The Latest On Health Care Reform, Goldman Update, Texas District Attorney Indicted, & 360's Favorite Moments of 2009

Hi everyone. Erica Hill is once again holding down the fort for a vacationing Anderson Cooper. I have to say, our 360 peeps are really using that wall technology of theirs. Like, a lot. So, can you guess what we're starting with tonight? Can you? Can you? Yep, health care reform. Things are still slowly inching along here, people.

Jessica Yellin pops in to tell us that, actually, the next vote has been moved up to Christmas Eve morning. I guess some of us will be wrapping presents by light of CSPAN. Bottom line: POTUS wants this finished up before his State of the Union address, which upon returning from their break, will give Congress about a week to reconcile the Senate and House bills. This is going to be fun.

Moving on to Randi Kaye, heavily using the Magic Wall to show us how lobbyists have basically just written our health care reform. There are facts and figures, and Senator Max Baucus's extreme douchebaggery on this topic is pointed out, though, uh, not quite in those terms. This is all very good. It's the kind of reporting we need. Yet I can't help feeling it's a little late. I mean, a focus on Baucus would have been nice when the bill was still in his committee. Just sayin.'

Next up, Tom Foreman gets his turn at the Magic Wall. The subject: who this bill actually helps. It turns out it's pretty progressive. The less you make, the less you pay. Even better, in the end everyone saves some. At this point, I'm not sure how anyone can say that status quo is adequate.

It's that time of year again, people. The holiday season, when everyone seems to be drinking the egg nog. Now, our Congresscritters practically live and die for political stunts, but for some reason it's this time of year that they start rhyming. Case and point: Senator Roland Burris, who took the beloved "Twas the Night Before Christmas" and gave it a pro-health care reform twist.

Now, we all know 360 doesn't take sides (not even with new interpretations of classic holiday stories!), so what did they do? Got former Bush speech writer Matt Latimer to give us another perspective. I'm not sure a professional speech writer was really required to write that thing, but I digress. The highlight is that it's dramatically read by Floor Crew dude Bob Angle (hope I have that name right). Loved the delivery; not so hot on the poem. After his reading, Bob appears to dance himself out behind Erica. Now there's a guy who knows how to get airtime.

Moving on to our requisite talk with David Gergen, who makes me smile by giving a shout out to "Twitter King" Jack Gray. Unfortunately, my joy is short-lived. I think I might have to break up with our Gerg, and I am sad about that. As regular readers know, I've been growing more and more disillusioned with his analysis, and Sunday night might have been the last straw. He was live for CNN's coverage of the Senate cloture vote, and as tonight, noted that no Republicans voted aye.

The Gerg then went on to concern troll about what a terrible thing that was, but the kicker was when he said both sides were to blame for the lack of bipartisanship. Excuse me? He can't be serious. Obama and the Democrats have continuously reached out to try to placate the Republican babies. What have they gotten in return? Nothing. I'm tired of the media elites worshiping at the alter of the almighty center. The bill does not suddenly become better just because a handful of Republicans vote for it. That's ridiculous. Newsflash: they were never going to vote for it.

Transitioning now to an update on the David Goldman case. Good news, the court has ruled in his favor. However, there are still no details on when he gets to bring Sean home. I can understand why he's being cautiously optimistic. Erica talks with David's father Barry, and also Representative Chris Smith (via phone), who is in Brazil with David. Fingers crossed.

Next up, we learn the news that former Kimble County DA Ron Sutton has been indicted on charges of misapplication of fiduciary property. Gary Tuchman has been covering the corruption coming out of Texas for a while now, and this new development leads us into a background piece from him on the situation. The gist: in Texas (and other states) police are allowed to pull over drivers and seize their valuables if they're suspected of a serious crime. As you might imagine, this has opened the door to mass corruption, and even uglier, the targeting of minorities.

Sutton got himself into hot water because of how the seized money was used. If you guessed a week-long all-expenses-paid trip to Hawaii (spouses included!), you win the prize. The former DA defends himself by claiming the trip was for a work-related conference, but Gary tells us there were only 10 hours worth of seminars. Oh, also? The people on the trip got $6,000 in spending money. Our intrepid correspondent actually tracked Sutton down, and when asked about that piece of information, we're fed some bull about cost of burgers and drinks in Hawaii. Seriously.

I haven't even gotten to the judge part yet, people. See, one year a man named Emil Prohl was invited on the Hawaii trip. Who's he? The judge who hears forfeiture cases. Good lord. And wait! Wait! It gets better: Team Gary found that there were checks written directly to the judge from the forfeiture account. They really do do everything bigger in Texas. Even, apparently, corruption.

After Gary's piece, he joins us live for discussion. Actually, Gary's head is joining us for discussion, as he's being Skyped in from--wait for it--Hawaii! It's a Christmas Irony miracle! Hey mister, who's paying for that trip? Erica assures us that our correspondent is vacationing on his own dime. And he's nice enough to take a break and talk to us? Aw. News is being stubbornly inconvenient this holiday season. Enjoy your fun in the sun, Gary.

The "shot" tonight is 360's favorite 2009 moments, most of which feature the Silver Fox in some stage of humiliation. This will teach him not to go on vacation. Should I drop some bullet points on this bad boy? I think I shall:

• Number Five: Kathy Griffin and Suze Orman surprise Anderson with Happy Birthday wishes, complete with balloons and crayon cake. As Anderson birthdays go, I rather liked this one. Less awkward than the Wii gifting and less traumatic than the clowns. I mean, it's his birthday, let's not give him nightmares.

• Number Four: Anderson meets Nancy Grace's twins. Personally, I find Nancy Grace terrifying, but her kids are cute, and Anderson is very cute with them. Okay, yes, he made the boy cry. But he makes a mean paper fish.
  

• Number Three: Anderson cannot locate Indiana on a map. There's a map, a panicked anchor,... hilarity ensues. My recap of the incident.

• Number Two: Richard Simmons visits the 360 set, dances to Lady Gaga, and terrifies everyone. Okay, maybe he just terrified me. Anderson, as per usual, just did his giggling thing. But seriously, nightmares, people. Nightmares!

• Number One: The 360 Crew dances to Single Ladies. Destined to be a classic. What can I say, those crew guys know how to shake it.
  

I guess that about wraps things up. The show was pretty good. It was nice to have some fun. When the bosses are away, the children will play. This is my last review of the week, but I'll be doing my annual Festivus post tomorrow. If I don't catch you then, happy holidays! I might also try to get a post done this weekend about Tom Foreman's special. You know I have to weigh in on our Jack Gray! See you on the flip side.

Senate Screws Us On Cheaper Drugs, Palin vs. Terminator, Parental Abduction, And More Tiger Woods (Plus Dickens Reading and Anderson's Momma On R&K!)

Hi everyone. We begin with the news that the Senate has just voted down two proposals that would have allowed us to buy cheaper drugs from other countries. Thanks Senate! Because our friends at 360 are always "keeping 'em honest," we get played a clip of Campaign!Obama pledging to bring on the cheap drugs. Now, I love me the Daily Show-like accountability we got going on here, but one wonders, dudes, where were you four months ago?!

See, this drug deal is not new. It was first reported in August, and it would have been nice if it would have gotten some traction. I guess the news cycle was otherwise occupied. Probably trying to suck the last ratings morsel off Michael Jackson's death. I just love the media sometimes, don't you?

Anyway! Better later than never. Anderson Cooper once again takes us to the Big Wall. Is it just me, or does it feel like a "Use the Big Wall more!" memo went out to our 360 peeps? They are getting their frickin money's worth, people. Our anchor demonstrates what most of us already know: drugs are a lot more expensive here in the U.S.

Joe Johns joins us to talk about how this is essentially a trade-off; the administration gives Big Pharma what they want, Big Pharma doesn't kill the bill. Awesome for them, huh? Safety issues are brought up, which is an excuse used not to import. I'll take my chances. Finally, David Gergen shares his insider-y insider-ness. He thinks the drug companies got a "sweetheart deal," so he's got his clear glasses on there. But he's still implying reform opposition is strictly a center/right thing. I'm surprised there's been no talk of the growing progressive split.

If everything you just read wasn't reminder enough that our Congresscritters are idiots, 360 would like to demonstrate this fact to you by using a member of their Floor Crew. We'll call him Jerry, because, well, that's his name. Jerry will be spending the hour reading from Charles Dickens' "A Tale of Two Cities." No, this is not a segment about torture. See, Senator Bernie Sanders introduced an amendment to the health care reform bill that would have established a single-payer system. Though an exciting prospect, um, it obviously wasn't going to go anywhere.

Unless a senator objects, amendments are not usually read out loud. Well, guess what. Apparently a little of Lieberman's dickishness has rubbed off on Senator Tom Coburn, because he demanded the 787 page amendment be read. With the President-imposed end-of-the year deadline for getting this bill wrapped up, time in the Senate is very tight--hence people being none too thrilled with this stunt. This brings us back to poor Jerry. I guess 360 said to themselves, hey, let's make someone read something and see how far they get. And there you go. Personally, I might have rather just read the bill.

Transitioning now to an epic fight to the death battle: Sarah Palin vs. The Terminator!!! Dun Dun Dun! Alright, fine. It's actually way less exciting than it sounds. A Candy Crowley piece breaks it down. Arnold Schwarzenegger, as you know, is a green governor. While former governor Sarah Palin, likes to shoot wolves from helicopters, and isn't too keen on combating that whole global warming thing. Apparently, the two have had words. Or at least gotten snarky via Facebook. It never ends.

Moving on to an unbelievable child abduction piece from David Mattingly. We're shown video of a terrified Jean Paul Lacombe Diaz as he is taken from his school bus by Texas authorities in order to be turned over to his father, Jean Philippe Lacombe. Lacombe had presented misleading Mexican documents to a San Antonio judge, which wrongly showed he had custody of the boy. On the tape, Jean Paul calls out for help, stating that his father will hit him. Essentially, the state just assisted an alleged child abuser kidnap his son. Like I said, unbelievable.

Now no one knows the location of either Lacombe or Jean Paul. We're joined by the mother, Berenice Diaz, and Lisa Bloom. As you might imagine, Berenice is pretty beside herself given that she hasn't seen her son in two months. Surprisingly, Lisa found that the judge actually followed the law. She notes that they're presented with documents everyday and assume them to be true. Well, that's scary. Still though, you'd think the bus scene would have warranted a call to DFS.

On now, strangely, to another abduction case. We're played an interview Anderson had with David Goldman, which was taped literally as he was on a plane to Brazil that was about to take off (we can hear the announcements). He's taking the trip to finally (hopefully) get his son. The back story: In 2004, David's wife Bruna Bianchi took their son to her native Brazil for a two-week vacation. But that vacation turned out to be indefinite. They never came home. Bruna divorced David and remarried in Brazil. She then later died and her new husband took custody of David's son. It's been a battle ever since. Let's hope the battle is truly over.

Time for your Tiger Woods news! We're given some Magic Wall action, and since the subject falls in the medical realm, we also get some Sanjay Gupta action. But I'm skipping ahead because...meh. We're not off the Tiger train yet though. Now we're going to do some sister network promotion, by showing a clip of Robin Meade talking Tiger with Spike Lee and Charles Barkley. They're worried because they can't get in touch with him. Well, I hope the guy's okay. This too will pass. Can we be done with this story now?

No, apparently we cannot. Because now Anderson's going to talk with Robin about the talk she had with Spike and Charles. My head is spinning. The fact that Tiger changed his number is brought up, but then the train just completely derails because the next thing I know, we're talking about the Real Housewives. No, really! Why do all conversations with our anchor end with the Real Housewives?

To make this even more bizarre, the Silver Fox tells us a story about his encounter with Charles Barkley at a Turner company party in New Orleans. From the delivery here, I'm assuming Mr. Barkley was a little sloshed, but don't quote me on that. It seems he yelled our anchor's name, tried to kill him with a bear hug, and then said something along the lines of: "You try to keep them mother******* honest. But you can't keep them honest. They ain't honest!" Well said. Someone should sew that on a pillow. And you know Anderson just kinda stood there and nodded until he felt comfortable enough to pretend he had a phone call.

Speaking of Mr. Cooper, he finished up a co-hosting stint on Regis and Kelly this morning, and who was in the audience. His momma! You and I know her as Gloria Vanderbilt, American royalty. I'm not all that familiar with her, to tell the truth. I know she made jeans and isn't shy about writing books about the sex (no, I have not read them). Ahem. Anyway, she tells a story about a young Silver Fox. Take a gander at the vid. Oh, and bonus inbox!

We wrap up the night by checking back in with Jerry. Only made it to page 41. He does not like this book, people. He does not like this book at all. Poor Jerry. Eh, it can't always be about dancing to "Single Ladies."

The show was okay. It felt like there wasn't a lot of there there. I really wish they'd go more in-depth on the health care stuff, but I've learned not to hold my breath. I hope they stay on the Jean Paul case. This isn't true crime sensationalism. There's a real chance media exposure will help find that kid. That'll do it.