A couple of readers have asked about seeing Anderson's appearance on Iron Chef America. From the archives here is a video compilation of Anderson appearance on the show. Considering his supposed lack of culinary talent, I thought he did rather well.
Thanks to Sherry we were able to get a few webcast clips up for you this evening. I wasn't able to cap the webcam because I was at school but this should make up for it, I hope! Anyway, the clips are still choppy but they are better than nothing. Thanks again to Sherry for her hard work on this!
Anderson Cooper and Ed Henry opened Thursday's AC360 with news that the withdrawal from Iraq will not be as swift as initially promised. Also 50,000 non-combat troops will be left on the ground in Iraq. This does not please me and from what Henry said a lot of Congressional Dems feel the same way. Ali Velshi also did a brief report on what deescalating the war in Iraq will save the taxpayers.
The Digging Deeper panel was David Gergen, David Walker (former comptroller of the US) and Ryan Mack (economist and cutie!). I'm just so sick of the dissection of what the President did, didn't do.....will it work, won't it work, that I just didn't pay much attention. It's all guessing as far as I can tell and I'd rather discuss results and not speculation.
Tom Foreman did a segment on what a trillion dollars is or what 3.6 trillion is. The most interesting fact was Senator Mitch McConnell's calculation that if we started spending a million dollars a day on the day Jesus was born and continued spending a million a day everyday until today you still wouldn't have spent a trillion dollars. Pretty scary stuff.
To me it's always a good 360 when Michael Ware is in the house. He sat down with AC to discuss the new Iraq plan and then did a special report on the Mexican drug cartel. In discussing Iraq Ware said the troops who are not withdrawn will have a type of counter terrorist role. They will not go out and patrol per se but more document and keep tabs on those that would try to control Iraq and strike when needed.
Randi Kaye took an upclose look at the sad state of our schools. I totally agree with the premise of this report, some of our schools are deplorable BUT some of the situations sited as abnormal are really not. Almost all of our schools in Arizona use trailers for overflow classrooms, in fact some of those trailers are nicer than the regular classrooms. Many, if not all, are located on former playground land....you make do with what you have. As to the 1,200 hundred students crammed into a building built for 800 that's also common in our district. We've even had 2 separate student bodies share the same building...one started early and was dismissed around lunch and the second school started at lunch and went until almost dinner time. It really doesn't mean the quality of education is substandard. Just that the district is living within its means.
The peeling plaster, leaky windows, crumbling facades, etc is another story....that is a safety and health hazard. And much, much more serious than the other evidence sited.
The 360 Bulletin was delivered by Erica Hill and contained stories of Michael Vick, Bank of American bonuses, ocotmom offered money to star in a porn movie (who would want to see a naked woman who probably has stretch marks longer than the Mississippi?) and the racist California mayor who sent the watermelon patch White House picture out by email.
The 360 Dispatch was filed by Michael Ware and filmed mostly in Juarez, Mexico, which is just across the border from El Paso, Texas. In introducing this report Anderson mentioned that Phoenix (where I live) has become the kidnap capital of the US with Mexican gangs abducting more than 300 people in the past year. Our new Homeland Security Chief is former Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano who is very, very familiar with this problem. I have no doubt that she will make it one of her top priorities.
Anderson will be doing a segment on 60 Minutes this Sunday night and Napolitano will be one of those he interviews. To read more of the interview follow the link.
Now back to Michael who detailed some of the gruesome murders and threats the Mexican cartel has initiated against police forces, government officials and ordinary citizens. Was it just me or did any of you see a similarity between MW's reporting from the ME and his time in Mexico? I think it was a brilliant move to put him on this story and obvious that he was in his element.
No Beat 360 tonight and The Shot was a rehash of AC's Donald Trump quiz with Kelly Ripa. I've clipped the host chat from Thursday's Live with Regis & Kelly, the Jeopardy game with Donald Trump and the very brief In Box. Don't forget AC is on Regis & Kelly again Friday morning.
Host Chat part 1
From the webcast and webcam last night it appears the 360 set was having a lot of fun last night! We had singing, laughing and "hind quarters"! Unfortunately, we didn't get any webcast footage but we did get some interesting caps from the webcam.
Hope you all have a great weekend! ~Tedi B.
All Things Anderson is a blog dedicated to CNN's AC360 and its host Anderson Cooper.
Ed Henry opened Wednesday's AC360 with some preliminary details on the President's health care package. Personally I like the idea that seniors who earn more than $170,000 a year would pay more than others on Medicare for their prescriptions. This sacrifice by the wealthiest of retirees will pump 8.1 billion into the system over 10 years.
Speaking of Medicare benefits I had a very odd experience with our insurance today. DH's doctor asked him to take a genetic screening test for a blood disorder that is only preformed at one lab in the US. His doctor warned that insurance probably wouldn't cover it so I called the lab and my insurance company today to try and figure out the cost and who would have to pay. The lady at the lab said the test costs in the neighborhood of $1,000 and my insurance would not pay it. But here's the part that I found interesting (and applicable to the topic at hand), she said if my DH was on Medicare it would be paid in full by the government. To me that just didn't seem quite fair. Too bad we're not old enough to retire and have better insurance than we do while working. 
Ali Velshi focused his reporting tonight on the health care issue also. He talked about how to justify those that have fallen out of the health care system with subsidizing the rising cost of insurance and health care.
It was at this point my recording went to black and I have no idea what I missed. I must admit I was watching American Idol (go Adam!) not 360. When my recording kicked back in the discussion had switched to earmarks. From what little I heard I must say I'm a bit disappointed in the Democrats with their hands out for pet projects.
The night's panel (must we always have a panel?) was populated by Joe Johns, David Gergen and David Walker. The discussion looked at the budget and earmarks, the probability of affording the health care package proposed and the general consensus that the administration is moving a little too quickly.
Next up a little tit for tat, with Anderson vs. Rep. Eliot Engel (D) of New York. Take a look.
Anderson Cooper and Wolf Blitzer bridged the short gap between President Obama's address and the Republican rebuttal, given by Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal. I have never heard Jindal give a speech before and I must say the contrast been his speech and Obama was painful. His stilted cadence and fake enthusiasm was just terrible. Someone said, I think it was Ed Rollins, later in the program that giving the rebuttal was like the kiss of death. No one has ever used it as a springboard to bigger and better things. I certainly don't think Bobby Jindal helped his political career tonight, but there is no accounting for the taste of Republicans. Maybe to them he hit a home run?
The first panel of the night had David Gergen, John King, Roland Martin and Ali Velshi breaking down the Congressional address. David Gergen termed Obama's speech a 'tour de force' and Jindal's less than accurate in terms of his facts on the recovery from Katrina. Martin said the President was talking to Main Street not Wall Street. John King thought Obama was trying to convey that the country should trust him.
Erica Hill presented the results of the polls taken among Facebook viewers who watched the speech. Erica also did the 360 Bulletin, including a story about the average television viewer watching 5 hours a day. Seriously, do people really have that much free time? Anderson was quite enthusiastic about the results of the survey. Take a look.
Tom Foreman did the fact check on the President's speech and found it all in all to be pretty accurate. There were some discrepancies on jobs to be created by wind power and some wiggle room on the oil issue but that was about it.
Dana Bash reported from Statuary Hall about Republican reactions and the Dems spin as the Congressional members and their families mingled after the speech.
Candy Crowley crunched the numbers from the quick polls and did some analysis. Not surprisingly most polled were favorable. CC explained this was because most of the party faithful are the ones who watch.
The next segment focused on the economy with Anderson interviewing Joseph Stiglitz, winner of the 2001 Noble Prize for Economics and a professor at Columbia, and Stephen Moore, editorial writer for the Wall Street Journal. Great to hear two real experts taking a closer look at the speech and the issues. Stiglitz was more positive, Moore a little more negative.
The next panel of the evening was Ed Rollins, Stiglitz, Pamela Gentry(BET) and Chrystia Freeland (editor of Financial Times). Depending on who you listened to the speech was either incredibly bold or incredibly vague, to quote AC. It was at this point in the evening I started to tune out, I think it was simply a case of political and financial issues overload.
I had to laugh when I reviewed Monday night's live blog and came across this comment by Anderson. I hadn't tried brussel sprouts since I was a kid either and decided to give them a second try when they were served at a dinner I was at a month or so ago. I reasoned that I like, make that love cabbage and pretty much every other vegetable so my aversion to brussel sprouts just didn't make sense. Boy was I wrong.....those are some nasty little green balls of evil. I was right as a kid and I will never try them again, no matter who is cooking them or how they are cooked!
Hi everyone! Now that Anderson is back in the studio I'm able to get some good webcam shots. For those of you that missed the webcast, Anderson and Erica continued their discussion of yucky green veggies. I got some good shots of Anderson's reaction to Brussel sprouts. Here are two collages. Hope you all have a great night!
Anderson Cooper was just one of many guests at Barry Diller's star studded annual pre-Oscar party in Beverly Hills. Celebrities in attendance included; Farrah Fawcett, Eva Longoria, Sean Combs, Michael Douglas, Sharon Stone, Uma Thurman, Paris Hilton, Oprah Winfrey, Gayle King, Robert De Niro and Grace Hightower, Anderson Cooper, Penny Marshall, Ron Howard wife Cheryl, and George Hamilton. Most of the celebrities were friendly and even smiled at the few photogs at the scene. Pictured: Anderson Cooper Picture by: Sharky / Splash News
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