Anderson Cooper: Baseball more important than Africa

Among the nearly 5000 questions asked for the You Tube debate were my question to Senator McCain about whether he would support blue ribbon commissions to study how we go to war and to propose a Marshall Plan for Africa as well as suggesting that he recommend three heroic Marines murdered by the Khmer Rouge in 1975 for the Congressional Medal and a question from someone named Krul in Florida for Giuliani about why he rooted for the Red Sox in the World Series. I guess everyone knows which one he chose. 16 million AIDS orphans, 10 million kids under 5 dying every year needlessly, nearly 4000 US servicemembers dead in a war that the Army Chief of Staff warned Bush about, and a widow of 32 years in Mt. Olive, NC who would have been thrilled to have her late husband so honored. But, what the hay, Anderson...you got your question on SportsCenter so what else really matters?! You are a joke!

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• Africa

[nextbestrockstar]

jesus dude. they probably had 100s of questions, and purposely set aside one at the very end to be humorous, dont be mad because you arent as clever as you thought you were

[saulpaulus]

If this were Letterman, that "fluff" might be appropriate. On a program that was supposed to help us pick the 44th president of the US, to ignore climate change, healthcare, N Korea, Iran, and all but ignore China and include this question was beyond absurd.

[nextbestrockstar]

really? help us pick the 44th president? this was just a public appearance for the candidates, i really doubt any of them took this as seriously as an actual debate. and maybe they thought of asking them about etc later, in another debate. you really are mad they didnt pick your question, arent you?

[saulpaulus]

I was disappointed that they didn't use my question. I was mad that they wasted a question on nonsense like that when so many substantive issues were not even touched.

You are half right. They do not have real debates...I wish they would. But this represented a real chance for candidates to respond to voters' concerns. I hope they took it seriously. And I wish that the questions had more truly reflected the issues that will most affect our lives in the coming years.

[nextbestrockstar]

what if they had 50 questions, then just slapped this last one in, and it wasn't even a part of the 'debate' just added in to lighten the mood, and add some humor.

[saulpaulus]

You are setting up a strawman. As it was, the show took about two hours if memory serves. Do you really think they would even consider carrying that on for 4-5 hours?

But accepting your premise--even if there is NO possibility it would ever happen--yes, if they had seriously looked at all of the issues, I could live with them adding a bit of fluff.

[saulpaulus]

Metaphors are only effective if it is clear that they ARE metaphors. This was a bit of fluff. They spent a lot of time talking about immigration and n focusing on candidates who had NO chance of being nominated and, as a result, the serious candidates rarely had to answer the serious questions. I don't recall there being any questions about healthcare, global warming, North Korea, Iran, or Pakistan. But they made sure to throw in this bit of fluff.

[lovergurlz10001]

its a metophor, he abandoned a losing team, whats going to stop him from changing positions on important issues after he's elected

[saulpaulus]

Thanks for your lovely comment. I am familiar with Mr Cooper's reporting. I also know what questions he chose to use. If you think its acceptable for him to devote a question to baseball with all the problems there are in the world when he used no questions about global warming, healthcare, or development issues, then you and I have different value systems.

[Francineadrianna38]

thw asshole who posted this needs to gets his facts straight. Anderson has dedicated much of his carrer to reporting on Africa...