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

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.
  

I Guess Delaware Is The Only State Holding An Election In November

Hi everybody. Do you find my headline cutting? It's not that focusing on Christine O'Donnell is bad, but the media is doing that whole swarm/tunnel-vision thing. Again. Perspective, people. As for the show, I kinda feel like I watched it already--last night. Also? Anderson Cooper somewhat annoyed me. I guess consider yourself warned. On to the bullet points!

• We begin with the quest to try to keep Christine O'Donnell honest, which is a bit thwarted by the fact that she won't talk to anyone--well, anyone besides Fox News (shocking!).

• Anderson: "Now, there are plenty of liberal media outlets out there that probably want Christine O'Donnell to fail, but I just want to make it very clear, I'm not one of them. We're not trying to beat up on Christine O'Donnell." Sweetie? Nobody cares. I don't understand why he keeps making these defensive statements. People who think he's biased are not going to be swayed by...him saying he's not biased. (I'm not even going to touch on his huge-ass assumption, because quite frankly I'm just too tired of this.)

• Our anchor: "I'm not making a big deal out of 11-year-old witchcraft comments or the stuff she said about touching yourself years ago." This literally made me do a spit-take. Unbelievable absurdity delivered with such serious earnestness. Only in America.

• Gary Tuchman is clearly not having fun anymore, thank you very much. In fact, I think he would very much like to stop chasing after candidates who refuse to talk to him. About that Sean Hannity interview that O'Donnell did? Says Gary, "Well, it is a delicious irony that she went on the national media to say she didn't want to talk to the national media." Oh, snap. Sing it!

• Our intrepid correspondent then takes the Hannity appearance and lays down a fact-check. Booyah.

• Oh, is it panel time already? Tonight's pontificators include Erick Erickson, John Avlon, and John Ridley. Joy.

• Anderson: "I think bias is something that certainly I'm obsessed with and try to eradicate it, to the extent that it's possible." Um, being 'obsessed' with bias makes you a ping pong ball--paddled back and forth by whoever is screaming loudest at the moment (hint: usually conservatives). Silver Fox, if you keep bending backwards you're going to slip a disc. I've said on this blog on more than one occasion that I don't think this show has a partisan bias, but do I think they sometimes overreact to criticism and swing towards the conservative viewpoint? Absolutely. Absolutely. (I touched on this significantly during the Sherrod debacle.) Call it liberal guilt. I'm not even presuming that they are liberals, but they know damn well that's how they're perceived by conservatives. Sometimes I wish they'd stop navel-gazing, tell all their accusers to go screw themselves, and just do their jobs to the best of their ability.

• Erickson: "But the humor here and the irony is that the media now and even Republicans are so focused on Christine O'Donnell, they're not focusing anymore on Sharron Angle or Ken Buck or Rand Paul or Linda McMahon or any of these other candidates, all of whom are breathing a sigh of relief." I'm not sure there's humor or irony, but Erick's point ties in with the title of this blog post. Agreeing with Erickson? Now I feel scared inside and want to go home.

• Melanie Sloan, the corruption-slaying ninja, returned because the O'Donnell camp is accusing her of libel. Also, CREW is apparently a liberal group (pay no mind to the Republicans they go after!) and funded by the devil himself, George Soros. Not George Soros! Boogity boogity boo! They might take away my commie pinko card for this, but I don't really know anything about Soros, other than the fact that conservatives are seemingly petrified of him.

• Okay, having Melanie respond to the libel charge seems legitimate. I don't, however, understand why our anchor continuously night after night makes her justify her group's nonpartisan credentials. It's getting annoying. We're past devil's advocacy at this point. Anderson, if you don't believe her, do your own investigation (and stop letting yourself be pushed around by conservatives). Just remember you're pretty much in the same boat.
  

• As for why CREW is going after O'Donnell now, um, the same reason all the news orgs are investigating her now. She won the nomination and could become senator. It's not like CREW has unlimited resources to throw at every nobody who isn't going anywhere. Just like the news, they go after the big fish.

• Good fact-check from Tom Foreman on Chris Coons (unfortunately name, no?).

• MORE panel? Good lord.
  

• Anderson on Sarah Palin: "You've got to give her props, whether you like her or not, and you know, the country is clearly divided on her. But she really took a gamble on the people that she backed. It wasn't like she was kind of waiting to see which way the wind blew. She reached out, picked up some people and really elevated them." Um, no, we do not have to "give her props." Exactly how is she taking a gamble? She's not running for anything right now. She doesn't hold an office anymore. If people in punditry-land actually got fired for being wrong, none of them would have jobs.

• Tonight was part two of Sanjay Gupta's medical mystery series. Interesting stuff, and very sad.

• The "shot" tonight was fun with mascots, but I think I'm going to skip that and instead present you OK Go's latest bit of awesomeness. Just watch:

• The show was okay. Too much panel! And Anderson's being weird with the bias stuff. And they need to spread out from just O'Donnell. But other than THAT...heh. It's strange, they finally do seem to be moving towards more fact-checking and less "balance," but now they're in this weird phase where they're always trying to justify their jobs. It's gonna be okay, guys. Do your jobs well; do your jobs objectively--screw everyone else. Yes, that includes me.
  

Double, Double Toil And Trouble: More On Christine O'Donnell

Hi peoples! It's a new week, and new people to be kept honest. Well, actually, sorta the same people. But anyhoo, let's do this thing:

• I thought Tea Partiers were supposed to be the so-called Real Americans, with the values and the non corruption. Not so for Christine O'Donnell, apparently. Corruption? Check. Values? Did we mention she might be a witch!? It seems it's okay by her to dabble in witchcraft, but not to dabble yourself. Ahem!

• I actually couldn't care less about the witchcraft thing. She's right, she was in high school. So what? Bigger fish to fry. Thankfully, despite playing witch-related video (required?), the 360 kids seem to be on my page here. Says Anderson Cooper: "Well, we're not focusing tonight on the witchcraft. We're focusing on her finances."

• Getting to the bottom of those finances is our own intrepid Gary Tuchman and team. He explains a mess of stuff that I don't have time to blog, but you can watch in the video below. Having had more doors either literally or metaphorically shut on him than he can probably count (it's true, I've seen it!), Gary has a strategy: one little specific question for O'Donnell. How'd that go? Fail! It's a blameless fail on Team Gary's part though. And good on him for letting her know that she did not in fact already answer that question.
  

• Anderson: "So, Gary, the question -- by the way, you were not rude. You were respectful." Nobody said he was rude. What's with the push polling, Silver Fox? Gary is never rude.

• Love Melanie Sloan of CREW. She slays corruption like a ninja. Yes, a nonpartisan ninja.
  

• Tonight's contestants of the latest mind-numbing panel are Eliot Spitzer (gotta get him out there!), Dana Loesch, and Joe Johns. Dana is a particularly bitter pill for me to swallow. It's like, hey look, someone from St. Louis on the national teevee station. And then she opens her mouth and it's like, oh, yay?

• Case in point of why panels are useless: Spitzer and Loesch arguing about the Patients' Choice Act. Obviously one of them is right. Which one, I do not know--hence the pointlessness. If 360 really wanted to keep 'em honest, they'd fact-check this tomorrow.
  

• CNN keeps playing that clip of the town hall attendee who's tired of defending Obama, but they never show Obama's reply! Twice I witnessed this today. I guess I have to use the Google. Ridiculous. I don't care what the panel has to say about it, CNN.

• At least Dana admitted it's fair that O'Donnell is getting media focus.
  

• Good on Anderson for challenging Dana about CREW, but really, he shouldn't care what she thinks. CREW is a non partisan group. Period. Plus, they're not really a new group. Hell, I remember them dogging John Murtha for years (he's since passed, FYI). Anyone who thinks they have an agenda is looking at things through a partisan lens.

• Tom Foreman's fact-check was a little better this time. But WTF with that font? Guys, I know you're trying to be entertaining, but at least make sure it remains easily readable, mmkay?
  

• Sanjay Gupta has an interesting new series this week on an undiagnosed disease program at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. I hope Sally and Kiley get their happy ending.
  

• For the "shot," parrot dance-off! Want to hear something really pathetic? I actually own that Haddaway CD (it's somewhere). But! It's not because I like that song. It's because I like the song "Shout" by Tears For Fears, and I thought the "Shout" on that CD was the "Shout" I was looking for. So, yeah. Shut up. I was like 14. I'm a more informed music-purchaser now.
  

• The show was pretty good. I will basically always hate the panel. About this whole Christine O'Donnell thing? I really like that they're keeping her honest and all, but, um, everyone realizes there's a bunch of other races, right? Let's not get bogged down with the shiny ones. That'll do it.
  

Sorting Through The Candidacy Of Christine O'Donnell And Interview With Carl Paladino

Hello! I guess you've gathered I've hit a small blogging malaise this week. It's the punditry, people. Too much. Too much! Anyway. Tonight I also watched a ballgame, so while the bullet points will be awesome as always, they will not be all encompassing. Away we go:

• Move over Sarah Palin, there's a new kinda-crazy right-wing chick in town. Yes, the country--or at least the beltway/media--have themselves Christine O'Donnell fever.
  

• Unfortunately, she doesn't seem too keen on answering any real questions, which as Anderson Cooper notes, is not all that unique these days. In setting up this narrative, he manages to push one of my pet peeve buttons, and oh, he pushes it hard! "But now the advice to candidates is only to talk to sympathetic reporters, either on the left or the right, depending on your politics." Okay Silver Fox, follow me to the next bullet point, because obviously we need to have "the talk." Again.

• Anderson Hays Cooper! (That's right, I looked it up.) What is with you and the false equivalency with no examples? Argh! Look, there are a lot of Congresscritters, and I'm not actually trying to claim that none of the lefties shun the hard questions. But show your work, yo. Jan Brewer, Sharron Angle, Sarah Palin, and now Christine O'Donnell. Good examples for the right. Where are your examples for the left? You can't just throw out balance-y statements because you want to sound middle of the road. You're a better reporter than that. Act like it.

• That radio interview O'Donnell did with Dan Gaffney was kinda amazing.

• Team Gary (poor Team Gary) was on the O'Donnell case for us from Delaware. It's not just giggles over masturbation beliefs, people. Oh no, this woman is going to keep the reporters busy. It seems O'Donnell might be in a little campaign finance trouble, and Gary has the checks that tell the tale. Basically, she charged a bunch of not-campaign stuff to her campaign, including, um, rent. Meanwhile, our intrepid correspondent and team (hi Ish!) have been trying to get the candidate's side of story. Gee, can you guess how that's going? Can ya? Yeah...bupkis.
  

• Interestingly, the Delaware Republican Party is being pretty wish-washy about their O'Donnell support. Actually, they're not even commenting. Feel the love. And if this all wasn't enough for you, there's the odd tidbit that O'Donnell plays like she's George Washington (I cannot tell a lie), but apparently is very much capable of telling lies--and has. For example, being a college graduate? Yeah, not so much. So...there you go!

• This bullet point goes out to my fellow progressives. Hey everybody! Look, I know this whole O'Donnell thing seems like a big frickin' shiny unicorn gift from baby Jesus himself, but um,...let's not screw this up, mmmkay? Yes, she's crazy. I know she's crazy; you know she's crazy. Thing is, the more we call her that, the more the tea party people are going to get riled up to vote for her. And if we fill Congress with right-wing fringe, I'm moving to Canada. Don't make me move to Canada, people. I don't do well with cold. (I like your health care tho!)
  

• Panel time! Roland Martin, Ari Fleischer, David Gergen. Gary, come back! Don't leave me with these people!

• Fleischer: "I think there's also a strong sense at the conservative base of the party that when these things happen to conservatives, particularly women candidates, Sarah Palin and now Christine O'Donnell, there is a piling-on factor that doesn't similarly happen when there are candidates on the other side of the aisle." Oh, I am playing my tiny violin for them. Please. At this point, I wanted our anchor to be like, "excuse me? I've been covering the hell out of Eddie Bernice Johnson, thank you very much," but alas, he said nothing.
  

• Bring us home, Gerg! "You know, [Ari] talks about flaws. These are not flaws. These are fundamental issues. This is a candidate who has had trouble with money, trouble with jobs, trouble with the truth. And those are pretty fundamental to any candidacy."
  

• Anderson on Ari bringing up Chris Coons' college paper: "But, Ari, is something one wrote in college -- I mean, if we're all held to that standard, I can't even remember what I wrote in college, but I certainly didn't describe myself as a Marxist or anything..." Wait, you weren't born with opinionless sleeves?

• Our anchor: "It seems to me every year, or every few years, we learn this lesson in TV land, that pundits --no offense to you guys -- don't get it right." Um, duh? I for one don't need to learn the lesson over and over. I got it the first time, thanks. Why we continue to be subjected to these panels (besides them being cheap and easy time-fillers), I do not know. Anderson's always saying he doesn't think people want to hear the opinions of a blow-dried anchor. Why in the world would he think we do want to hear them from blow-dried pundits? Oh, they have expertise? Well, if someone can explain to me just what knowledge I'm supposed to be gaining from Erick Erickson, you win the prize.
  

• Anderson had an interview with New York gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino who is making headlines for, among other things, sending out a campaign mailer that smells like garbage. Because if there's one thing I like more than getting crap in the mail I never wanted, it's getting crap that literally smells.
  

• The interview itself was just...wow. Another crazy. It feels like they're breeding like gnats. Anderson did some nice pressing in regards to the offensive emails.
  

• Anderson: "I appreciate your time. I'd like to go over a lot more issues. I hope to have you on the program again. I appreciate you coming on. Early in the program we talked about, you know, many politicians these days not wanting to come on programs where they feel they may be challenged. I appreciate you coming on and answering questions and we'd love to have you on again." Ha. He's so never coming back. Interview below:

• That'll about do it for me. I'm happy to see Isha Sesay is still with us most nights. I loved her " this is what happens when I let you out of my sight," in reference to the Silver Fox becoming a human domino. You gotta keep him out of trouble for us, Isha! It's a big job.
  

• The show was okay. Yeah, you know which part I didn't like (panel!). There's no point, and it makes the broadcast feel too overdone with politics. Let's keep it fact-y!

• Bonus bullet point! Check out part one of Australia TV's awesome Michael Ware special.
  

Tea Party-Backed Candidate Christine O'Donnell Wins Delaware Republican Senate Primary, Progressives Do Happy-Dance

Well! What do we have here? It's been quite a primary night in the good ol' U. S. of A. Delaware voters took to the polls, and given the choice between an establishment Republican and a crazy chick, they decided, yeah, we're gonna try out the really crazy model this time. And it warmed pundit hearts all across the land. Why? Upset, baby! A shiny new awesome narrative of which to pontificate.

So much lollers going on here, people. The tea partiers are all, "yay!!!!" But those cynical Republicans who exploited them as a means to attack Obama are now realizing this monster they've created is alive and has a mind of its own. Karl Rove is attacking O'Donnell. Michelle Malkin is attacking Karl Rove. Meanwhile, progressives, who have been hearing a heavy dose of "dems in disarray" talk from the beltway class, are all, "ha ha ha! Best night ever!"

So what does it mean for November? No one knows for sure, and anyone claiming to is lying. For now, let us ponder the fact that Delaware Republicans just nominated a woman who is adamantly opposed to...masturbation. That's right, people. No more dancing with yourselves. Cyndi Lauper, you're on notice. (You'll go blind!)

I love how after Paul Begala skirted around the issue tonight, Anderson Cooper was just like, oh for the love of...: "She was against masturbation. I will say it." The Silver Fox has no patience for your childish sensitivities, people. Aw, remember how they used to do the sex segments and he could barely get through them without blushing and epic stuttering? All grown up and cynical.

Anyhoo, there's really not all that much for me to say here. I didn't blog last night because I was tired, and frankly the show was crappy. Tonight I left my TV on during AC360's hour. If I wasn't able to entertain myself with Twitter, I wouldn't have even watched that much. I find most of the punditry excruciating (especially Erick Erickson who just needs to...not exist). Hopefully we're not going to be panelopalooza between now and November, because I am sooo not coming along for that ride.

Also? I'm pretty disappointed with the little "fact-checks" Tom Foreman is doing on the candidate ads, which are barely fact-checks at all. Talk about half-assing it. According to Tom, they didn't "have time to go through every point," yet they sure did find time to give John Dennis some free publicity. Funny how that works. Well kids, there's always tomorrow.