Reagan’s 11th Commandment is history …

“Thou shalt not speak ill of a fellow Republican.”
Today’s Buzz ...

And with that ... a look back at last night’s YouTube Republican Presidential Debate ...

• I don’t think Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani should be invited to the same dinner party anytime soon. Or at least in this lifetime. The same goes for Mitt and John McCain. You could probably add the pairing of John McCain and Ron Paul in that category as well.

• When you have 30 seconds in front of millions of people to tell them how you can best lead the free world, and you launch an attack ad, what does that say about your priorities – Senator Thompson??

• I thought most of the questions were relevant and presented in a respectful fashion. Some were more clever than others. A few stand out in my mind – more for the ‘non-answers’ than the question themselves. I note that NONE of the candidates were willing to go on the record with listing three government programs that they were willing to cut. Interesting.

• I’ve been reading a few comments about the ‘Confederate Flag’ question and whether it was a worthwhile choice. I wouldn’t rank it above health care or education – but, as an exercise in deflection, it was interesting to hear Fred Thompson ‘hedge’ his answer by saying that it would be ‘acceptable’ in a public display with historic context. No, Senator, it wouldn’t. It’s a ‘historic’ symbol of hate and racism. Period.

• Between the petty sniping at opponents and the arrogant lecturing to viewers about past ‘accomplishments’, I rarely heard anyone say: “I will do this (fill in the blank)”. And they were all guilty of it, as were all of the Democrats two weeks ago. I do know that Ron Paul will remove our troops from Iraq. I do know that John McCain has promised to veto all legislation with pork barrel spending included. I suppose if I combed through the transcript, I might come up with one or two more “I will do this” type of statements. But they were few and far between. This mastery of what I call “Teflon answers” exasperates me more and more with each election cycle.

• This party is SO out of touch with the African-American community – it’s laughable – in a very sad, tragic way. Mitt Romney’s solution to black-on-black crime is to “restore family values” into those areas affected by this type of violence. (I noted that he specifically qualified “family” as "a mother and a father".) Great. Take everyone back to the “Leave it to Beaver” days – when Dad worked and Mom stayed at home to cook and clean and raise the kids – and black children attended segregated schools ... ah, yes ... the good old days ... COME ON ... this was the perfect opportunity to launch into anything substantive - perhaps into education reform and implementation of after-school, vocational and mentoring programs to help give young African-American men (and women) an option about what to do with their lives – other than resorting to violence and crime. I know ... dream on ...

• And yes – I’m tossing in my dos centavos about the ‘dust-up’ regarding General Keith Kerr. As one of the very astute AC360° Yahoo group members noted, General Kerr had just as much right as any one else to participate in last night’s debate by submitting a video. He asked a question about a national military policy. He wasn’t providing analysis, opinion or commentary – for or against any candidate. Frankly, I think that some of this “feigned outrage” has been promoted to (once again) deflect justified criticism of the overall poor performance of the candidates. I’d like to say that I doubt some of them could find their way out of a paper bag, except apparently all of them (sans McCain) can shoot their way out of a 12 foot thick cell block, if necessary!!

• While I’m at it - allow me to ask – what happened to professional courtesy among network colleagues? Within the same network? Did Campbell Brown really have to verbalize her ‘disappointment’ that certain topics weren’t covered? Probably not the best way to forge positive alliances with your new co-workers. And exactly when did Bill Bennett turn into a Faux News mouthpiece? Isn’t he under contract at CNN? What he did to Anderson Cooper on live TV was one of the most unprofessional sabotage moments I’ve ever witnessed. There was no reason to “toss out” the possibility that General Kerr may be ‘associated’ with the Clinton campaign – in the manner that he did it – other than for the purpose noted above. He should never be featured on another second of live TV at CNN.

• But I’d prefer to wrap this up on a more positive note ... this debate was handled much better that the previous Democratic Debate two weeks ago. Even though it involved Republican candidates, I could actually tolerate watching it! I think Anderson did a much better job of giving the ‘second-tier’ candidates more exposure, and I think that he kept better control of response time limits. Until the networks do what they should and start cutting off microphones, there will be always be motor mouths with no concept of an “honor system”. No matter who the moderator is.

• I was glad that Anderson did remind the candidates (subtly) that they should be respectful of those who took the time to submit questions, and answer the question. I was also glad to see that he put pressure on a few of the candidates when the questions weren’t getting direct answers, and had several follow-up questions as well.

• I hope that this type of debate format takes hold and that it may even be used when the field is narrowed down to just two candidates. Now that would be interesting to watch! And yes – because the blog is named “AC 360° Buzz” and I admit that I am ever-so-slightly biased – I’ll end by saying KUDOS (!!!!) to Anderson Cooper for a "job well done!!

Fistfights, Red Bull and Gummy Bears ...

Mmmmm ... Gummy Bears ...
It's all in a day's work when you're prepping for a YouTube Presidential Debate that's about to be broadcast across the world on CNN/US and CNN International ...

Here's the latest promo video from Anderson about the behind-the-scenes "last minute" details being taken care of in St. Petersburg ... it's characteristically amusing ... ;-)

Debate Fever ....

I even heard a radio ad this morning for tonight’s YouTube debate – on a station that never carries CNN ads ...

There are so many peripheral reasons to watch tonight’s debate ... other than to find out what the candidate’s positions are ... because that certainly won’t come to light ... and it won’t be for lack of a solid attempt to try ... remember that these are politicians ...

I have no genuine reason to watch any Republican debate, as I would never vote for any of the candidates (except under threat of AC 360° cancellation, of course!) – J/K – but I have two reasons (OK – three) to watch tonight. First, I want to see how they react to having to answer questions from people (or possibly some ‘non-humans’, according to David Bohrman) that aren’t necessarily supporters or even fellow Republicans. Second, I want to see how far they continue down the path of party implosion. Rudy sniping at Mitt. Mitt sniping at Fred. Fred taking a nap. And so on, and so on ...

BTW – when did the Republicans turn into Democrats? (See 'sniping' above)

Oh yeah – reason # 3 – well, that should be fairly obvious ...


There's a video available at CNN.com where correspondent Melissa Long and technical manager Steve Dolce give a quick (3:08) tour of the stage, camera and control room set-ups in St. Petersburg for tonight's debate – check it out if you have a few spare ‘pre-debate’ moments!!!

A Conversation with Soledad O’Brien – Part Two

Another very special Buzz edition ...
The following is "Part Two" - and the conclusion - of my recent telephone interview with Soledad O'Brien:

Since February 2007, Soledad has been involved with seven “Special Investigations Unit” features, including “Martin Luther King: Words That Changed A Nation”, “Massacre At Virginia Tech”, “Criminal Insanity”, “Road To Ruin”, “Growing Up Diana”, “Children of the Storm”, and “The Minds of the DC Snipers”.

Regarding Dr. King, I asked Soledad if her research gave any indication of what his leadership focus might be during the 1970’s and 1980’s, had he not been assassinated? She replied that there was a theme of “economic empowerment” for people of all colors throughout his work. “The financial picture for the poor in America has got to change. Granting non-economic ‘rights’ to a segment of society – such as voting rights, or getting served in a restaurant, or sitting anywhere on a bus – doesn’t cost money and isn’t providing a solid foundation for long term improvement. The current education system isn’t working for poor people and they’re being left behind.” In spite of the “No Child Left Behind” program, I commented – and she concurred.



From the “Growing Up Diana” special, my question was about whether there was any surprising or unusual aspect of Diana’s youth that was especially interesting – and hadn’t already been microscopically scrutinized? Soledad stated that “Although it was very clear that Diana was not ‘book smart’ and was actually a mediocre academic student, she was very savvy about figuring out how to ‘navigate’ her way through various ‘systems’ or situations she faced – whether it was getting through school, surviving her parents’ divorce, or figuring out the rituals, protocols and expectations of being a royal family member. And all the while – still remaining to be her own person and not lose her identity.”




Of all the SIU reports that Soledad has completed so far, she is proudest of the “Children of the Storm” special. The concept was born out of the creative challenge of marking Katrina’s second anniversary with something different than once again standing in front of collapsed buildings and collapsed levees – again. The challenge was telling a story that would capture viewers’ interest and give them a realistic sense of what recovery progress is (or isn’t) being accomplished.

Soledad partnered once again with filmmaker Spike Lee for this project – she had already appeared in his HBO special, “When The Levees Broke”. From an original group of thirty students chosen, eleven were given cameras to document their lives, and four (Deshawn Dabney, Brandon Franklin, Amanda Hill and Shantia Reneau) were highlighted in the SIU special. About Spike Lee’s contribution, Soledad commented that “He really challenged them to do a good job. He told them to ‘shoot everything’ and motivated them by giving perspective to the importance of their stories.”

Soledad had written on the “Children of the Storm” web page at CNN.com that “these kids have taught us all a powerful, infinitely valuable lesson that will stay with me forever.” When I asked if she could elaborate further, she relied “What I’ll carry with me is the amazing level of hopefulness they all had. They were going to take control of their destiny and do whatever it took to accomplish their goals. No matter what obstacles they faced, they were all completely confident that everything will work out.”




And for Soledad’s involvement in future SIU reports, there are a number that are in the planning stages (and beyond) - the topics include: an examination of the US prison system, a 2-hour retrospective to mark the 40th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King’s assassination, an accompanying special tentatively titled “What Does It Mean To Be Black In America?” and a Katrina 3rd anniversary special. There was also one that particularly caught my attention – a special that looks at the challenges faced by homeless teens in the New York City area. Far too many are unable to find shelter in the usual sanctuaries due to their sexual orientation. Even after a week – I’m still incredulous at the absolute absurdity of anyone being turned away from basic shelter for that reason. Soledad explained that there is one NYC shelter that will accept these LGBT teens, but the space is extremely limited. I do hope that this particular special gets completed and that this discrimination is exposed and a solution is identified – sooner rather than later.

My next question moved the conversation into the political arena. On June 4th, Soledad moderated the Sojourners Presidential Forum, an hour-long in-depth discussion of religion, faith and politics with three Democratic Presidential candidates – John Edwards, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. It was held at George Washington University and broadcast in front of a live audience. My question was whether there were any observations she made about the candidates that may not have been readily apparent to the TV audience?

Soledad’s reply: “It seemed that John Edwards was the most comfortable of the three when talking about his personal faith and values. He really talked about religion and the role it plays in his life in a very personal way. I was a little disappointed with the way that Barack Obama seemed to answer questions – he talked more in terms of ‘policy’ than about what faith means to him on a personal level. I found Hillary Clinton to be personable and genuinely trying to more fully embrace talking about religion to any significant extent. She was actually very relaxed and funny; when I asked ‘What do you pray for?’ and she said ‘To lose 10 pounds’ – that got a rousing round of applause.”

I then asked Soledad what she thought some of the most important issues within the upcoming Presidential Campaign would be, and to no surprise (on my part), she said that both immigration and health care would end up high on the public’s ‘priority list’ as the race moves into full swing next year.

As my time allotment starts to run out (I’ll explain why soon), I ask Soledad if there are any specific subjects that she has a particular interest in covering – and she answers ‘no’ – because she ‘likes telling stories’ – about subjects that are interesting, important, informative – there isn’t any specific preference she has.

I then ask who is still on her “wish list” to interview – and her answer may be surprising – but this is the point where keeping in mind Soledad’s Latina (specifically Cuban) heritage is helpful. The first person she named as being a potentially interesting interviewee would be Hugo Chavez. There are a number of journalists who would consider him to be a “get” – but from a non-journalist perspective (such as mine) – perhaps this falls into the category of being advantageous to “know thy enemy”? Soledad also indicated that she would like an opportunity to interview Fidel Castro before he passes away. Interesting choices!!

So with all of the unique, diverse, exciting, unforgettable journalistic experiences that are now part of a distinguished multi-award winning career, will Soledad be writing a memoir soon? She humbly claims “I have a lot more to experience. And while my children are still so young (all four are under age 8), I want to devote my spare time to them. But I’ll give it consideration someday.”



Normally that kind of question would end an interview. And it actually was my last question, but I’m writing about a different one last – because I think the answer illustrates an important aspect of Soledad’s own ‘life priorities’.

David Bloom was Soledad’s co-anchor on ‘Today Weekend’ at NBC, and a good friend. He died on April 6, 2003 from an embolism suffered while being embedded with US troops during the start of the Iraq War. When I asked Soledad about her favorite memory of David, she replied “There isn’t any one specific memory, but what I will always remember is how very much he loved his wife and daughters, and how important they were to him, and how proud he was of them, and how much he always talked about them. All the time. And how happy he was whenever he was talking about them. I want to make sure that Melanie and the girls (Christine, Nicole and Ava) always remember that.”



It’s now 7:30 PM EST, and Soledad’s generous donation of 45 minutes of her time is over. She has promised to call home and read a book with her 7-year-old daughter, Sofia. And it’s time for me to say once again how very appreciative I am of the opportunity to interview such an accomplished professional journalist. Soledad still loves her career as much as she did when she walked into the WBZ-TV studios in Boston, and it’s obvious in whatever projects she works on and whoever she works with – and she’s especially enjoying working with the AC 360° staff!



My objective was to ask questions that were unique in order to share similarly unique insights from Soledad that wouldn’t be found elsewhere. I hope that this recap comes close to achieving that goal. And of course – that it was an enjoyable read!! Thank you for visiting!!

A moment of nostalgia - the screen cap below is from "American Morning" on December 4, 2003 - and if you remember why everyone is laughing so hard - without looking up the transcript - then you get an "A+" for trivia retention!!

eBay charity auctions - Anderson Cooper memorabilia

For the holiday season, I've set up some new charity auctions for Anderson Cooper memorabilia - and each of the seven auctions also features one of the full size (20" X 30") Planet in Peril poster/calendar inserts that were included in the 10/16/07 edition of USA Today!!

There are also a number of hard-to-find items, such as a copy of "25 Hours", a copy of the August 1993 Interview magazine featuring a pre-gray haired Anderson Cooper, and a copy of Time Out New York (May 20 - May 27, 2004) featuring a Q&A entitled "The Hot Seat - Silver Mettle".

These auctions will once again benefit the ACORN Institute in New Orleans; they are a recovery and rebuilding program helping low- and moderate-income New Orleans residents return and rebuild while also working hard to ensure they are coming home to a safe and equitable community where all residents have a voice in the planning process, quality schools, working utilities, and help with housing and insurance settlement problems.

Here is a list of the featured items and a link to each individual auction page:

25 Hours (2005) + Men’s Journal March 2007

Vanity Fair June 2006 + Time Out New York

Vanity Fair April 2005 + Details June/July 2005

Vanity Fair April 2005 + Details June/July 2004

Life 2005 insert + Men’s Journal March 2007

Life 2005 insert + Interview 1993

Life 2005 insert + People November 2005

If you're looking for quality Anderson Cooper memorabilia to add to your collection, and/or you'd like to support a worthwhile NOLA-based charity, here's your opportunity. Bidding starts at $9.99 for each auction, and in the spirit of the season, I'm opening it up to worldwide bidders! So please help support those who are still in need of much assistance, particularly during this holiday season - THANK YOU!! :-)

A Conversation with Soledad O'Brien - Part One

A very special "Buzz" edition ...

Last Monday afternoon (11/19/07), I had the privilege of being able to conduct a telephone interview with Soledad O’Brien! As I mentioned the following day, I am especially appreciative that she could spare some time on what was obviously a busy travel day for her!

Admittedly, Soledad has granted a number of interviews during her prestigious career, so there is already much information available in the ‘public domain’. Some background information may sound routine, but there’ll be a number of new insights along the way, so starting at the beginning:

Maria de la Soledad Teresa O’Brien was born on September 19, 1966 to a mother (Estella) of Afro-Cuban heritage and an Irish-Australian father (Edward). Both of her parents were immigrants and met at John Hopkins University in Maryland, circa 1958. They married one year later in Washington, DC – as inter-racial marriage was still illegal in Maryland at that time. Soledad grew up in Smithtown, a small North Shore community on Long Island, NY – and graduated from Smithtown High School East.

Soledad is the fifth of six children – all of whom are Harvard graduates. Although there isn’t an ‘O’Brien Library’ on campus, she’s joked in the past that after six tuitions, there should be! Her three older sisters include a law professor, a corporate attorney and an eye surgeon; her older brother heads up a documents company and her younger brother is an anesthesiologist.

Our first conversation topic was about how and why she moved into journalism, when she started out attending Harvard with thoughts of becoming a doctor. Soledad explained that while taking a chemistry class, she finally realized that she just didn’t have a ‘passion’ for science and probably wouldn’t be a very good doctor. Note: the word ‘passion’ will probably be one of the most frequently used words in this recap, because there weren’t many subjects that Soledad wasn’t passionate about!

In her quest to discover a career that she could fully embrace, and also encompass her love of literature and writing, Soledad accepted an internship at WBZ-TV in Boston. As she explained to me: “I loved it immediately and knew this is where I wanted to be and what I wanted to pursue. It didn’t matter what I did – run errands, get coffee – I would do anything no matter what (or how little) it paid.”

Soledad’s willingness to always work hard and continue learning from many different mentors along the way helped propel her career forward at an accelerated pace, resulting in her working for NBC News in New York City in 1991. In 1993, she moved to San Francisco and joined KRON, while also co-hosting “The Know Zone” for the Discovery Channel.

When MSNBC was launched in 1996, Soledad used her experience from "The Know Zone" to convince her bosses at the new network to allow her to host an hour-long broadcast called “The Site”, focusing on technology and the ‘newly’ popular Internet. (My, my, my – how time flies!) This was the show that brought Soledad national recognition and fame, and became the catalyst for all of the continued success and increased visibility that followed. During her remaining years at NBC, Soledad anchored “Morning Blend” on MSNBC and “Weekend Today” on NBC, while also reporting for Nightly News and Dateline. Some major stories that she reported on included on-location coverage of Pope John Paul’s historic visit to Cuba in 1998, the accidental death of John F. Kennedy, Jr. in 1999, and the 9/11 attacks from Ground Zero.





In July 2003, Soledad accepted an offer from CNN to co-anchor “American Morning”, along with Bill Hemmer. During her almost four years in that position, Soledad has covered even more of the major news stories that have occurred – the Asian tsunami, Hurricane Katrina and the London terrorism attacks. She is currently a special correspondent for CNN: Special Investigations Unit and serves as a substitute anchor for Anderson Cooper 360°, as well as continuing to provide in-depth reports on major news stories. When I asked Soledad if she preferred anchoring over reporting, she replied that while anchoring provides a certain amount of stability to help keep a routine intact for her children, she still loves to travel and meet new people – and reporting allows for more of that. But she added that at CNN, she can still easily do both, and enjoys that flexibility.





In the beginning, I mentioned the word “passion” and the frequency of its use. No where during our conversation was that more apparent than when I asked Soledad about New Orleans. Her voice becomes more forceful (though still friendly) and her words quicken. Her best friend (and her oldest daughter’s godmother) lives in NOLA, so she still visits the city – even more frequently since Katrina. Soledad’s first story about the actual ‘on-the-ground’ conditions still found there starts with her friend’s stolen bathtub. Which is funny, from one perspective, and seriously exasperating from another perspective. “Who steals a bathtub”, I ask? Her reply is that kind of theft is all-too-common – because of the continuing lack of police personnel to provide the level of enforcement needed.

Soledad also shared a recent conversation that she had with a sheriff from St Bernard Parish; there had been a bad car accident in an intersection and a baby sustained serious head injuries. But the closest (OPEN) hospital is 45 minutes away. (Remember all of the 360° reports about the lack of hospitals that have re-opened since Katrina??) The baby didn’t survive the trip.

Soledad’s ‘passion’ for fairness and justice heightens when she talks about the fact that even middle class NOLA residents who are making valiant efforts to return can’t find housing, can’t rebuild because they aren’t being offered insurance settlements that come close to their home’s market value, and to make matters worse - are having to wait far too long for this devastating news. And for the most part, these are individuals who have the knowledge and resources to attempt to ‘navigate’ through governmental red tape. Soledad worries “What about the poor residents who don’t already have this advantage? Who is helping them?” She’s frustrated that ‘financial fixes’ are funneling in to the area much too slowly and many times are much too meager to qualify as ‘fair and equitable’.

So when I asked Soledad what she believes are the most urgent challenges facing New Orleans, it’s no surprise that she cites “health care” as first on the list. She specifically mentions mental health care, and we briefly discuss the dramatic and tragic rise in suicide rates. She makes a point of emphasizing that people are angry – in part because there remains a feeling that no one who would ‘normally’ be responsible for large-scale, long-term solutions, seems to care. Soledad also emphasizes that the rebuilding and recovery progress made to date has been due in large part to individuals banding together with charities, churches and students to forge ahead, in spite of the continuing lack of pro-active governmental support.





Well, I hope you’ve enjoyed Part One of “A Conversation with Soledad O’Brien”. Tomorrow, we’ll find out more about Soledad’s Special Investigation Unit reports, Presidential Politics, the role of religion and faith, her interview “wish list”, her best memories of David Bloom and whether or not she’ll be writing a memoir! Thanks for visiting and stay tuned!!

"Don't Make News" ...

:: Part of former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan's job description ::

Weekend Buzz ...
Wow – better late than never (I hope) ...

I had a wonderful and very busy four day holiday weekend and hope that everyone else did as well (at least the ‘wonderful’ part) ... a chance to visit with family & friends, share some great classic homemade dishes, get a little shopping done (I’m not a mall fan), get a few projects done around the house, etc. etc. :-)

Last Wednesday’s 360° seems kind of far away now, especially with the very busy week ahead – so I’ll give just a brief recap:

Natalee Holloway: I guess I’m just as curious as anyone else about this new “evidence” that the Aruba authorities seem to have uncovered regarding her disappearance – that would include attorneys representing Natalee’s father, Dave Holloway (Vinda De Sousa) and ongoing suspect Joran van der Sloot (Joe Tacopina). John King spoke with both individuals, and they both had the typical ‘spins’ on this development.

For all those concerned, and particularly for the Holloway family, I do hope that this mystery is solved one way or another sooner rather than later.




Scott McClellan: As I mentioned on Wednesday, Scott has a book that will be published in April, and is apparently raising some eyebrows long before it hits the bookstores. John King interviewed David Gergen about the claims made that there were five individuals “involved” in misleading Mr. McClellan about the leaking of Valerie Plame’s identity – Karl Rove, Scooter Libby, White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card, VP Dick Cheney and President George Bush. Allegations not to be taken lightly. But I sense the ‘back-pedaling’ beginning already – no interviews are being granted by Mr. McClellan about this “leak” (ironic as it seems) – and his publisher is tap dancing around the question of whether or not the claim is being made that the President actually lied to Scott about what he knew regarding this situation. I wrote on Wednesday about not crossing the "Texas Mafia" ... now I’m a bit more certain of it. Time will tell how this all ends up playing out.





Glenn Beck interview: Since Anderson interviewed Glenn on his own Headline News show Wednesday night, I’m going to write up a quick summary of that – except to say now that I think Anderson & GB are of similar minds when it comes to having open dialogues among citizens, regardless of political affiliation. It was a very strong theme in Anderson’s recent speech at Claremont College.



Accidental medicine overdoses: When you get a prescription filled, before you take the first dose, do you ever wonder – I hope that they’ve given me the right medication?? In the right strength, and with the right instructions? I always run through that little scenario in my head. I don’t know why - maybe it’s because I rarely take any to begin with, so I start out being suspicious ? But to be given something that is potentially dangerous or deadly, either in and of itself, or in the wrong dosage – that’s a very scary situation. Particularly if you’re in the hospital, and the medication is being given intravenously – there’s no “spot check” that can be done for anyone to say something like – “hey, the last pills were blue instead of green – are you sure these are mine?” This came to light most recently with the Heparin overdose of Dennis Quaid’s newborn twins – and in David Mattingly’s piece, we once again came back to basic common sense procedures – one Heparin manufacturer commented that “there is still no substitute for careful reading of the labels”. What a concept.




OK – enough about 360° for the pre-Thanksgiving show – let’s move on to Wednesday night’s “Glenn Beck” show. Anderson spent the hour interviewing Glenn about his new book, “An Inconvenient Book”. Wonder where he got the idea for that title? All right – in the interest of ‘full disclosure’, I’ve never watched even a moment of this show – although I do hear that GB is a conservative with what has been reported are obscure (IMHO) views about some topics. But fair is fair – especially if it means Anderson gets to grill a neo-con (again, IMHO) – so I watched, truly wanting to hear what he had to say. He lost me at “building a wall around our borders”. And I won’t buy the book, but I did make a mental note that Anderson specifically stated that he wasn’t going to discuss the book’s section on poverty because he couldn’t buy into the solutions presented, again, said with humor, but it left me wondering if he was actually serious or not. But I did watch the whole hour. And I don’t know Glenn’s sense of humor, so I could be way off on this, but he at least sounded like there was some genuine ‘disdain’ for much of his colleague's success. Masked as it was, of course. It made me wonder if Anderson did this interview as a courtesy and for the sake of being a ‘team player’, or if this was truly the kind of ‘friendly banter’ they have. I’m hoping for the latter, because I have no problem with being wrong on what I interpreted. Maybe I just don’t know if Glenn is serious or not (a la Stephen Colbert satire?) about his “solutions”? Ah well – there are many more important things to keep my brain cells active in the near future ...



THIS WEEK: Where do we start? Let’s start at the beginning, and hope that Anderson returns to 360° on Monday – no offense to John King, of course, as he did a terrific job during a week when not many really want to be at work in the first place!

There is SO much discussion at the AC360° Yahoo group about Anderson’s upcoming appearance on Ellen this coming Tuesday – it’s great!! The preview clip seems to show that it’s a taped interview that was done a couple of weeks ago when Anderson was in the LA area, and since Ellen has mentioned the subject of NOLA in the week’s preview calendar, perhaps that will be one of the discussion topics? Check here for your local time and channel listing!

Wednesday will bring us the CNN / You Tube Republican debate – the mud has started to be flung around in that race as well since the last time CNN broadcast one of their debates – I’m interested in seeing if any of them can possibly get away from their standard ‘stump speeches’ and ‘talking points’ for just a small amount of time – and relate to the average American and what they’re truly concerned about in their everyday lives, and for the future of this country, both domestically and internationally. Oh wait – that’s right – this is the Republican debate ... (sorry, that was again much too easy) ... here’s one of the latest articles at CNN.com about what the debate preparations are like. And to be “360°” about it – the Dems aren’t doing much (if any) better on accomplishing what I wished for above!!!!



Tonight (Sunday, 11/25/07) on 60 Minutes – Anderson’s segment broadcast tonight was entitled “Awakening”, about minimally conscious patients who, after receiving certain medications such as Ambien, regain some level of their consciousness and mental capacity. This treatment is still in an experimental stage, as it’s difficult to locate patients who have been even correctly diagnosed to test them and see if this regimen will improve their conditions. If you missed the segment, you can watch the video here.



And tomorrow – don’t forget - Part 1 of my interview with Soledad O’Brien – exclusive info and insights you haven’t read elsewhere!!!



Thanks for visiting – hope you’re ready for a very intense week ahead!! :-)

Politicians and Trust … mutually exclusive??

Today’s Buzz ...

John King filling in once again - on what turns out to be a tumultuous evening on the neighboring LKL set ...



Murder in Italy: In addition to having some difficulty keeping a score card for all the possible suspects in the murder of student Meredith Kercher, I’m not sure why it was the lead story last night? I certainly send sympathy to the Kercher family, but other than a motive involving drug use and experimental sex – I just didn’t ‘get’ its relevance. This is one of those moments where I’d ask why the recent Bangladesh cyclone wasn’t ever the lead story, but I try to remember that there are most seasoned individuals making these programming calls ...




Holiday travel – part 2: The map hasn’t improved since last night!! And Ali Velshi was on the set to discuss the very disturbing march towards the day we see $100/barrel for oil. Ali really knows the economics game, and knows how to communicate what’s important so it makes sense!




LKL walk-on, walk-off: Perhaps I was distracted by what had happened the previous hour on Larry King Live? Dr. Jan Adams, the surgeon who performed plastic surgery on Donda West, was suppose to be the exclusive guest for the hour. He was late getting to NYC, and with just minutes before he was to go on live, told Larry and the producers that he’d just received a letter from the West family giving a very stern warning that he should not go through with the appearance, even if he didn’t speak a single word about what may have happened to Professor West. I certainly understand that Larry was disappointed, particularly since he’d come into the studio during vacation time. So the bottom line was – Dr. Adams appeared on camera for about two minutes, simply to tell Larry that he couldn’t do the interview out of respect for the wishes of the West family, took off his microphone and walked off the set. Not in anger – but a surprise nonetheless. And BTW – for those who keep ‘rooting’ for Larry to leave because he just can’t ‘handle’ it any longer – he was as cool as a cucumber – and kept the show going for the entire hour. The real surprises for me were that, (1) according to Larry, that kind of ‘walk-off’ had never happened before in his 50 years of broadcasting, and (2) why didn’t the family protest when Adams gave interviews to both People Magazine and the LA Times? I suppose it was because they didn’t know about those until after the fact? Larry came into the 360 studio after his show ended to discuss the extraordinary details of what happened with John King.




Who trusts ya, baby?: The name of the game last night for the pundits was “trust”. Wait!!! “Politicians and trust” – that combination sure sounds mutually exclusive to me!! As for the Iowa and New Hampshire voters, John King discussed new poll numbers with David Gergen and Hank Sheinkopf. I’d really like to know why the NH voters are so willing to vote for a candidate that they clearly don’t trust?? That makes very little sense to me! But sometimes, not much in politics is meant to make sense, right? The discussion did seem to be more balanced; I was particularly interested in a couple of Mr. Sheinkopf’s observations – one being that we’re holding Hillary to a different standard (than male candidates) when she’s on the attack, the second being that “If she (Hillary) doesn’t play tough and reduce trust down to experience, so that it’s a balance between her and Obama, this could be a very different race.” Reduce trust down to experience – now there’s an interesting (or disturbing, depending on your perspective) piece of advice ...





Jeffs sentenced: Warren Jeffs was sentenced yesterday to two consecutive sentences of five years to life in prison on two counts of rape as an accomplice. Justice at last!!!! Elissa Wall, who testified against Jeffs, must be so very relieved. Gary Tuchman did report that she turned down $5,000 from a Utah state victim reparation fund. I was sorry to hear that – she could have donated it to one of the organizations that are trying to provide support for those girls and woman who flee from the FLDS communities. But I certainly understand her reasoning – she’s such a brave young woman to come forward and allow her story to become public, especially when her family remains devoted to Jeffs. We can only hope that the Arizona courts have the same outcome when they put Jeffs on trial very soon. And if all of the truly disturbing information that has been disclosed about Jeffs’s life hasn't been enough to infuriate you, we learned last night that not only does he have so many wives that there is no ‘official’ count, but that some of them had been married to his deceased father.



Hastert’s foul: All of the Illinois counties who must now bear the cost of special elections to find a mid-term replacement for former House Speaker Dennis Hastert – should send him a bill. Seriously. If he’s no longer having ‘fun’ and no longer wants to ‘play nice’ with his fellow House Reps – that’s OK – but there should be consequences – and not to the Illinois taxpayers!!



The Shot: I guess Erica & John haven’t had many deer leap across their car hoods in the darkness. The worst I’ve ever done was graze a possum with a tire wheel – I stopped, but he (she?) had run off by then.

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A couple of quick updates on the political front:

Scott McClellan – is writing what’s being touted as a ‘tell-all’ book, where he claims he was ‘misled’ about how Valerie Plame’s CIA identity was leaked. I’d like to know what prompted this – I never would have thought he’d have the stomach (I’m being polite) to take on the Texas mafia. He names Karl Rove, VP Cheney & President Bush, and others as well. I’d be careful if I were Scott – VP Darth Vader doesn’t take kindly to accusations like that ...

AND – we finally have a primary date in New Hampshire – hooray!!! It’ll be January 8, 2008 – and they’ll be off and running!!


Thanks so much for visiting – have a wonderful and safe holiday (if you celebrate Thanksgiving!) – the list of what I’m thankful for grows and grows each year – and to be fortunate enough to say that is one of the things that I’m most thankful for. One of my greatest desires is to continue to be able to share more and more of it with others – and to encourage others who are as fortunate to do the same. Peace to all.