More on Imus/Rutgers Meeting, Rap Discussion, Raw Politics, Giving 360, Aging, And Ashley Judd Fights Malaria (Friday's Show)

Hi everyone. I almost skipped this, but since I didn't do last Friday I'll give you a quickie. That sounds dirtier than it's meant to. Anyway, Anderson is off to Afghanistan (yikes!), so tonight we've got Kiran Chetry in New York and John Roberts in Washingon hosting for us, as well as practicing for their new gig. Once again we lead off with the Imus controversy (still!!!!) and in a Kiran piece we learn that the meeting with the Rutgers players and Imus lasted three hours and tears were shed. Also, the players have accepted Imus' apology. Thank God! Can we move on from the meeting now (which should have been private anyway)? Apparently no we can not. Next we're joined by the coach's pastor, Reverend DeForest Soaries. He tells us that most of the time Imus just listened to the women. Kiran notes Imus actually learned about his cancelation right before the meeting, so the pastor was put in the position of doing the Christian thing and being supportive. That must have been awkward.

Moving on now to a Tom Foreman piece about rap artists. Because we're all about being shocked about rap and hip hop now. Once again CNN has raided MTV's smuttiest for our viewing displeasure. In a statement, producer Russell Simmons tries to distance hip hop/rap from the Imus thing, saying "hip-hop artists rap about what they see, hear and feel around them." Right. We learn in the piece that, actually, studies show kids who listen to rap are more likely to drink, do drugs, and be violent. Though I suppose that could be correlational. Tom tells us, "if the issue was Don Imus and a few ill-chosen words, the story is done. But, if the issue is many others saying the same words and worse to much bigger audiences, the story is just beginning." Yeah, the story is done. Unless media companies are going to start talking about their own people without prodding. What say you CNN? Do you support everything out of Glen Beck's mouth?

Next we have an interview with Al Sharpton, who John describes as both "a player and player hater." Ha! Oh my. There's something about a middle aged white guy saying "player hater." John asks why there's not the same outrage over rap lyrics as there has been over Don Imus. Sharpton says that there has been it's just that the media hasn't been there. John then asks, "but, if you, Reverend Sharpton, were out protesting in front of 1755 Broadway, the home of the Universal Music Group, this weekend, don't you think that that would get the coverage?" Well, depends. Has there been a development in the Anna Nicole Smith baby daddy money debacle (or whatever the hell it is they're fighting about)? Sharpton says he has protested outside places before. "I should ask you why you guys have not covered that," he says. Seriously. John tries to argue that they have been covering it-at least this week. Well, duh. That's his whole point isn't it? The media runs around like they collectively have ADHD. This week it's those nasty rap lyrics; next week it will be something else. John then plays us a clip from a Nelly video and let me just say how thrilled I am to have him representin' for my city. After some more discussion John tells us, "I just want to read a quote from Snoop Dogg," and I bust out laughing. We're really through the looking glass at this point aren't we? I'm actually glad to finally be hearing from the rappers, but it's still completely bizarre.

Moving on to an interview with "Vibe" editor in chief Danyel Smith. Basically this whole interview is about the question of why it's okay for rappers to say what Don Imus said, but not Don Imus. Danyel thinks it's the way he said it and because he was in a position of power. She seems to think it was even worse that he didn't say it in anger because at least if he did he would have that to fall back on. According to her, rappers have their art to fall back on. Huh? John asks her if she thinks this will be a flash in the news cycle. At first she says she would hate for it to be Don Imus to change rap, but then she says that if he does cause the lyrics to improve she would shake his hand. So...okay. After this there's "Raw Politics", a David Mattingly piece on the preacher's wife, and weather stuff. However, I'm skipping it all to save time.

Transitioning now to a "Giving 360" piece from Randi Kaye. Hey, is this consistency? From 360? The mind boggles. Readers might remember that the show started this segment last Friday and quite frankly I was skeptical that we'd ever see it again. Maybe they will actually keep up with it. Anyway, Randi's piece is about Aaron Dworkin, a violinist who founded the Sphinx Organization, which provides classical music programs to minority kids. Aaron, an African American, was adopted by white parents and raised in a mostly white environment, which made him feel like he didn't fit in. He credits classical music with saving his life. For more info you can go to SphinxMusic.org

Next up we've got some aging talk and Kiran notes 60 is the new 40. Hey, remember when you were a kid and 40 just seemed soooooo old. Not so much now, huh? Anyway, we're introed into a Sanjay Gupta piece and he shows up an age progression of him from his current age of 37 to 100. "Handsome, right," he asks. Uh, okay. Actually Sanjay doesn't look too bad at 100. And I think how he's looking now goes without saying. Sanjay wanted to know if he'd make it to a handsome 100 years old, so he had an expert follow him around. His day starts at the crack of dawn and, aw, there's Sanjay walking his dog. The expert says we're suppose to get at least eight hours of sleep, so Sanjay totally flunks that part because he only got four hours. Is there anyone who actually has time to get eight hours of sleep? Sanjay gets props for not being a coffee drinker, but the expert is a bit concerned that he has two full time jobs. I'm a bit concerned too. It's not like he's stocking shelves at a Wal-Mart, he's operating on people's brains. I wouldn't be too happy to know my surgeon was running on only four hours of sleep. Plus he's got two little kids. And he just wrote a book. And now I'm sitting here wondering how the hell he even did all this. Sanjay must have superpowers. So will Sanjay make it to a 100? Well apparently you have to watch his special to find out. Oh, cliffhanger! And oh noes, I didn't watch, so now I'll never know. Seriously though Sanjay, take a nap or something sometimes.

Transitioning to an interview John did with Ashley Judd on her fight against Malaria. She doesn't have it herself, she's trying to help others not get it. Ashley took up the cause because "3,000 children dying a day of a mosquito bite is not acceptable to me." Amen to that. The charity involves buying $10 bed nets that keep out the mosquitos that carry Malaria. Oh, and Ashley brought props. She shows us the net and states that April 25th is Malaria Awareness day. There's a day for everything. Check out MalariaNoMore.org and FiveAndAlive.org to help. After the interview John and Kiran talk a bit about their new American Morning hosting gig. Kiran notes they probably won't be watching 360 anymore because it's past their bedtime now. She asks what time John will be getting up and he says about 2:30 AM. Ugh. That's way worse than my sometimes 5:30 AM. John tries to be an optimist about it though, noting there's nothing like seeing the sun come up. Kiran thinks that's sweet, but points out they'll be locked in a studio and won't be able to see the sun. Ha! I'm liking her. That'll do it. This actually wasn't quite as quick as I thought I was going to make it. The show was just okay. C+

Imus/Rutgers Non Meeting, New Orleans Update, Preacher Murdered By Wife, And Herbert Gettridge!!! (Thursday's Second Hour)

Hi everyone. We kick off the hour with Deborah Feyerick outside the governor's mansion with the news that the meeting with Don Imus and the Rutgers players is over. Deborah then recaps everything and informs us that right now the players are deciding whether or not to accept Imus' apology. I'm on the edge of my seat here, people. Will they? Won't they? The world hangs in the balance apparently. Good Lord. Don't you love how you can always count on cable news to take a news story like this and turn it into satire? But blessedly we leave the mansion cam and move onto discussion again with Amy Holmes and Jason Whitlock. Jason thinks the whole thing is an embarrassment because Imus does not define those women. Well, I agree with the embarrassment part, though I think it should be directed more at the media and their parent companies. Let's face it, there are many more where Don Imus came from-he was just unlucky enough to get caught up in a news cycle. If he said those comments back right when Anna Nicole Smith died this story wouldn't exist, though he would still be worthy of losing his job. But now the media has latched onto the story and they're going to take it to the level of absurdity that only they can. There's some more discussion then about the War on Drugs and black men and prison-social problems we will discuss to death, but never do anything to actually solve.

Transitioning now to Anderson who states that the New Orlean's neighborhood where he is standing is mostly full of empty houses, except for one-the home of Alfred and Lois Vance. Anderson then proceeds to walk up to their house and walk right in without knocking. Bwah! Okay, seeing as though there's a camera set up inside, the Vance's were probably cool with the whole just walking in the house thing. BTW, Anderson Cooper can totally walk in my house without knocking anytime he wants. Just putting that out there. So what are the majority of the Vance's doing? Just chilling. Watching some tv. Themselves on CNN I think, though it's hard to tell. Anderson then talks with Alfred who is pretty optimistic about the whole situation, though he finds it lonely. Alfred says he just rebuilt with no help because none of the programs came through. Anderson notes that people aren't having much luck with the road to home program. Still? Sounds like we need a "Keeping Them Honest." Anderson asks Alfred if he feels people have forgotten about Katrina and Alfred thinks they have. "You know, this is a country that nobody looks out for you, you know?" he says. Well, it is now, isn't it? Anderson starts to wrap it up and then Alfred suddenly asks if he wants to see his kitchen. Aw, he's all proud of his kitchen. And wow, he should be. That's pretty snazzy. Anderson is impressed too. It's just sad that 20 months later he's the only occupied house on the block.

Next up we have a Gary Tuchman piece on homelessness in New Orleans. Gary introduces us to Larry Lawler, a balloon man that works with his wife outside the famous Cafe Du Monde. By day Larry delights kids; at night he sleeps in a box under a bridge downtown. Prior to Katrina, Larry and his wife used to pay $35 a night to stay in a residential hotel, but now that same hotel costs $75 and they can't afford it. Larry isn't the only one having trouble. We learn that "a consulting firm has estimated about 58 percent of the city's housing supply suffered major damage from the storm." And that's why the prices are so jacked up. Gary talks with some squatters in an abandoned church and now I'm guessing that place is going to get raided. Although who knows? The NOPD seems to have enough problems to deal with. Anyway, since Katrina the homeless population in NO has doubled, even though half the people haven't come back. And the rest of the country continues to turn its back and let the city slowly die. After the piece Gary talks about how HUD expects to occupy 1000 public housing units in the next few weeks, but even ever-cheerful Gary can't get too optimistic about this. "But you know what, Anderson? As you well know, nothing will be easy in this city for a long time."

Moving on to a Susan Roesgen piece on a hint of hope coming to the city. In the piece she profiles three individuals who felt a calling to come to New Orleans and make it a better place. Sharrita Bishop came from New Mexico to be a cop. John Alforfd is a Harvard MBA that has come to open schools. Ray Cannatta is a pastor that came from New Jersey to take over a church that was down to just 15 members. After the piece Anderson notes that these people are the hope of the city, but Susan wonders if they'll stay. She thinks that they will if they're not rebuffed, but if God forbid there's another hurricane all bets are off. If another hurricane even comes near New Orleans I think that will be it. If we think people have turned their backs now, that will be the official death of the city. It's sad seeing Susan because you can tell she's becoming pessimistic about the situation. Hell, you can feel it from Anderson too and he doesn't even live there. And unfortunately all evidence points to that pessimism being completely warranted. We're then promised an upcoming segment with Sheryl Crow, which we totally never get. Aren't you glad we spent that time looking at the mansion door?

Transitioning now to "Raw Politics" with Candy Crowley. We begin with the news that the White House has "lost" a whole bunch of emails related to attorney-gate. First of all, you can't lose emails. Second, nice of 360 to finally cover this-if you call 10 seconds of coverage, coverage. The White House claims they're doing gosh darn everything they can to find the emails, even calling in a forensic expert. "CSI, the White House," says Candy. In other news, Hillary Clinton only came in fifth in moveon.org's recent 2008 straw poll. "Virtual ouch." Another poll shows that John McCain can't even beat Fred Thompson, a guy that isn't even running yet. "Another ouch." Howard Dean is in some hot water with union leaders because the convention area the Dems chose for their convention is non union. Uh oh. Lastly, Mitt Romney YouTubed himself to have an online discussion. Will other 08's follow suit. If Romney's numbers go up they will.

Next up we have a David Mattingly piece on a wife that shot and killed her preacher husband. And that's about all I've got. Sorry. Just not interested. Following that we've got discussion with Vivian Berryhill, president of the National Coalition of Pastor Spouses. I didn't even know there was a group like that. Vivian talks about how pastor wifes are expected to be perfect and all the stresses that go along with that. I guess I never thought about it. Over the years I've never expected my pastor's spouses to be perfect. Maybe it's different in more conservative churches. Anyway, after Vivian we're back to the lovely live shot and oh! There are some motions at the door! And...that's about it. Thank God they know when to move on.

On now to an interview Anderson did with Herbert Gettridge. Herbert! Yay. I wonder if Herbert knows he is totally my adopted grandpa. Herbert tells us he has been working on his house since March 2006 and not many people are back yet. Anderson asks if looking around at everything makes him sad, but don't worry about Herbert, people, because he's used to be alone. Anderson points out that Herbert is trying to get the house so his wife can come back and Herbert says that's why he's "scuffling so hard." Anderson asks what he's going to do when he gets his wife back. What's he going to do? Partay! And Herbert wants everyone who helped him to come, though he knows that's not possible. Then they talk a bit about the volunteers and Herbert notes he never experienced an outpouring like that before. He tells us he is 88% done with his house. 88%? Ha! Herbert is very specific. Right now he needs some curtains and screen wires. Oh, Herbert, use your gift card. Herbert tells us his wife's name is Lydia and Anderson notes that, "all right, Lydia, you heard it yourself. He's almost ready for you." Then they God bless each other and since Herbert has a tendency to bolt after an interview, Anderson preempts him by asking him to wait right there. Aw, who doesn't love Herbert?

Next up we've got Deborah on the phone regarding the Imus/Rutgers meeting. Oh noes! Did someone steal your live shot? What the hell? Anyway, funny story. You know how they've had their camera fixed on that door for the last two hours waiting for a press conference? Yeah, there's not going to be one. Apparently the Rutgers women are tired and you know, maybe they don't want to deal with press right now that is practically stalking them. Just a thought. I kind of hope they took one look at all the yahoos with their cameras set up and decided to purposely screw them over. Ah, the media. You gotta love it-even when it goes retarded.

A 360 Stakeout, Imus Fallout Discussion, Paul Gailiunas Interview, A Green Zone Iraq Attack, And HGH (Thursday's First Hour)

Hi everybody. We're in New Orleans tonight, but Anderson doesn't let us in on the location because we've got BREAKING NEWS. The Rutgers players are meeting with Don Imus RIGHT NOW at the New Jersey governor's mansion. Also CBS radio has joined MSNBC in kicking Imus to the curb. Outside stalking, er, covering the mansion for us we've got Deborah Feyerick, who tells us that CNN has a spy, er, contact inside the meeting. Riveting. She also tells us that the New Jersey governor got in a serious car accident on his way there and is now in surgery. OMG. Oh, but CNN totally doesn't care about him right now. Their bread is buttered by Imus. The assumption is there will be some sort of press conference since all those reporters went through the trouble of spying on their private meeting and everything. Dammit, doesn't that obligate these young women to say something? But for now we're moving on. Don't worry though, we'll be back.

Next we've got an interview with Al Sharpton and Tom Delay. And guess who Tom Delay thinks is at fault here. Liberals! If I ever see Tom Delay I'm totally running up to him and going, "I'm a liberal. Boo!" He starts going after Rosie O'Donnell and pimps his campaign to get her fired. Oh boy. Anderson piggybacks off of some of Delay's other comments and asks Sharpton if he's the PC police. Sharpton is comfuzzled about why this is all of the sudden a partisan debate. Seriously. Do we even know Imus' political affiliation? Or does the Right just automatically claim the racists? Anderson then turns back to Delay and asks what's up with the left/right debate. Delay claims that it's because it's the Left that carpet bombs. Whoa. Projecting much? You are "The Hammer," are you not? Then he brings up the fact that he and Sharpton are both Christians and how they're suppose to love their enemies. Just, you know, not the liberal ones apparently. Sharpton notes that they can forgive and it's not like they're throwing him in jail or something. After the interview Anderson tells us, "We will have more of their conversation, which got heated later on, in the next hour of 360." Liar. Maybe if we didn't waste so much time staring at a damn mansion door...

Moving on now to an interview with Bruce Gordon, CBS board member. Like with MSNBC, he says CBS's decision was at least partly based on maintaining the company's reputation. Anderson wonders if the media companies even really know what they're putting out into the public arena. Bruce says there's so much content out there that it's impossible to absorb it all and he also thinks we've become too tolerant. Wait, what? Actually I pretty much agree with him. Obviously the culture didn't turn to trash overnight. We didn't go from The Andy Griffith Show straight to Pants Off Dance Off. When you take a slow slide into cultural crap you tolerate things that maybe you wouldn't have previously. Speaking of cultural crap, we learn in "Raw Data" that Rush Limbaugh has 13.5 million listeners. God that's depressing.

Transitioning back now to their governor's mansion live shot, which they've been going back to every chance they get. Oh look, a door! I'm on pins and needles here, people. Seriously, the future "Daily Show" jokes will practically write themselves. Anyway, we learn from the spy that inside tears are being shed. And just so we're clear, all of my sarcasm is directed at the idiotic coverage of this meeting, not the meeting itself. Moving on to an Anderson piece on hip hop and its double standard. Parents get the kiddies out of the room because we're currently seeing clips of the worst MTV has to offer. This is why I rarely watch the video channels anymore. This crap is disgusting. Why any girl would want to be in those videos is beyond me, but many many do.

After the piece we're joined by Amy Holmes, who is practically a member of the 360 family at this point, and Jason Whitlock, columnist with "The Kansas City Star." Jason has written on the Imus flap and he believes that the real problem is prison culture in the African American community and this is being avoided. He doesn't think that Imus is so powerful that he can steal anyone's joy and he wishes African American's would stop playing the victim. Amy disagrees, stating that Imus is powerful due to the people he had on and that 80% of the people that are buying into that prison culture are white. That stat always throws me. Maybe I'm looking at this wrong, but in regards to overall US demographics, isn't that about right? Jason points out that there is a difference between listening to the music and living the lifestyle. Anderson then brings up his point he loves about the corporations. I'm telling you Anderson, a "Keeping Them Honest." It'll make you feel good.

Transitioning now to Anderson acknowledging that he's actually in New Orleans, specifcially in the Gentilly section. Most of the homes around him have not been rebuilt and he tells us that "normally, there would be people playing on the streets, kids and families." At 10:30 at night? Kids? We're then introed into a Randi Kaye piece on the murder of Helen Hill. You might remember 360's coverage of this story before. Helen was a filmmaker who was gunned down in her own home as her doctor husband, Paul Gailiunas, protected their infant son. Paul himself was also shot, but survived. He has since left New Orleans and moved to Canada. This is his first time speaking publicly about the incident. This whole story is so horrible. They sound like they were a wonderful couple and the person that did this is still on the loose.

Next up we learn there was a "suicide bombing in the Iraqi parliament, in the heart of Baghdad's Green Zone." Oh, so that war is still going on? Because watching before I wasn't sure. Anyway, we then go to Kyra Phillips live, and she tells us this was unprecedented because the bomber had to get through six checkpoints. Her sources are telling her that it was infiltration, maybe through the kitchen help. Anderson notes that the Iraqis had been responsible for security and he wonders if that will now change. Kyra thinks it will and she states that it used to be that when you went through the checkpoints you had all US people checking you, but now it's Iraqis and even hired contractors. Anderson points out that other explosives were found too and Kyra explains that that's standard operating procedure in case something goes wrong. And...we're right back to the mansion live cam. Apparently the hard news junkies were just thrown a bone. But don't worry, we've got important news here too. Don Imus is getting into his car! OMG, look at him walk! Oh, and we learn that his wife hugged every player. Every single one of them! I mean, news like that deserves it's own graphic. Wait, why am I encouraging them?

Our last piece of the hour is from Sanjay Gupta on human growth hormone (HGH). I'm pretty sure this is a repeat from the Anna Nicole Smith coverage. Anyway, I hate to skimp on Sanjay, but I'm giving this a pass. I hope people who were excited to see Anderson in New Orleans stuck around for the second hour because after watching the first hour I wondered what the point was of him even being there. Tonight's show contained quality mixed with utter ridiculousness. I always appreciate when Anderson goes to New Orleans and I think the debates over race and sexism are important. However, can we please move past Imus now? Let's keep discussing the issues, but the man has now been fired (as he should have been), so it's time to leave it alone. Staking out a non press conference? How pathetic. That part of tonight's coverage was cringe inducing. Oh, and it was nice to see Iraq make it back into the news, but how sad is it that it took the freaking parliament getting blown up to do it? And still with the sound effect. C+

More About Duke Case And 360 Again Takes Calls On Don Imus (Wednesday's Second Hour)

Hi guys. I'm still not feeling well, so this is going to be short. We start with a repeat of the Jason Carroll piece on the Duke rape charges being dropped and then move into an Anderson piece on how the arrests affected the guys. Afterwards we're joined by their attorneys, Jim Coony and Wade Smith. A lot of repeat ground is covered here. They blame the prosecutor and indicate there is no way to know why the woman made the charges. Afterwards we have Jeffrey Toobin back and I have to say, he always looks guilty for some reason when they first introduce him. Maybe it's because half of the conversations with him end in craziness. Both he and Anderson note how one of the guys pointed out that if they didn't have the resources to hire good lawyers they might be rotting in a prison cell. Toobin then mentions the Innocence Project. 360 needs to do a "Keeping Them Honest" on our prison system. Unfortunately it's a big industry that is making a lot of people money.

Next we're joined by Amy Holmes, Roland Martin, and John Fund. John Fund? Man, that third position is like musical chairs. John thinks we have a problem with white guilt in this country and that's why people rushed to judgement in the Duke rape case. Hey, I rushed to judgement in the case, but white guilt had nothing to do with it. I'm biased against the frat-boy type party culture. Sorry. And when a woman says she was raped I believe her. The races could have been reversed and I would have felt the same. Anderson tells us they've been getting a ton of emails and sorry to take you out of the review for a second, but I just have to share some transcript hilariousness. On the broadcast Anderson tells us that they've been getting a lot of reaction to the Imus story. However, the transcript seems to think they're been getting reaction to the "Amish store." Bwah! That's almost as good as when the transcript had Anderson and Jeff Corwin out "haunting" with the Brazilians.

Moving on to a Joe Johns piece about the advertisers pulling out and then we're taking your calls. Things start smoothly, but then a caller is missing and there's some technical problems. Uh oh. That would be the downside of the call-ins. It's okay though. No harm, no foul. The phone calls lead to more talk about gangsta rap and now I'm wondering if anyone has actually talked to any of these rappers about this scandal. Yeah, it's the corporations that push the music, but rappers do have a say. What do they think and will they make a pledge to stop? I'm not really into rap, but I do like Kanye West. However, I don't like that he uses the 'n' word. He decided not to be homophobic in his music; maybe he could decide to stop using that word too. But somebody needs to bring them into the conversation. Later on Roland tries to counter the cynics (and that would include me) that say this won't change anything. He brings up Rosa Parks and states that "it is always the major developments that are started by a very small issue." Yes, but Rosa didn't have to contend with a 24 hour news cycle. John Fund thinks we need to broaden the people that get on televison...and that's probably the first and last time I will agree with John Fund. That's all folks.

Still More On The Imus Flap, Duke Rape Charges Dropped, Chasing Life With Sanjay Gupta, And Raw Politics (Wednesday's First Hour)

Hi everybody. Okay, we'll see how this goes. Your humble blogger is in fairly extreme pain, I'm guessing due to the weather. So there's going to be some skimping. Hopefully it won't end up sounding all bitter. We kick things off with the news that Don Imus has been fired from MSNBC. It seems there was a bit of an internal pile on and it was determined he had to go to save their brand. For discussion on the decison we're joined by former Frist speechwriter Amy Holmes, radio host and CNNer Roland Martin, and... radio host Michael Medved? Dude, what have you done with Robert? Aw, and I thought we had totally bonded. For those not familiar, Medved previously got his ire up over the perceived homosexual agenda of the movie "Happy Feet." No, I'm not kidding. Anderson asks about the firing decision and Amy is down with it. Roland notes that the advertisers pulling out was a major contributor in the sacking. Not surprisingly, Medved thinks the firing went way too far and then says something nonsensical about people saying 9-11 was an inside job. This prompts Roland into interrupter-guy mode, which seems to be his default setting. Amy brings up the fact that Medved often talks about raising standards in a our culture. However, Medved thinks people just shouldn't listen to Imus. Then he brings up someone saying the "f' and "s" words and I'm sorry, but that is so not the same thing. There is no group of people connected to those words. Following this there's more discussion that covers a lot of things we've heard before.

Next up we have a Tom Foreman piece on any legal aspects of the Imus case. It doesn't look like he will get sued for defamation because he can just claim he was kidding or it was his opinion. For now it looks like the FCC isn't going to get involved. After Tom's piece we're joined by writer and critic John Leo. Anderson notes that a lot of powerful people go on the Imus program. John thinks they are enablers because they let him get away with saying horrible things. Anderson points out that people go on to sell their books. Dude, go on The Daily Show. Their viewers are major book buyers and Jon's not a racist. Anderson wonders if people who go on the show should be held accountable and John thinks they should. Hey, speaking of enabling and being held accountable, two words for you Anderson: Glen Beck. Seriously, he's said things just as horrible as Imus has and you enabled him by allowing him to come on a respected show and act half reasonable. That's how they do it. They pull out the "average Joe" personality for the mainstream appearances, but then when they get back to the safety of their radio show they spew garbage and most of America is none the wiser. John agrees with me in that most of America doesn't know about these people. He tells us it took him a day and a half to come up with six horrible things Imus has said because radio has no hard copy. Oh, John, you obviously have not met my pal David Brock and the good people at mediamatters.org . Trust me, next time you'll find what you're looking for in 10 minutes tops.

Transitioning now to a Jason Carroll piece on the other racially-tinged story of the day, the Duke rape case. The North Carolina Attorney General has proclaimed the Duke guys innocent and the charges have been dropped. He says there was a rush to condemn and he slaps the media around a bit, which is perfectly warranted here. Also, the District Attorney is in major hot water. After Jason's piece we've got Jeffrey Toobin for the legal lowdown and he is completely shocked by how outrageous the prosecutor was. However, I'm going to move on to the Jesse Jackson interview. Apparently Jackson had offered to pay the woman's college tuition since she was making money by stripping. And actually this interview pretty much becomes all about the naked dancing-at least on Jesse's end. Oh and sorry that's actually nakid dancing. Anderson asks if the offer still stands and Jackson's all, "I don't even know her." Oh good Lord. In fact, when he's not talking about nakid dancing that's basically how he answers every question. He didn't know her. He's never seen her. He doesn't know where she is now. He doesn't know why he's even here. Duke rape case? What Duke rape case? Suddenly he's got her playing the roll of Jack Abramoff to his Bush.

Transitioning now to some talk with Sanjay Gupta. He's got a new book called Chasing Life about the search for immortality. We get a Sanjay piece and then in studio discussion about different ways other cultures are living longer. The Seventh-Day Adventists are mentioned and actually 360 has covered a lot of this kind of stuff. You can search this blog if you're interested. Anderson tells us he will be reading the book this weekend. Anderson Cooper: wild and crazy anchor of CNN. Don't party too hard there, buddy. You might hurt yourself. Anyway, buy Sanjay's book. Because you love him. You know you do. After this there's some "Raw Politics," which I'm skipping tonight...because I can. The Shot is a crazy driver on a highway. In regards to to the show, there were call-ins again, which is great and really good discussion, but no hard news! C'mon guys! C

More Imus Fallout, The Art Of The Apology, And 360 Takes Your Calls (Tuesday's Second Hour)

Hi everyone. We're kicking off the hour on the Imus story again and Anderson starts by showing us an extended clip of the "Today" show appearance. Then we're joined again by Amy Holmes, Roland Martin, and Robert George. Anderson notes Al Sharpton is calling for Imus to be fired and wonders if he has any clout. Robert admits he can get attention, but Sharpton certainly doesn't speak for him. Then Robert and Amy start dissing on Sharpton, which is fine by me. However, as Roland points out, this isn't about Al Sharpton. In fact, it was the National Association of Black Journalists that first called for Imus to be fired, not Sharpton. Roland also makes the point that Sharpton being the 'go to' guy is partly the media's fault because when something like this happens they always, well, go to him. Anderson then switches back to talking about the double standard with rappers. Apparently he's getting emails.

Next we get an extended clip of the Rutgers player's press conference. They should actually do the extended clips more often. People like to see things unfiltered and plus? Takes up time, so not as much work for them. Afterwards we're back with Amy, Roland, and Robert. Anderson asks if this will "begin an actual debate about language and about what is appropriate and about this society, this culture which we now clearly have in which, you know, denigrating others is a way to make profit?" Stand down guys, I've got this one. That would be a big fat no. Is this important and should there be a debate? Absolutely. Will this story be down the memory hole three months from now? Absolutely. As I said yesterday, I'm still waiting for that big debate on poverty that we were suppose to have after Katrina. Anderson notes that Imus was talking about having a regular African American contributor, but Robert isn't into it. He thinks that will be like a token hire and now I'm thinking of Stephen Colbert and his picture of him and his "black friend." Maybe that's what Imus needs.

Next up we have a Tom Foreman piece on apologies. There have been a lot of those lately, most insincere. But for any of you that are planning on making some racist/sexist/bigoted comments in the future you're in luck because Tom's got a "how to" guide on how to get people to forgive you. Step one, make it quick. Okay, Imus already screwed it up. Step two, take your medicine-meaning take responsibility and don't put it off on other people or circumstances. And we're looking at you, Alberto. Step three, no sugarcoating. This means don't suddenly develop an alcohol problem because you're a racist. Finally, step four, change your behavior. Pretty self explanatory and if my viewing history is a guide, also the hardest to do.

Moving on to a repeat of the Whoopi Goldberg interview and then we bring in Amy, Roland, and Robert for some call-ins. Yay! My friend Arachnae was very excited. Did you try to call? I did not. Eliza has no desire to be on television. But I like listening to other people. The first call is from New Jersey. New Jersey, hello!! Oh, wrong show. And actually I'm not blogging these individual calls because it's kind of a pain to do. I'm not complaining, just stating a fact. Also, one issue I noticed is that a lot of the callers had questions that were already covered by the panel before the call-in segment. Obviously they have to let the viewers email and start calling early, so I'm not sure exactly how they could fix that other than just always making sure they do the calls before the panel. And then of course if they do that it could leave Anderson without anything to ask later. Anyway, it's a kink that I'm sure the crack 360 staff can work out. Before the last commercial Anderson tells us to stick around so we can "find out who is and who isn't the father of Anna Nicole Smith's baby, if you care." Bwah! As it so happens, I do not care. And that'll do it.

Continued Coverage of Imus Comments, Raw Politics, and Anna Nicole Smith's Baby Daddy (Tuesday's First Hour)

Hi everybody. CNN's PR people sent me a press release on their new Anderson Cooper 360 Daily podcast and apparently Anderson will taping a little intro especially for each one. I'm going to kind of call their bluff here and state that I bet that won't be the case a few months from now. All I'm saying is that when the blog was new he was a blogging fiend. Now? Not so much. Anybody checked out the podcast yet? I'm on dial-up, so I probably won't even try until this weekend. Anyway, the PR person said let her know if I had questions, so I guess let me know if you have questions. Hey, am I the only one who thinks those Larry King text vote questions are completely pointless? Tonight's was "Can a comedian make it in politics?" When I heard that I immediately said (to no one in particular), "Aren't they pretty much the same thing?" Cut to Anderson who practically echos me. Bwah! So apparently we're on the same page.

Tonight we lead with more of the Imus flap. I guess they're trying to hang onto that Larry King lead-in. As I said yesterday, while this story is important, it shouldn't be the lead. First up we have an Anderson piece that focuses on Imus and Al Sharpton's "Today" show appearance. There Imus tried to deflect attention off himself by noting that the phrase he used originated in the black community. Yeah, he sounds real sorry. Why doesn't he just claim an addiction to Ambien and go to rehab? After the piece we learn that advertisers are starting to drop his show. Good. Not good is the fact that that horrible sound effect is still here.

Joining us to talk about Imus is Rutgers basketball coach C. Vivian Stringer and player Essence Carson. Anderson asks Essence how she felt hearing the comments and she was of course saddened and angered. Anderson wonders if the two week suspension is enough. Vivian isn't sure yet. She points out they'll be meeting with Imus and will see what happens there. Anderson asks Essence if she's nervous about the meeting, but she's not. In fact she's looking forward to hearing him out and hearing his side of the story. Wow. I'm not sure I could be so classy about it. Anderson asks if she thinks Imus is racist and again she states that she first needs to meet with him. Anderson points out that Imus seems to be making excuses now. Vivian has noticed too and she resents it. He may be sorry, but he clearly doesn't get it and I think anyone who thinks he won't do it again is fooling themselves. Anderson wonders what's the first thing Essence is going to say to Imus. Mostly she just wants to listen, but she will be asking him why. Why indeed.

Next up we have more talk with...Whoopi Goldberg? Huh? I actually like Whoopi a lot, but I have no idea why she's on my tv screen right now. Anderson mentions something about her being in similar trouble before, but they never go into it. Whatever. Anderson asks his standard, "is two weeks enough?" and Whoopi says they'll see. She then goes through a list of a bunch of other people that have been fired for comments they made and notes that a precedent has been set. Anderson points out that Imus said he was doing comedy. Whoopi says she didn't know he was a comedian. Me either. When's the part of the show where he's funny? Anderson wonders if Imus even gets it. No, he does not. We're then played the clip of Imus whining that the black community does it too and Whoopi points out that that is not a new argument by any means. Black leaders have been complaining about song lyrics forever. Anderson asks if it would have been okay if Imus was black. Whoopi thinks no and people would have been on him even faster. Her advice to Imus would be to make some allies with the Rutgers people and be honest. I have a feeling that latter thing is going to be a tough one.

On now to a David Mattingly piece where we learn that, gasp, "ho" is being thrown around all over the place. Good thing he didn't look into the word "bitch" because that would be a real shocker. We all know this stuff is ingrained in our culture now and David says as much in his piece. It's sad, but honestly I don't know how you fix it at this point. I mean, look at the women that the younger generation follows in the news: Paris Hilton, Britney Spears, Lindsey Lohan. I mean, just last month CNN's own Glen Beck (gotta love that guy) called Hillary Clinton a "stereotypical bitch." And BTW where was the big flap over that? Does it have to be sexism and racism to merit wall to wall coverage and a suspension?

Moving on now to a three-way. Get your minds out of the gutter, people. Joining us for discussion we have Amy Holmes back from yesterday, radio host and CNNer Roland Martin, and Robert George of "The New York Post." Anderson notes that comments like Imus made are thrown around in the black community and he wonders if there's a double standard. Amy thinks there is and talks about some of the commentary she's seen about herself on websites. Oh hon, don't read that crap. I'm really liking Amy, but I have to say it completely boggles my mind that she worked for Bill Frist. Does not compute, you know? Because she is way too cool for Frist. Again Anderson asks if two weeks is enough and Roland says no. He also notes that we seem to have forgotten about the producer (hey, that's right!). Roland points out that it's ridiculous to compare Imus to rappers because he works on a different platform; one which has him talking with the country's top movers and shakers. "You don't see Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton sitting down with the Ying Yang Twins. You don't see Senator McCain rapping with Snoop Dogg," he says. Oh, there's some images I didn't need in my head. Robert then piggybacks off Roland's point and reinterates that the power structure is completely different because Imus has all this influence.

Anderson then points out that it's the big corporations that are making the money. He's actually hit on this before in relation to other stuff. So, Anderson, do I smell a big investigative "Keeping Them Honest"? How is the money broken down and where does it go? Do the people at the top have morals? What kind of sway do they have with the FCC? What kind of sway to they have with Congress? Remember, media has changed drastically over the past couple decades because media laws have changed drastically due to fierce lobbying. Anyway, Robert points out that Imus can't act like rappers gave him permission to make those comments because he made similar comments 15 years ago. Roland notes that it's not just a racism issue, it's a sexism one too and the discussion and outrage needs to broaden. He's right. I didn't even note the sexism angle yesterday. Amy agrees with Roland and brings up the comments Donald Trump made about Rosie O'Donnell. Anderson points out that people make money off of all this ugliness, "On television, on radio, getting people to yell at each over and argue with each other, that's part and parcel of -- frankly, of most cable news stations." Whoa, careful there, buddy. You're on a cable news station. But you're also right. Roland then makes the great point that there have been no national statements from any moral groups like Focus on the Family, the Family Research Council, and Concerned Women for America. Don't hold your breath there, Roland. Their definition of morality is very very narrow.

Transitioning now to "Raw Politics" with Candy Crowley and guess what. It's all about Imus. You have to be kidding me. Okay, since most politicians have gone on Imus, now they're all trying to lie low until this thing blows over, lest they step in a mine. Although the suspension and apology have made things easier for them to speak up. The White House made a comment, Obama issued a statement, Chris Dodd issued a statement...McCain says he believes in redemption. Dude, I guess so seeing as how you planted your lips on Bush's behind not that long after he smeared your family. Giuliani said he'd even go on his show again. Eh, what does he care I guess. I mean, there's video of him dressed as a woman on YouTube. He's got other problems. Clinton came closest to saying he should be kicked off air. In the end it doesn't matter what they think on this one. But seriously, there was no other political news today?

Next up we've got Anna Nicole Smith crap. Today the answer to the question everyone has been waiting for has finally been answered. And yes, children, that was sarcasm. So anyway, who da baby daddy? It's Larry Birkhead! Yay? Is this the least sleazy one? And is that the press cheering? What the hell? Anyway, you know what's coming, don't you? That's right, we're joined by Jeffrey Toobin and Court TV's Lisa Bloom because we need some discussion, yo. Toobin is all bummed because, "people have certain obligations, and in this case people have obligations to act like tabloid trash, to be a circus." Something tells me Toobin was a big Springer fan. So anyway blah blah blah. Actually all the coverage on the topic wasn't too bad. It clocked in at eight minutes, which means I lost the bet. That's right, Eliza and some people she was talking with when the news came down placed bets on how long 360 would go with it. I had 20 minutes, so yay for proving me wrong. No money to win, just bragging rights.

Anderson is very excited about The Shot tonight. Why? Because it's a new Seamanship commercial! Squee! It's chalk full of goodness, but no dancing this time. They then of course have to play the old one and Erica tells us to "check out that hip -- that hip action." Oh, I have. That will never stop being funny. So okay 360, I don't know what to do with you tonight. Using the second hour for a call-in was awesome and my friend Arachnae even contacted me after the show to urge me to be nice since coincidence or not you pretty much did exactly what she suggested in her guest blog. However, besides Erica's headlines there was no hard news in the entire two hours. It's like you can't walk and chew gum at the same time. Because there is important stuff going on right now. There's the Iraq war bill showdown, attorney-gate (which I see you're giving the same crappy inconsistent coverage you gave Plame), and just recently the news that 13,000 Guard troops are probably going to be deployed to Iraq. Now people are saying the Guard is broken. What happens if there's another hurricane? Look, I thought the show tonight was interesting, but please remember that what you choose to make important has consequences. C

Racist Comments From Don Imus, Raw Politics, And Investigating Arson (Monday's Show)

Hi everyone. I hope you had a nice weekend. What happened to Friday's review, you ask? Uh . . . I forgot. I was going to make up an interesting excuse, but I've got nothing. Anyway, during that show a new segment, "Giving 360", was introduced, so I'll be curious to know if we ever see it again. They tried a similar segment like this before and it seems to have gone gently into that good night. I guess we'll see. Anderson's back from vacation and we begin tonight with a piece from him on the recent racist comments made by MSNBC's Don Imus on his show. What did he say? Well he referred to members of the Rutgers women's basketball team as "some nappy-headed hos" and then he and his producer yukked it up. Lovely. Imus didn't even apologize until two days later and that was surely due to pressure. Of course this isn't the first time Imus has made disgusting comments. Besides the racist comments, he's also partial to the homophobic variety. A real winner, this guy. For its part, NBC/MSNBC has decided to suspend him for two weeks. Wow, accountability. I'm always surprised to see it since it happens so infrequently these days. So now Imus is doing the apology circuit, going on Al Sharpton's radio show and I'm sure if the networks allow it he'll be popping up on Larry King any day now. I'm glad 360 covered this because these kind of things tend to go unnoticed, but this is so not top story material. Didn't Muqtada al Sadr lead mass demonstrations today or something? The Imus thing is just another example of the news making itself the news.

Next up Anderson has an interview with Al Sharpton, who has been leading the charge against Imus. Anderson wonders if a two week suspension is enough and Sharpton clearly thinks not. He believes there needs to be some kind of regulatory standard. Anderson notes Imus apologized, but Sharpton again reinterates that for him it's not specifically about Imus. Janet Jackson's wardrobe malfunction is brought up and though I'm not a Sharpton fan, he does kind of have a point about there being a standard. This is kind of reminding me of what happened with Dave Lenihan. Dave was a radio talk show host here in St. Louis and was fired for making an accidental racial slur against Condoleezza Rice. What happened was he had actually been praising Rice's qualifications to be NFL commissioner and had meant to say her being an African American would be a "big coup." Unfortunately, he misspoke and instead said "big coon." He was instantaneously horrified and apologized over and over, but 20 minutes later he was fired. Dave also taught at a local college and some of his students confirmed that he was always misspeaking. Initially the St. Louis based NAACP was outraged over his comments, but after having some time to review what really happened, they reversed their decision and supported him in asking for his job back. He never got it. It seems crazy to me that this guy lost his job and Imus, who does this stuff on purpose all the time, is still on the airwaves. Anyway, back in the interview Anderson points out how big politicos are always going on the Imus show and wonders if they should continue to do so. Sharpton doesn't really think so and neither do I. Why would you want to associate yourself with racism?

Moving on to an interview with "Amy Holmes, a conservative analyst and speechwriter for former Senator Bill Frist, and Stephen A. Smith of ESPN and a sportswriter for 'The Philadelphia Inquirer.'" Again Anderson starts by asking if the two week suspension is enough. Stephen strongly feels that it's not and he thinks both Imus and his producer need to be fired, specifically due to the initial response once the pressure began to mount. Anderson wonders if the suspension might just be the corporate overlord's way of pushing the whole thing away until the heat dies down. Amy agrees (as do I) and is surprised it took this long. Then she tries to make this into a broader issue of the degradation of African American women in our culture. I respect that. Well, not the degradation part; the trying to use the comments of one idiot to focus on a broader social problem. Unfortunately, that never seems to work. Remember when Katrina was suppose to make us all really focus on poverty in this country? Yeah, whatever happened to that? Hell, whatever happened to rebuilding after Katrina? Anderson points out the Imus supporters say he's an equal opportunity offender. Amy doesn't think many wrongs make a right. Exactly. Then Anderson asks if Imus got a pass early on because it wasn't until bloggers pushed this into the mainstream media that things started happening. Yeah, what's up with that? Why are bloggers always having to make the media do their jobs? I'm still in awe that it took coalitions of people working their asses off just to get an American newspaper to do a substantial story on the Downing Street Minutes. Pathetic. This Imus thing doesn't even come close in regards to importance, but still. So anyway, turns out Amy is not a fan of Al Sharpton and she wonders why people always run off to his show instead of apologizing to the person that has been offended. Though neither guest or Anderson mention it, Imus did say he wanted to meet with the players-for what it's worth. Anderson then asks what it says about the stations that air Imus if they allow him to go back on the air. You know, I'll give them the benefit of the doubt here, but I really hope that part of the reason for this Imus coverage isn't due to the cable wars. After all, MSNBC doesn't come out smelling like roses here.

Next up we have further discussion of the racist bigotry from CNN's own expert on that subject: Glen Beck. Seriously?! How did he even get into regular CNN? They need to build a moat or something. Anderson notes he has his own radio program and asks if he understands how comments like that could happen. Glen says yes and no. No? Dude, you do forms of this crap all the time. Less than two months ago you sexually harrassed one of your guests. Live on the air! Glen seems to think bigotry is Imus' schtick. Anderson then asks the obvious: does that excuse what he said? Um, no. Glen explains that he's doing what he was hired to do and he's making money for his corporate owners. He wonders if Imus gets fired for a "mistake" like this who will be next. Well, hopefully, YOU. And this wasn't just a one time "mistake." Personally Glen finds the comments reprehensible. Good Lord. Does he really not realize he basically does the same thing on his show? Anderson then starts to say that he thinks there are some things black people can say that whites can't, but he catches himself and reforms the question to take out his opinion. Yeah, I caught that. Anyway, Glen says no and gives a nonsensical answer to support his argument. Whatever. Oh and 360, you're seriously going to assault me with Glen Beck AND the horrible sound effect in the same segment? What did I do?

Transitioning now to Joe Johns with some "Raw Politics." First up we learn that NY governor Eliot Spitzer is trying to make his state as relevant as everyone else for super- duper Tuesday. Other Big Apple news includes, "Senator Barack Obama, trying to steal the show, literally, with an appearance on 'Letterman.'" Literally? Did he actually try to take Letterman's show and make it his own? I know, I'm being anal, but hey, words matter. Then we get John McCain still trying to dig himself out of his Iraq hole. Whatever. Finally, we learn that Elizabeth Edwards is a bit freaked by her rabid republican neighbor who likes to chase people off his land with a shotgun. Oh my. Probably want to stay away from that guy. I guess we all have our shady neighbors. I know I do. After this Anderson informs us that 360 is getting a podcast. They're getting so hip! Okay, so they're actually behind NOW on PBS on this, but awww. I'm totally going to download it some day just to say I did. Oh, and I can also then say I used the video part of my video Ipod. Because so far? Not so much.

Transitioning now to a Randi Kaye piece on arson investigations. Apparently they haven't been as accurate as one would hope. Cameron Todd Willingham's three young children died in a fire that he was convicted of setting. But did he? It seems that a lot of fire investigation is based on myths and not science. The Innocence Project referred Willingham's case to scientists for review and they believe he was innocent. Well that totally sucks. Unfortunately even with new evidence Governor Rick Perry still went through with his execution. Gotta love Texas. I know I kind of skimped on the blogging with this story, but this was a good investigation. Oh, and props to 360 for NOT running the forest fire arson story about the woman who planted the matches. I thought I felt that coming up, but yay, it never did. I think that one is ready for retirement. Erica then gives us the Headlines, which include a lot of Iraq stuff. That totally should have lead the top hour. And actually they could have done the whole second hour on the Imus thing, with longer discussions and more perspectives. Instead we get "What is a Christian?" Again. The Shot tonight is world class violinist Joshua Bell playing at a metro station in Washington D.C. Just cuz. Anderson suggests they should try to anchor one day in a subway. You should. I'd watch it. And actually, you did anchor from the subway once. Well, near it anyway. It was when there was a terrorist threat, shortly after Katrina I think because Aaron Brown was still there (aw, Aaron). I have no idea why I remember that. My brain is apparently filled with useless information. The show tonight wasn't too great. It's fine to cover Imus, but not in lieu of important news. C-