Cooper Enquirer...

So what's happened to Anderson Cooper now that he's gone mainstream on CNN? While the fledgling Anderson Cooper 360 was quick-witted, almost irreverent in lampooning headlines of the day, it seems as though as his show was recognized and moved to a prime spot (the show now bearing the moniker AC360) he lost that objectivity, his pithiness turned bitter and then downright, well, crazy.

Take his reporting on the recent Senator John Edwards scandal, something I really don't care about since Mr Edwards has been politically off-center for months and doesn't effect my life in the slightest. While AC360 on-line coverage is quite circumspect, Cooper's on-air discussions about the affair on Saturday as the story broke was worthy of an article in National Enquirer magazine:

"They expect us to believe that he hired this woman for a $144,000 a year job after just meeting her in a bar? Does this pass the smell test?" he hammered unmercifully at his on-air guest, who in this case WAS ANOTHER AC360 STAFFER.

*tap*tap*

Uh, hello? What's wrong with this scenario? Let's think. Maybe it lacks all sense of credibility and relevance? The old Anderson would have struggled to get a party official or someone close to the issue to give a perspective, rather than having reporters interviewing each other; winding each other up like neighbors gossiping about an errant husband over a back fence. Yellow journalism at it's very best.

"That a good point there, Anderson!" his staffer expectantly gushed to the observation.

As Senator Edwards said during his ABC News interview regarding his state of mind during the affair:

"...it's the same old thing again. Adulation, respect, admiration. [...] All of which fed a self-focus, an egotism, a narcissism that leads you to believe that you can do whatever you want. You're invincible. And there will be no consequences. And nothing, nothing could be further from the truth."

Are you paying attention, Mr Cooper?

- Farmer Ted

PS. Andy? It was me that submitted the "multi-colored hydra" comment to your production team about the old set.