Some are pleased about that – others are cringing in horror – and the reason for the statement? See below ...
Here we go again: As we watch the Democratic Party once again teetering on the brink of self-induced implosion, an alleged “truce” has been called between the candidates regarding the recent divisiveness created by various “race card” accusations. Yet, even if the candidates themselves tone down the damaging rhetoric, we’ll deal with the aftermath as stated by Candy Crowley last night: “What I think you are going to see is that the principles -- that is, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama -- will in fact dial it back. I am not sure you can stop some of the whispering, nor do I think you can probably stop the surrogates.”
I guess we’re just not past this discussion yet – in the year 2008. A few items from yesterday were of particular interest to me: (1) an article in Time about race spelling trouble for the Democrats, (2) the blog entry from Tom Foreman and (3) the Cafferty File question about race being used by the Democrats.
The most succinct example I can use is the explanation from David Gergen on last night’s program: “Here's the danger. In a place like New York City, we have seen this before in Democratic politics. You got a strong white candidate. You got a strong black candidate in a Democratic primary for mayor, for example. They run against each other. The white candidate wins, but at enormous cost in the black community, a lot of bruises in the black community. The blacks then don't vote in the same numbers as the Latino community, and then the Republican candidate comes up and wins.”
Hence – projecting out this scenario beyond NYC – which is all too likely, if this useless, destructive rhetoric continues - we end up swearing in President McCain (Giuliani, Romney, Huckabee, etc.) on January 20, 2009.
I’m not going to review what’s being reported about who said what, to whom, and when – you can’t miss it on the news, even for those only slightly interested at this point in the races. I can only hope (haven’t we heard that word before?) that the Democrats will circle back to the issues and focus on the ultimate goal. What a welcome change (déjà vu?) that would be ...
Candy Crowley, Roland Martin and David Gergen continued their analysis last night with a Republican Primary preview in Michigan – McCain slightly ahead in many polls, Romney’s “must-win” status, Huckabee trailing in third place and Giuliani still biding his time until Florida.
I had a passing thought about Rudy Giuliani’s strategy last night, and I haven’t heard it specifically mentioned in any reports yet, as everyone seems to be so focused on the closest upcoming contests. But I was thinking that – for all the time – and probably all the money – that Rudy has spent in Florida – if he doesn’t absolutely crush the competition – all of them – and not just winning by a relatively narrow margin - then he may well be “on the ropes” as well. The primary is on January 29th – which leaves just about zero recovery time before “Super Duper Tuesday” on February 5th.
Marine death investigation: Randi Kaye has been reporting on this story for the past week and I think the frustration of what so many people are thinking is surfacing – and rightly so. She has a blog entry today that questions the handling of the initial ‘missing persons’ report of Maria Lauterbach and the lack of disclosure from the Marine Corps to Onslow County law enforcement officers that could have potentially aided them in the early stages of what has now become a worst-case scenario murder investigation. Well, actually – it could get worse with any kind of ‘reported sighting’ that comes out of Mexico at this point.
Jeff Toobin also weighed in on the fact that there continues to be - in this day and age – an inherent lack of cooperation among law enforcement agencies. That’s ludicrous and endangers everyone – if they can’t cooperate in this kind of case – what happens when ‘we’ are faced with a biological or chemical weapons threat? Or worse? As has been reported so many times now, from so many different angles, perhaps the venerable “9/11” really didn’t change everything ...
Jeff ended up with ‘double duty’ last night – also providing commentary – amusing at times – about actor Wesley Snipes going on trial for tax evasion. Not much to say – he won’t be sent to jail – he’ll probably have to pay some extra penalties – and life will go on ...
Anderson also spoke with Newsweek International editor Fareed Zakaria about his recent interview with Pakistan’s President Musharraf. Not much new to report – Musharraf’s support has taken another decline since the assassination of Benazir Bhutto – down to 20% - even though he continues to deny that his government was complicit in her death. In a country where conspiracy theories abound due partially to overall incompetence of the government. And Musharraf maintains that the nuclear arsenal is secure and under control, while bristling at the suggestion of the US taking any kind of unilateral action due to that or due to continued pursuit leading to the capture of Osama bin Laden.
Other news and notes:
So – for the US readers - what are your elected Congressional representatives up to today? Passing legislation to assist with the mortgage collapse? Investigating the causes of oil price hikes? Hammering out some kind of healthcare reform? No – they’re holding hearings on the use of steroids in Major League Baseball. Yes, you read that correctly. Now, I’m a HUGE baseball fan – but is this really necessary? Right now? Read Drew Griffin’s take on the issue – from today’s AC360° blog.
Well, I’m continuing on with my ‘series’ of screen caps from yesterday’s World News Now video clip - circa 1999 – I’ll wind it up tomorrow and probably debut another video on Thursday. Also – I’ll put together a photo album of these caps for the AC360° Yahoo group. These are what I call “fond childhood memories”:
Thanks so much for visiting - updates posted as needed - have a terrific Tuesday!!
5 comments:
Great photos of young Anderson!
I also love the photo from last night's show-such a great smile!
The pictures are adorable!
I won't even get started ( because I'll never be able to shut up) about the Dems and this whole race thing and how it may affect the general election except to say it is so disappointing that in the year 2008 that race is even an issue or a perceived issue.
Yes - pictures ARE rather fun, aren't they? As is the old WNN video ... "Anderson's Mom" has a great sense of humor. We can see at least part of where his came from!
As for the Dems, I really want to say "shame, shame, shame" because they ALL know better ... and I wasn't kidding about the title of today's entry - or why it's a valid probability if they all ('surrogates' included) don't knock off flinging these slings and arrows - now!
and Anderson ended last night's show with the tossover to Larry sounding quite vague on where he will be tonight!
@ Anonymous - you have a sixth sense, don't you? I say that because Anderson just blogged today (1/16), saying that he'd been giving some thought to going to SC today! Well, thanks for your observation! :-)
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