The Patients Are Running The Asylum

Hi everyone. I have a question for you guys. I'm not always able to keep up with all the goings-on with the world. I have that job thing, and every once in a while I even stumble upon having a life. So, I'm wondering if perhaps while I was focused on one of these other endeavors, I maybe failed to notice us being sucked into a parallel universe where everyone is insane. Anyone remember this happening? Because it's definitely feeling Twilight Zone-y up in here.

Where does one even begin with this Terry Jones Koran-burning mess? I literally only left my house for about two hours today, came back, and it's like, KABOOM! Explosion of craziness all over my Twitter feed. The Secretary of Defense of the United States actually called this crackpot, which, you know, fabulous! I think it would be super-cool to talk to a cabinet member. Maybe I should go stand on the corner and rant. Clinton, call me!

Jones initially said he would stop the burning, but apparently only because suddenly the Cordoba House Community Center was being moved. Except, um, it wasn't, and Imam Rauf pretty much didn't know what Jones was talking about. Meanwhile, I'm sitting here wondering how the hell these two very different things suddenly got all meshed up in this weird pseudo-negotiation. Yes, please, let's make this seem like some crazy epic battle between Christians and Muslims. That makes this so much better!

By the time I learned that Donald Trump was offering to buy out the site's investor, all I had the energy to do was throw up my hands and say, "oh for fuck's sake." I mean, really? REALLY? Well, why not? Welcome to the circus. Everybody participates! What. Is. Happening? It's September. The Summer O' Crazy is supposed to be ovah! Yet here we are. Since 9-11 I've had days where I've wondered if we might be doing absolutely everything wrong. This is one of those days. Ted Koppel actually had a great piece in the Washington Post related to that notion, and I'd encourage you all to give it a read.

As for the media, I see we've finally hit that lovely meta period where they all earnestly have themselves a ponder about their role in this mess. Mind you, this is after they've done all the damage. While it's true that General Petraeus's remarks--brought about by Brian Williams--and the White House's subsequent involvement blew this story up, this is for the most part a media-created monster. The crackpot pastor has less followers in his congregation than I have on Twitter. At this point I'm pretty disgusted with everyone involved. If you'd like to hear this sentiment with more obscenity, allow me to introduce you to John Cole.

With regards to the 360 kids, ugh, what can I say? They decided to join the circus for a little longer. Fine, yes, briefly give us the facts of what went down today, even do the interview with Imam Musri if you must. But there is no need to "continue the conversation." What's funny (in a non funny way) is that Anderson Cooper tells us they had this epic debate about the coverage, and yet here we still are, continuing the conversation.

Our anchor also seemed to try to defend CNN, claiming that it really wasn't until the Petraeus statement that the network gave the crackpot any significant coverage. This, of course, is wrong. While it's true that 360 didn't really get mixed up in this until recently, Rick Sanchez interviewed Jones way back at the end of July. In fact, this article implies that the appearance was a pretty big deal, no doubt further elevating Jones' notoriety. Perhaps, like many of us, Anderson would like to forget Sanchez's existence.

Thank you, 360, for having a practicing Muslim on the panel this time. Maybe next time you could have one that doesn't belong to what is essentially a right-wing lobby group. American Islamic Forum for Democracy? That name just screams, "THIS IS PROBABLY NOT EXACTLY WHAT IT SOUNDS LIKE." We've stumbled upon one of the things that annoys me about the news. Having Zuhdi Jasser on? No problem with that.

But people shouldn't get to be introduced context-free by whatever patriotic-y family-friendly name they give their front group (think Focus on the Family). I'm not saying I have a way to fix this (booking needs a major overhaul). All I know is that if I'm ever a guest on the teevee, I'm totally going on as a member of the Orphan-Saving Puppy-Raising Candy-Makers Association.

There was more to the show, and other topics were covered, but honestly? Meh. I knew this was going to happen. I knew as soon as I said it seemed like the show had been improving of late, we were going to take a nosedive. The 360 kids certainly haven't been the worst offenders, but these past two nights have not exactly been shining moments. Let's hope that tomorrow they go back to that new-found factiness I was loving so much.

Thoughts go out to the people in San Bruno.

Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf Speaks Out And AC360 Makes Me Ponder Whether Or Not We're Devolving As A Nation

Duuuudes. What was THAT?! Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. I watched the interview with Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf and thought it was quite good. Soledad O'Brien was appropriately tough and Rauf explained himself well. It was thought-provoking television. So I was feeling pretty good news-wise when it came time to hang with the 360 kids. Sure, it gave me pause to learn from Anderson Cooper that they would be spending the whole hour on the topic (which can often be translated as "this will not end well"), but I didn't let it get me down.

I wasn't even too bothered when I saw Andy Sullivan there. Again. After all, we had Fareed Zakaria, and he's like a bottomless bucket of reasonable awesomesauce. So I remained in "this is all good" mode. And initially, it seemed like maybe it was all good. Yeah, we were smacked with some Crazy right off the bat (a "veiled threat"? WTF?), but it was countered with rationality, and my God the patience of Bruce Feiler (someone give that man a medal!).

But then it just kept going on and on, and suddenly we were like in this wurlitzer of sadness and irrationality, and there was show-pimping, and loudness, and Jesus Christ did Cliff May suggest we tier religions by floor?!! By the time it was all over, even the mere thought of bullet-pointing out this hot mess left me wanting to alternately curl into the fetal position and flail in front of my TV saying, "I can't even! I can't even!"

*DEEP BREATH*

So. That's where I am about now. How are you kids doing? Obviously, our friends at 360 can't be blamed for other people's craziness, but much of this hour probably could have been better. First of all, hey, you know how this whole thing is about moderate practicing Muslims? Maybe we could have heard from some of them. Or even, you know, one. Best I can tell, Fareed is pretty secular.

With polls indicating so many people opposed to Cordoba House, you would think that our teevee friends could find some individuals who, you know, aren't so nutty. Anderson indicated that Andy Sullivan and Rosaleen Tallon didn't strike him as extremist. In regards to Rosaleen, I don't know enough about her to make any kind of judgment. I'm very sorry she lost her brother and I do feel she has the absolute right to speak out against this center on sensitivity grounds. I don't, however, think her grief gives her a license to be irrational. Some of the things she said tonight just did not make sense.

Andy is another story. If he doesn't strike Anderson as extremist it's because our anchor didn't read his blog. I did. I'm a glutton for punishment I guess. But I also really did want to understand where this guy is coming from. Well, now I know. And I wish I didn't. He's actually not unique at all. We know the drill: tea-partier, Glenn Beck rallier, extremely anti-Obama (we're talking POTUS-photoshopped-as-a-terrorist territory here, people), anti-Muslim, grumblings about immigration, affiliations with far right-wingers like Pam Geller, posts signifying birtherism, all the bases are covered. I especially love the fact that his blog gets a CNN shout out when I'm pretty sure some of his posts are literally copy-and-pastes of those fact-averse email forwards you might receive from your crazy uncle Joe.

As for Kathleen Parker and Elliot Spitzer, yeah, I know they pretty much had to have them on, so this isn't really the 360 kids fault, but it felt so forced and tacky. Look how the new hosts tackle this important issue together! Aren't you excited to watch their show?! Yeah. The answer to that would be a no. Hell, even the Silver Fox had to work for like a year to win my love. I'm thinking flop, but hey, never say never.

Anyhoo! Thank God for Isha Sesay, whose appearance at the end there cleaned a little bit of the preceding mess out of my brain. Mercy!

Oh, I almost forgot, Tom Foreman did do a brief fact-check on some of the stuff floating around the interwebs (and apparently Andy's head) about Rauf, so good for that.