Anderson Cooper is most definitely in the bag for the Republicans,

[Uncle Joe]

he can't take his head out of a knothole much less not be able to see the forest for the trees.

[quinnox]

1. really? I thought he was a lib

[loyalsister]

3. He may be

It is my understanding that it is common for talking heads to overcompensate to prove that they don't have a bias.

[quinnox]

4. When I see him on tv he

seems like a lib in the questions he asks and his reactions.

[loyalsister]

20. That has been my impression too

I have seen him do some harsh interrogations of Democrats. I've also seen him take republicans to task.

[Uncle Joe]

5. For the past two days, he's done nothing but attack an effective Democratic Frame.

He continuously interrupted his Move On guest today, just as the man was making his most effective points regarding the big picture.

If the Republicans want to wipe out programs that benefit women and Obama or the Democrats had only proposed some cuts in those budgets, Cooper claims the "War Against Women" point has no validity.

He's doing his best shilling for the Republicans.

[sad sally]

42. His argument was about the $20 billion that was taken from the prevention programs of the

Affordable Care Act this last February that went to pay for the extended FICA tax holiday.

He asked why that wasn't considered a war on women (taking $20 billion from prevention programs), but that taking the $6 billion to pay for the continuation of the 3-1/2% interest rate on student loans was considered a war on women.

Seemed like a fair question to ask, and that the Prevention and Public Heath Fund is for everybody (women, children and men) not just women.

The Affordable Care Act, the health care law of 2010, created a Prevention and Public Health Fund. The fund is an unprecedented investment in promoting wellness, preventing disease, and protecting against public health emergencies.

Much of this work is done in partnership with states and communities, which are already using Prevention Fund dollars to help control the obesity epidemic, fight health disparities, detect and quickly respond to health threats, reduce tobacco use, train the nation's public health workforce, modernize vaccine systems, prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS, increase public health programs’ effectiveness and efficiency, and improve access to behavioral health services.

[Uncle Joe]

45. His argument was purposely narrowed to those particular items eliminating the big picture.

When the guest from Moveon tried to make that point citing the Republican's attempts and intent to entirely eliminate legislation favorable to women, Cooper constantly interrupted him in an obvious attempt at redirection, not wanting his audience to see the forest for the trees.

That question might be fair if it were asked in a much broader context taking in to account Republican and Democratic history toward issues favorable to women, but it wasn't, and thus it became a distortion of which party actually best represents issues important to women, not to mention in my view children and men as well and which party was trying to undermine them.

[CrispyQ]

51. What's more, throughout most of the segment

the banner at the bottom of the screen read something to the effect of, "Fact checker: democratic claim of war on women doesn't stand."

I thought it was very mis-leading.

[Uncle Joe]

55. I believe it was Karl Rove that supposedly came up with the strategy of

"attacking your opponent's strength" Al Gore championed the Internet and the corporate media used it against him instead of giving the man credit for his legislative achievements.

For the past two days that's what Cooper; has been doing, attacking Obama and the Democratic Party's great strength in this election, the overwhelming gender gap in regards to which party women favor.

The Republicans and their corporate media puppets know that for so long as the gender gap stays in the range it is now or gets worse, the GOP will get their ass handed to them in November.

To undermine or neutralize that gender disparity, they're attacking the validity of the Republicans' long time war against women as not being a real concern.

Cooper wanted his audience to focus on two narrow examples as exhibiting contradictory treatment in regards to the War on Women getting his viewers lost in the woods and thus distorting their vision and perception regarding this issue.

He wanted his audience to see this



not this.

[JI7]

12. he is one of those who feel bad for being liberal or feel the need to show

he isn't biased by doing stupid shit like "but democrats do it also" "both sides do it" etc.

he is good as long as he doesn't report on US Politics.

[quinnox]

15. That may be, I only see his show on occasion

and usually don't watch it for very long. I can see how he is a liberal but doesn't want to show it, now that you mention it, I have seen him act in that way before.

[laundry_queen]

27. That's exactly it.

He gets far more worked up against Democrats though. Total overcompensation. And tries to equate huge, pervasive Republican corruption with some shit someone who calls themself a Democrat said.

[Whisp]

30. he goes along with whatever his bosses tell him too.

Anderson 'both sides do it' Cooper always bends over backwards to be fair to the Republicans. Just another phoney balogna CNNer.

[provis99]

32. he's a Republican donor.

[hlthe2b]

2. Why would he, as a gay man, be "in the bag" for the RETHUGS?

Maybe it is just the moronic need for the "liberal" press (yeah, right) to bend over backwards to prove they are not for the RETHUGS...

Not watching, so not sure what you are seeing.

[Uncle Joe]

8. Apparently being gay doesn't eliminate being Republican.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014111177

[hlthe2b]

10. yes.. but he hardly strikes me as a Log Cabin type....

[butterfly77]

34. It doesn't matter..

he doesn't like the President and I believe he is also angry because the President won't do what he wants precisly the way he wants when it comes to gay issues. There are may others who feel the same on DU..

[sabrina 1]

13. See my post below.

He tries to appear to be neutral, but it is clear he is not if you watch him for a while. His family history may have something to do with it.

[annabanana]

25. Marinated in it? He IS a Vanderbilt. . .n/t

[KeepItReal]

6. CNN paycheck = Paid to stay in check

Eom

[Uncle Joe]

17. I believe you nailed the essence of the motivation.

Whether the news celebrity is liberal, conservative or something in between, their corporate parent is the ultimate authority with their reporting, demeanor, coverage and behavior.

[DJ13]

23. I doubt Gloria Vanderbilt's son needs the work

[sabrina 1]

7. He tries to hide it, but his constant 'moral equivalency' positions have exposed him long ago

as being at least, a moderate Republican. Eg, even when a story is about a Democrat such as Shirley Sherrod, being clearly wronged by the far right propaganda machine, when covering the story, instead of just treating it as a straight, non-ambivalent wrong perpetrated for political purposes by a known hack and liar against a perfectly innocent person, he added a 'disclosure' before he got into the story. The 'disclosure' consisted of him saying 'now I know both sides do this etc. etc. Yet he offered no examples of any Democratic organization that has ever stooped to the level of the Breitbart/O'Keefe gang.

There are dozens of examples of him doing this. He's clever about it, but I have no doubt about his political leanings. Far more willing to criticize the left without the same kind of 'disclosures'.

I don't watch him anymore. No point in watching the MSM if you really want news anyhow.

[Uncle Joe]

9. You said it better than I did, Sabrina.

[sabrina 1]

19. I've always found him to be frustrating. He's not a reporter, he's a perfect example of

what has become of the MSM, he's infotainment. But he's good at pretending to be a journalist. Eg, many of us emailed and tweeted him about his silence on the OWS movement but he refused to comment. He waited to cover the Arab Spring which many of us had been following before the US media, except for a few war correspondents, finally got around to it AFTER the US finally realized the people were going to prevail in Egypt. Remember Joe Biden stating that Mubarak was a 'good friend and ally of the US'? CNN took their cue from the US Government and didn't begin covering it until the Government finally realized that things were going to change regardless of how they felt about it.

At that point, Anderson Cooper did some great coverage, he is genuinely good at this kind of coverage and was one of the best places to go on the US media for coverage of the Egyptian Revolution, AFTER he got the go-ahead. However, when the US people joined the Arab Spring and also went into the streets, he completely ignored it.

I don't think he's a rabid right winger by any means. I do think he supports social justice generally speaking but he definitely is not a Liberal. It's interesting to see that people view him as a Liberal.

[Uncle Joe]

21. I agree with your take on him but I believe from the past two days of his coverage

re: the Republicans "War on Women" not being valid as a blatant attempt at trying to tighten up the race if not outright tilt it toward the Republicans.

[spooky3]

38. Sounds as though it's time to sic Kathy Griffin on him again

She is a good lib and won't take any crap.

[HiPointDem]

53. her liberalism is mostly about social issues. gay rights, etc. fairly sure cooper is fine with

that.

rich people rarely want to cut into their own property & power, though.

[butterfly77]

35. I have also watched him..

a few times on his daytime show which he shouldn't have and have found him to be quite naive when it comes to people in America, maybe because he spends much of his time in other countries.

Some things people talk about on his show he is sometimes shocked and surprised by,when most Americans would know these things even if they weren't paying much attention..

The Blonde who comes on early in the morning Alex something is another one.

I thought she was fair years ago when reporting news even though I didn't watch her that often but she is another one with a stick up her ass..

[flamingdem]

54. You're as likely to see him cuddly with "Meow" the fat cat

as doing anything important.

He's entertainment, the danger is that means fuzzy ethical standards

[marmar]

11. Balance for the sake of balance, even if it distorts the truth......

....... that crap drives me crazy.

[sabrina 1]

14. Yes, it is so transparent also. I tweeted him after that to let him know we are not fooled by these

tactics. Others did also. I hate it too, it's sneaky and deceptive. I really prefer someone who reveals what they are, but who can, when necessary be fair. I respect such people more even if I totally disagree with their politics.

[UnrepentantLiberal]

16. The world is round.

(Though some would disagree.)

[Uncle Joe]

18. I believe the gender gap statistic on this poll in this thread by ProSense

is the primary reason that Cooper has been attacking the validity of the "War on Women" at least for the past two days, as being a real concern, he's trying to tighten up the race, probably at the behest of CNN.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002641852

[freshwest]

50. +1

[Rittermeister]

57. It's kinda funny

Far right extremists and far left extremists both loudly rail against the mainstream media.

[Uncle Joe]

58. Does that mean they're both wrong or

could one be correct and the other incorrect regarding what passes for the "mainstream" media?

Or a third possibility they're both correct in their criticisms of the corporate media but just coming from different angles and times?

In short, does the mainstream media actually represent the mainstream of American thought or is it an elaborate show created for the purpose of manipulation?

[sabrina 1]

59. Most of the 'extremists' I am familiar with are huge fans

of the 'MSM', such as Fox. An entire audience of extremists, who, it appears from scientific research know less about the state of the world, than people who watch no news at all.

Welcome to DU

[cali]

22. No he's not. that's kind of silly.

I watch Anderson fairly frequently. He's not in the bag for repubs.

[Uncle Joe]

24. His myopic attacks over last two days

against a Democratic strength lead me to believe otherwise.

[sabrina 1]

29. Yes, he is. Having watched him for years, it is obvious he is not 'neutral' and generally

leans to the right. He's not a radical right winger, but he is no liberal democrat nor is he neutral when it comes right down to it, although he is good at pretending to be neutral if you're not paying too much attention.

Wolf Blitzer is another one who some people view as 'neutral'. They are not.

[cali]

39. nonsense, dear.

Blitzer definitely not neutral. And I don't know of anyone who thinks he is. I dare you to find one post on DU stating that.

[sabrina 1]

49. I didn't say anyone on DU thinks Blitzer is neutral. I said there are people who do.

[RZM]

40. I'm going to call bullshit on this

I'd bet my life savings that he votes Democratic.

No way to prove that, but I'd bet it nonetheless.

On DU, 'moderate Republican' often equals 'not Amy Goodman.'

[sabrina 1]

47. Would you say, eg, that Democrats do what Breitbart/O'Keefe do to destroy a political figure?

And if you agree with AC on that, could you give us some examples of any Democratic group that can be compared to those rightwing liars and smear merchants? I asked Anderson Cooper for examples, as did a lot of people, after he made that claim, but he never answered. And that is just one incident.

If he is a Democrat, then he is a Democrat who is so afraid of what the Right might think of Democrats that he bends over backwards to prove how 'even-handed' he is. Either way, his 'moral equivalency' tactic is disgusting and totally unprofessional.

I said, and I will repeat, he is not a rabid right wing by any means and sometimes he does go after Republicans when there is really no way not to. But he tries to 'balance' it whenever he does.

It reminds of Katie Couric during the Abramoff affairs. That was a totally Republican operation, and it was on purpose, they wanted to get rid of Democratic lobbyists so there was no doubt. Yet, Katie Couric, like Anderson Cooper, tried to claim that 'both parties' are responsible. I wrote about that at the time, listing for her, the names of every perp involved in that scandal and their party affiliation. There was not a single Democrat.

We don't need apologists when we finally catch Republicans red-handed who attempt to diminish their guilt by claiming 'both sides do it'. Maybe it's the media, maybe he is required to do it, but it's a pretty weak person who would go along with that kind of deception imo.

[bullwinkle428]

41. Cali, just this evening, he claimed that the idea of a Republican war on women

is nothing but a myth, as there are no facts to back that up.

Please describe how this can be viewed as "neutral".

[sad sally]

44. Know your reply wasn't to me, but his argument was about the

$20 billion that was taken from the prevention programs of the Affordable Care Act this last February that went to pay for the extended FICA tax holiday.

No one on either side called that a war on women, so he was asking why that wasn't considered a war on women (taking $20 billion from prevention programs), but that taking the $6 billion to pay for the continuation of the 3-1/2% interest rate on student loans was considered a war on women.

Seemed like a fair question to ask, and that the Prevention and Public Heath Fund is for everybody (women, children and men) not just women.

The Affordable Care Act, the health care law of 2010, created a Prevention and Public Health Fund. The fund is an unprecedented investment in promoting wellness, preventing disease, and protecting against public health emergencies.

Much of this work is done in partnership with states and communities, which are already using Prevention Fund dollars to help control the obesity epidemic, fight health disparities, detect and quickly respond to health threats, reduce tobacco use, train the nation's public health workforce, modernize vaccine systems, prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS, increase public health programs’ effectiveness and efficiency, and improve access to behavioral health services.

[bullwinkle428]

48. I guess I was thinking more "big picture". Rachel showed a graph this evening,

which indicated the number of laws Republicans have enacted/tried to enact in state legislatures, simply on restricting abortion. The insane spike in this last election cycle, compared with the previous 20-30 years, was utterly ridiculous. As I said, it's more like a general mindset at work...

[Egalitarian Thug]

26. Only when the repubicans are working for the betterment of his class. K&R n/t

[pinboy3niner]

28. Total BS

We hear all the time that this anchor/pundit/commentator should be thrown under the bus because he or she said such-and such.

Coooper has done a good job, especially reporting on the Mideast and the Arab Spring.

You may be ready to throw Cooper under the bus. But I, for one, will not be joining you.

[Uncle Joe]

31. The gist of my OP isn't regarding his overseas coverage.

I'm speaking about his slanted political coverage over the past two days specifically claiming the Republicans aren't waging a war against women.

[butterfly77]

33. I have been telling those..

I know and have posted this a few times on DU. Anderson and Wolf Blitzer I have been watching them for a while as I have a lot of so called journalists after Obama became President just to be sure I wasn't jumping the gun.

Dylan Ratigan is another on if you say this though they will claim they are doing their job and that we on the left think you can't say anything negative about the President.

They seem to forget that a lot of us have been watching Presidents' for decades and we can tell the difference if it is subtle or blatant.

I also watch many of these people who show up on these shows to sell book after book to fit their own agenda and make money.

Many of these talking heads were afraid of Bush and Cheney. Many are now leaking and talking about Osama and running over each other with lies to sell books.

Every day another book rewriting history. YOU FAKE HYPOCRITICAL PEOPLE IN THE MEDIA,YOU AREN'T FOOLING ANYONE BUT THOSE WHO MAY HAVE JUST BEGUN TO WATCH WHAT GOES ON IN POLITICS!

[Auntie Bush]

36. I usually like him but not the other night when he kept saying ReThugs didn't have a war on women.

Think of how many millions his family has made with the GB tax cuts. Can't say I blame him for wanting Romney. But I don't think he agrees with his social views.

[Dawson Leery]

37. He is the only one worth watching on CNN.

Still, Anderson tends to overcompensate by going soft at times on the Rethugs.
There is a reason why CNN is last in ratings.

[Obamacare]

43. You beat me to it!!

CNN, still doesn't get it, that catering to rethugs will not help their ratings. They are always dead last as far as ratings. I think they just need to clean house, do a mass firing of producers, so called journalist, news anchors etc. They need to start a new!!

[.99center]

46. Watch the interview

With the member from Moveon.org and say he is worth watching. I thought I was watching a Bill O interview, interrupting the guest- check, speaking over the guest- check, and refusing to acknowledge valid points- check, all that was missing was his mic being cut. The whole thing was a joke, he pretends to want to cover the war on women and tells the guest not to speak about specific ways they have been waging a war on women. Cooper was dead set on having the guest comment how Obama is the real one waging the war on women, It made another great example of the swift boating tactic that is in full effect by the media once again.

[TheKentuckian]

52. Conservative Newz Network...Duh

[Whisp]

56. this is the best thing Anderson has ever done...

I so love that clip - when I'm grumpy I watch it and jiggle with giggles along with him.

[malaise]

60. Th eonly time I watch Anderson is during a disaster - hurricane or earthquake

He's really sympathetic then but we all know he's part of the 1%