Back Live In The Gulf, A Pointless Tea Party Debate, More Haiti Coverage, And Puppies!

Hi everyone. The 360 kids are really earning those frequent flier miles and then some, leaving Haiti and going straight back to the Gulf. I hope someone is watering Anderson Cooper's plants. Not much else to say, so let's rock and roll:

• Despite being away for a few days, our anchor has not lost any of his ire at BP. Currently the company is engaged in an underwater operation to get this thing fixed once and for all, but as per usual, they haven't exactly been transparent. And this does not sit well with Anderson Cooper, who proceeds to rip them a new one (in his own mostly-polite Silver Fox way) for the next two minutes. I almost had to laugh. I mean, the broadcast just started and BP has already been thoroughly bitch-slapped. But no one can say it's not warranted. Also, in the name of my own transparency, I shall provide you with my notes of these minutes, which are as follows: "AC: Grrr! BP. Transparency!"

• Anderson on the operation: "If it doesn't work, there could be an underwater volcano of oil, with almost no way of stopping it." Um, WHAT?! Well hey, no worries. Because everything has gone swimmingly so far.
  

• Chad Myers showed us something mechanical-y on the Magic Wall, while I pondered whether or not they actually teach you these things in meteorology school.
  

• Billy Nungesser and James Carville joined Anderson to talk about transparency, berms, and other related outrages. I don't really have much to say, except that having a transcript to confirm Carville's quotes is a beautiful thing. A misquote gone prevented!

• You know how 360 has been blessedly shielding us from political stupidity as of late? Yeah, well that ends now. I have only vaguely been following the latest Tea Party-related ridiculousness, but now it is front and center on my TeeVee screen. The controversy: the NAACP passed a resolution condemning racist elements in the Tea Party movement, and the movement is now none too pleased. I have no idea why this is happening now. Again. Haven't we already had this conversation several times?
  

• But this is catnip to cable news and 360 has decided to jump on the bandwagon, bringing us a debate between Tea Party leader Mark Williams and Roland Martin. I gotta say, when they jump, they go all in. How anyone could expect to get anything from these two besides a train wreck is beyond me. Actually, I suspect that might be the point (ratings, baby!). I could go through this mess point by point, but I did that last time they yelled at each other nonsensically. I mean, the guy defending against racism charges once called Obama an "Indonesian Muslim turned welfare thug," so that's where we are as a country right now (so proud!). That point, by the way, was not brought up by our anchor. Anderson actually got metaphorically knocked down early on and never really got back up. If he can't keep control (and with those two I don't know anyone could), I wish they'd stop doing this.

• Gary Tuchman is actually still in Haiti, which makes me happy and a little irked all at once. Why did they have to bring the show back after only two days? Ratings actually improved their second night. But whatever. Gary can hold down the coverage. They just better not do that thing where he's there and then they don't air his stuff. Annoying!

• Anyway. Gary follows up on the customs problems by interviewing Haiti's director of customs, Jean-Jacques Valentin, who blames the charities for not properly filling out paperwork. Says Gary: "Doctors Without Borders says their paperwork was fine. But even if it wasn't, get the cars to them. They're trying to help your people." Word. Gary shows us a whole bunch of equipment just sitting around, and notes that charity groups are afraid to speak out, lest the government become even more uncooperative. You know that stress ball I mentioned last night? I need it.

• Gary also joins us live after his piece. Anderson starts to get his rant on, and then, quite bemusing to me, Gary sorta gets his rant on too. A mini rant! Warranted? Completely. Expected? No. But back to Serious Town, says Gary: "Even if there is a paperwork issue, people here desperately need the help. I mean, there's huge fights going on behind us right now." *Sigh*

• Anderson doing a tease: "Later, also the victims of the oil spill in the Gulf you have not heard about. Family pets given up because their owners here can no longer afford to care for them." Au contraire, Silver Fox. I was tweeting about this issue weeks ago. There's even a Facebook group to provide awareness.
  

• They appear to have recut Sanjay Gupta's piece from last night for rerunning.

• When we cut back to Anderson, he is standing there holding an adorable puppy. It's like being slapped in the face with cute overload. An adorable anchor holding an adorable puppy. Are we being a little manipulated here? Perhaps. Do we care? Hell no! The puppy (named Finnegan) gives Anderson some kisses and he returns the gesture. And now I am dead. I have been murdered by cuteness. It's okay, people. It was a good way to go.
  

• Oh, you want to know why the puppy is there, don't you? In a Randi Kaye report, we learn the sad news that Gulf coast residents are being forced to give up their pets because of the havoc the oil disaster has wreaked on the region's economy. She meets with Ana Zorrilla of the Louisiana SPCA, and together they introduce us to more furry friends that have been given up. So sad. Even worse, they're not at a no-kill shelter. If you want to help, check out the above Facebook link and donate to the Louisiana SPCA. The extreme adorableness and sadness is below:

• The show was fairly good, with the second half definitely being stronger than the first. I'm drawing a blank on what this bullet point can contain. It happens, people!
  

Continued Live Coverage From Louisiana Of The BP Oil Leak Disaster With Extra Anger At BP

Hi everyone. The bullet points are a bit tired because they had to get up early this morning. They will try to maintain an adequate level of awesomeness. On with the show:

• BP, Anderson Cooper is not happy that you will not come on his show. "BP doesn't come on this program for some reason, though we invite them to every single night, but, this morning, they did appear on other shows." Why are you playing favorites, BP?! You are giving Anderson sad face. No, actually, it's more like irritated face plus the energy of one Red Bull. Way to go, BP. Now look what you've done. Well, you know, besides that whole catastrophic oil leak and everything.

• Yes, this was very much a "we hate BP" kinda night. An awesome thing about our anchor is that the more you avoid him, the more it pisses him off, sometimes even resulting in snarkiness. See: Palin, Sarah.

• Aw, Billy Nungesser looked so dejected tonight. I don't think that he even has the energy to be angry anymore. Hang in there, Billy!

• Douglas Brinkley is quickly becoming my new favorite person. He's reasonable and thoughtful and full context. Those qualities might seem obvious, but they are rare in cable news, people. He's like the Gerg before the Gerg went all Villager on us. I mean, check this out: "...it's unacceptable to trust BP. Whatever they say is meant to minimize situations. They haven't been transparent." *Claps* Yes! As I said before, our default thinking should be that they are lying.

• I'd never even heard of Congressman Charlie Melancon before today, but that clip of him getting choked up over his home was heartbreaking.
  

• Regarding Obama's presser, I can't fully weigh in because I didn't watch. (Some of us have to work, yo.) I did, however, try to skim along on Twitter. Seems like Obama just did okay. You'd think that someone would maybe fully brief the president on the whole MMS head situation before he spoke to the entire country, but apparently not. Lordie.

• As previously stated, I'm not a huge James Carville fan. And I'm really not a huge Mary Matalin fan. Given that, I guess it was practically inevitable that we'd have a pretty long segment with them tonight. In all honesty though, it wasn't bad. I don't have anything stupid to point out.
  

• Actually, the entire broadcast was shockingly lacking in idiotic narratives. I was steeling myself for the inevitable panel discussion about why Obama didn't act angry enough, something which apparently happened after the presser. But it never came on 360! Instead, there was, like, reporting and stuff. Weird.
  

• The post I linked to makes an interesting point regarding Bush's Katrina flyover picture. It got big play in the press, but for me it ranked pretty low on the list of items that pissed me off in that situation. Just like how I was never that impressed with the 9-11 "bullhorn moment." Is it just me or is this just another case of media stupidity? Shouldn't we want our leaders to actually get things done, rather than just play the part of someone who looks like a leader? Tomorrow I want Obama to go down there and basically act like a huge-ass pair of scissors. Red tape. Snip, snip. And I don't give a damn if he's holding a bullhorn, or has his sleeves rolled up, or is walking around in a hazmat suit wearing an Angry Face when he does it.
  

• Also worth reading: Why BP is the Anti-Katrina. The Katrina comparisons have so infuriated me because in that situation people were dying due to lack of basic items, such as water and shelter. Water! We have water! What was so unacceptable about that situation is that we had resources and plans and everyone was just dropping the ball. This oil thing is completely different. Unless we've got some sort of storage facility that contains super magic oil stopping machines and Obama just hasn't distributed them yet, well, I fail to see the comparison.

• Ed Lavandera's piece was pretty depressing. You know those fisherman are just going to get screwed over.

• It was nice that 360 gave some coverage to the 11 men who died on the rig. They've mostly been treated as a mere afterthought in all of this, and I include myself in that statement. It's not right. Keith Jones testified on Capitol Hill today due to the loss of his son Gordon. This quote from him is sadly too true: "If you want these companies, one of which is headquartered in Great Britain and another in Switzerland, to make every effort to make sure their employees don't act as these did, putting American lives at risk, you must make certain they are exposed to pain in the only place they can feel it, their bank accounts. As a friend recently said, make them hurt where their heart would be if they had a heart."

• The Death on the High Seas Act sounds like it definitely needs to be amended.
  

• Well, I finally got my Coast Guard interview...and Admiral Thad Allen did not impress. I've heard good things about him in the past, but he didn't really seem to have a real grasp on the situation. We'll just have to wait and see.

• Good piece from Rob Marciano. Sounds like another way BP is being shady.
  

• There wasn't much amusement for me to squeeze out for you tonight, but the show was good. Tomorrow should be interesting. I'm a little nervous. Don't screw this up, Obama. Remember, you got this.
  

• This bullet point contains a rainbow, but no pot of gold. I'm generous; I'm not that generous.
  

Live From Port Fourchon, Louisiana For Coverage Of The BP-Created Oil Disaster

Hi everyone. Road trip! I hope you didn't forget your toothbrush...or your hazmat suit. Tonight the 360 kids came at us live from Port Fouchon, Louisiana, to give us an on-the-ground look at what is turning out to be a disaster of unimaginable proportions. Earlier today, I was watching BriWi and he reported that if we don't get this oil leak plugged, it's just going to keep leaking throughout our lifetime. I don't even know how to put into words how bad that would be. Can we send BP to Gitmo? No? Fiiiine. On with the bullet points!:

• Tonight is Glee night and I was subsequently a minute or two late to the 360 party. When I flipped over to CNN, all I saw was a big white marshmallow on the beach, talking at me with Anderson Cooper's voice. The top part of my satellite's info screen was still up, cutting his head off, so literally all I saw was the white. Amusing. Also? When did they start making hazmat suits out of white trash bags?
  

• I keep hearing about problems regarding communication with the Coast Guard. I'm assuming no one related is doing interviews? I'd like to hear their side. They kicked ass during Hurricane Katrina.

• This is my special bullet point where we all cross our fingers and pray the top kill thing works.

• I like that they continue to report on the corruption within the Mineral Management Service (Tom Foreman's piece), though I hope in the future we get some more context. That's not a criticism and it's not directed specifically at 360. I was reading about the inspector general's report earlier today and wondered what percentage of MMS employees had actually engaged in the abhorrent behavior/conflicts of interest. How far gone is this agency?
  

• David Gergen! I guess it's true that absence really does make the heart grow fonder. There's been a bit of love lost between the Gerg and I lately. Okay, well, probably just on my end, given that I don't think he knows of my existence (if he did, he would cry sad, sad tears over my lost love!). But we haven't seen much of him lately and I was generally happy when his reasonableness popped up on my TeeVee.
  

• And he was very reasonable during the panel with Douglas Brinkley on Obama's leadership. Mostly. I was totally into the discussion...and then the Gerg said this: "Doug Brinkley may think this is stretching a little too far, but I do believe that, if our government had fought World War II the way we're fighting the oil spill, there's a good chance many of us would be speaking German today." While I do appreciate that he basically gave us a disclaimer that he was about to say something crazy (who else but the Gerg would do that?), duuuude. Really? Since when did the Gerg start saying the lines of a curmudgeonly sitcom dad? Stick to being reasonable, Gergen! By the way, I love that the response from Douglas, the historian, was simply to stare, speechless.

• Douglas Brinkley is a smart man. Made some good points about how Obama needs to step it up, but also kept the situation in context. Though I'm sure he's right about the political ramifications, I personally disagree that Obama needs to be emotive. As long as our prez is doing his Jedi moves behind-the-scenes, that's good enough for me. Whether or not that's happening, I couldn't tell you.
  

• Anderson Cooper brought up Katrina again: "...for a president who watched Katrina and saw the failures of the Bush administration--and there were failures, also, on the state and local level, we all know in Katrina. But for a president who saw that and was very critical of it to now find himself in a situation in which he's being criticized for the lack of response or lack of coordination is kind of stunning." Meh. There are so many different variables here. I've been talking to a New Orleans friend and one thing I find almost comforting is that, unlike during Katrina, there seems to be a real willingness among all levels of government to work together. That's great if true, and I tip my hat to Bobby Jindal. Unfortunately, this time around everyone has to deal with the idiots at BP, which completely changes the ballgame.
  

• I wasn't really that bugged by our anchor's comments tonight because the fact of the matter is that the narrative will change on Friday when Obama visits the gulf. And whether that change is for the worse or for the better will likely be his own doing. Don't screw this up, Obama. Step it up and stay away from photo-ops.

• While I'm currently tepid in my criticism of our president, I have to say, if he opts to "move forward" rather than unleashing the Justice Department on BP, I will be the first one to cheer if 360 goes after him.
  

• Rob Marciano's piece and Jack Hanna's segment were disturbing. This is a monumental ecological disaster. (Also, Rob wears scruffy well. I'm just sayin'.)
  

• Ed Lavandera has been doing a really nice job with the dispersants story. I don't trust the EPA. The Bush administration destroyed that agency, and unless they've since completely cleaned house and I didn't hear about it, they're still worthless.

• Well, Anderson's just a big "shot" tease, isn't he? He's all like, usually this is where we show you something to make you smile before bed, but tonight we're just going to further bum you out by showing you more oil. Okay, it's possible that's not exactly how he said it. But dudes, if ever there was a need for a cute animal video. Yes, yes, tone wasn't appropriate. Still. Sad face.

• So okay, Gary Tuchman is in Haiti where there is lots of news happening and I haven't seen him anywhere on my TeeVee screen. You couldn't spare three minutes, 360? Below is the only clip I could find of his coverage, less than a minute long:
  

• That'll do it. The show went by really fast, which I guess is a good sign. In light of our anchor's initial get-up, this bullet point contains marshmallows for your toasting enjoyment.
  

The White House Goes After Fox News, Limbaugh Wants To Buy The Rams, Anatomy Of A Company Bankruptcy, Animals Taking Over Florida, & More H1N1

Hi everyone. Sorry about skipping Friday. I just couldn't handle blogging all those talking heads bickering about Obama's Nobel Peace Prize win. As for this post, I think I'm going to be doing mostly the abbreviated version (of the segments, anyway) because, well, the show just wasn't all that great. Truthfully, I barely got through simply watching the broadcast.

Anyway, over the weekend, White House communications director Anita Dunn went on CNN's Reliable Sources and gave Fox News quite the smack down, saying the organization "often operates almost as either the research arm or the communications arm of the Republican Party

." And this is now apparently our top story. Hmm.

This seems to me to be one of those stories that is huge in media circles, but barely on the radar of the average American. But we all know how much the media loves to talk about, well, the media. Meta alert! I suppose this is a particular win-win for 360 since they get to go trolling for viewers who love a good partisan food fight, all the while maintaining the appearance of being above the fray--with a little promotion of CNN's Sunday show thrown in for good measure.

Regardless of what they're telling themselves, I expect this from MSNBC--CNN is supposed to be better. Our first piece of the night is from Tom Foreman, who breaks down the situation and ponders whether this is a good strategy by the White House. Um, probably not. But does it matter that much? Fox News viewers were never going to be fans anyway.

Before I bring on the talking heads, I want to hit on a related story. Following that same broadcast of Reliable Sources, TIME's Michael Scherer made a blog post calling out the irony of Anita Dunn's claim that Fox News is not "a news network the way CNN is." His evidence of irony? According to Scherer, that morning CNN was airing a new ad for 360, one that featured a woman pitching the show as "essentially a liberal alternative to Fox News."

Yes, that would be prettying damning and ironic...if it were true. Upon reading the story, I was confused. It definitely didn't sound like the show I'd been watching for over four years. And Anderson Cooper often acts like he'd rather be jabbed with something sharp, rather than give his opinion on major news stories. Given that I hadn't seen the ad myself, I started asking around to other CNN viewers and was eventually pointed to the first comment to this Inside Cable News post.

Apparently, it was all just a technical error, which is explained in this post on Mediate (video of ad included). As for the man who started all the controversy, Scherer corrected, but blamed the situation on his television, which I'm sorry, is just total, total crap. You work for TIME and you don't even watch the ad that you blogged about? Talk about shoddy journalism.

It was also disheartening to see how many people jumped on the go-after-CNN bandwagon, all without having seen the ad. I'm not even talking about just random commenters. Shortly after Scherer's post hit the Internets, Jay Rosen was on Twitter pondering how Jon Klein would spin the situation. I don't understand why people can't wait to comment on something until after they've seen it. Or at least use caveats, you know?

Anyway, apparently some of the commenters on the media sites are still suspicious that this was all intentionally done by CNN. To them I say, I've been watching the network a long time and have seen them do many, many moronic things. They are simply not diabolical enough to pull something like that off. You are giving them way too much credit.

Okay, so back to the show and the pundits. Oh joy. Rocking the house tonight we've got David Gergen, Errol Louis, and K.T. McFarland. You don't exactly need to be a brain surgeon to know the gist of what they're going to say. As a classic villager, the Gerg obviously thinks attacking Fox News was a bad move by the White House because it only elevates them. Errol is all for going after the network, and K.T. thinks it's insulting to viewers. So there you go.

Of note is Anderson wondering if it's fair that Obama still goes on MSNBC, which is also partisan. It's a weird line of questioning since it pretty much misses the whole point. Not to mention the fact that Rachel Maddow (and maybe the others too) have been pretty hard on Obama lately. Then when Errol brings up the Fox News producer that coached the crowd at the 9/12 protest, Anderson cuts in with the following: "I'm not in the position to be defending them. But, for accuracy's sake, they did discipline that producer. They said she was a young producer just new to the job."

Okay, dully noted, but it's sorta ridiculous to bring that up and fail to acknowledge that Fox News was a promoter of the tea parties and the 9/12 protests. I mean, good lord, from what I understand, the 9/12 Project was conceived by Glenn Beck. So, you know, for accuracy's sake, that's context we could have used.

Transitioning now from one partisan mostly-non story to another: Rush Limbaugh wants to buy the St. Louis Rams. Being a St. Louisan, this all feels like deja vu to me because the national media is about a week behind the local conversation. Personally I'm against the buy because of the ick factor, but I guess it should be noted that I'm pretty much already boycotting the team because 1) the Rams suck and 2) I don't like football.

Anyhoo! The big to-do here is that some of the players on the team are against the buy because of prior statements from Rush, like comparing players to gang members. Race is brought up and if we're talking about race, well, Al Sharpton appearance in 3...2...1...

Sharpton and the other dude that joins him (yes, he really was a guest), say nothing of note, but looking back over this, I'm sorta confused as to the slant of the segment. 360 definitely implies the issue is primarily about race, whereas Sharpton claims the letter he sent to the NFL never mentions race. So...whatever. Racist statements are just one factor of Limbaugh's all-around douchebaggery.

Transitioning now to a well done piece by Randi Kaye that takes a look at the 130-year-old company Simmons Bedding, and analyzes how equity firm Thomas H. Lee Partners essentially borrowed it into bankruptcy. It's amazing--and fairly scary--how these firms can make a fortune by buying up companies and borrowing against their assets.

On now to a John Zarella piece about animals on the attack in Florida. Dun dun dun! Pythons, iguanas, and poisoned toads--oh my!! Apparently, lately the Sunshine State has turned into Animal Planet, without the awesomeness of Jeff Corwin. After John's piece, we're joined by zoologist Ron McGill and a python friend via satellite. But there's no mention of the third party for about a minute of conversation. Then from Anderson: "You do know you have a snake around your neck, don't you?" He just wants to be sure, people.

Next up, Sanjay Gupta is back for more H1N1 discussion. This was actually some pretty good information. Myth debunking! One thing I found interesting is that the vaccines for seasonal flu are essentially made the same way this swine flu one is being made--in that every year's strain of flu is different, so every year it's a new vaccine. I guess I hadn't thought about it like that before. But that's not an endorsement. There are still so many unknowns, and I'm not going to just blindly trust Sanjay--even if he does have a 1000-watt smile.

The "shot" tonight is Jesse McCartney forgetting the words to the National Anthem. Oh, muy embarrassing! "I guess the good news is that being in a boy band is no longer the most embarrassing thing he has done," says Anderson. Our anchor then admits he has no idea who Jesse McCartney is. Gotta say, probably not a big loss for him. Also? I didn't think Anderson was right about the boy band thing, but I used the Google, and zoh my God, he was! Dream Street? What the hell is that?

Anyway, the only thing I know about Jesse McCartney (and yes, the fact that I have this knowledge is embarrassing) is that he starred in that WB show Summerland with Lori Loughlin of Full House fame. Check this: the premise of the show is that these three kids tragically lose their parents in a flood...and then move to California to live a light and summer-y existence with their aunt. Seriously. Three kids suddenly losing their parents is the stuff of five-hanky dramas, yet the show was all about their new world of sun and surf. WTF? Yeah, cancellation came quickly.

But I digress. Heh. Back in the show, Anderson and Erica Hill are having fun running other National Anthem performances gone wrong, such as Roseanne's infamous rendition, and hockey girl. That poor woman not only forgot the words, she then fell on the ice. Anderson asks to see the fall again because he is a meanie, and he then has the audacity to blame it on Erica. Well! You are shunned, Mr. Cooper. Shunned!

Back to the serious, wow, not their best broadcast. Was there no other news today? Health care or Afghanistan troop developments? The march on Washington over the weekend? Bueller? Anyway, if you didn't see the Daily Show tonight, make sure you watch tomorrow. Their entire first block was all about CNN and it was spot on. I'll try to remember to blog it tomorrow when the video is available-or at least tweet. As for now, that'll do it.