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

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.
  

Harry Reid's Controversial Remarks About Obama, Other 2008 Campaign Scoop, And More News From Yemen

Hi everyone. Happy New Week! This is going to be another one of those short posts. It may be 2010, but we're going to spend the majority of this broadcast in the warm afterglow of the 2008 campaign season. Political junkies' hearts are currently a-flutter over a new book called "Game Change," which has the chattering class, well, chattering over all kinds of juicy little nuggets involving our favorite and not-so-favorite political figures.

Will I be buying this book? In a word? No. Don't get me wrong, I AM one of those political junkies, and anyone who watched Anderson Cooper's 60 Minutes piece knows there's some serious Sarah Palin schadenfreude thrown in there, but as a rule I tend to avoid these kind of beltway reads.

Though they surely contain truths, the truth is a different animal. Let's cut the crap here; this is a book of political gossip, anonymously sourced from people that have agendas, as well as written by people that have agendas. I think Glenn Greenwald breaks the situation down quite nicely. When it comes down to it, I simply don't believe that Mark Halperin and John Heilemann have produced something that deserves my money.

We're kicking things off with the revelation that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid thought Obama would succeed as president due to his "light-skinned appearance" and "no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one." Ruh roh. Yeah, cracking open a couple of brews at the White House isn't going to solve this one. Republican hypocritical outrage is 3...2...1...

We're first joined by Bill Bennett and James Carville, who each play their partisan roles as one might expect. James calls the comment "inelegant," while Bill gets all puffed up about the situation, demanding to know "Who the heck talks like this anymore?" Um, lots of people in your party?

Then we're on to Roland Martin, Soledad O'Brien, and Peter Beinart, who provide us a much better discussion. The whole double standard issue is brought up and you know what? The Republicans are absolutely right. If a Republican said what Reid said, everyone defending him now would be screaming for a resignation. But before you think I'm backing the Party of No, the opposite is true as well. They'd suddenly find their defense on. That's politics in 2010.

Funny thing is--or sad thing, actually--is that Reid is right. I definitely don't endorse the way he said it, but as the panel notes, we all know there's some truth there. I also think it should be pointed out that Reid wasn't making a personal comment. He was commenting on Obama's electability. So, should Reid resign over this? Um, no. Should he lose his re-election? That's up to the voters in Nevada. Anyway, good discussion. I like how they incorporated footage from the documentary "A Girl Like Me."

On now to Anderson interviewing "Game Change" authors Mark Halperin and John Heilemann. There's some interesting stuff about the Clintons here. It seems some people who were publicly endorsing Hillary were privately pulling for Obama because they thought she would be too polarizing. That's actually why I voted for Obama as well. That and the Bill factor, which apparently the Clinton people very much worried about too. Perhaps the biggest revelation is that Hillary wasn't going to accept the Secretary of State position. I'm glad she did.

Transitioning now to a Paula Newton piece on Anwar al-Awlaki, an American-born Muslim cleric hiding out in Yemen. Paula is able to talk to Anwar's father, who claims his son wrongly accused and an "all American boy." Mmhm. Not sure how well that's going to fly.

We're then joined by Peter Bergen for discussion. He gives us good info, as always, but I'm going to go slacker and just give you the funny. Says Peter: "Richard Reid, the so-called shoe bomber, it's sort of forgotten that he had a colleague called Sajib Badat who also was going to do a shoe bomb attack on an American airline, got a case, as it were, of cold feet." Ah, I see what you did there, Mr. Bergen. "Was that a pun? asks our anchor. "It was a bad one." says Peter. See, this is what happens when you let the analysts participate in the "shot." They get all cocky. By the way, Peter trying to be funny in of itself is kinda hilarious.

In other news, screw you Mark McGwire. Thanks for ruining a lot of memories. Also, Sarah Palin joins Fox News. Because nobody saw that coming a mile away.

I think I'm just going to wrap it up here. The show was really panel heavy. Really book heavy, actually. And it's not like they had an exclusive. It's everywhere. That's some mad marketing going on, huh? This is one of those times when I'm completely confused about 360's identity. If this show is geared toward political junkies, then they did an excellent job. Otherwise I think the focus was way too much. I mean, in essence this is all old news. It's not like campaign coverage where people need to be informed about the political goings-on. I'll be interested to see the ratings. That'll do it.