornell get much love from me for this segment. Anderson? He can go sit in the corner. The dude will just not stop pushing the balance meme. Do we need an intervention here or what? He brought up the hearings that Henry Waxman held, which is a perfectly legitimate thing to do, but then he gives examples (are superweeds an outgrowth of USDA biotech policy?) and acts like we're supposed to think they're as crazy as going after the New Black Panther Party. Thank God for Toobin doing some smacking down.

Cornell: "Anderson,, I have got to push back on you here, because you're trying to make it seem like it's equal. He's talking about doing 280 investigations in one year, more than what Waxman did in two years, so it's a little different." Called him flat out on fake balance. I think I love this guy.

Erickson: "Ninety percent of the American public has never even heard of Darrell Issa. And they certainly don't know what he said on the campaign trail." I basically disagree with everything Erick has said, but I'd bet money he's right on this one.

Oh look, more pimping of Parker Spitzer. Seriously guys, give it up.

So, they waste our time with all this pontification, and stick actual news about the BP oil spill in the 360 Bulletin. Yeah, that makes sense.

Part of the news mentioned was that there's worry the oil has made it into the food chain. Anderson: "It's interesting, the story about the oil entering the food chain. It's important to point out, you know, that they do test the stuff very carefully, and there have been no reports of problems. I was in New Orleans this weekend, went to a lot of restaurants, ate seafood just about every night, had oysters, and the food is as great as ever. So I hope the people don't read that and cancel trips." Then adding: "Because the food is safe and it tastes better than ever." I actually found this a little irresponsible. Mention that rigorous testing is done, sure, but I think our anchor is letting his love for New Orleans cloud his judgment. He's a journalist; not a member of the tourism board. And while he can say that he himself feels the food is safe enough to eat, he shouldn't be using his position to make such a declarative statement. Can anyone at this point really know that the food is safe?

I think that's all for me. Clearly I've done enough damage already. The show could have been better.

Andrew Shirvell Fired

2010-11-08T23:59:00.002-05:00

Hi everyone. This is going to be a super-short post. I thought the show dragged a bit, but that might have just been me. Anyhoo, I don't have much desire to blog the thing out, so a few quick thoughts:

Finally that creepy Andrew Shirvell gets the boot. One wonders what took so long. I had to laugh over Anderson Cooper pondering why the former assistant AG picked Chris Armstrong to harass. Although, he probably secretly has the same theory as the rest of us. I mean, we're all thinking it, right? Funny how the line between love and hate can get so blurry--especially when you're dealing with the severely emotionally stunted.

By the way, that linked tweet comes from someone at the Daily Show who produced this must watch report on Shirvell. Both hilarious and massively disturbing. Below is 360's 'Keeping Them Honest' segment on the subject.

Wow, Rand Paul aggressively campaigned against earmarks only to now fight for Kentucky's share? So shocking! For the record, Paul's people say that the "The Wall Street Journal" reporter who wrote the story misunderstood the senator's comments. Uh huh. I guess we'll see. In any regard, we got another montage! Aw, they're like a thing now. Yay!

The best thing George Bush ever did was pretty much disappear after he left office. I was almost able to delude myself into forgetting his existence. But now he's "written" a book and therefore EVERYWHERE. I avoid the NBC interview and still end up seeing part of it on CNN. Makes it hard to forget those eight terrible years. About the fetus in the jar? WTF does one say to that? I can't even. And Kanye West saying he doesn't care about black people was one of the most disgusting moments in his presidency? THOUSANDS of people died in his war of choice and he's upset about the comments of a rapper? It's like he doesn't even live on this planet.

The segment with Wheel of Fortune winner Caitlin Burke was adorable. ~~I'll post the video later if they ever put it up.~~ Video posted below. I was cracking up over Anderson clearly fishing for compliments about his Jeopardy skillz. Also: "Can you explain to me Sudoko?" Haha. The Silver Fox is mystified by it, y'all!

That's all for tonight. Show was okay.

A $200 Million Falsehood And The Media's Obsession With Sarah Palin Ratchets Up A Notch

2010-11-04T23:59:00.001-04:00

Hi everyone. So, the election. That happened, huh? Oh, it burns, people. It burns. I watched, I cursed, I got depressed. I threw mental darts at pundits. But it's over and now time to move forward (if I blogged an MSNBC show, I suppose we would be 'leaning').

Anyway. Buck up, kids. If the beginning of tonight's 360 was any indication, the road we're on might not be all bad. Ok, yes, we are in for a bucket-load of stupidity from the Republicans, but if someone is actually going to be out there holding them (and everyone else) accountable, maybe we'll get by. Not that the Democrats don't also imbody much suckage. They just don't seem to be as much--what's the word? Oh yes, crazy. I mean, seriously Kentucky?

Time to warm up those bullet points! We're going to start strong and then kind of peter out. You have been warned.

Have you heard? Apparently POTUS is going on the most expensive trip to Asia evah! He's bringing everyone who voted for a Democrat and all their sheets will be made of gold! You know how the right-wing latches onto unverified information, and then they all repeat each other, and then suddenly it's Out There? Well, here we are. Suddenly, Obama's trip is going to cost $200 million a day--a number which appears to be pulled entirely out of thin air.

This in of itself is not at all surprising. What's mildly surprising is that the perpetuaters of the falsehood are getting called out. The 360 kids are like, "oh hells no!" Not only do they bring us the facts of the situation, thus showing the $200 million number to be ridiculous, they also show us who's been pushing the meme (Beck, Limbaugh, Bachmann, etc.). They are now montaging fools! For the win, baby.

Anderson Cooper on Michele Bachmann: "Now, you would think if a member of Congress was going to use this figure as a fact, she would want to be pretty darn sure it was accurate, right?" Oh Silver Fox, you're adorable. First segment is below:

Question: Was Andy Card always such a douche? I guess anyone looks reasonable when they're standing next to Cheney. I had him pegged as a better guy than what we saw tonight. No, he wasn't a Powell in that administration, but I did think he was Powell-ish. Guess not.

First Card complains that our anchor is making too big of deal out of the situation (though apparently had no problem putting his face on TV to give his opinion). Then when Anderson tries to explain that he's bringing it up because "Michele Bachmann used up our airtime last night, rather than answering questions about Medicare, to talk about this," Card replies with: "It's not your airtime, Anderson. It's not your airtime." Um, excuse me, your initials may also be 'AC,' but I assure you, this show belongs to the Silver Fox.

And then he calls Anderson irresponsible. Because being chief of staff in an administration that lied us into war is the height of responsibility.

Our anchor then throws down some more clippage action, which includes a sound bite from Mitch McConnell. Says Card: "Well, first of all, the quote from Mitch McConnell was a little bit old, wasn't really contemporaneous to what happened on Tuesday." Then there's some discussion. Once things wind down, totally off-handedly, Anderson's all, "By the way the sound bite from McConnell was from this morning at the Heritage Foundation." Burn! It's all in the delivery, people. Card just got shanked and Anderson pulled the knife out before he even realized what hit him.

All this starts at about the six minute mark in the video below:

6 minutes

More montage action! This time we get to watch all those many Republicans talk about how they're going to get in there and cut spending. Oh, but they're not going to tell us what specific spending they would cut. That would be hard work! I love talking points, don't you? Taxes bad! American flag good!

I also like how Anderson is calling Carville 'James', but Mr. Jerkypants is 'Mr. Card.' They are not friends, people.

Card: "I think it's much too early to be talking about specific program cuts that are only designed to inflame the debate, rather than be constructive and really bringing discipline to the government." Well, that makes a lot of sense that doesn't.

Once called on this, Card tries to deflect onto the Democrats, wondering what their specific cuts would be. Anderson's face pretty much says, WTF?

Card: "Tell me what cuts you are recommending, Anderson, and I will give you a reaction to it." Yes, tell us, Anderson, why have you not reduced the deficit yet?!

Our anchor can't even deal with that stupidity, so he just laughs it off and turns to Carville, but Card would apparently very much like to know how the Silver Fox is going to get us out of the hole. Next he is going to find out how Blitzer would fix immigration reform!

Anderson: "Well, actually, I'm just a reporter. I'm supposed to ask questions. I'm not like a pundit who takes positions and tries to shove them down viewers' throats. James?" Oh, snap! The best part is the end when he just totally turns from Card to go to Carville. DISmissed! The Silver Fox is so done with your fuckery. Segment below:

Okay, this is the part where we come close to shark jumpage. Buckle up for the summary. See, Marc Lamont Hill took a picture of a sign in front of this church run by James David Manning. The sign was very anti-Obama and all kinds of offensive. He then sends the picture to Ann Coulter because apparently they have some sort of jokey relationship when it comes to this wackjob pastor (I don't even want to know, people). Coulter, jokester that she is, retweets the tweet, adding, "that's my church!" And finally, Sarah Palin favorites the whole thing. According to our anchor, a stir was caused! Now the former half-term governor's 'favorites' are wiped clean. Conspiracy! Or not. I love me the Twitter, but even I think this is a little much.

Thing is, we don't know if she's supporting the pastor, thought the joke was funny, or simply hit the wrong button on her blackberry (Twitter can be tricky, yo!). So basically, what we have is a segment with Marc speculating his ass off, while Anderson keeps painfully reining him in. (For the record, Palin says she didn't favorite the tweet.)

As they ponder what was going on in the mind of the favoriter, I wonder what was going on in the mind of whoever decided to spend this long on this story. They even brought in a dude from Politico. Oy.

We also have John King give us a hypothetical match-up of Palin versus Obama. Because that's not a complete waste of time! Good lord.

I think this is where I get off the bus. The show wasn't bad. Started out really strong, then fell into some ridiculousness. Maybe the Palin Twitter thing will grow more legs, but right now there's not much there. Anderson did a pretty solid job throughout when it comes to calling out. That'll do it.

VOTE!

2010-11-01T23:59:00.004-04:00

Hello readers! Just checking in! Even though I know you all are total smartypants and down with the politics, I would be remiss if I didn't take this opportunity to remind everyone to get their vote on. Admittedly, I've been feeling some major election malaise this time around. Not quite the party of 2008 or even 2006, huh? But I will diligently make my way to the polls on Tuesday and I hope you will too. Remember people, there are a lot of crazies on the ballot this election. Don't make me hunt you down.

As for our friends at CNN, I can't say I've been watching much of them due to the World Series (yay Giants!). In my brief flipping to the network, I see that the pundits have apparently multiplied, and Wolf Blitzer now has his own Capitol Hill-themed mini golf course. Awesome. Also, there is something called the 'Election Matrix.' If I get through the night without a migraine it will be a miracle. Fingers crossed that Begala gets drunk and punches out Erickson! Anyhoo. I'm sure I will be mocking the absurdity and freaking out over results all night long. Catch me on the Twitter. I'll be back for the afterglow/hangover later in the week. Vote!

Christine O'Donnell Plays Victim Card, More Dirty Politics, & Interview With Sean Penn Regarding A Cholera Outbreak In Haiti

2010-10-25T23:59:00.001-04:00

Hello readers! It seems I am just full of blog fail. Sorry people. Distractions have abounded. I'm going to be honest upfront and say that this may very well be the only full post this week. There's some extra work I need to do and then...World Series! I'll try to make the bullet points extra awesome for you to savor. Away we go:

Poor Christine O'Donnell. Damn the media and their tendency to do things like ask questions and comment on past statements. Sexist! I can barely play my tiny violin through my tears, y'all. I mean, it's so hard to be a white Christian woman these days. Am I right?

Ok, so yeah, we've heard this song and dance before. In fact, I think Sarah Palin made this role a sensation. She actually had a teeny part of a leg to stand on. O'Donnell? Not so much.

The 360 kids did a very nice job at showing that it was actually Republicans who started all the criticism. Plus, um, Christine O'Donnell has said a lot of stupid shit. Well done.

As I said last week on Twitter, I am loving 360's use of montages (tonight's showed O'Donnell's hypocrisy on constitutional knowledge). They've used them on occasion throughout the years, and pretty much every single time I've given out cookies, noted the similarity to the Daily Show, and encouraged them to keep it up. Now suddenly they're doing them every night, so...yay!

Anderson Cooper: "So, there's no doubt that liberal media outlets had a field day with Christine O'Donnell's past controversial comments about everything from evolution to witchcraft." Probably being biased here, but the phrase "liberal media outlets" sets my teeth on edge. Though perhaps not true, it feels like he doesn't speak this way when the situation is reversed. Anybody? Also, one wonders if he would characterize Fox News as a conservative media outlet.

Our anchor: "Now, if you look up the definition of sexism in Merriam-Webster's dictionary, there's actually a couple of them." It seems 360's love affair with dictionary.com is officially over. Yeah, that was neither here nor there, but it's the little things that amuse.

The 'Keeping Them Honest' segment can be watched below. They did an excellent job holding a candidate accountable...who probably has no chance of winning. Le sigh. Kinda wish the energy would be spent on closer races.

For discussion, we were joined by Paul Begala and Dana Loesch. Oh, yay. Blah, blah, blah. *stabs self in eye*

Also, Frank Caprio, the Democratic nominee for governor in Rhode Island, does not take kindly to be snubbed by the president. Back in 2008, Lincoln Chafee (a former Republican) endorsed Obama. Chafee is running against Caprio as an Independent, so POTUS has decided not to endorse anyone. Now the Democratic nominee wants Obama to take the endorsement and shove it. Oh my. Personally, I'm torn. Politically probably stupid, but perhaps it shows integrity? Though not my first pick, it's not like Chafee is teh evil or anything. Anyhoo, you know what this apparently needs? More pontificating! Oy.

Dana on the Paul/Conway debate (context not needed for my point): "And I thought it was weird, the way that it was allowed to go on in this debate, which I also found at the same time, but then I kept waiting for them to get amped up and reach behind their chairs and grab pillows and start girl-fighting because it was just getting right to that line. It was so close." Irony alert! What have we been talking about for a good portion of this show? Help me out here, Paul: "That's sexist, Dana." Ha!

Oh my God, they're still pushing Parker Spitzer. No, not even Nate Silver can save this show.

Tom Foreman's segment seemed kinda weak. WTF was with all the suspicion about AFSCME? ZOMG, so many letters! Sure, maybe everyone doesn't know the acronym, but it's not like voters can't Google. It pops right up and is very clearly a union. Such mystery! Anyway, that just makes me ponder if they were being balance-y and I subsequently doubt the whole segment when it's very possible I shouldn't. Oh wells. Segment below.

The tornado segment with the Eric Meyers phoner seemed weirdly out of place to me. Cool video though. At least he had a reason for being out in the elements. I'm tired of dumb asses getting on the teevee after doing completely dangerous/idiotic things. But that wasn't the case here.

Now on to the terrible news that there's been a cholera outbreak in Haiti. Not good. Not good at all. Anderson talked with Sean Penn about the current situation and the status of pledged aid.

Finally tonight, a bit of cable news catnip: hiccup girl arrested for murder! Dun dun dun! Obviously it's horrible that a man lost his life, but I can't help rolling my eyes at the ridiculousness of this Randi Kaye package. "Before a doctor helped to cure her hiccups with acupuncture Jennifer Mee had tried all kinds of remedies. Sugar, peanut butter, vinegar, pickle juice, even breathing in a bag. But it seems the only remedy she needs today is a good, strong defense." Yes, I'm cringing.

That'll do it, people. The show was okay. They've really been owning their "Keeping Them Honest" brand lately. Also, glad we heard from Sean Penn. I will perhaps be back for a brief post or two before next week, but no promises. As always, catch me on the Twitter.

Kentucky's Turn To Bring The Crazy, Sharron Angle Sees Asians, And More On Eddie Bernice Johnson

2010-10-18T23:59:00.001-04:00

Hello people. Here we are in a new week, once again knee deep in the crazy. The truly sad part? It will never end. Yes, the 2010 election will actually occur. But the very next morning? Commence the 2012 campaigning! Le sigh. To the bullet points!

We're kicking things off with the Kentucky senate race, which just got a wee bit snippy. You see, Democrat Jack Conway has put out an ad against Rand Paul that accuses the republican of being, well, kinda freaky. Many of you are probably well aware of the accusation that while in college, Paul kidnapped a fellow female student, forced her to do bong hits and then bow down to Aqua Buddha. That's right, Aqua Buddha. If next week's news contains the Flying Spaghetti Monster, I think we should all be unsurprised.

Anyway! That weird tidbit came out back in August, but now the ad has placed it front and center, especially since Paul's boxers are in a total twist over the matter. Plus the candidates just had a debate where Conway would not let Aqua Buddha go, leading Paul to demand he "be a man." The whole thing ended with hands unshook. Oh no they din't.

The 360 kids are on the Aqua Buddha case for us. The verdict? Probably not as sinister as Conway would like everyone to believe. It seems the alleged kidnappee later claimed no one forced her to smoke pot and it all felt akin to being hazed. But it's also important to point out that she was disturbed enough by the incident that she broke off her friendship with Paul. While I don't support Conway on this, I'm still a bit uncomfortable with the total dismissiveness regarding the woman being taken.

Also, argh, Conway WTF?! I'm not even in politics and I know that these kind of attacks always backfire. If there was a video of Paul praying to Aqua Buddha, yeah, then you could just sit back, shut up, and let the young him hang the current candidate. Even with video you have to be careful (yeah, I'm looking at you Alan Grayson). But the thing that's really killing me here is that Paul's policies are completely ridiculous. You already had a goldmine to exploit and you throw it away for Aqua Buddha?! Argh.

For discussion, we had Paul Begala and Alex Castellanos. Paul defends, Alex dismisses. We are all very shocked by this. Anderson Cooper also falls in the dismissive camp. You know what I love? When we were talking about Chris Coons' college paper the republicans were very concerned. Now? Aw, those wacky college kids! Reverse it and you have the democrats. Pretty much the only consistent non-hypocrite here is our anchor. Gotta love the Silver Fox.

Moving on to the treasure trove of crazy that is Sharron Angle. Remember when she ran that ad with fake scary illegal immigrants? Well, now there's a video of her talking to Hispanic students in which she says the following: "And, you know, I don't know that all of you are Latino. Some of you look a little more Asian to me." Wait, it gets better: "I have been called the first Asian legislator in our Nevada State Assembly." Bwah! I can't even. At this point she should just pull a Colbert and claim she doesn't see color.

Anderson: "But it's interesting in this race. I mean, maybe it's just like a liberal media outside of the state which is focusing on a lot of her statements that she's made, because it doesn't seem to have any impact certainly within the state." Huh? Perhaps I'm reading this wrong, but focusing on a candidate's statements makes the media liberal? No wonder conservatives think everyone is so biased.

Things just keep getting worse for Eddie Bernice Johnson. Now we learn that she gave a scholarship to a student named Danielle O'Bannon, whose father oversees minority contracting at Dallas/Fort Worth Airport. Guess who owns a stake in some airport newsstands? Ruh-roh.

We're joined by corruption slayer Melanie Sloan, and Todd Gillman of "The Dallas Morning News." Though it looks pretty bad, Todd says they haven't been able to establish a quid pro quo. Melanie tells us that Danielle's mother claims her daughter got the scholarship because she knows Charlie Rangel's wife. Because that's much better! Oy.

More on the Tiffany Hartley case:

That's going to do it for me. The show wasn't bad, but I wasn't hugely interested most of the hour.

David Doss Out As AC360 Senior Executive Producer, Also Anderson Cooper Dons Bunny Suit At Request Of Apes

2010-10-17T00:13:00.008-04:00

Hello readers! An odds and ends post for you! Given all the breaking news of the Chilean miners the last week, I really haven't had much to say. It was great to finally have a story to celebrate. Special shout out to Gary Tuchman and his producer Ismael Estrada for all their hard work. Check out Ismael's 'producer's notebook' here.

Last week also brought us some meta news in the land of 360: Senior Executive Producer David Doss is moving elsewhere at the network. He's been with the show since I started watching regularly, so this is no small tidbit. What it means exactly is anybody's guess, but I hope it results in a better quality newscast.

I know many regular viewers are pretty excited about this announcement. Personally, I always put more of the blame for the show's problems on Klein than I did Doss, but hey, what do I know? I just think some of those viewers might be longing for the so-called "Red 360," which I suspect was never as good as they remember it being. In any regard, that show is long dead.

Doss suddenly being out definitely makes one wonder about those rumors that he and Anderson Cooper were butting heads. Honestly, I can't imagine Anderson butting heads with anyone, but again, hey, what do I know? It just seems weird that it took five years for it to happen.

Anyway. The best part out of all of this? Charlie Moore is taking over! Will we soon be seeing more of AC360's Waldo? One can only hope! What? No specific reason! It can't always be about the Silver Fox, people. Ahem.

In seriousness, he seems to get along well with Anderson, which I would assume means they have the same sort of vision, which I hope means good things for we the viewers. See Mr. Moore, we're not scary, really! We just want quality news. You will get on Twitter now, yes?

Okay, people. Something else happened last week, and it was, shall we say, strange. The normally Twitter-averse Silver Fox shot out the following tweet:

From ac: in IA for story on ape communication. The apes asked me to dress as a rabbit. Weird, huh? http://twitpic.com/2xd7lq

And that twitpic was the following, so yes, weird!

Honest to God, my first thought was photoshop. Because seriously, the man who refuses to merely dance in front of cameras is going to put on a bunny suit and then send the picture to hundreds of thousands of people? Anderson Cooper, I do not understand you!

Where to even begin? What does one mock first? Perhaps the casual vagueness of the initial tweet. He's just there chilling in a bunny suit because apes told him, y'all! You know, just like every Wednesday! Did the Silver Fox really think he was going to send that picture out into the world with less than 140 characters of explanation and the Internets were not going to have a collective WTF seizure? Needless to say, the next day our anchor decided to give us a little more info:

From ac: lots of questions re yesterdays bunny costume. Doing story on bonobo chimps. the researchers sometimes dress up as a rabbit....

...when chimp indicates that is what he wants on a complex lexigram chart. I thought it was a joke, but the chimp wasn't laughing

Oh, he was laughing. On the inside, Anderson. On the inside.

But I think my absolutely favorite part of all of this was his last tweet:

From ac: who knew bunny suits had so many fans online? Going to post more pics. Find out whats up with the bunny tonite on 360

Up until this point, I had been trying very hard not to think about that dark corner of the interwebs that surely became quite excited by this whole situation. "Who knew bunny suits had so many fans online?" Bwah! That is either some mad subtle snark or one of the most naive things he's ever written. But I'm going to go with snark. I have my reasons.

So! That should be an interesting piece. Below is Thursday's "shot," which contains more explanation and more pictures of hilarity.

To put the 'end' on this post of odds and ends, finally, I give you this little morsel that I happened to come upon a week or so ago. Apparently, our friends at AC360 enjoy doing the news and science experiments! You see, if what I've linked to can be believed, there has been a piece of chocolate crumb cake sitting just outside our anchor's office since 2003. And it has disturbingly not changed in all these many years!

I hope Charlie Moore's new duties don't force him to give up the very important task of cake-keeper. That would be tragic. Specifically amusing to me, with any other show I'd be WTFing all over this post. But as I read, my initial reaction was, "yeah, that pretty much sounds exactly like something the 360 kids would do." Yes people, our news-givers are kinda weirdos...and it's part of why I love them. Suddenly the bunny suit doesn't seem that out of the ordinary, huh?

Joy

2010-10-13T23:59:00.001-04:00

War, corruption, bigotry, natural disasters...but every once in a while...a happy ending.

Photo: Mariana Bazo Reuters, The Gazette

Some Good News For Once?

2010-10-13T02:11:00.002-04:00

We witnessed amazing television tonight. The good folks at CNN did a nice job, specifically Anderson Cooper, Gary Tuchman, and Karl Penhaul. At this time, four of the Chilean miners have been rescued. Prayers that the others soon join them without incident.

Video of the rescue capsule reaching the miners for the first time:

Florencio Ávalos reaches the surface:

Rich Iott Does Himself No Favors, Sharron Angle Still Nutty, Update From Chile, And Allegations Against Sheriff Joe Arpaio

2010-10-11T23:59:00.002-04:00

Hi everybody. A new week is upon us! Do you have election fever yet? Yeah, me neither. I must have fallen in the enthusiasm gap. But some of the candidates keep doing/saying completely ridiculous things, so there's that! God bless America. All aboard the Crazy Train:

So! There is this Tea Partier, Rich Iott, who is the Republican candidate for Ohio's 9th Congressional District and it seems he has a hobby. See, he's one of those war re-enactors. You know, the guys who live out their boyhood fantasies all under the guise of being history buffs? That alone, not something to get all that judge-y about. But Iott here decided to expand beyond the norm and joined himself a group that involved donning an S.S. uniform. Yes, this was an idea he had! And...now there's a picture on the interwebs of him dressed up like a Nazi. Score.

Anderson Cooper, who has been carving himself a niche lately as a combater of Crazy (and we love him for it!), tells us all about the recruitment video of Iott's group. Hey guess what it doesn't mention? That whole Holocaust thing! A minor oversight.

Iott apparently thinks he can defend this because he has decided to go toe-to-toe with our anchor. Live. The interview begins with a whole lot of spinning. The candidate tries to claim that re-enactments are about education AND that it's perfectly okay that the website doesn't have the whole story because that's about recruitment. Does not compute. I guess people need to be sucked in with sanitized information before they can really get the full impact of the education.

Our anchor then tries to get Iott to characterize the men he played as Nazi collaborators, and he hedges: "I don't know if you would call them collaborators. They were volunteers." This leads Anderson to note that, um, these guys left their own countries to join up with the Nazis, so...

Anderson goes on to note atrocities committed by the very unit that Iott portrayed. Says the candidate: "This particular unit was one that was never charged with war crimes." Well! I guess it's all okay then. Oh. My. God. My favorite part? Our anchor's sleeves may be opinionless, but sometimes his face totally says, "Oh, WTF?"

Anderson then asks if they were valiant men. Iott: "I think that they thought they were fighting for their homeland." Our anchor: "Well, I'm sure Nazis in the concentration camps thought they were doing a good thing, too. But that doesn't make it so. Do you think these were valiant men?" Oh, snap. Just a reminder, this man is running for Congress. I bet he is very glad he did this interview. Some of it can viewed below, though not, unfortunately the best parts. You're killing me, CNN.

Anderson: "You know, I say it a lot on this program, but it bears repeating. Who you vote for is between you, your conscience, and the voting machine. We don't take political sides on 360. We really try not to. We don't want to be a liberal newscast or conservative newscast. We just want facts." Actually, I don't think it bears repeating. I think it makes you sound really defensive. But hey, knock yourself out.

Iott has apparently handed the nuttiness baton to Sharron Angle, who has a warning for these here United States: beware Sharia law. ZOMG y'all, they got Dearborn, Michigan, and Frankford, Texas!

Dearborn's mayor, John O'Reilly, is none too pleased with this accusation and he joins us for some smacking down. He points out that not only does the U.S. not have any Sharia law, there's not even much in the Middle East, which really emphasizes the utter ridiculousness of the situation.

Anderson then shows us a video that is allegedly of four Christian missionaries getting arrested while trying to share their faith. This is supposedly evidence of the scary Sharia law takeover. O'Reilly notes that it wasn't a city-sponsored event and Christians were welcome. I would like to point out that if you switched the Christians with a group of protesters for any progressive cause, I have seen this video about 500 times. Two wrongs don't make a right, obviously (if there's even a wrong here), but c'mon. Welcome to the world of being treated like crap by those in authority! You don't need Sharia law for that.

The Crazy just keeps coming tonight. Let's see, we haven't covered homophobia yet. Carl Paladino, can you help us out with that? His recent quote below:

Young children should not be exposed to [homosexuality] at a young age. They don't understand this. And it's a very difficult thing. And exposing them to homosexuality, especially at a gay pride parade -- and I don't know if you have ever been to one, but they wear these little Speedos and they grind against each other. And it's just a terrible thing.

So yeah...that was fun. And before he said that he read comments someone else wrote for him (weird) that said he didn't want kids "brainwashed into thinking that homosexuality is an equally valid or successful option." Awesome.

But what would Parker and Spitzer think about this? Yes, it's about that time again. This is when CNN basically says, "hello AC360 viewer. We're very happy you're watching this show. But we would also be happy if you watched our new show. Because, see, we kinda banked much of our primetime ratings on this, and, well, so far it's not going that great. Some of us are getting scared and stressed out. We're not saying we're going to cry if we get one more bad review, but you know. We're really not begging or anything. Hey, remember when we fired Rick Sanchez? You liked that, right? So yeah, um, anyway, if you could just please, please watch. Like seriously, we still have therapy bills from when Lou Dobbs worked here." It's all about reading between the lines, people.

Anyhoo, for those keeping score at home, the Republican pool for the 2010 election now contains a witchcraft-dabbler, Nazi uniform-wearer, Sharia law-accuser, and, well, a stone-cold homophobe. And people say the GOP doesn't have a big tent...

On now to Gary Tuchman live from Chile to report on the trapped miners. Hopefully their long (68 days!) and horrible ordeal is just about over. The rescues are scheduled to begin in 24 hours. And you know what that means. The media, oh they have come! In a piece, our correspondent shows us around what is basically a tent city. Prior to the incident, the mine was pretty much it for the area, so people have been making do. They even constructed a little schoolhouse for the children of the miners. Plus? There are clowns. Because you gotta have clowns. It sounds like everyone is pretty excited. C'mon universe, let's have a happy ending.

Isha Sesay is back! I shall resume my girl crush. One of the headlines she reads involves someone throwing a book at Obama...because he wanted him to read it. Ha! Not quite the same as the whole Bush shoe incident, huh? Ah, memories. Says Isha: "Now, I'm no expert in these matters, although you're not going to hear me say that too often, but you got to be a couple sandwiches short of a picnic to throw a book at the president." Indeed.

Drew Griffin had an investigative piece on Sheriff Joe Arpaio, which you can watch below. Also, check out producer Ismael Estrada's blog post.

Finally, Anderson again talked with Tiffany Hartley.

I'm going to skip the "shot" since it's a picture, but let's do another headline with Isha, shall we? Apparently Snooki (yes, the one and only!) was arrested for drunkenness (no!) and was ordered to do community service. And what community service will she be doing? Signing autographs. Oh, WTF? I can't even. Isha asks Anderson if he knows what GTL stands for. I know! Gym, tan, laundry. Yes, the fact that I know that makes me want to cry sad tears. This is not my fault, people. Our anchor: "GTL, is that something to do with grenades?" And then, "Well, grenades is their term for -- I wouldn't go into it." Having no idea what the the Silver Fox was talking about, I took to the Google (yeah, I'm shame-faced). So now I know. I gotta say, this show just keeps sounding classier and classier.

The broadcast was good. Lots of variety. Even a variety of craziness. That'll do it.

Actors in Campaign Ads, Gulf Coast Update, More On Bullying, And Interview With Tiffany Hartley

2010-10-07T23:59:00.000-04:00

Hi everyone. I'm kinda bummed because I was going to bang out a good post for you last night, but when I sat down to do it...suddenly...sickness. I think I caught the Ebola! Or maybe not. Anyhoo, I'm all better now and am here to bring you what might be less than awesome bullet points. That's the way the blog bounces.

Love that they continue to keep 'em honest. They might actually be doing better this campaign season than they did in 2008. I dunno. I'll have to think about that.

Actors in campaign ads?! Say it ain't so! Oh Damian Muziani...

ZOMG scary illegal immigrants...that are actually stock characters. C'mon guys. So generic. Put some imagination into your fear-mongering!

Anderson Cooper: "Now, before you get too outraged at Republicans for pulling stunts like this, you should know that Democrats do it, too, using bogus real people, casting ads like Sunday matinees, all the same kind of trickery." Jebus, Mary, and Joseph. How many times? How many times, people?! *deep breath* Once again Silver Fox, I actually believe you on this...but you can't just say balance-y crap without backing it up. Great examples for the Republicans. Can we please have one--just one--for the Democrats?

Our anchor later in discussion with Ed Rollins and Anita Dunn: "We should point out, I mean, Republicans do it, Democrats do it, that no one has a lock on this sort of thing. Special interest groups do it." The story is election 2010. You should be focused on the present when it comes to the ads. Otherwise, that means no party ever gets to improve.

We were then joined by Billy Nungesser to talk about the new report that doesn't cast the Obama administration in the best light when it comes to the oil spill. I'm happy for the update, but not sure how I feel about the guest. The 360 kids have allowed Nungesser to become this trusted source--friend of the show type person. Now there's a report out that in part criticizes him, and he's allowed to bash the feds, all the while dismissing what it says about the locals. This is one of those circumstances where I don't feel like I'm getting all of my 360 degrees.

From there we segue into a completely unrelated segment from CNN's new train wreck, Parker Spitzer. Oh, the desperation is palpable, people. Apparently they've resorted to making other shows pimp this hot mess out. Given that it literally caused me to switch channels, great programming decision!

During my time over at MSNBC, I sadly missed all of the bullying coverage regarding Phoebe Prince. Below is the discussion with Rachel Simmons, Larry Hackett, and Sunny Hostin.

I missed a lot of the Tiffany Hartley coverage as well (and don't see the video online yet). We had a Gary Tuchman piece (Gary on a boat!), and then Anderson had an interview with Hartley herself. I've been somewhat purposefully avoiding this story because I don't want to make any sort of judgment until more is known. If I start doubting Hartley, I'm going to feel pretty terrible if Mexican pirates really did kill her husband.

For the "shot" tonight, Bristol Palin has a music video! Well, now my life is complete. Our anchor: "She wasn't the first in the party. We should point out a few days ago, we showed you this R&B music video co-starring her baby's daddy, Levi Johnston, canoodling with singer Brittany Senser." As my brain is having a seizure from the wrongness of what just came out of his mouth, he follows up with: "I'm using one of those Maury Povich terms, baby's daddy." Anderson Cooper, I am saddened/amused you know these references.

That'll do it for me. The show was okay, though as noted, I missed some stuff. I guess Anderson is just destined to drive me crazy re equivalencies. Good thing he's ~~so cute~~ such a good reporter.