From last night’s program:
California family found: And Anderson Cooper was the FIRST to interview them – very shortly after their arrival home!! And this one was truly an exclusive ... as the Dominguez children had just arrived home only a few minutes before the interview began! I was SO glad that Anderson was the first one to talk with them, because there's no one - and I mean NO ONE - who could have done a better job with interviewing them so soon after their ordeal! Thankfully this story has a happy ending, because a lot of people were starting to get worried, and rightly so. I'm sure they'll make the "interview rounds" over the next couple of days, but as I said, it's terrific that AC was first!
Christopher, Alexis and Joshua Dominguez, and their father (Frederick) had been lost in a rugged, mountainous region of Butte County after driving to an area where they planned to find a Christmas tree on Sunday. Obviously, under the circumstances, they weren’t prepared for being separated from their vehicle and spending three days (and nights) outdoors in the cold and the snow.
As for the situation itself, an astute AC360° group member noted this morning that too many Californians (especially in the Bay area and Sacramento area) don’t always appreciate, or prepare for, the potential dangers of travel through mountainous regions. It’s not all sand and surf and sun here! But with the availability of GPS technology, these kinds of situations will hopefully become much less frequent.
But thankfully – this story has a very happy ending – the Dominguez children and their father certainly had some kind of angel looking out for them! Major kudos also to the CHP Rescue Patrol (Steve Ward and Dave White on board the rescue helicopter) and Butte County Search and Rescue incident commander Matt Pearce – excellent job!!
Daily Stat fix: New candidate polls from New Hampshire are out, and right now, they look quite different from Iowa polls. The conventional reasoning is that NH voters are focusing on ‘issues’ rather than ‘charisma’. A side-swipe at Iowans, to be sure. So we’ll see if there’s any significant ‘shift’ in NH numbers after January 3rd!!
Who turned Jeff Toobin into “Scrooge”??: Jeff, John King and Jennifer Donohue (NH Institute is Politics) analyzed the candidates’ “holiday ads” that are airing in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. A unique situation forced upon the campaigns because of the new caucus and primary schedules. But guess what? The cynic in me does understand Jeff’s point about ‘phoniness’. Although I also understand Jennifer’s point that the ads do “say” something about the candidates (i.e. – Mitt and Barack with families, Hillary and Rudy sans families). BTW – Rudy can keep the fruitcake!! And I am appalled that what John King said to end the segment might really still be true: “But likeability matters in politics as much as issues, and these ads will either work or backfire. But it does matter.” Bah Humbug!!
“Rita” Relief: Where do government agencies find people like Michael Gerber? I’m talking about people who can sit for a nationally televised interview and justify the stunning corruption that is so evident within the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs. And do it so very calmly and so very convincingly – or least convincingly to themselves. There is nothing that anyone can say at this point – two years later – to reconcile the injustice that Helena Saunders – and all the other Helenas in the state – have had to endure because of the willful negligence of this agency. Randi Kaye, who reported this story, also has a good write-up available at CNN.com.
The “Shot”: Let’s just say that for the sake of “Candy Strand’s” family – she doesn’t end up being electrocuted.
Erica is MIA: Not that I don’t enjoy Randi Kaye doing the “bulletins” – I do – but I guess I was hoping that Erica would have a chance to “spring” the Elf Anchor Video on Mr. Cooper this week!!
Other Notes:
why Anderson won't dance (on camera) ...
There’s been an on-and-off discussion at the AC360° Yahoo group about the opportunities that Anderson has passed up to regale us with his “footwork”. I suspect it may be because he doesn't want to put himself in a similar situation as what David Gregory is about to endure (i.e. - nasty comments) after 'groovin' to Mary J. Blige - although I'm sure that Mr. Cooper isn't quite so, well, lame?? (Apologies to David Gregory) - here’s the link to the video.
If, by any chance, you might be interested in seeing a video replay of the now infamous "Gunmetal Grey" mention by Stage Manager Kevin this past Tuesday evening, you can find it here!!
Anderson's favorite New Year's Eve memory has been posted as an i-Report!!
There are a NUMBER of excellent entries over the past few days on the AC360° blog – check out some (or all) of them:
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Update # 1: The Daily Show and The Colbert Report to return on Jan. 7th ....I don't how they're going to do this, but Jon & Stephen will be back on the air as of January 7th - without their striking writers, if necessary!!
In a joint statement, Stewart and Colbert said: "We would like to return to work with our writers. If we cannot, we would like to express our ambivalence, but without our writers we are unable to express something as nuanced as ambivalence."
Thanks so much for visiting - updates posted as needed - have a terrific day!!
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