Thursday, February 28, 2008

Politics and Sharks ... not mutually exclusive ...

Today’s Buzz ...

from last night’s Anderson Cooper 360°:

Lewis endorses Obama: Georgia Representative John Lewis announced yesterday that he was changing his superdelegate vote (and support) from Clinton to Obama. Candy Crowley reported that his decision was based on how his Congressional District had voted in the state primary, but regardless of the reason – it’s a significant setback for the Clinton campaign. Congressman Lewis is a civil rights legend for, among other roles, his involvement in the Selma March. He is also a close friend of the Clintons and was an early Hillary supporter. Not a good sign ...




Cunningham blasts McCain: John King reported that conservative radio talk show host Bill Cunningham has stepped up his new war against John McCain. IMHO – this kind of behavior is why those at the extreme end of the conservative spectrum – and those at the extreme end of the liberal spectrum – give those “labels” a bad name. To John McCain’s credit, he is standing by his comments regarding Cunningham’s slanderous and offensive remarks. Last night’s political panel (David Gergen, Bay Buchanan, Roland Martin) had differing opinions on the issue; David Gergen noted how quickly conservatives have changed their tune about McCain, Bay Buchanan supported Cunningham 100% and Roland Martin characterized him as a ‘spoiled child’. No lack of diverse opinions there!!



The panel went on to discuss the McCain – Obama exchange about Al Qaeda in Iraq, the John Lewis decision and whether Hillary Clinton really needs to win both Texas and Ohio on Tuesday to remain in the race.



Where’s Bill?: Joe Johns had a report about the ever-evolving role of super-surrogate Bill Clinton in Hillary’s campaign. Currently, he’s deploying ‘Bill 2.0’ – a ‘kinder, gentler former President’. I wonder how many more hours that will last?



Roger Clemens vs. Congress: It occurred to me this morning that Roger Clemens may be so delusional about what constitutes “truth” – that he may actually truly believe what he’s saying – and not just trying to save his career and/or Hall of Fame chances. In spite of his denial of both. But I still don’t understand why this is a Congressional matter. I agree that steroid and HGH use is wrong and is cheating and is making a mockery of the game of baseball – and I agree that anyone guilty of their use needs to be held accountable. But by Congress? Or by Congress urging a Justice Department investigation?



David Mattingly provided a background report on the pressure being applied – on the Justice Department – to investigate possible perjury charges, and Anderson discussed the entire controversy, including possible jail time for Clemens, with TruTV’s Lisa Bloom.




Chumming for Sharks: I realize I’m no ‘shark expert’, but sometimes common sense (unique to the human species) needs to override the curiosity to see predators in their ‘natural state’. Anyone who willingly participates in an uncaged shark dive where bait crates are used – is looking for the worst kind of trouble. Period. It sounded like George Burgess, the University of Florida shark expert that Anderson interviewed, would be more inclined to embrace that viewpoint than the one of shark photographer Rob Stewart, who advocates ‘free dives’.



Other News and Notes:

Anderson to speak at the University of Miami 2008 convocation:

From: The Miami Hurricane.com

The 2008 Senior Convocation will feature Anderson Cooper, anchor of CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360." Cooper will speak at the BankUnited Center April 14 with a discussion titled "A 360-Degree Look at World Events." The discussion, which is presented by the Northern Trust Lecture Series, will begin at 6:30 p.m. and is open to the university community with a Cane Card. Tickets are not required.

The Govenator and his tank: Occasionally, there are pictures that simply beg to be shred. It seems that Arnold Schwarzenegger was given the tank he had driven while serving in the Austrian military circa 1965, and it had been on loan to an Ohio museum. Well, the Governor decided he wanted the tank returned and will now be using it to give rides to children visiting the capitol (Sacramento) who have made significant improvements in their grades. A kind of ‘military-influenced’ reward … and no, this isn’t a joke. No wonder people in the Midwest (and elsewhere) shake their heads at the mere mention of the word “California” ...



About the AC360° Blog: I guess this is both good news and perhaps some not-so-good news. I’ve accepted a new job – it’s very exciting and I’m looking forward to it very much! But with it will come even more responsibilities, and I just don’t know right now if I’ll be able to keep up with the time demands of the blog as well. I know the entries aren’t massively long, but I’m not a very speedy writer, and combined with the daily screen caps (which are important), it takes multiple hours each day to produce the kind of entry that I want to publish. So until such time that I can get a better handle on the new job and what’s involved on a day-to-day basis – I’m going to have to put a ‘temporary suspension’ on the blog. Tomorrow will be my last entry, until I can figure out what amount of time – if any – I’ll have to continue contributing to this effort. I’m happy and sad at the same time. I’ll have more at the end of my entry tomorrow, but initially, I just want to say that this has been an amazing experience and I truly appreciate every single individual who has contributed to this blog – it’s been fantastic!

tonight on Anderson Cooper 360°:




Thanks so very much for visiting – have a terrific Thursday!

2 comments:

ac said...

I guess we shall see if Hillary can pull it off, and win on Tuesday.


Why is this baseball/steroids/Clements story a high priority for the Justice Department,not to mention Congress?
I would have thought they may have had some BIGGER concerns.


IMO,people who dive with these sharks are taking matters into their own hands,and it is a foolish risk.
This is certainly different from a swim with the dolphins at say,Sea World,maybe.

Congratulations on the new job!!!

newsblooz said...

It'll be interesting to see what happens in the Tuesday primaries. At the very least, John McCain should be able to totally seal his nomination.

And yes, the US Congress does have bigger concerns; they simply choose to ignore them.

And thanks for the congrats - I appreciate it very much!