Anderson Cooper was back at the helm of Monday's AC360. He revisited some old stores that are back in the news again. From lawmakers who think the President wasn't born in the US to lawmakers who think Don't Ask, Don't Tell is working Monday's program seemed to have a recurring theme of 'idiots who get elected'.
KEEPING THEM HONEST, Birther bill: A report by Anderson Cooper
THE BIRTHERS ARE BACK, Texas lawmaker questions Pres. Obama's citizenship: Leo Berman (R) Texas State House
BATTLE OVER 'DON'T ASK, DON'T TELL': Paul Begala and Commander Kirk S. Lippold
360 BULLETIN: Joe Johns
ANATOMY OF A STING, Suspect indited in Portland holiday bomb plot: Randi Kaye reporting
BATTLE ON THE BORDER: Tomorrow night AC360 will be in San Diego to take a look at the latest sophisticated tunnel discovered this weekend. We're assuming AC will be anchoring live from CA, although he didn't come right out and say that.
THE RidicuList: Buffalo Bill's player Steve Johnson who Tweeted that God had let him down in Sunday's game against the Steelers. Thank you God! Go Steelers!
BLOGGER'S COMMENTARY:I feel that the two opening segments on tonight's AC360 had more in common than just idiot lawmakers. As unrelated as these issues seem on the surface it's possible that there may be a common undercurrent of prejudice.
I'm sure I'm not the first to suggest that many of the birthers are more concerned with the President's race than his birthplace. Many see disqualifying Pres. Obama from office as the only way to rid themselves of a Black President and are going to work to that end, facts be damned.
With DADT things are a little more subtle. People in the military tell us civilians that we can't possibly know all the ramifications of repealing DADT. They say issues will arise with working in close quarters, showering, etc. But if gays are already in the military and 'don't tell' then aren't straights already sharing close quarters, showering, etc with them? Prejudice aganist the GLBT community could be the driving force behind those who oppose repealing DADT. Gays have served honorably in the military for many, many years and it just makes no sense to have them hid/deny who they are.
EXTRA:
Photo credit(click to enlarge) to Lorenzo Bevilaqua/CNN
Anderson's special 'Taliban' Exposes Lives and Motives of Fighters is set to debut on Saturday, December 11th at 8PM. We've blogged this before but the picture from the interview is new to ATA.
16 comments:
read somewhere that Anderson's day time show is taken up by Fox.. disappointed..
Anderson interview with Leo Berman was rather amusing. This man is nuts. I'm sorry that Hawaii's way of presenting a birth certificate doesn't meet his standards. What an idiot! These birthers need to give it up. They just keep making themselves look like fools. I thought Anderson handled the interview quite well though.
Happen to agree with you that the entire birther questioning is racial. There is such disrespect for the President from the right wing element and it is disgusting, and nothing will change their motive...not even documentation.
Surprised AC's new day time show on Fox was not mentioned. It is after all, CNN's main competitor and it may very well be AC's entry into FOX NEWS...just speculation, but he now has one foot in the door.
Phebe's commentary is spot on, imo. I have always been firmly convinced that the Tea Party/Birthers came about mainly because many within those groups have major problems with President Obama's race. As far as DADT goes, the U.S. should be ashamed of how this issue is being handled--other countries deal with it in an adult manner by recognizing that the people in the military are professionals and are there to do their jobs, but they also know that it's unfair for someone to be tossed out of the military because they merely mention that they have a same-sex partner--they should have the same right to talk about their loved ones as straights do in the military--without the fear of losing their job. It is ridiculous that so many highly skilled and qualified people within the LGBT community have had to leave the military because of this. If there are people who have a problem with gays serving openly, they will simply have to learn to deal with it just like those who preferred that the military stay segregated did in the past. This country just seems terribly immature when it comes to this subject.
I had to laugh when AC told the clueless Leo Berman that the latest birther lawsuit had already been thrown out. The Ridiculist is not popular on ATA but I like it because it gives AC an opportunity to show some of his trademark humor, snark and sarcasm--his mocking of Steve Johnson's hilarious (to me) angry Twitter post to God was classic AC.
I like the ATA theme about "idiots who get elected." However that's often the 360 theme.
Way back when the "Obama's birth certificate isn't real" story first hit the fan, a newsgroup I follow talked about it. Everybody brought up their own birth certificates and it was wild how different the different states did them. My own is even different from my sons and we were born in the same state.
Anderson also did a great job with McCain and DADT.
Not so great with The Shot. I didn't need to see Willie Nelson and Larry King again. The Ridiculist was pretty good with Steve Johnson.
Belated thanks for the 60 Minutes video clips yesterday. On one side you have Lady Gaga. On the other side you have the Afghan police story. Anderson's all over the spectrum.
Jaanza
360 last night was horrible...just horrible! Whomever is picking their stories needs to be fired! The birther and the McCain nonsense was useless junk. Neither should have been on 360.
They should have started the show off with the Oregon terrorist bomb plot, then went to the wikileaks document leaks and then the 6 US soldiers killed by the Afghan or something of that nature. Those stories are more relevant to everyone.
No wonder 360 is tanking and can't get high ratings. They put crap on every night. Last night was one of those nights. I could barely even stay interested. I switched back and forth between shows. I hope tonight is way better!
@ Anon 11/30/10 12:40 AM..Yes, Anderson's talk show is on FOX and it will air before the Dr Oz show. Different times in different cities of course.
Dr. Drew Pinsky was given his own show on HLN that will be in primetime. It will be a Larry King type talk show but dealing with emotional issues and such. Some insiders are saying they are going to put his show on at 10 PM up against Anderson's and the rest. This is all Anderson really needs is another show to fight for viewers. He's already stuck in third place. Lord help him if he gets beat by all three 10 PM shows.
Oh boy! Do I ever love me some fiesty Anderson!! He sure made that birther idiot look like the ignorant Teapublican that he is! I just loved how he completely shot him down with nothing but FACTS!! These type of interviews need to happen more. God, Anderson would just destroy Palin in an interview.... that would be fun to watch.
I was only able to watch the first segment on 360 last night(the birther crap) and had to turn the TV off, my head ached from it. Anderson really didn't let the guy get away with anything and Berman knew it. The more Berman talked the deeper he dug his grave, but, no offense to any TX fans of Anderson, the guy was from TX and they are just plain weird down there - they elected W as governor.
But like a lot of people who comment on political websites and blogs they hear something, think it is gospel truth and never fact check. And ACAnderfan these gys will NEVER give up, it gets them attention they otherwise wouldn't get.
The birther story had my eyes rolling. I am so over it and I believe so are the majority of Americans. Move on people.
I was born in San Deigo and am looking forward to seeing the story tonight.
Kathy
@ Phebe...I think you give 360 and Anderson way too much credit. I don't think they sat and decided to do an underlying theme on the show. I don't think they think that throughly. If so 360 would be much better! LOL I think they picked these two segments, birther and McCain on DADT, because they had done both before so it wouldn't take much work to do them again.
Last night's show to me was a sloppy, do over mess. The only thing worth watching was the Oregon bomb plot story. The rest I could have done with out.
I have this feeling with the poor programming on 360 that Anderson will be giving more attention to his new show, perhaps he already has.
Also, TVNewser has a report that Erica Hill will be taking Maggie Rogriguez' place and Chris Wragge will take over for Harry Smith.
@anonymous 11:05am, I wouldn't be surprised if Anderson gives less attention to 360. He'll be doing 3 shows, 360, 60 Minutes and the talk show. Something have to give and it'll probbaly be 360. I have a feeling that once the talk show is off the ground and running the quality of 360 will go way down.
There really is a huge difference between the programming of FOX NEWS and Fox... the station that airs Glee and The Simpsons.
If I were from TX I would be ashamed to have such a clueless idiot representing me. I agree that this movement is racially motivated. And Anderson shooting down all of this jerk's ridiculous statements with pure facts was a thing of beauty. I'm no fan of Obama, but the Republicans' constant attacks on him over trivial matters is getting really old. If they expended half as much energy on doing the jobs they were elected to do, maybe things would actually get done in Washington.
@1:00PM Roger Ailes runs Fox. Period. There may be different programming, but it is still FOX.
I wouldn't be a bit surprised if AC jumped ship to Fox News.
He's met with Roger Ailes many times and I agree 360 is a sloppy mess.
Anderson's show is syndicated which means local channels in each city choose whether they want it or not. In some cities it may be a Fox affiliate but it is NOT Fox news. The people that are syndicating the show is Warner Brothers, which is part of TimeWarnerAOL which owns CNN.
:)
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