John Edwards Back In The News And Back In Trouble, A Request For Troops In Afghanistan, Garrido Is Weird, And Georgia Flooding

Hi everybody. We begin tonight by NOT being assaulted by the annoying "breaking news" graphic. I am pleased. Anyway! Anderson Cooper--Emmy winning--Anderson Cooper tells us "The New York Times," has some new scoop on John Edwards. Yeah, that guy. About 10 political scandals back. Think hard and I'm sure you'll remember.

Once upon a time there was a handsome politician who was a true progressive with a shot at the White House. Unfortunately for this politician, he had a rough go of it. His beloved wife's cancer returned, and his candidacy fizzled out. Then there were these weird whispers about an affair. It couldn't be true! Not this politician. Besides, the whispers came from a tabloid. So the establishment media stuck up their noses and the politician brushed it off and that was that.

Until there was a hotel confrontation...and pictures. And suddenly nobody was brushing anything off. Then of course there were the apologies and the Oprah heart-to-heart, but that baby? That other woman's baby? That was not his. Definitely not. Which brings us to where we are today. Because according to "The Times," oh yeah, Edwards is the baby daddy. At least that's what they report he's about to admit. Is there anyone out there who is shocked by this?

Apparently, this is all coming about because "The Times" obtained a book proposal from former Edwards' aide, Andrew Young, and I guess he's spilling his guts. Young claims Edwards asked him to claim paternity of Rielle Hunter's baby and he did. The aide has also written that Edwards promised Hunter that after Elizabeth died they'd get married in a NYC rooftop ceremony complete with Dave Matthews Band. Where to even begin? I mean, dude, why you gotta drag Dave into this?

Obviously the big issue here--besides Edwards clearly being a douchebag--is that Hunter just testified before a grand jury about the money she received from the Edwards campaign. You'll remember that she supposedly made videos for him and that's why she was paid. I guess we'll see how that all plays out. Also, throughout all of this, Anderson uses some version of the word "lie" a bunch of times. And I kinda love it. See? That didn't burn or anything, did it? More spade calling please. (Oh, Joe Johns was here live and I guess I kinda just wrote him out. Sorry Joe.)

Anderson tells us that they invited Edwards on the show, but he declined. So they got the next best guest. Um, scratch that, they had to go a little further down the list and what we end up with is someone tangentially connected to the story: Hunter's sorta friend, Pigeon O'Brien (yeah, I know). I say "sorta friend" because they haven't talked for a while, and Rielle doesn't even want her doing this. So, in terms of this interview, I think the question on the tip of everyone's tongue is, "um, why?" I don't know, people. I don't know.

Anyway, Pigeon knows the baby is Edwards' and we also get a weirdly long PR-type explanation of Hunter's campaign videos, which were apparently very "innovative" (before the Youtube, people!). But the real kicker is when Anderson asks her what they called Edwards. We get this tortured look from Pigeon and our anchor actually asks again. Because this is very important! The nickname? Lovelips. To the Silver Fox's credit, he does not react to this at all. Not even an amused blink.

So okay, I'm not really sure why that just happened. She was a good guest in that she was very articulate, but I'm not really buying her supposed motive that this is all about justice. I mean, the story is going to be in "The Times." I think there's a good chance people will hear about it. I smell an opportunist. Hopefully I'm wrong. Either way, pretty pointless interview.

For discussion of all this, we're joined by David Gergen and attorney Sunny Hostin. Anderson lays out everything Edwards has done and asks the Gerg if he's ever seen anything like this. Oh c'mon! We seem to see something like this every other month. But the fact that Edwards was a real presidential contender is a big point, which the Gerg expands on. It's a topic that I wrote about when the affair first broke. You can read about how Edwards went from "my guy" to DEAD. TO. ME. by clicking here.

Sunny gives us the legal low down and we learn that Edwards could actually go to prison if it turns out he was being as ethical with his campaign cash as he was with his marriage. Then Anderson disses Hunter's videos, which I only note because Pigeon just got done talking them up, so it's a little amusing. And finally the Gerg, dear sweet Gerg, tries to rationalize that Edwards' silence might partly be due to wanting to protect Elizabeth. Because he was thinking about her feelings so much before. I want to be un-cynical like the Gerg when I grow up. He always thinks the best of people.

Transitioning now to what in my opinion should have been up top: the leaked report from General Stanley McChrystal regarding the need for more troops in Afghanistan. Obama has already ordered 21,000, but they need more or the war effort could fail. They also need more trained Afghans. This leads us into a repeat Anderson piece from when they were in the country a couple of weeks ago. Scroll if you missed it.

Discussion time! We're joined by Peter Bergen, Michael Ware, and Rory Stewart of Harvard's Carr Center for Human Rights. I love Rory. He walked across Afghanistan all by himself in 2001. I mean, wow. Loyal--some might say obsessive--viewers will remember Rory from 360's Afghanistan trip three years ago. See? Rory does not support adding more troops because he doesn't think Americans will stomach 100,000 to 200,000 troops there indefinitely.

Peter notes that "the classic counter insurgency doctrine" requires about 600,000 soldiers and cops to control Afghanistan. Oh...we are screwed. As Peter says, "do the math." Yeah, we're no where near that. Anderson further bums us out by pointing out all the corruption in the Afghan government. Then we get to Michael, whose awesomeness sometimes leaves me speechless. Blunt honesty: "The government that doesn't exist. I mean, America is not going to win this war. Let's face facts. I mean, we're now at the point where we could lose this war," he says. Michael seems to advocate a kind of "Awakening" strategy, except with tribal forces.

Rory thinks everything needs to be reframed because actually doing this whole Afghanistan thing is going to require a significant amount of troops for 30 or 40 years, which would not be popular at all stateside. He thinks what is in the works right now really isn't going to change anything. Anderson then brings up how our troops really seem to be nation building and not hunting terrorists. This brings Peter to point out the big mismatch we currently have in our resources. We need civilians on the ground, but we mostly have marines, who aren't exactly trained for what they're doing right now.

The absence of Al Qaeda in Afghanistan is brought up as well and Michael again pushes that we need Afghans to fight. But of course Anderson points out that we went that way before with the Mujahideen and I think we all remember that didn't work out so hot for us in the long run. Rory doesn't think anything we're doing adds up. Well,...great. Speaking of greatness of the non sarcastic variety, that was an awesome panel discussion. Seriously, do I see an "Extreme Challenges" special in the future?

I caught Obama on Letterman tonight and having just watched this panel, it was quite interesting to hear him talk about how we need to defeat Al Qaeda in Afghanistan. Obviously this topic needs much much more discussion. In a perfect world, tomorrow 360 will play that Obama clip, followed by Michael Ware live to rip it apart. Then they'll have on someone from the Obama administration to respond, all the while Michael remains live. But alas, we don't live in a perfect world.

Moving on now to their new "Prime Suspect" series, which I pretty much couldn't care less about. In a Dan Simon piece, we learn that Philip Garrido had a black box that he thought tapped into the "other side." Or something. And ooh, we even get to see the box! It's black, in case you were wondering. So yeah, turns out Garrido is kinda kooky. I never would have guessed that about a kidnapper who held a woman and her two kids in his backyard for years.

On now to the horrible flooding in Georgia. David Mattingly is standing knee deep in the water and he tells us that they've had 12 inches of rain in 12 hours. At least five people are dead. It's a pretty bad situation and I would have thought it would rate above the Edwards thing, but guess not. Anyway, David tells us that authorities have cautioned people to stay away from the water. David is doing a good job with that, no? He then demonstrates the strength of the current by throwing a plastic bottle into the flooding. Dude, did you just litter? And you know that's not the first one he threw. Joking aside, I hope everyone stays safe.

The "shot" tonight is of Michael Jackson. Meh. They just can't let go, can they? I thought the show was pretty good. There was some ridiculousness with the Edwards story, but the Afghanistan coverage made up for it. I hope they stay on the story. That'll do it.

(Not) Live From Afghanistan Day Five And Political Fallout Of Joseph Wilson's Two-Word Cry

Hi everyone. We begin in the states with John King holding down the fort. He promises us future Anderson Cooper from Afghanistan, but those of us who have witnessed a 360 overseas field trip or two know that Friday is when they do their skedaddling, meaning any Silver Fox sightings will be taped. But that's cool. Guy has to fly sometime.

We begin with clips of 9-11 remembrances. It's hard to believe it's been eight years already. Harder to believe we're still at war with no end in sight. On that note, we next have a piece from Tom Foreman on the troop situation in Afghanistan. Defense Secretary Robert Gates is expected to ask for more, but there's not much public appetite for escalating the war, especially among Democrats.

Some, like Senate Arms Committee Chairman Carl Levin, think the solution to our problem is better training for the Afghans. But Tom, like, totally called smarty-pants Afghanistan-experty people, and they said, yeah, we're gonna need more troops. Still no one can seem to answer the question of "why Afghanistan?"

For discussion of all this, we're joined by Michael Ware and David Gergen. It's noted that Gates is sending in 3,000 troops in the short term, which Michael calls "a drop in the bucket," thus giving me deja vu. I swear I've heard this conversation before regarding Iraq. Speaking of that "other war," similar to the Iraq Awakening, Michael thinks the key to Afghanistan will be recruiting U.S. backed tribal militias to fight the Taliban. Whatever works, man. Why does it always take us so long to do this stuff?

The Gerg points out that this is a defining moment for Obama. It's all or nothing, baby. You can't compromise on troop levels. He's either going to have to end the war up ratchet things up. Do we see another address to Congress in the future? Who do we think will yell this time? (My money is totally on Bachmann.) As for the Afghans--you know, those people who have to actually live through all this stuff--they want us out. BUT they don't want us to leave before we fix everything. BUT they want it done fast. Um, okey dokey.

Transitioning now from serious politics to well, that whole Joe Wilson thing. Joe Johns tells us that he's become a little money making machine since he introduced the world to his stupidity. But the cash flows both ways. His Democratic challenger Rob Miller has raked in over a million bucks. Ka-ching! You gotta love politics.

The Democrats aren't going to let go of this puppy. They're threatening to punish Wilson with an admonishing resolution if he doesn't apologize on the House floor. Oh no, not a resolution! The guy won't even accept reality, he's going to be bothered by something meaningless? Joe seems to imply the shouter has already apologized enough, but doesn't note that the apology was forced by party leadership. I mean, Wilson's asking for money in almost the same breath he's saying he's sorry. Yeah, he's just torn up inside about what he did.

Let's just move on, shall we? Next up, we learn that McClatchy reporter Jonathan Landay was embedded with the four Marines who died earlier this week during the ambush in Kunar Province. Landay himself almost died and he narrates his experience while we're shown pictures of the attack. Apparently it was a trap and the reporter had to run for his life during the commotion. He also notes the bravery of the men, relaying that he witnessed one captain putting pressure on another man's wound with one hand, while calling in air support with the other hand. I'm glad they showed this. McClatchy reporting always kicks ass and the men deserve the recognition.

On now to a taped conversation with Anderson and Peter Bergen that hits on the changing mission in the country, which is something we've heard them focus on a lot this week. We know the drill--it's not about Al Qaeda anymore; it's about the population. Following this conversation, they again run Anderson's piece on Patrol Base Jaker from a couple days ago, and again fade out on that poor Marine.

We then transition to...a missing co-ed. I guess the 360 kids were starting to get the shakes with all this hard news and no crime coverage. I know, it's a little harsh. I absolutely think it's a good thing to put up her picture in case people see her, and I absolutely hope she's found safe, but did we need a whole package from Randi Kaye? There's a reason I watch 360 and not Nancy Grace.

Erica Hill then does the "360 Bulletin" and hangs for "Beat 360." Winner Terry's caption implies there are people fighting over being Erica's number 1 fan. "Terry from Atlanta, I heart you," says Ms. Hill. I like how she says "heart". Erica's just cool like that. "I thought I was Erica Hill's No. 1 fan," says John. "If you all want to duke it out, go for it. We'll see the results on Sunday on STATE OF THE UNION," she replies. Nice plug. What, no mention of the time?

The "shot" tonight is Anderson's reporter's notebook. These are always pretty visceral, so a recap really doesn't do it justice. I'll try to link when they have it up. In the meantime, you should give Anderson's latest blog post a read if you haven't already done so. It's more personal than his last one. It is clear he cares about the troops and what's happening in Afghanistan. This is something I've never doubted.

I have, however, repeatedly complained on this blog that sometimes his rhetoric (and others from the show) does not match what we the viewers see. The broadcasts from Afghanistan this week overall have been fantastic. I just wonder why it took so long to get significant coverage. I'm not talking about going to the country. I know Anderson has been trying for a period of at least a year to get there. But there's no reason he can't regularly cover the country from New York. In an interview with "The Baltimore Sun" earlier this week, Anderson said the following:

CNN is in the enviable position of actually increasing our foreign coverage. We have a full-time correspondent in Afghanistan. We have a bureau there. We're able to be there on a daily basis. ... And then, we're able to go in with coverage like this during the week of 9/11. This is what we do."

But is that really what they do? I'm assuming the full-time correspondent he is referring to is Atia Abawi and I'm pretty sure I have never seen a report from her on 360. In fact, I'm not sure I had even heard of her until I discovered her on Twitter (follow her here). I know that there is going to be a future political fight regarding troop levels, and I know 360 will cover that. But once the controversy fades, will their coverage as well? Because the troops will still be there.

Despite that criticism, I do very much appreciate their coverage this week. Going to Afghanistan is dangerous, hard, and expensive. And quite frankly, there's not much of a reward for CNN--the ratings have sucked. Now, that's not to say they wouldn't have sucked anyway, but it certainly would have been cheaper sucking. So you have to give it up to them for their commitment to an important story. I just hope that commitment remains once the moon dust washes off.

Finally, if you missed any of the reports this week, the blog is a great resource--lots of embedded videos. Plus there are posts of behind-the-scenes goings-on like this one from my producer crush, Charlie Moore. That's right, I said crush. It can't always be about the Silver Fox, people. Below I leave you with a pic from that post, taken by Tim Hetherington of Getty Images. It's kinda jarring to see Peter Bergen all chillax-ed out, isn't it? He just always seems so buttoned-up and, well, British. And then of course there's Mr. Cool in his shades. Because that's how he rolls. Happy weekend, everyone!

Live From Afghanistan Day Four And Representative Joseph Wilson Is A Massive Tool

Hi everyone. A slight change-up tonight: Anderson Cooper is coming at us from Marine Forward Operating Base Geronimo. He's also coming at us from THE FUTURE! In Afghanistan, it is currently the morning of September 11th. Eight years. It seems longer. It seems like yesterday. Anyway, Anderson does his whole update, previewing spiel of which we've grown accustomed. Actually, he cuts in and out like that throughout the first half of the show, but your blogger here doesn't feel like getting all detail-y, so our anchor's just going to have to cool his heels for a bit. Catch you later dude.

On to the politics! Ok, I think at this point everybody and their momma knows that South Carolina representative Joseph Wilson decided to play crazy town hall person during Barack Obama's address to Congress. The Republican's outburst of "you lie!" was rightfully met with an immediate "oh no he din't!" among the sane of the nation. In a Joe Johns piece, we get a clip of Wilson's apology. Well, that is, if you define "apology" as something the party leadership made him do.

In explaining the situation, Joe tells us that "President Obama made a debatable claim that illegal immigrants would not be insured in his health care reform plan." Um, debatable? No, not debatable. In fact, easily fact-checked. Wilson was WRONG. In Joe's defense, he later acknowledges this fact while talking to us live, which makes the line in the piece all the more troubling.

Another troubling aspect of this piece is that we're told Wilson lost his cool on C-SPAN when a Democrat claimed the US sold weapons to Iraq, but we're not told whether or not the Democrat was right. He (basically) was. Anyway, while the Republican leadership might have metaphorically sent Wilson to the corner, the crazy base is in full on support mode. They even have t-shirts. No, I'm not kidding. And I fully support the effort. I am always behind anything that makes the demonstrably stupid identifiable by sight alone.

Suddenly, Wolf Blitzer is on my television. Oh, what the hell? See, this is why I call him the Wolfbot. The guy is ALWAYS there. You can't tell me he's not a robot. Anyhoo! He's got himself a panel consisting of Candy Crowley, Roland Martin, and tea bagger--ahem--tea party organizer, Mark Williams. The Wolfbot asks Mark if he agrees with Wilson. Surprise, surprise, he does. According to him, Wilson "absolutely spoke the truth." Then he starts talking about court battles and how illegal immigrants already get covered and Obama can't stop that and blah blah.

So really, this has nothing to do with the bill. This is about being pissed off at the status quo, yet hating Obama, and wanting to destroy anything he proposes. Blitzer then throws this nonsense to Roland, instead of flat out telling Mark he's full of crap, which he is. This is one of CNN's biggest weaknesses. Not everything is a debate with equal sides. WILSON IS WRONG. Why is this so hard?

Pausing this ridiculousness, we're joined by Dana Bash who has the low down on the meeting Obama just had with 17 conservative Democratic senators. They're saying it sounds like Obama is willing to negotiate on the public option. No offense Dana, but please go away because you are making me sad.

Back to our panel, Mark has just been asked if he thinks John McCain is a liar as well, given that he agrees with the POTUS. Predictably, he dodges and changes the subject. What does he change it to? Socialism of course! Good lord. This is pretty much where I stop listening. But there is one more noteworthy exchange. Mark says there is nothing he likes about Obama's plan and Roland asks if that includes the provision to ensure coverage for people with pre-existing conditions.

Mark acts like he'll be able to find coverage no matter what, which indicates he doesn't know anything about this subject. "You're not going to find them, Mark. They're not going to cover you," says Roland. To which Mark replies, "Well, there is probably a good reason, because it's a bad risk." "Wow," says Roland. Exactly. I mean, seriously, wow. Probably a self-described Christian too. Roland then asks if he would still feel that way if his wife got sick. Mark tries to dodge and then goes with the lame excuse that in the private sector a company would form to take on high risk cases. Um...when? He realizes this already happens, right? What planet is this man from? I am so done with this.

Transitioning now to an Anderson piece in which he goes out on a joint patrol with the Marines and the Afghan National Army. Assisting the Afghans is rough going for the Marines. First of all, there are a limited number of interpreters (aren't you glad we kicked out all those evil gay linguists?!) and the Afghans, quite frankly, aren't up to Marine-level snuff. They go into villages that they know have Taliban, but the locals will deny it because trust is low.

Although one man they meet does give them info (and CNN thankfully blurs his face). Anderson asks him if he trusts the Marines and he says he does. Hey, I have a question: WHERE IS YOUR HELMET, SILVER FOX?! Ok, I'm better now. It's just that in that clip he was the only one (besides the locals) not wearing one. Later, we see some of the Marines with theirs off too and I don't feel quite as shouty. Also, there's a bit of excitement of the nail-biting variety when someone throws a flare and the Marines have to snap into action. (They find nothing.) Everything is scary in Afghanistan.

Moving on now to a taped discussion with Peter Bergen and Michael Ware regarding why we're even in the country. Many Americans no doubt think it's to hunt down Al Qaeda, but that's not really an issue. Peter notes, however, that the Taliban have adopted a lot of Al Qaeda's technique, IEDS being a major one. He seems to subscribe to the theory that if we leave, the Taliban could take over and once again harbor Al Qaeda.

Michael calls that a big assumption and sounds pretty skeptical about the whole premise. So...I still pretty much have no idea why we're there. If it is about fear of Al Qaeda organizing, why Afghanistan? They can set up shop in any unstable country (and have). Are we going to invade all of them? We really want to do Somalia again? And if it's not about Al Qaeda, then what is it about? Ok, so we're nation building. Why that nation and what do we want it to look like when we're done? The debate of Afghanistan has barely begun. Also? We still don't know where the frick Bin Laden is.

Next up, we have a Sanjay Gupta piece on little toddler, Malik, the boy who fell down a cliff and suffered a hematoma. As reported previously, Special Forces choppered him to a military hospital, where he underwent surgery to relieve pressure on his brain. Now he's improved enough to go home, but doing so is not an easy task. He lives in the remote mountains where a helicopter cannot land, so he is taken to a primitive clinic.

From there they will have to carry him home. Yes, carry. Malik's prognosis is good, but the docs are going to need to do some mountain climbing for home visits. It makes me proud that people from the U.S. would do that to provide a little Afghan boy with the health care he needs. It's also kinda ironic given the current debate in this country.

After Sanjay, Anderson is talking to us, but we can't hear him. They subsequently play b-roll and we hear an urgent whispered, "what's going on?" I don't know. What is going on? Sorry, 360, but sometimes you make your technical difficulties amusing.

The "shot" tonight is Anderson talking with some members of the 1st Battalion, 5th Marines. We hear from Zachary Bennett, Mark Scozer, Kyle Campbell, Shane Brandon, and Isabella the IED dog. Ok, we don't actually hear from her, but you get the drift. Stay safe guys.

The show was pretty good, though I'm sure you can tell I thought the political coverage was a tad lacking. Oh CNN, will you ever learn? Probably not.

Live From Afghanistan Day Three And Analysis Of Obama's Address To Congress Regarding Health Care Reform

Hi everyone. Anderson Cooper kicks things off from Patrol Base Jaker with a little sum up of the patrol he went on today. Then he shows us a shot of Michael Ware and Sanjay Gupta, before completely switching subjects to health care and throwing us back to the states, where we're suddenly looking at The Best Political Team on Television (TBPTOT). Hey guys, long time no see. So anyway, we're all over the place! I realize I'm probably the only loser out there actually taking notes of this broadcast, but a little less schizophrenia would make my job easier. Okey-dokey?

Also? Aw, our anchor is tired. How do I know? Well, because when he tells us that Barack Obama is taking "ownership" of health care reform, "ship" is not how he ends that word. This leads us into an "extended" clip of Obama's address tonight. I thought the speech was very good, but I would have liked to hear him say the public option is a must. Mandates with no accountability is just a massive giveaway to the insurance industry.

Following the clip, Anderson gives things over to John King (sans Magic Wall-gasp!) for some TBPTOT-wrangling. The snap polls are out already (they don't call them 'snap' for nothing, people!) and things look good for Obama. But Candy Crowley grabs the position of parade-rainer, reminding us that Bill Clinton saw similar numbers after his address. And we all know how that turned out. Plus the poll is only of those who watched the address.

David Gergen doubts any minds were really opened tonight and I'd probably have to agree. It's not like the death panel camp is going to be all, "we were so wrong!" Ed Rollins is skeptical about Obama's claims regarding paying for reform, and again, I don't hear anything to disagree with. I don't really believe that reform won't add to the deficit. The difference with me is that I don't care, or rather, I think health care reform is more important.

Jumping back to Afghanistan, Anderson intros another clip, this time of Obama correcting falsehoods. Then we're flung back to the studio with TBPTOT and Paul Begala talks about how the address actually shored up Democratic support. John King notes that Obama called the death camps a lie, actually using the word "lie." Isn't it awesome when someone calls a spade a spade? Our media should try it once in a while themselves.

Then the convo moves on to the big buzz of the night, which was South Carolina Congressman Joe Wilson screaming "you lie!" when Obama said his health care plan did not cover illegal immigrants. I mean, seriously, WTF? This isn't a town hall, dude. A few things: first, I don't think any of TBPTOT actually mention his name, which is weird. Second, oh my God, did you see Pelosi's face? I wasn't paying attention to her when I initially watched the speech, but that was some reaction. And it's probably hard for her to react to anything. I mean, I'm not saying Botox, but, uh,...yeah.

Later we learn that Wilson apologized, which is good, but he's still been branded one of the crazies of the Bachmann/Palin variety as far as I'm concerned. Oh, and in case you're wondering, according to David Gergen, no, Obama's statement was not a lie. We're then shown a clip of the Republican's rebuttal, given by Congressman Charles Boustany, who made such an impression that I had to go look up his name because I had already forgotten it by the time I sat down to blog. He's no Kenneth the Page.

Paul then talks a little bit about the bone Obama threw Republicans regarding malpractice reform and the political coverage wraps up with Tom Foreman, the poor sap charged with reading through the White House online forum. "In the end, there was plenty of talk about Nazis and socialism," he tells us. I'll bet. Just call "Godwin" and you win!

Anderson again. Again telling us what they will be showing us, which is basically what he's been doing every time we see him. C'mon guys. It's time to actually show us what you'll be showing us. Viewers are going to start to feel jerked around. Anyway, then we're off to Erica Hill with the day's headlines, one of which is the hijacking of that Mexican airliner. Good on them for just giving us the facts. Another night I could see endless segments of speculation. You regular viewers know what I'm talking about. One of their Achilles' heels.

Also? Ellen Degeneres on American Idol next season? I did not see that one coming. Erica takes the opportunity to do a little teasing of the Silver Fox: "I don't have any details on whether or not she will be judging some of the dancing portions. But, you know, maybe you could get in on that. Just a thought." Our non-dancing anchor has no comment.

On the way out to commercials, they're starting to show messages from the troops to back home. Sweet idea. A non sweet idea is the massive overplaying of their special Afghanistan graphic. Moderation kids. Try it. After some pics of illumination rounds being fired the night before, Anderson gives us some info about the raid performed by British commandos to rescue "New York Times" reporter Stephen Farrell and his translator.

Both were taken hostage on Saturday. Unfortunately the translator and a British commando were killed. Translators--or fixers--are sometimes treated as afterthoughts in the press. But they have names and they have stories. Meet Sultan Munadi. He just lost his life.

Moving on now to a Sanjay Gupta piece in which he tags along with an elite medical DUSTOFF crew--those charged with transporting a patient to the hospital. It's a tough job and the clock is always ticking because they only have an hour before the patient bleeds to death--the golden hour. The run Sanjay goes on is an effort to save two Afghan locals, who in the end will survive. The operation is led by Sergent Nate Dabney, father of three boys. It's sad he has to be away from them. Following Sanjay's piece, he gives us another update on the two-year-old we met on Monday. He's walking now (with assistance)!

Next up, we have a clip of Anderson in a vehicle in full on protective gear, including helmet. He explains that he's in the lead vehicle of a convoy on their way back from patrol. It's a slow dangerous process given that they're returning on the same road they used originally. Taliban could be waiting for them. In fact, we're later told that a short time after this clip was filmed, an IED was exploded on that very road. Man, the 360 kids are a lucky bunch. Let's hope they stay that way.

In a subsequent Anderson piece, he gives us a tour of Patrol Base Jaker, which houses about 50 marines at any given time. It is a place that can get to 120 degrees and the only AC around is the guy we're looking at. Food is all MRE's, which come with a bonus side of moon dust, the stuff that coats everything. Entertainment consists of working out with old weights and if you want to golf? Well, welcome to world's biggest sand trap.

As for the bathroom facilities, Anderson points us to a pipe sticking out of the ground without further explanation. "Well, it's obvious what the pipes are for," he says. Oh my. There are also four communal toilets for, uh, the other. Speaking of which, Anderson also talks with Lance Corporal James Steven whose has the lovely job of burning shit. And yes, I mean that literally. What does he think of his position? "It stinks." You don't say.

At the end of the piece we start to hear from another Marine about what he likes about the base, but they totally cut it off. WTF, guys? So we bounce back and forth between the states and Afghanistan a bunch of times just so Anderson can keep summing up the same info, yet you can't show us the whole piece? I feel bad for the guy that got cut off.

Next up, Peter Bergen explains that we got into this mess that we're in because we tried to fight the war on the cheap. Hm, that sounds familiar. Sigh.

Our final piece of the night is from Michael Ware. He travels to Kandahar, birth place of the Taliban and Michael's home before he moved to Iraq. The whole city is anxious because the Taliban are once again a big presence, which wasn't the case a few years ago. It turns out that Michael is friends with Ahmed Wali Karzai. Yes Karzai, as in brother of Hamid. Man, that Aussie knows everybody. Ahmed is now the leader of the family's tribe. I'm not really familiar with the tribe thing. There's a future piece for you, 360. Anyway, Michael also shows us the aftermath of a bomb blast and it's all pretty depressing.

To leave us with something lighter, the "shot" tonight is Sanjay's quarters and video of him sleeping. We see a snippet of it during a preview, but when it comes time for the actual clip, um, I don't see Sanjay. Did I blink? So...not really sure what happened there. Anderson tells us Sanjay doesn't even know they have the video. Didn't they once show video of him falling too (during Planet in Peril I think)? Boys are so mean.

The show was really good again, though I felt like there was a lot of wasted time tonight regarding teases. But given that they had less than an hour after Obama's speech ended before going live, you can't really fault them too much for rough edges. Keep it up, 360!

Live From Afghanistan Day Two And Domestic Politics

Hi everyone. Anderson Cooper is once again coming at us from Patrol Base Jaker and he updates us on what is turning out to be a craptastic day in Afghanistan. Four Marines were killed on patrol and there was a suicide attack at the airport in Kabul. Also, NATO is admitting that civilians were killed in Friday's bombing and America's General Stanley McChrystal is launching an investigation.

Oh, and no more booze at the command post in Kabul. Why? Well, apparently (though not independently confirmed by CNN) McChrystal's underlings couldn't even answer his questions following the bombing because they were too drunk and/or hungover. Um, what? Anderson then starts intro-ing all the contributors he'll be talking with, but I pretty much miss all the names after he notes that Michael Ware had a close call with a roadside bomb. Um, WHAT?!

We move on to a conversation with Peter Bergen and Candy Crowley. Anderson and Peter talk about the amazing PR disaster of forces being wasted after killing people with airstrikes. "This is a war zone. You shouldn't be drinking," says Peter. You think?

Candy then hits us with the political angle: Afghanistan, I'm afraid the American people just aren't that into you. Thing is though, as Anderson points out, the strategy at this point is looking suspiciously like nation building and well, you need a significant amount of troops for that. In other words, political clusterfuck ahead. It'll match the real one already going on in the country.

So, our president is in a bit of a pickle, especially seeing as though most of the opposition to the war is coming from his own side. Good American that I am, I'd like to help our commander in chief out with a little useful advice: don't lie. Don't manipulate intelligence to support your agenda. Don't hire a PR firm to sell your war--and it is your war now--by manipulating language and plastering the word "victory" everywhere because their focus groups told them people like that. Don't hide behind the troops. Do. Not. Lie. Because we'll know.

Next up, we have a piece from Michael Ware, who if he was a cat, would probably be on his frickin eighth life by now. Michael travels to Kandahar and hooks up with his police chief friend, Mullah Gul Akund, who he hasn't seen in six years. And aw, he's so excited. Given that the guy has been a target of the Taliban for eight years, it's amazing he's even still alive. Michael then goes on patrol with him. In the dead of night. Oh Michael, why you gotta cause a blogger so much stress?

So they're driving and we hear that they're about to enter "the most dangerous place." Oh excellent. And then...kaboom! IED. Michael and the other occupants of the car are okay. According to our crazy Aussie, it detonated a "heartbeat" too soon. Thank God for heartbeats. And thank God for fearless journalists, even if this one is currently giving me an ulcer.

Following Michael's piece, he joins us live and talks a bit about the political limbo Afghanistan finds themselves in due to the apparent election corruption. He tells us the election is a blow to the US, the whole war plan is up in the air, and we don't have enough troops. I think what I love most about Michael is his optimism. Kidding. We need all the realism we can get.

Coming back from commercial, we see a picture of, well, sand. But we hear Anderson talking and then the camera very slowly pans over to him. I know I'm not the only one who began unconsciously motioning with my arm to move the camera. You know, since we can all control shot angles from our living rooms. Just me? Anyway, I guess that was an oops because, um, not really the right time to be getting all artistic with the camera work. Wow, what an irrelevant paragraph I have just typed.

Transitioning now to some domestic politics. Our prez is giving his big address to the joint session of Congress on Wednesday and today he met with Democratic leaders to synchronize their watches. Or something. Ed Henry joins us with the low down. When it comes to the public option, Speaker Pelosi will fight all the way for it, Hoyer (number two guy) doesn't think it's needed, and Obama isn't willing to make it a deal-breaker. Glad to see everyone is on the same page.

Then there's Max Baucus and his bill, which seems to be big on fining everyone, including individuals who don't buy insurance. And the bill has no public option. So basically, there's nothing to keep the insurance companies honest (a co-opt? please.) and then it makes everyone buy insurance from them. Sounds great...if you own an insurance company.

Subject change-up now and Candy is back to talk about Obama's speech to the school children, AKA Commie Chat 2009. They then play us a clip of the indoctrination without a disclaimer. Hide the children! Obama tells the kiddies to work hard and spend time studying. Oh the humanity! So okay, as Anderson and Candy note, pretty basic speech. Maybe even a little--gasp--conservative. I'm really glad we all had that big freakout.

Transitioning back to Afghanistan, Anderson givens us some info regarding life for the Marines in Helmand province, much of which can be found in his blog post from today. (Yes, he actually blogged. I was surprised too.) This intros us into an Anderson piece about sweeping for IEDS. And here I was just getting rid of the ulcer Michael gave me.

Anyway, we meet Lance Corporal Phil Howard who is the point man on patrol, which is basically the most dangerous job, like, ever. If someone's getting blown up, odds are it's going to be him. I remember when IEDS were rare in Afghanistan. Now they're the number one threat. Marines on patrol walk spaced out 10 to 15 meters apart to minimize casualties. And yes, our anchor is walking that way too. IEDS can be anywhere, especially in the brush. We see Anderson take a rather big leap down as he follows the patrol. I'm sure that was fun for the cameraman.

Anderson talks to other Marines as well and they tell him of their efforts to gain the locals' trust. A lot of tea-drinking going on. See, the problem is that the United States has a bit of a history when it comes to Afghanistan and skedaddling. Some of the Marines risking their lives today are now paying for situations that occurred before they were even born. The Afghan people aren't really too keen in choosing sides when they're not sure if one side is going to stick around.

Moving on to a Sanjay Gupta piece, once again from Camp Dwyer. We meet Major Augustus Brown, the only vascular surgeon in the whole country. Um, wow. No pressure there or anything. Major Brown has sacrificed a lot for the people of Afghanistan, including witnessing the birth of one of his children. His six-year-old takes his deployments the hardest, but gave him a little stuffed dog as a good luck charm. Aw.

Camp Dwyer keeps Major Brown busy. They used to see 80 patients per month, but in August they were up to about 230, a number sure to grow. In fact, they're stretched so thin that our own Dr. Gupta was asked to assist. In a way it must suck to be his colleague. It's like, oh, so you're just a brain surgeon. Not ambitious enough for two careers, huh?

Anyway, following his piece, Sanjay tells us that Dr. Brown is a reservist and therefore only required to stay in country for 90 days. But he volunteered for a year. What an amazing guy. I feel for his family though. Sanjay also gives us an update on that two-year-old with a brain injury we met yesterday. So far, so good. Let's hope it keeps on that path.

Finally, the "shot" tonight is a dank, dark, crowded room occupied by men. Sounds kinda seedy doesn't it? But really we're just getting a tour of the living quarters of our anchor and crew. In case my prior description didn't already imply it, Anderson lets us know that it's "kinda smelly" as well. I never would have guessed. This ain't the Hilton that's for sure. There aren't even any chairs. They sit on boxes and containers. This is where they work, eat, sleep, and bathe. Bathe? Where? Never mind. I don't even want to know.

We see producer Charlie Moore and cameraman Neil Hallsworth working at the computer. Oh Charlie Moore, I'm still waiting for you to get on Twitter. Just a little FYI for you to ponder. Anyway! Ms. Erica Hill has been doing the headlines throughout the broadcast and she and Anderson talk about the dust and sand in the country that apparently coats everything. He tells us they try very hard to keep it out of the computers and camera equipment, "but everything else you just kind of give it over to the dust." How very Zen.

I should probably point out that our peeps here were in no way complaining about their quarters because they know the Marines have it much rougher. Just thought I'd note that, lest they look like douches. Anyway, wow, great broadcast. This is CNN done right. More please.

Live From Afghanistan Day One, The Right Gets Van Jones's Head, And Obama Wants To Turn Your Kids Communist...Or Something

Hi everybody. Look at me! I'm blogging. So okay, I was hoping to have the time to do a little splainin-type post about my whole disappearing/reappearing act and the direction of this blog, but well, that didn't work out. Maybe later. I really wanted to blog the Afghanistan coverage (check out my September 2006 archives for blogs of their last visit), so for now, this is me metaphorically dipping my toes in the water, deciding if I really do want to go for that swim. And so it goes. Hopefully I'm not too rusty.

We begin in New York, where Erica Hill is holding down the fort and occupying the anchor chair. She then immediately throws it to the owner of that chair, one Mr. Anderson Cooper, who is coming at us from Patrol Base Jaker in Afghanistan. We get some real nice seconds of him staring and blinking and...nothing. Bueller? Well, crap. I was willing the technical gods to do their mojo, but no dice. Sigh. I feel their pain. Back to New York we go.

Erica then talks a little about the recent political goings-on, which leads us into a Candy Crowley piece. Topic numero uno? The resignation of White House special adviser on green jobs, Van Jones. Under fire from the right, he finally bit the big one. His crime? Well, he called republicans "assholes," which, uh, kinda just makes me like him. I kid! Sorta.

Seeing as though our last vice president--you know, the one who crawled out of his undisclosed location to get really chatty lately--was known for telling people to go fuck themselves, I'm not exactly clutching my pearls here. The big issue, however, seems to be that Jones signed some sort of 9-11 Truther petition, even though he's stated he doesn't believe the White House had any knowledge of the attacks. If you want to have a through-the-looking-glass kind of moment, the right wing website Little Green Footballs backs Jones up.

Full disclosure: I don't really know much about this Van Jones guy. In fact, I hadn't even heard of him before the other side got their undies all in a twist. But this all seems a bit like a witch hunt. And I can't believe Candy didn't mention Glenn Beck. Anyway, then Candy goes on to discuss some more about Obama's no good, very bad summer. We're played a clip of Obama all fired up and doing his pointing thing. Hey, it's Campaign! Obama. I love Campaign! Obama. But guess what. Campaign's over.

For discussion of all this, we're joined by Candy, David Gergen, and new dude Joe Hicks, who is vice president of Community Advocates Incorporated. They talk a bit about vetting and I still think there's a bit of BS going on here. Plus, don't you love how Republicans will cling on until the very last second, but Democrats practically leap at the chance to fall on their sword? The only thing really of note here is new dude saying having Van Jones in the administration is like having a Holocaust denier there. WTF? New dude needs to work on his first impression.

Continuing with our panel, the subject switches to health care reform and Obama's upcoming address to Congress. Candy tells us Democrats will be looking for guidelines. Yes. What. Do. You. Want?! Line in the sand time. And the public option better be on the right side of the line. Then our pontificators move on to Obama's speech to school kids, the text of which has just been released. Much to everyone's surprise, our president actually doesn't want to turn your kids into gay-marrying, baby-killing, commies.

Even Republican Jim Greer (who you might remember as the guy who got his ass handed to him by Anderson and Roland Martin) now deems the speech's personal responsibility theme to be worthy of his children's ears. Well, good. Still a hypocritical asshat though.

Erica notes that the Obama camp seems to constantly be on the defensive and wonders why things are so difficult for them. Ooh! I know! I know! Because the base of the Republican party is frickin insane and Obama keeps trying to act like they're reasonable people who don't have the sole goal of destroying him. Not to mention the fact that they've done a good job of co-opting the entire party and a portion of the media. NBC Nightly did a good piece related to this and the Gerg touches on it in his Villager-y Gerg-y way.

Bleh. Still no Anderson. But never fear, next we have a piece from the awesomely awesome Gary Tuchman. He's traveled to North Carolina where we meet Chris Gibbs, principal of Claremont Elementary School, and the decider when it comes to whether or not Claremont's students will hear Obama's speech. While Gibbs gives the situation a little prayer time, Gary and crew head to the county fair for a smattering of opinions. "It's getting like communism," says one gentleman. If you haven't guessed, he's in the 'no' camp. You also might have guessed that schools in the area who don't want to show the speech were mostly McCain strongholds in 2008. Shocking, no?

Anyway, back to Gibbs. God has responded and apparently the Big Guy in the sky said no. Sorry kids. No personal responsibility motivating for you! Gary then asks Gibbs what would happen if Obama wanted to personally come to his school to give the speech. Oh man. More praying! What's sad is that you can tell the guy would be so excited if that happened, but he's got all these crazy parents on his back. This is all so stupid. I think George Bush was probably the worst president in modern history, but if he wanted to give kids a speech about working hard? Who cares? Hell, I'd just be impressed if most of the thing was coherent.

Technical problems solved! Helllloo Anderson! Our anchor explains that Patrol Base Jaker is a forward operating post in a remote region in southern Afghanistan's Helmand Province. There are 10,000 Marines in Helmand who are working on the strategy of clear, hold, and build. In a subsequent piece, Anderson talks with Colonel Bill McCullough to learn a little more about the province and the current work being done.

There's talk of nation building and focus on governance. Also, apparently the Marines separate the Taliban into the categories of big "T" and little "T," with the former being the real deal and the latter being those easily co-opted due to their circumstances. Finally, yes, I did notice that the tight tee is being rocked in this piece, though (thankfully) mostly covered by a bullet proof vest. Just sayin'. I'm a news snob. I'm not dead.

On to a Michael Ware piece about the non hunky dory-ness of this mess we've gotten ourselves into. Case in point: Highway No. 1, a 300 mile stretch of road from Kabul to Kandahar that takes nine or ten hours to travel. If you make it alive. The road is American-paved and American-aided (our bucks), but surrounded by pockets of Taliban. Michael gives us this information by walking down the highway, totally exposed, in his bathrobe. Okay, I'm kidding about that last part (he's wearing local garb), but he really is just walking around all exposed. Crazy Aussie always making me worry.

Back to Anderson and he's blinking at us again. Perhaps this is some sort of Morse code. Then someone loudly says, "go!" and boom! He's telling us about election fraud. So that's how you activate an anchor. There's been much talk regarding the fishiness of the recent Afghan elections and now U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, Karl Eikenberry, is urging Karzai to allow the Afghanistan election commission to investigate. We're then joined by Peter Bergen who reminds us that Karzai needs 50 percent of the vote and he's currently not there.

The subject then switches to Helmand province and Peter tells us that the Taliban used to control 12 districts and now they only control one. Progress! Of course, there's always the chance they're laying low. Plus there have been attacks in Northern Afghanistan. So...Helmand is all well and good, but we've already played whack-a-mole and it didn't turn out all that great. Finally, there's a bit of talk regarding what we're being sold (going after Al Qaeda) versus what the U.S. is actually doing (nation building). In truth, I'm not exactly sure what Obama is selling here. I'm open to buying, but I'm going to need a better pitch.

Next up, we have a Sanjay Gupta piece from Camp Dwyer for the medical aspect of Helmand. What's interesting is all but 25 percent of the patients in the trauma unit are local civilians. While Sanjay is there, the patients include a young soldier injured by an IED, a middle-aged Afghan national, a two-year-old with a severe brain injury, and a final patient choppered in at night. A busy and no doubt heartbreaking place.

Anderson then wraps up his part by doing some previewing of the rest of the week's coverage. Then we're back to Erica who banters with Tom Foreman about Tila Tequila. Because we all care about her. The hour wraps up with a pool-shooting pup for the "shot" and that'll do it. I would have liked more Afghanistan coverage, but the technical difficulties might have had something to do with that. Besides, they kept the tabloid stuff to the headlines, so I don't have much to complain about. Can a blogger get a woo hoo? That's all for now. Good job, 360! Also, though it's already been said by every fangurl with a modem, be careful.