United Nations Compound Attack, Combating H1N1 Vaccine Fear -Mongering, Job News, Palin Talk (For Some Reason), & Wanda Sykes Interview

Hi everyone. We continue our week of Anderson Cooper-lessness while John King steers the ship. Our sub anchor, however, does not have the "Big 360 Interview." No, that super-sized honor actually goes to Michael Ware (ooh, unconventional!), and it's where we begin tonight. On Wednesday morning, the Taliban launched an attack on a United Nations Compound in Kabul that left eight dead. It was brutal and brazen, and actually could have been a lot worse if not for American contractor Chris Turner.

He tells Michael that when he heard the small-arms fire, he knew they were close, and immediately grabbed his rifle. Everyone attempted to evacuate and he was the last out. About 24 people hid in a washroom while Chris stood guard, keeping them safe. He downplays his actions, noting that they were in the back of the compound and most of the action went down in the front. Still a compelling story nonetheless, and a smart move to have Michael do the interview.

Transitioning now to the subject of the H1N1 virus and--I kid you not--the Magic Map is deployed. Oh John, is there any subject you can discuss without waving your hand in front of a board? Anyway, he shows us a map of the US and all the swine flu states are red. If this were election night, that map would be giving me a heart attack right about now.

Randi Kaye then joins us to talk about some of the public resistance to the vaccine that's happening on the Internets. The 360 kids are a bit behind on this angle. Bill Maher's tweet is mentioned ("If you get a swine flu shot, you're an idiot.") and I'm pretty sure it's at least a couple weeks old because I remember seeing it in real time. There's YouTube and blog fear-mongering as well. Not to mention email forwards (which Randi doesn't mention). I had to do a big debunk for a family member a couple weeks ago due to one of those.

As I've stated before, I'm in the middle on this issue. Do I think the vaccine is perfectly safe? Of course not. Nothing is fool proof and medical mistakes are not uncommon. But do I think the government is out to get us? Um, no. They don't have their act together enough to orchestrate a full blown biomedical conspiracy. There's always a risk with any medical procedure or medication; vaccines are no different. I sort of wish Randi would have done more of an in-depth fact check. This segment kinda plays like, "weird crap we found on the Internets."

Then we're joined by Sanjay Gupta, who gives us some more info on the flu, as well as a bit of an explainer on where all these crazy theories are coming from. Guillain-Barre syndrome is mentioned, though Sanjay points out there's no proof people really developed the syndrome due to receiving the 1976 swine flu vaccine. Also, I don't really endorse the reporting of Inside Edition, but I am curious about this video and would like to see it examined by a more reputable news agency.

Moving on now to an interview John has with Christina Romer, chair of the president's Council of Economic Advisors. Funny story: A few years ago, the Bush administration was trumpeting the economy because Wall Street was humming along and GDP numbers were good. But they just couldn't understand why the poll numbers on the subject were in the tank. Well, now we are through the looking glass, people. GDP numbers are up and guess who's screaming about the lack of jobs. That's right, the Republicans. Now suddenly they're all about the average American. Funny how that happens.

As for the interview, nothing hugely of note. Though the Obama administration's job expectations aren't being met in a timely fashion, there's still no gotcha because the time period given has yet to end. It's definitely a subject they should keep up on though.

Next up, we learn that Sarah Palin is sticking her nose in a New York congressional race, and apparently now we have to talk about it. Oy. I don't get this. She's not a governor anymore. She's not any kind of official. She's not seen as a credible candidate by the majority of the country. She's nothing! Why must we continue to talk about every little thing she does. Seriously media, it's time to let go. Anyway, there's talk with Paul Begala and David Frum, but yeah, totally don't care.

Moving on to an interview with comedian Wanda Sykes. Wha? When they do stuff like this, I'm left scratching my head. I'm not complaining exactly; I just don't understand why she's on the show. I can't even explain this with synergy. All CNN has been doing this week is defending their ratings by noting how newsy they are, and then they have on a comedian (and Campbell Brown had on Tracy Morgan a week or so ago).

Personally, I think they should just have some sort of (short) pop culture segment every night. When they're able to book someone, they can have an interview. When they can't get anybody, Anderson can talk movies or TV (or Levi Johnston stripping for Playgirl--*shudder*) and you know it will be entertaining. The segment would help shake up what most now agree to be a totally stale format AND it would take away the WTFery of these kind of seemingly odd and out-of-place interviews. A little fun on the news is fine, as long as it has its place.

Anyway, the interview with Wanda is a little odd in that John focuses a bit on the White House Correspondents Dinner, where yes, she performed, but it was also forever ago. That dinner was not without controversy. Rush Limbaugh had recently remarked that he hoped Obama would fail. In response, Wanda cracked that she hoped Rush's kidneys would fail, a remark that sent a gasp through the crowd. "Washington wasn't quite ready for that one," says John.

Hey, remember the 2004 dinner when Bush pulled that great bit about how he couldn't find WMDs? You know, those same WMDs that never existed, which were used as a justification for a war that resulted in the deaths of thousands of people? Remember that? Wasn't that just Hee-fucking-larious? Listen to the press laugh. Good one, Bush! Too funny! But yeah, a crack about Rush's kidneys failing? Washington wasn't quite ready for that one.

Also? Apparently Wanda Sykes is gay. I'm not sure if I already knew this. I think I probably did, but it's not exactly something that concerns me all that much. I bring it up, because John does this really abrupt transition and starts asking her about the human rights campaign, which threw me for a second. I guess this is how they classify the interview as news.

That about does it for me. The show was okay. I think they beat the Olbermann repeat in the demo ratings last night, so...yay? It's kinda sad how bad they're getting pounded lately. A part of me thinks they should just bulldoze the format, do some outside-the-box thinking, and rebuild the show from there. But I don't see that happening. Anyway, until we meet again.

Barney Frank Interview On Our Money, More H1N1 Talk, Sex Addiction, And Health Insurance Gender Inequality

Hi everyone. Well, it seems Anderson Cooper has ditched us for no doubt more interesting surroundings. But never fear, John King is here, and he's more than qualified when it comes to holding down the fort until the silver-topped one returns.

Tonight we begin with...outrage! Okay, we're all well aware of the bailouts...and the taking of our money...and the perks and yada yada. At this point, some of us would like to see the CEOs of these companies, I don't know, perhaps made to cry like little girls. But I digress. Joe Johns tells us that now companies like Citigroup and Bank of America--takers of OUR money--are pouring cash into lobbyists, who in turn are (most likely) trying to water down regulations that might have kept us from getting into this whole bailout mess in the first place. To sum up: ahhhh!!!!!

We're given a bunch of caveats. Like, John isn't telling us specifics of the lobbying and the companies are claiming they're not using federal funds. In fact, they apparently even sent CNN charts and graphs as proof. Oh, well, if we can't believe something made in PowerPoint, what can we believe? Seriously, are we sure we can't make them cry like little girls?

Next up, John has an interview with Representative Barney Frank, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee. I like Frank's no BS-style, but I'm not going to lie, following his interviews can be challenging. Of note to me is Frank stating that money doesn't necessarily make the lobbyists effective. Basically he's trying to say he and his colleagues can't be bought. Okay, fair point. Money doesn't guarantee they'll get the legislation they want, but it sure as hell helps.

Frank also talks about his plan to set up a systemic risk council in order to prevent the whole "too big to fail" problem from happening again in the future. "We're going to have death panels. But they're going to have death panels that are going to put to death these institutions before they can cause us problems, not old people," he tells us. Yes, killing old people is generally frowned upon. But death panels for companies is something I can get behind. It'd be great if this actually came to fruition.

Then the very good point is made that, originally, financial companies acted as a means to an end, with the end being goods and services. Now some of these companies are the end. All they do is move money around. Frank doesn't see much value in it, and quite frankly, neither do I. From here, the conversation turns to health care reform, with Frank expressing his support for the new proposal that states can opt out of the public option. He thinks the option will actually become popular and states won't opt out. Again, I agree. It's not the strong public option I'd like, but at least it makes the bill worth passing.

Transitioning now to more on H1N1. Sanjay Gupta is here because President Obama just declared the flu to be a national emergency. But no freak out needed. As Sanjay explains, the declaration refers to how wide spread the flu might become; not how severe. Also, it's mostly a technicality, in that it streamlines procedures and cuts through red tape. Sanjay brings up Hurricane Katrina as an example, which is actually exactly what I thought of when I heard about the declaration. Erica Hill then pops in to talk about availability of the vaccine. Things are pretty behind. Keep washing those hands, people.

If it's true that sex sells, let's hope our next segment gets the 360 kids some ratings because otherwise...ugh. It seems some ESPN analyst got fired for having an affair with a production assistant and now we're talking about sex addiction. Yeah, I don't know why either. We're joined by Lori Brown, associate professor of sociology at Meredith College, and addiction specialist Reef Karim. I can't say I'm all that interested. If I wanted to watch Dr. Phil, well, I would.

A bit of hilarity though: you know how 360 does that "Text 360" thing even though they have the feedback form, Facebook, and Twitter already? Well, tonight I saw my Twitter pal Vanessa tweet Anderson's Twitter account a question, and not even about three minutes later, they were reading it on the air. So, either "Text 360" isn't very popular (especially since they didn't even use a text) or the 360 kids give a new meaning to last minute decision.

Next up, the Silver Fox is back! Well, sorta. We have a taped interview Anderson did with Christina Turner, a woman who was sexually assaulted and then dropped by her insurance company. This whole story is just so so wrong. Christina was drugged by men at a bar, and subsequently did the right thing by going on anti-HIV medication. Unfortunately, that move, coupled with the therapy she required to deal with the traumatic event, made her essentially uninsurable.

This pisses me off so much I can't even recap it properly. So go here to read Christina's story, watch the extended interview with Anderson, and finally, check out the website awomanisnotapreexistingcondition.com.

For more on the gender inequality of our health insurance system, Sanjay returns and we're also joined by Marsha Greenberger of the National Women's Law Center, and Candy Crowley. Marsha tells us that unfortunately Christina's case is not an anomaly. There are even states that consider domestic abuse a pre-existing condition. Sanjay adds on, noting that pregnancy can be viewed as a pre-existing condition as well. Plus, plans are often more costly for women and may not even cover obstetric care. On the political front, Candy talks a bit about how Michelle Obama is now out there on health care reform. Good couple segments. I'm glad 360 did this.

There's more show, but I actually got distracted and missed the end. From what I saw, besides the (IMO) pointless ESPN sex addiction segment, everything was good. A couple things of interest: Brian Williams will be reporting from Afghanistan this week with special reports from one of my faves, Richard Engel.

Also, remember how I said I hoped the Balloon Boy coverage would at least get 360 some good ratings because their October numbers were going to suck? Yeah, well, their October numbers suck. Ouch. Not exactly a surprise. Obviously this is a network wide problem, but it looks like 360 might be bearing the brunt.

I wouldn't deny that much of CNN's ratings have to do with the fact that they're not a partisan network, but I also believe some of their woes are self-inflicted. Simply put, CNN has no identity, and this trickles down to individual shows. To be honest, I cannot recommend 360 to anyone because I don't know how. I, a loyal viewer of over four years, am unable to succinctly define this show. Sure, we've all read the blurbs about holding people accountable and going behind the headlines and blah blah.

Some nights that's true. Other nights it's total crap. I don't really want to tell someone, "hey, watch this show because they might do a provocative hour of news." I feel like I need to add the caveat that the provocative hour will go out the window if a balloon flies through the air for two hours, or a celebrity does something really stupid. The last time I recommended 360 to someone, she sat down to 20 minutes of Paris Hilton. After the embarrassment of receiving her WTF email, and having to explain that, no, I don't think celebrity news is the mark of a quality program, I was a tad turned off from ever singing CNN's praises to non newsjunkies.

So, my view? There's a large group of news viewers out there who view CNN as a total joke because, well, sometimes they are. Thing is though, the network also does really great work that's not being seen by as many people as it should, because the stupid coverage alienated the potential loyal viewers. Does CNN really want to be at the mercy of events? There's a loyal audience out there just waiting to be found. I know Jon Stewart is a comedian, but his smack down of CNN a few weeks ago was spot on. Reporting...fact-checking...CONSISTENTLY--I think it's an identity a lot of people could get behind.

H1N1 Vaccine Debate, Hate Crimes Bill To Include Sexual Orientation, (Very Short) Pervez Musharraf Interview, And Immigration Limbo

Hi everyone. Well, this is getting ridiculous. Last night my Internet went down, and then tonight I not only had satellite problems, but Blogger decided to crash and burn for a while. Obviously the technology Gods are trying to tell me something. So anyway, it is now very late, but the show was good and I really wanted to blog. I think you know what that means: one super-abbreviated post coming up!

We kick things off with the news that New York has suspended its mandatory swine flu shot order for health care workers. Tom Foreman joins us with more, stating that though some objected to the mandatory-ness, officials say things were shut down mostly because there's not enough shots anyway.

Next up, we have discussion with Dr. Jorge Rodriguez and Registered Nurse Lorna Patterson, who actually sued in order to not have to receive the shot. She doesn't trust the vaccine, while Jorge thinks her view sends a bad message. I'm pretty much in the middle here, but it was hard to know how to take the discussion given we have no idea how many health care professionals hold Lorna's view. Is she the rare exception or the voice of a substantial percentage? Just because you have two views, doesn't make them equal.

On now to the excellent news that the Senate has voted to add sexual orientation to hate crimes protection and Obama has pledged to sign the provision into law. About time! This segues us into a Dana Bash piece, in which we meet Todd Metrokin, a gay man who was brutally beaten for nothing more than being gay. This will now be a federal offense. Not everyone is cheering, however. Many Republican are unhappy (surprise, surprise) because they think the legislation will be like charging people for thought crimes. Okay, someone smashed their foot on Todd Metrokin's face after calling him a gay slur. Yes, they may have thought about it first. But then they DID IT. That's a crime.

For discussion of this we're joined by one of my favs, Dan Savage, and Corey Johnson, Political Director of Towleroad.com (a site with homosexual tendencies-heh). Whoa, whoa, WAIT! Did we just get sucked into some alternate cable news universe where we're not forced to endure stupid fake "balance" regarding every discussion? Two gay guests and no representative from an organization with a family friendly-sounding name with a viewpoint bordering on homophobic? This pretty much never happens.

But anyway, alternate universe is awesome! We get a nice intelligent conversation about how, yes, the hate crimes addition is a "yay" moment, BUT Obama still has a long way to go when it comes to actually addressing issues important to the gay community (and the rest of us who support human rights). They also talk a bit about how the Obama situation has fostered a divide between gay rights supporters. And aw, it's kinda cute how they seem excited to actually be agreeing with each other. Like I said before, two gay guests at the same time without a Tony Perkins-like foe doesn't happen very often. I also had to slightly chuckle over Dan pointing out that the new legislation is in fact not magical. Gay people aren't suddenly invincible. You gotta be bitten by a radioactive spider or something for that.

Transitioning now to the "BIG 360 INTERVIEW" with Pervez Musharraf. How do I know it's "big"? Well, because the former president of Pakistan and Anderson Cooper are sitting at the "map table" in front of a graphic that looks like it's about to swallow them both up. Subtle, and not at all distracting. There's talk of Mullah Omar and Musharraf tries to deny he's in Quetta, but Anderson's not having any of that and presses. Then they move on to the subject of US aid. After that they play us a clip of Cheney, who has apparently slithered out of his lair again to criticize Obama. Stop giving him airtime!

And...then suddenly we're talking to Michael Ware and Peter Bergen, so apparently interview over. Well, that was shockingly short. Later, Anderson tells us that there's an extended interview online and I was floored to find a discussion that is almost 30 minutes long! Honestly, I'm not sure what to say about this, or if I would do things differently. The full interview is good, but from a strictly TV perspective, Musharraf doesn't have the same magnetism that, say, Michael Ware does to get the viewer through a long complicated discussion. Airing the whole thing probably would have been a ratings killer.

But why pimp out the interview so much if you're only going to show a few minutes? I think Anderson should have at least stressed how much more was left online because I was expecting maybe an extra five minutes at most--not an extra twenty five. As for Michael and Peter, I'm definitely not complaining about their sudden appearance. Always love them. They hit on the subject of troops for Afghanistan and then move on to discussing some of Pakistan's issues. A good talk.

The final piece of the night is from Soledad O'Brien on the immigration limbo that some children find themselves in when they cross the border on their own or have a parent go to jail. The kids are detained in shelters. It must be terrifying for them. After Soledad's piece, Erica Hill talks with former Senator Mel Martinez, who came over legally from Cuba, but also initially spent some time in a Boys Town shelter. They discuss immigration.

That'll about do it. Good show.

Fun With Balloon Boy (Now With Even More Vomit!), Women In The Workplace, And More Swine Flu Vaccine Questions

Hi everyone. Yeah, I slacked on Friday's show again. But it's okay because I'm going to give you a super-speedy recap of that broadcast right now. Ready? First we all took a trip in a DeLorean back to a time when white and black people weren't allowed to marry. Then there was Balloon Boy and vomit. Then there was Anderson Cooper laughing about Balloon Boy and vomit. Oh, and the "shot" came back. Aaaannnd that's about it. Exactly how it all happened, I swear.

Anyhoo! Now it's a new week and we're past all that ridiculousness, right? If you said "right," you don't know cable news. Get ready to clutch your pearls, because those same authorities that told us on Friday that they believed the Heene's story, now are crying hoax. Gasp! Actually, they thought it was a hoax back then too, but were playing it cool to get the Heenes to cooperate. Sneaky.

We learn from Dan Simon that the couple is now looking at possible felony charges. He also speculates about domestic abuse, which I would believe, but let's not get ahead of ourselves, mmkay? As for what these people actually do, it kinda seems like their occupations are full time fame whores, though neighbors say the dad was some kind of carpenter or contractor. BUT CNN's crack investigative team found out he doesn't have a license. Zoh my God, he's like Joe the Plumber!

Back to that whole hoax thing, Anderson presents us with an evidentiary timeline, snarkified for our--and apparently his--amusement. I'm going to assume most of you have seen these. My apologies to the rock-dwellers. First up, obviously our anchor is going to pimp out the Blitzer interview where young Falcon Heene says they "did it for a show." Then we're on to the Today Show clip for that always fun mixture of live TV and vomit. "And I love that Meredith Vieira just keeps on trucking ahead," says Anderson. Hey man, Meredith Vieira is a professional. She's not going to let a little vomit ruin her segment.

Then we're on to the hysterical 911 call of the mother, home video of the balloon floating away, home video of Falcon telling the camera he's going to sneak inside the balloon, and video of the dad's reaction when his other son tells him Falcon is inside. There you have it. Anatomy of a pretty impressive (though in retrospect, not really) hoax. I'm kinda surprised they didn't include the whole big Gawker exclusive. Oh, and if you thought this story couldn't get any more pathetic, well, think again.

For discussion of all this (you know we need it!), we're joined by Jeffrey Toobin and Lisa Bloom. Right off the bat, Anderson turns to Jeff and deadpans, "Jeff, I just got to start off with you, because, you know, when you call it right, you deserve to be praised for it. And you were way ahead of the curve on this one." He then plays us a clip of Jeff from Friday...proclaiming his belief that this was not a hoax. Oh, snap! "Oh, that's harsh," says Lisa. Hey, the Silver Fox is just keeping him honest. "Can I just say in my defense, whatever. OK?" says Jeffrey. Excellent comeback! That's just how he rolls, people.

Okay, then there's, like, some legal talk, but blah blah. We go out to commercial and when we come back we get a clip of Jim Spellman who has an up close and personal look at the balloon. Oooh! Nine-volt batteries are mentioned. Seriously. After the show-and-tell, we're back with our three musketeers, and Anderson has a bit of a treat for us in the form of a clip from prior to Blitzer's interview. The Wolfbot is saying hi to them and Falcon is all, "Who the hell is Wolf?" Bwah! That was pretty awesome. "I'm going to play that for years, by the way," says Anderson. I would actually encourage that.

Then there's more legal talk. Blah blah. I'm sure you've guessed by now that I'm only in this strictly for the entertainment value at this point. This isn't news any of us should care about. Anyway, the next bit of lively banter involves whether or not the Heenes will end up with a reality show, with Jeff and Lisa arguing against Anderson.

Our anchor thinks there is too much, "...anger and outrage that people wasted two hours of their lives watching this ridiculous stuff..." Eh. First of all, get out of that news bubble. Most people didn't watch this whole saga. And second, I'm probably just as annoyed at, uh, you, for airing the ridiculousness. I mean, you bumped NOLA coverage for Balloon Boy. C'mon.

But regardless of the arguments, the Silver Fox is taking a rare stand: "I don't believe they will get a deal." Where's this sudden naivety coming from? Aw, I kinda want to pat him on the head. I mean, isn't even Michael Vick going to have a reality show? Okay 360, that pronouncement is on video now, so when the Heenes come out with their new book/reality show/vomit-proof clothing line, I expect anchor humiliation. Annnnd I think that's a good place for me to end this craziness.

Transitioning now to...girl power! Says Anderson: "By the end of this year, for the first time, more than half of American workers will be women." That's right, we females are kicking butt and taking names. Scratch that, we're kicking butt and having our secretaries--our hot male secretaries--take the names. Or something like that. I think I might be getting off track. Anyhoo! "TIME magazine" has a special woman centric issue out right now and, you know, synergy! So here we are. We love the parent company, yes we do. And, apparently, no disclosure necessary. Nice.

Erica Hill hits us with some working women stats, and then we're on to an all female panel that's rocked out by Suze Orman, Arianna Huffington, and Faye Wattleton. From there Tom Foreman puts the Magic Wall to use for stats on office bullying. Blog comments are also entered into the mix and before each comment there's a picture of someone at a computer. Are those supposed to be the bloggers? Bwah! Then we're back to the panel for their take, and unfortunately everyone pretty much agrees the whole "mean girls" thing doesn't completely end in high school. This discussion was good, but there wasn't anything that particularly stood out to me as interesting or surprising.

On now to talk with Dr. Jorge Rodriguez regarding the swine flu vaccine. If you haven't noticed, H1n1 is spreading pretty rapidly and it seems they're now behind when it comes to planned availability of the vaccine. Why am I not surprised? Dr. Rodriguez tells us production is not going exactly as planned. Then he takes some questions, but it's mostly retreading of stuff already reported. Still an important story though.

For the "shot" tonight we're replayed the "Who the hell is Wolf?" clip. I need to see Blitzer's reaction to that pronto. Then, because Anderson is apparently 12, we're AGAIN shown the Today Show vomit clip. I guess there's nothing like some live TV vomiting to bring out the anchor's inner little boy, but uh, please stop. Mmkay?

As for the show, it was, well, I don't know. I was very much entertained by the Balloon Boy segments. It was funny. And it's great to see that Anderson still has a personality, even in prime time. But the top story and a third of the show for something that's, well, not really anything? That's just wrong. There's real news out there and it's a disgrace this is being covered in its place. I suppose you could say, "but Eliza, most of your recap was of Balloon Boy." In response, I would quote a very wise man: "Can I just say in my defense, whatever. OK?"

Look, despite self-identifying as a "news snob," I actually don't mind a silly segment every now and then. I'd much rather ridiculousness be treated as ridiculousness (as they did tonight) than have them report it with the same seriousness that they would Afghanistan or health care reform. But if I turn on tomorrow and Balloon Boy is still their lead story, Falcon Heene won't be the only one who's nauseous.

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.

Where We're Headed In Afghanistan, Republicans Are Spiteful, The Safety Of The H1N1 Vaccine, And An Army Deserter With PTSD

Hi everybody. We begin with the solemn news that on Saturday the US lost eight soldiers in Afghanistan, the worst single-day loss since the war began. With the eighth anniversary of the war upon us, and the current decision afoot of whether or not to send more troops, Afghanistan has finally made its way front and center in the news.

In an Anderson Cooper piece (yes, he actually did a piece and he's not in the field), we learn more about Saturday's attack, which occurred in eastern Afghanistan's Nuristan Province. The troops were in a remote section of the country and very outnumbered. We're reminded that a similar incident occurred last year in Wanat, and are subsequently shown some video of the very scary firefight that was obtained by CBS News.

Speaking of that network, the CBS Evening News is committing about half of each of their broadcasts this week to the subject of Afghanistan. I just watched some of it online and they've got some good pieces. I recommend that you check them out.

To talk about the situation, we're joined by Peter Bergen and Christiane Amanpour, who has just interviewed Secretaries Gates AND Clinton. Christiane always ups the awesome quotient of any discussion. We learn from her that although Gates feels the Taliban now has the momentum in the war, he did not explicitly advocate for more troops.

Anderson and Peter then talk a bit about how the timing of this latest attack was most likely not a coincidence. The Taliban aren't stupid. They're playing US public opinion. It's also noted that these troops sitting on remote bases are essentially sitting ducks. I'm actually confused about this. In Iraq, that was the strategy--get troops out of the big bases and among the people to build trust. But if the Afghanistan troops on these bases are only doing security operations, it's ridiculous they're so exposed.

We get an old clip now of Nic Robertson in Nuristan, huffing and puffing over the rough terrain. I'm pretty sure I blogged this when it first aired.

Back to the discussion, they talk a bit about General McChrystal and how he's basically speechifying his agenda now. I'm sorry, I think he needs to zip it and let Obama weigh all the options. They don't call him Commander in Chief for nothing. Christiane brings up the interesting point that maybe McChrystal is trying to make up for the mistakes of the last generals who blindly followed Bush. Maybe. But I think Obama deserves the benefit of the doubt. For now.

We all know Peter is in support of a commitment with more troops, but Anderson asks him to make the best case for the drone strategy, which he does. Christiane then points out that drones kill civilians and when that happens we lose trust and...that's pretty much one of the main things were going for right now. So...yeah. I'm telling you, people, I feel for Obama because this is not simple. At all.

Anderson then drills in his favorite point--that being that we're really nation building. Christiane admits that, yes, that's a big part of what both McChrystal and Obama have said we're going to do. I don't think the American people fully understand what that's going to entail. We're talking decades of commitment here. And in the short term, the soldiers are not trained for this.

PBS's Frontline has a new special on Afghanistan premiering later this month, but they have a rough cut up now. There's a scene where you can see a young soldier become very frustrated as he tries to communicate with a group of locals. I think it really encompasses one of the main problems of nation building using a fighting force--again, they're just not trained for this.

Moving on to a question that Anderson has been repeating throughout a good number of teases: "Has Obama lost his mojo?" See, our prez has taken a few hits lately, most notably the loss of the Chicago Olympics. Then this past weekend, Saturday Night Live's cold open didn't show Obama in the warmest light, and now we've got Anderson--with a completely straight face--asking about Obama's mojo. As a friend said to me while watching the show, "If you're going to ask a stupid question, at least make sure you don't *sound* like an idiot."

Seriously, his mojo? And seriously, SNL is the go-to for analysis now? This brings back memories of the media doing an about-face on Hillary Clinton following SNL's skits during the primaries. I'm not saying the show is wrong even in this instance, but the media's reaction to it is so, so pathetic. And why is 360 letting themselves get caught up in stupid media narratives again? I thought they got over that. Like a bad cold.

The only good thing about all this is that we get to hear from Paul Krugman, who I love. Of course, my excitement is tempered by the fact that we're also going to hear from Mary Matalin, who I really, really...don't love. So anyway, Krugman has a new column out that rightly calls out the Republicans for having the "emotional maturity of a bratty 13-year-old." One specific example is their absolute glee in America losing the 2016 Olympic bid.

Anderson is still using his stupid "mojo" question. For the record, no, Paul does not think Obama has lost his mojo--he even thinks we'll get health care reform. Shocker upon shockers, Mary disagrees. Bleh. This whole thing is an exercise in idiocy. I mean, what did we think she was going to say? She obviously never thought he had "mojo" in the first place. And that's the last time I'm using that word in this post.

Mary goes on to rightly note that what has stopped health care reform so far has been the Blue Dog Democrats. Anderson then asks Paul the following: "Do you think the opposition that the Republicans are throwing up now is different than what the Democrats threw up against President Bush?" I wasn't aware the Democrats ever threw up anything against Bush. Isn't rolling over pretty much their MO? Anyway, yes, yes, of course the opposition is different. The Republicans just oppose to oppose. I mean, seriously, the Olympics? They opposed the Olympics?

Then for some reason Mary brings up Rush Limbaugh, who she apparently reveres. I think I just threw up in my mouth a little. She then goes on to say that people like to listen to Rush and Rush knockoffs because they can hear info that doesn't demonize them or call them anti-American. She's got to be kidding. Liberals were called anti-American throughout all of the Bush years for simply questioning his strategies, and now conservatives just literally rooted against America. Disgusting.

So...that segment was fairly pointless. Hell, I probably could have written their lines for them. At least give us some David Gergen next time to make things more thoughtful. Also, Paul is clearly sick. Hope it's not the swine flu!

With that segue, we move on to Dr. Mehmet Oz talking about the H1N1 vaccine. You see what I just did there? Okay, so, the vaccine will start to become available soon and children, pregnant women, and health care professionals will be first in line. Concern about the vaccine is also brought up, and I have to say, Dr. Oz here doesn't really alleviate any fears. Yes, the vaccine is new, yes, there is always a risk. But what really gets me is when he tells us that his wife won't get it or let their children get it. And he seems perfectly fine with this. Mixed messages there, doc.

Moving on to a Randi Kaye piece on the Erin Andrews peephole scandal. I'm think I'm going to skip most of this, but I do want to point out a bit of discussion that Anderson has with Randi after the package runs. They're talking about how the dude just stood outside the hotel door. "He was allegedly just standing there outside the door," says Anderson. "Recording this just by putting his thing up to the door." Tee hee. Putting his thing up to the door? Yes, I'm 12.

Next up, we have a Gary Tuchman piece on an Iraq war deserter who surrendered today. Don Gartin is from a military family, but spent about the last six months on the run because he felt he was mentally unfit to serve. He says he attempted to get treatment for PTSD, but was unsuccessful and feared someone would die if he didn't desert.

According to Gary, Don is now possibly facing a dishonorable discharge, forfeiture of pay, and up to five years in a military lockdown. The Pentagon is not responding to inquiries. Obviously we're mainly only getting Don's side of the story, but it seems like a pretty sad situation. If he has PTSD he should be getting help, not being locked up.

The Letterman scandal was relegated to the "360 Bulletin" tonight. Good job, 360!

The "shot" tonight is a kid rocking out...on the accordion. I knew that instrument would have its day at some point! That about does it for the show, which I thought was pretty good tonight. I hope they keep up the Afghanistan coverage and stay away from going overboard on the celebrity/tabloid crap.

The UN Gets Its Crazy On, Matt Latimer Interview, John Travolta Extorted, And Sanjay Gupta Got The Swine Flu (ZOMG!)

Hi everybody. You know what I've been thinking this country needs? More craziness. We just don't have enough of it here. Well, today I am in luck because we shipped it in from overseas! Yes, it's insanity day at the United Nations. We've been here before. Remember when Hugo Chavez called Bush the devil and said he smelled like sulfur? Or how about when Mahmoud Ahmadinejad claimed there are no gays in Iran. Good times!

This year the cast of characters has changed slightly. Good old Ahmadinejad is up to his America-hating tricks, but there's a new star in town getting the delegates out of their seats (and making them walk out the door): Moammar Gadhafi (Qaddafi? Khaddafy? Gaddafi? We're all so confused!)

Tom Foreman joins us live for the sum up of wackiness. Let's see, Ahmadinejad stuck to his standard America dissing and, oh yeah, apparently Israel is evil. Surprisingly enough, there wasn't much mention of that whole almost-revolution thing going on in his own country. That brings us to Gadhafi who rambled on for over an hour and a half about such topics as the real source of swine flu (the military, of course) and who killed John Kennedy. Seriously. He also called Obama "my son," which I'm sure gave our prez his "oh WTF?" moment for the day.

For discussion of all this we're joined by Fareed Zakaria; Michael Oren, Israeli ambassador to the US; and Rabbi Shmuley Boteach. This was a pretty good discussion, but I'm too tired to really do it justice. I will say, however, that I don't really understand why Rabbi Shmuley was a part of this. I get having him on for the tent thing, but he does UN analysis now? Of note is Anderson Cooper asking Oren if a nuclear Iran is something Israel could tolerate. He gives a long response that does not really contain an answer. Dude, you guys gonna attack Israel or what? That's what Anderson was asking, just, you know, professionally.

Moving on to the domestic side of all this United Nations stuff, it turns out our own president also gave a speech today, laying out a more inclusive foreign policy. The "Washington Times" was then all like, "worst foreign policy evah!" Wow, the "Washington Times" doesn't like Obama's policy. I am, like, so totally shocked by this. Anyway! We gotta talk about this, yo. So we're joined by James Carville and Bill Bennett. But before we get to Obama, Anderson's like, "so dudes, what did you think about that whole Gadhafi thing? How effed up was that?" I might be paraphrasing.

Also, Anderson keeps referring to former UN ambassador John Bolten as Josh Bolten, but we're totally gonna let that slide because there was a Josh Bolten in the Bush administration (chief of staff after Andy Card) and this crap gets confusing. The gist? Bill thinks the Obama foreign policy screws over our allies, while James advocates we give Obama more time to make a difference. Of note, is Anderson making the really good point that even though the world seems to love Obama, they're still not helping us that much. Case in point: ponying up NATO troops for Afghanistan. Perhaps a better defined mission might sweeten the deal.

Next up, Anderson starts talking to us about former Bush speech writer Matt Latimer and the stuff he's blabbing about in his new book "Speech-less". Apparently, Bush didn't think Palin or Obama were ready for what they were getting themselves into. As for Hillary Clinton, Dubya made "fun of her figure." Specifically, he referred to her "fat ass," but we're not told that. Are the 360 kids all prudes now? Anderson goes on to say, "The accusations have some on both sides slamming Latimer for cashing in on personal conversations that were never meant to be public. Matt Latimer joins me now." And I'm floored for a second. That was a very Colbert move. The guy is sitting there in the studio and everything and I never saw it coming.

Latimer's boss wrote in "The Wall Street Journal," that this is all just sour grapes because the dude never became a speech writing star. It seems the only person that comes out smelling like roses is Rumsfeld, who Latimer is working for right now. Okay, I remember Rumsfeld and I find it really hard to believe that he comes out looking good in any book. Latimer defends himself by saying he just wants to show people what Washington is really like. "I tried to do it in a good-natured way. It's a funny situation, it's a funny system, but it also has a lot of problems and challenges," he says. Washington is fun! Whatever.

On now to a Randi Kaye piece on the alleged extortion of John Travolta over his son's death. The Travolta family was in the Bahamas when his son became deathly ill. John wanted to fly him to a hospital in Miami, rather than let an ambulance take him to a hospital on the island. To stop the ambulance, he signed a liability form. People who were with John when his son died, then threatened to make private medical information public if he didn't pay up. This is really disgusting. Who does this to a grieving family?

We're then joined by Steve Helling of "People Magazine," who was in the courtroom for John's testimony. Basically no one knows what was on the document that Travolta signed. Again, really disgusting.

Finally tonight, we're joined by Dr. Sanjay Gupta...BECAUSE HE GOT THE SWINE FLU!! And I have to say, after watching this segment, swine flu has never been so hilarious. Anyway! Two weeks ago when CNN was in Afghanistan, Sanjay got really sick--the sickest he's ever been--and a diagnosis of H1n1 was confirmed by the clinic there. But the good doctor is doing much better now and he's talking with us by satellite (because he's not in NY, not because he's sick).

It turns out our anchor also didn't feel so great in Afghanistan. Now, regular viewers know Anderson has a tendency to not sleep and get run down during field shoots. So yes, I noticed he was sick, but really didn't think it was anything noteworthy. But apparently it was a little more serious than just needing a vitamin. We learn that Anderson actually went to Sanjay with his symptoms (horrible cough, chills, light-headedness) and even asked if it was swine flu, but the doc said probably not. Oops.

Sanjay knew that the swine flu is associated with high fever, which neither thought they had at the time, but seemed to forget about the fact that they were in the desert. So yeah, it was hot there anyway and when Sanjay finally took his temperature it was 102. As Sanjay is relaying this information, we get a cough from Cooper. "Are you coughing right now?" asks the doc. Ruh roh!

Anderson answers in the affirmative, leading Sanjay to say, "I don't think we're contagious, though." You don't think? "I love that I just learned that I may have had swine flu from you via satellite," says Anderson. Bwah! Sanjay then tells us how much having swine flu sucks and Anderson's all (paraphrased), "um, should I get this checked out?" Man, wouldn't you love to see the control room right now. They're probably all, "doood," followed by ponderings of just how much contact they've had with Anderson lately. Our anchor is a bit comforted that he didn't have the fever, so maybe it's not really swine flu. Maybe. But he has had the cough for two weeks. He should get a chest x-ray if he hasn't had one already.

Anyway! They talk some more and they both start coughing. You can tell Anderson is trying so hard not to, which is kinda adorable and hilarious...and I hope he really doesn't have swine flu or I might regret saying that. I can't help cracking up though. The coughing has to be partly psychosomatic because he just got through almost the whole show without a cough and now he can't stop. Anderson tells us he might get checked out. Off camera we hear Erica Hill say, "the entire studio is gonna get checked out!" Bwah!

Anderson notes that unlike Sanjay, he didn't take any time off work following their trip. Oh man. Nobody is holding the elevator for the Silver Fox tonight! Well, if we tune in a few days from now and find a repeat of Campbell Brown or something, we'll know it's because all the 360 kids got the swine flu. Good job, Cooper! Kidding. I've grown attached to you, so get better. Also? Seeing as how you all slept in that one room in Afghanistan, I think you have some calls to make. How's Peter Bergen feeling these days?

Update: video!

If our anchor finding out on national television that he might have had the swine flu isn't fun enough for you, check out tonight's "shot." It's a dancing baby! Oh we love the dancing babies. This one dances to Beyonce's "Single Ladies," which Anderson calls, "the hit that makes almost everyone want to dance. Notice I said almost everyone." Then he mouths "not me." Well, of course you don't feel like dancing. You just found out you might have the swine flu! This may never get old.

I thought the show was pretty good tonight. We had a lot of variety and not much ridiculousness. Kudos, 360. Normally I'd give you a cookie, but I think tonight some Purell might be better appreciated.