Race and Politics …

Today's Buzz (Hour 2) ...
Soledad O’Brien joined Anderson Cooper last night after the post Democratic Debate analysis for an hour long AC 360° special entitled “Race and Politics”. It looked at the current campaign from several different aspects, highlighting subjects such as “Race & Gender” (report from Randi Kaye), “Black, Christian & Republican” (report from Soledad O’Brien), and “The Other Racial Divide” (report from Gary Tuchman).



The in-studio panel discussing these subjects were Roland Martin, Amy Holmes, Leslie Sanchez (GOP strategist) and Professor Matt Barreto.



Randi’s report focused on choices faced by Black women voters in South Carolina and what, if any, ‘loyalty’ they may follow in the upcoming Democratic Primary. Would they vote for Obama based on a race loyalty, or Clinton based on a gender loyalty? Well, in a perfect world, they’d vote for whomever is the candidate of their choosing (maybe even John Edwards) based on issues. I understand that the feedback on Randi’s essay on this topic at the CNN Election Center site has been heated, but it is a topic that should be looked at if only because there are women that won’t give enough consideration to issues and will cast votes based either solely or largely on race or gender. I’ve been asked many times, by both men and women, why I don’t support Hillary Clinton – I mean, aren’t I a member of the ‘sisterhood’? And my answer is ‘nooooooooo ...’ – my vote will be based on issues and other related factors (such as trustworthiness and integrity) as best as I can determine them. Not based on artificial or media-hyped factors. OK – sermon over (for now) ...



Soledad’s report on the current status of GOP inroads with Black voters was enlightening, but certainly not surprising. Among others, she interviewed Rev. Floyd Flake of the Allen AME Cathedral in NYC – and although some hope remains that Republicans can revitalize the ties that were established in 2004, there’s also the other side of the story and can be summed up through this exchange:

REV. FLOYD FLAKE, ALLEN AME CATHEDRAL: I think what they want to hear from the GOP is that we understand the depth of the problems of these communities.

O'BRIEN: Are you hearing any of that from the GOP now?

FLAKE: I have not heard that from the GOP at all.

O'BRIEN: What do you hear?

FLAKE: I hear nothing of any significance that would move an African-American to fill the need to vote for a Republican.

O'BRIEN: What was the biggest mistake you think the GOP made in its outreach to black churches?

FLAKE: I think the biggest mistake was making promises and not delivering.



Gary’s report centered on how immigration is factoring into this political season, and a prime location to get opinions is in Los Angeles. It’s fascinating to see how the immigration issue has become such a hot-button topic. I always wonder what would have happened if employers had followed the law as written in 1986 and not hired those who were not legally eligible to work in this country? Now, our economy is dependent to a great degree on the 12-20 million illegal workers residing here. Reaching any kind of consensus about what path to follow in dealing with border security, amnesty, ‘guest’ workers, expedited citizenship, deportation, etc. will be extremely difficult. There are no easy answers and the process will take courage, patience and leadership.



Gary (the LIVE version in NYC) also had 360° Bulletin duty last night:



Other news & notes from today:

Tim Masters is a free man: The conviction sending Tim Masters to jail in 1999 for a murder he didn’t commit has been thrown out and Masters has been freed from prison. This was the story covered on 360° this past Friday. Justice at last!

Fred Thompson bows out: Fred Thompson has called it quits for his Presidential bid – not a surprising announcement at all. No report yet on any endorsement, but John McCain seems to be the logical choice, if any. As a side note, Duncan Hunter also officially dropped out last week.

Thanks for visiting - updates posted as needed - have a terrific Tuesday!

a day for reflection, as well as celebration ...

Today’s Buzz ...

Rescuing Youssif: I hope that some of you were able to watch the special hour that pre-empted AC360° on Monday evening. What a brave little boy. And what a brave family – to risk everything to come to the United States for the kind of treatment that will make dramatically improve the quality of Youssif’s life. He’ll receive the best treatment possible at the Grossman Burn Center – it is truly the best place that he could be. Unfortunately, the decision of whether or not the family returns to Iraq will still loom high and be very difficult. But at least the family has witnessed the compassion and generosity that Americans are capable of offering - first hand.

And if they do decide to return to be with their relatives, we can only hope that whatever security that has been established through the US military ‘surge’ will remain intact and perhaps even improve if the coalition government ever decides to operate as it was envisioned to operate.

You can follow Youssif’s progress here on CNN.com. I didn’t take a lot of screen caps of this special, as much of it was, quite frankly, a little difficult to watch. But here are some that chronicle the more hopeful moments in the hour:





Asia Tsumani – 3rd anniversary: Certainly not an anniversary to celebrate, but it was three years ago today that we were first learning of the devastation in Thailand, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and India.



It was one of the deadliest natural disasters in modern history, killing over 230,000 people. The rebuilding efforts have, by most accounts, progressed well. Perhaps some New Orleans officials could learn some lessons here??? Memorial services are being held throughout the region – you can read more here.



There was also a recent interesting article about how survivors’ tales passed down by elders in certain affected communities may help to prevent future loss of life, should a similar disaster occur at some point in the future.

Moving on to more positive news and notes: before New Year’s, many people still have additional holidays to celebrate!! For example, today is Boxing Day, and also the start of the Kwanzaa celebration!

Boxing Day is December 26, the day after Christmas, and is celebrated in Great Britain and in most areas settled by the English (the U.S. is the major exception), including Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Historians say the holiday developed because servants were required to work on Christmas Day, but took the following day off. As servants prepared to leave to visit their families, their employers would present them with gift boxes.



Kwanzaa is an African-American holiday about the festival of the first harvest of the crops. It begins on December 26, and lasts for seven days. The name Kwanzaa, sometimes spelled Kwanza, comes from a phrase which means "first fruits" in Swahili, an East African language.



I was reading an article about the writers’ strike (which is beginning to have a measureable impact on the Southern California economy), and it’s interesting to note that the one programming genre that broadcasters are ignoring to “fill in” their prime time schedules is – perhaps not surprisingly – NEWS!!

And speaking of news – or at least the fake kind – I was SO happy to see that Stephen Colbert has been named “Celebrity of the Year” by the Associated Press!! It will definitely be interesting to see how The Colbert Report (and The Daily Show) fare without their ultra-talented writing staffs.



Both Gary Tuchman and Randi Kaye have interesting blog entries today – Gary talks about how US troops have actually been in the Persian Gulf region for 18 Christmas holidays, dating back to the first Gulf War. And Randi comments about the tiger attack yesterday at the San Francisco Zoo, and about whether wild animals really should be held in captivity. I haven’t been to a zoo since sixth grade, for the very reasons she cites – I can’t stand to see animals like that in cages, solely for human viewing pleasure. It amounts to sanctioned cruelty – IMHO. You can always check out the AC360° blog – and the CNN.com homepage headlines – via the links on the sidebar!!

And how does Anderson celebrate Christmas? Or at least what did he tell "Entertainment Tonight" that he does to celebrate? Here it is: Christmas looks a lot like any other day to newsman Anderson Cooper. "To be honest, I usually end up working, which is a little pathetic," he confides to ET. And just as honestly - I think it's pathetic that he's being quoted by "Entertainment Tonight" - but that's just (very humbly) IMO. :-(

Thanks for visiting ... updates posted as needed ... have a terrific day!!

Last night’s (happy) EXCLUSIVE …

Today’s Buzz ...

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:



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!!

Politics & Crime - but not in the same story ...

Today’s Buzz ...
From last night’s program:

Welcome back, Erica!!

Mike Huckabee on the move: OK – I get. I do - really. He’s a nice guy that doesn’t take himself too seriously and talks a good game. However, I shudder at the thought that the last Republican you could “kind of” say that about – who was running for President of the United States – was George W. Bush.

Anderson spoke with David Gergen, Candy Crowley and Tony Perkins (Family Research Council President) about the value of “celebrity endorsements” for candidates. I suspect that the jackpot of endorsements in the Republican race will be from Governor Arnold (Schwarzenegger, that is), since you get “two-for-one” – a celebrity AND a political endorsement – all at the same time!



And just as an aside – if I were advising Governor Huckabee – I'm not so sure I would have had Chuck Norris appear with him last night on Larry King Live – particularly for the extended length of time that they appeared together – it makes me wonder if there’s a Cabinet position waiting for Chuck??



Criminal (Justice) Education (gone wrong): As much as it angers me, I wasn’t all that surprised to learn that serial killer Timothy Krajcir learned how to elude police through criminal justice education he received at Southern Illinois University. In the early 1980’s, I’m sure that it would never have occurred to college admissions offices to conduct criminal background checks on its students. Another loss of ‘innocence’. We can only hope that Missouri Governor Matt Blunt will be successful in his quest for extradition and prosecution of this killer, in order to achieve some semblance of justice for the victims.

Free Eric Volz: After an overturned conviction being announced yesterday, Eric Volz is still being held in a Nicaragua prison, and when his mother appeared on the program last night, she was justifiably concerned for his safety. This is the update from the “Friends of Eric Volz” site:

“Judge Toruno is currently in contempt of court by refusing to make her appointment and sign the release papers. Eric has been freed, but is still being detained illegally, against the orders of the Appellate Court.

Nicaraguan radio broadcasts have been announcing that the people need to take justice into their own hands, since word of the court’s decision. We are more concerned than ever before, for Eric’s safety.

It appears as if no one in the judicial, penal and/or immigration systems in Nicaragua is responding to requests by Eric’s attorney or by the US Embassy to process Eric’s release immediately as ordered by the court.”



Witness Protection (or lack thereof): Randi Kaye had an extensive segment about the inexcusable lack of witness protection available in the state of Colorado. And even that miniscule amount often is not even offered to those who desperately need it. People who are willing to do what is morally right and testify against criminals, such as Darrell Gibbons and Javal Fields, have paid for this lack of protection with their lives. The only (and I mean only) ‘saving grace’ to this story, if you can even call it that, is the fact that Colorado is the only state with such a sub-standard witness protection program.





Many other updates for today:

Does foreign policy experience matter in a presidential race? I'm very intrigued by the blog entry from Candy Crowley this morning - she asks the question about whether foreign policy experience matters in a Presidential race? She also hints at the fact that both the Democratic and Republican candidates with the MOST amount of foreign policy experience are trailing (rather poorly) in the polls.

I've been thinking about this phenomenon for awhile now. Personally, I would think that, in this day and age, that particular criteria would matter a whole lot more. What about everyone else - does the foreign policy experience of a Presidential candidate matter - and/or should it??

Anderson will be covering the Iowa Caucuses on January 3rd – along with Wolf Blitzer and Lou Dobbs. You can read the full CNN Press Release here.





Jon Klein will be at CNN for another four years, according to Broadcasting & Cable.






And the AC360° ‘Announcer’ is: Anderson's blog today is classic - we all have a chance to vote for the new AC360° 'announcer' - personally, I'm torn between Fran Drescher (in "Nanny" character, of course) and Clint Eastwood (in "Dirty Harry" character, of course) ... "do ya feel lucky?" ... :-)

Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Anderson's View

Damn that NBC Nightly News. OK, here goes. I hadn't wanted to say anything
about this until we'd reached a decision, and had a signed contract, but now
that NBC News has announced that Michael Douglas will be doing the voiceover
introduction to their nightly newscast, our hand has been forced.

For about six months now we've been working on having someone with a very
distinctive voice introduce 360° every night. It all started for us when CBS got
Walter Cronkite to introduce their broadcast. We formed an exploratory committee
which met once a week in a backroom at Michael's restaurant in New York. Week
after week, cobb salad after cobb salad, we argued over whose voice to use.
Sometimes the discussions got very heated, and eventually we were asked not to
return to Michael's. I actually think some NBC News executives may have
overheard our discussions there one afternoon and it might have given them the
idea to use Michael Douglas. (We never actually talked about using him, but
Catherine Zeta-Jones was high on our list for a long time.) Water under the
bridge.

While we have not made a final decision, I thought I'd let you know about our
four finalists, and if there is anyone else you think should be considered,
please let us know. In no particular order, the four people we are considering
hiring to introduce 360° everynight are:

Fran Drescher
Clint Eastwood
Paul Reubens (aka Pee Wee Herman)
Cher

Personally, I'm arguing for Fran Drescher, but I'm keeping an open mind.

- Anderson Cooper




A Special THANK YOU goes out to 360° Stage Manager Kevin!!!!
Our companion Yahoo Group - AC360° - (aka: "Gunmetal Grey") - welcomes the shout-out during your announcer "audition" tonight - although it probably had nothing to do with the group ... but it's still appreciated ... ;-)

Thanks so much for visiting - have a terrific evening!

(admitting) the truth hurts sometimes ...

Today’s Buzz ...
From Tuesday’s program –

Mitt’s Sanctuary Mansion: For some reason, this sounds like an NC-17 rated film title. The main reason I wanted to comment on this, over and above the obvious “flip-flop” label, is partly because of the very sarcastic way that Mitt responded to John Roberts the morning after the debate about this very question – as to what he knew and when he knew about the hiring practices of the landscaper:

ROBERTS: Let me come back to my original question. Let me get you to clear this up for us. What is the deal with the illegal immigrants and the landscape company?

ROMNEY: Now, there's a big building here. Are there people here that have been hired by outside contractors that are here illegally? You don't know that in this country because we don't have an employment verification system.

ROBERTS: But do you know that the landscape company that you hired to work on your home had in fact employed illegal immigrants?

ROMNEY: Of course, I did not know that. As a matter of fact, the person...

ROBERTS: Do you know it now in retrospect?

ROMNEY: It's been a story in the paper.

ROBERTS: We haven't heard from your side. Do you now know that they did?

ROMNEY: Well, it's in the paper. Come on, John, you're smart enough to know. The answer is you hire contractors at your home, to paint the home, to put on a roof or to do a driveway and the contractor that we hired is a legal contractor. The man who runs the company is here legally and it turns out after a globe investigation that some of his employees were not legal.

And yet – it was verified by the Boston Globe that the morning after the YouTube debate, there were ‘at least’ two illegal immigrants working at the Romney home through this same landscape company.

Illegal immigration is a major hot-button topic in the Republican race, and when a candidate chooses to make the issue a centerpiece of his campaign, shouldn’t there be some kind of ‘internal audit’ that occurs beforehand?

I really liked the way Candy Crowley explained that there are ‘narratives’ woven about each candidate, consisting of both issues and symbols. I was also glad to be able to see Candy, John King and Anderson get a chuckle about the thought of “not adding fuel to a fire, just see how long it burns on its own”, as it involves whatever self-induced ‘trouble’ the Romney campaign may be in at the moment. I wonder if this will overshadow his upcoming “Kennedy-esque” speech about the Mormon faith? Frankly, I see that as a move of desperation, and I doubt that very many will be swayed by it.



The truth about Iran: I began writing about this story yesterday, and I’m glad that 360° spent a significant amount of time on the subject last night. Not necessarily because of the content of the report, but because of the reaction to it by the Bush administration. If anyone had any doubts that this country is being run under the auspices of an elected monarchy, and that the ‘leader’ is anything other than an irresponsible, delusional fool – there are no doubts that should remain. To continue on with the same lying rhetoric (yes, I’ve used the word that no one else would last night) about Iran cements the fact that one of the largest security threats to this country and its future – resides at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, DC. I would add the address for Cheney’s house, but we should know by now that he’s usually holed up in a secret bunker somewhere – with very little natural light – or contact with indisputable reality – since he makes up his own (reality, that is).

This certainly isn’t to say that Iran should get any kind of ‘free pass’ – but we are, as a nation, continuing on with the saber-rattling and pursuit of sanctions – rather than giving any form of meaningful diplomacy a microscopic chance of working. I was very pleased to see that the discussion panel for this topic last night consisted of David Gergen, Christiane Amanpour and Reza Aslan. Three of the most knowledgeable, sane voices to weigh in on this crucial subject.




Seth Tobias: John Zarella reported on this story and was right – there are some things money just can’t buy. One of them is the guarantee that your spouse will, at least, not do anything to hasten your demise in order to inherit your fortune. Seth Tobias was a high-living hedge fund manager whose wife, Filomena, allegedly found him floating face down in their pool one day this past September. She also wouldn’t let police enter the home after her 9-1-1 call for help, and had the pool drained and resurfaced a few days after the incident. I don’t quite understand why the toxicology report results haven’t been determined yet, but this just seem like it’s case where we haven’t yet seen the last of Filomena’s involvement.



Cults in America: This story is very close to being too sick and perverted to comment on, but I feel sorry for the suicide victim and his surviving family members. Randi Kaye reported on The Family International – a group that was born out one originally called the Children of God and headed up by a ‘prophet’ named David Berg, who engaged in sex with children and justified it as being done in the name of Jesus. Randi's story revolved around Ricky Rodriguez – a young man who had been sexually abused by several adult women in the cult, including his mother, Karen Zerby, and his nanny. After fleeing the cult, Ricky was obsessed with exacting revenge for his treatment, and ended up killing his nanny in 2005. Without much hope of finding his mother for similar revenge, he became even angrier and more disturbed. Shortly thereafter, he committed suicide.

How very sad. I've thought for a very long time that there should be some kind of “safety net” for those who want to leave a cult – whether it’s this one or FLDS or Scientology or whatever – where people can get assistance with re-establishing their lives absent the influence of the cult.




There was one video during the first news bulletin that I kind of chuckled about, and I’m not going to comment further or post a cap – but the second video shown during the second news bulletin qualifies as 100% sick – as well as 100% cruel. I found myself cheering for one the fish to inflict significantly permanent damage to whatever perverted freak would jam his arm down a fish’s throat and through its gills. Allegedly it’s called “noodling” – I think it should be called “criminal” and the bastards should be arrested. Period.

Moving on ... I hope everyone is looking forward to the CNN Heroes Tribute – tomorrow night at 9:00 PM EST. And unless Christiane is hosting a portion of it from London, I hope that she was getting on a plane bound for NYC shortly after her live appearance on 360° last night!



And it seems that Anderson has just blogged (WOW!) and is sending an apology out for not blogging as frequently this year as he possibly should have. Good grief - no apologies needed – we know that he’s an extraordinarily busy guy - his entries don't have to be anything spectacularly lengthy or mind-boggling - we just like to hear from him every so often - a few words here and there about what's happening and how he see things would be terrific!! If he threw in a few behind-the-scenes tidbits about the pre-taped interviews or other ‘shareable factoids’ about the show – that would make it even more special! Anyway – we understand that time is valuable and gets away from us all too easily!

Thanks for visiting - updates posted as needed – have a terrific day!