Anderson Cooper Speaking Up For Gulf Coast Residents

New York Times:

Some commentators dismissed Mr. Cooper's unusual show-opener as shtick. But he has become one of the loudest media voices on behalf of gulf residents, reprising a role he played in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

Read the whole story: New York Times

Comments

[1088]

07:35 PM on 06/21/2010

He has killed all tourism to the Gulf, with all his hysteria!

[merger]

07:11 PM on 06/21/2010

I have listened to him faithfully through this disaster. I love AC. He is one of my favorite journalist.

[MyGuyO]

05:40 PM on 06/21/2010

Have tuned him (Cooper) out a long time ago.

[dax49]

04:20 PM on 06/21/2010

And doing everything he can to shield bobby jindal, which has come as a major shock to me

[rview]

11:18 PM on 06/21/2010

Good point. Have not heard much about Jindal through all this.

[Countess]

09:14 AM on 06/21/2010

My criticism of Cooper is his failure to point out the hypocrisy of politicians from Louisiana who support offshore drilling at any cost and are now screaming about the environmental disaster.
The real backgound news about what is happening in the gulf is the corruption of the government and the regulatory agencies and the reporters who do not put this at the forefront of their coverage are not informing the American people. I assume that the first priority of large corporations is to maximize profits and the job of the government is to protect the public against corporate excess by regulation and enforcement. BP was ready to sacrifice safety for profits and the government regulators let them do whatever they wanted. Total irresponsibility by both. The only one on television who consistently attacks the bipartisan corruption is Dylan Ratigan.

[KRYSTY]

08:50 AM on 06/21/2010

Oh please! Cooper is speaking out for Cooper. I wish these people will spend more time to report both bad and good news sometimes. When bad comes, we tend to learn from our mistakes and try to make things better. All I hear from the media is how bad things are, but they should be using this opportunity to tell the people how we can make changes on oil drilling. If the oil mess is fixed, people will forget and still want more drilling. If the media spend more time telling the truth about drilling, things will change. Look, people already forgot how the recession started.

[roninroshi]

08:26 AM on 06/21/2010

Cooper has passion for getting things done and being a voice for the people...he has the courage to speak-out and hold those responsible for this complete disaster accountable...

[rougebaisers]

05:31 PM on 06/20/2010

How painful is it to watch this disorganized mess first hand?

[fadelff]

05:00 PM on 06/20/2010

I'm delighted that many HuffPo readers agree with me...Anderson Cooper must have an agenda against the government, unless it's a southern governor who would never approve of anything Obama might do...the latest...pushing a line that deep water drilling should be opened up again is ridiculous...he is awful, and the pundits at NYT are seriously in error...I have quit CNN and now refer to the network, and especially Anderson Cooper as Faux News LIte

[MyGuyO]

05:41 PM on 06/21/2010

Mr. Cooper is NOT fair and balanced with his news show.

[reelcobra]

04:43 PM on 06/20/2010

It must be comforting for gulf residents to know there is a member of the Vanderbilt family trying to draw an audience by walking around among them. They are luckier than they realize.

[judibluiz]

04:46 PM on 06/20/2010

What does being a member of the Vanderbilt family have to do with anything?

JFK was also born with a silver spoon in his mouth, did that make him a bad President?

[reelcobra]

04:55 PM on 06/20/2010

But Cooper DOESN'T DO ANYTHING!

He stands around looking sad and concerned. That's his whole act. Oh yeah, he says "incredible!" a lot.

How does that help anybody?

[donasanya]

03:37 PM on 06/20/2010

If I have to watch CNN's coverage, I watch Ali Velshi. He presents all facets of the disaster - from how people and the ecosystem is being affected, to efforts being done to cap and clean up the mess. He has no agenda, unlike Anderson Cooper, who's only interested in getting an award.

[MyGuyO]

05:42 PM on 06/21/2010

How much longer is the MSM going to talk about the Gulf oil spill?

[Marrymeplease]

11:28 PM on 06/19/2010

Honestly, I'm sick of Anderson Cooper!!!! If someone have a decent word to say about the President, they don't have any time, but let someone get up there and rant and rave like Carville and that Judith Reed, and they have all the time they want. I have stop watching CNN, and Cooper is one of the reason why.

[xlntcat]

03:02 AM on 06/20/2010

Lots a people have had it with the least trusted name in news and the dog and pony show with Carville sealed the deal. Cooper wants to know why BP want grant him an interview? He allowed the FOX new execs. to create a narrative based on the disingenuous rantings of Carville and has done nothing except look for data to support his narrative. Even Louisiana shrimpers have said that all that could be done had been done. All the governor's other than Jindal reported that the president had been fully engaged since day one and you will note that Cooper keeps interviewing the same bad actors over and over again. For the record, on the rare occasion that Carville is actually in Louisiana, he is in NOLA two and a half hours away from any oil. Get a map. La, MS and LA have a very small coastline connected to the Gulf. Florida that state that doesn't permit off shore drilling is the real victim with miles and miles of coast.

[judibluiz]

04:57 PM on 06/20/2010

Please send the source or a link to the information about CNN hiring FOX news execs.

[Yuma]

02:03 PM on 06/21/2010

Dear xintcat:
5 stars post! Super!!! Love it!!!

[judibluiz]

04:55 PM on 06/20/2010

You don't like AC because he had Carville as a guest and Carville criticized Obama. Well, Carville is in good company with Olbermann, Matthews, Maddow, Big Ed, Jon Daley, Thom Hartman, and many other liberals offering up their own criticisms.

Democrats don't walk in lockstep like Republicans, and unlike Republican's when OUR President is going down the wrong path it is incumbent on us to speak up. Criticism is healthy. Like Carville we don't want to see the President fail (and take the Democratic Party down with him this fall). Criticism doesn't mean we don't support our President, quite the opposite, we want him to succeed.

[Marrymeplease]

09:03 PM on 06/20/2010

Still don't like A Cooper.

[doctorj2u]

10:15 AM on 06/19/2010

Anderson Cooper is giving the people of the Gulf Coast a voice. He is part of the reason the government is responding. He has made a huge difference. Thank you Anderson!

[xlntcat]

05:00 PM on 06/19/2010

Anderson Cooper is giving the state of Louisiana a voice to get back in your pocket for another 5 years so that you can pour billions into the most corrupt state in the Union who cannot account for the billions you have so generously donated making them the largest recipient for federal dollars in the history of the nation. GO to NOLA and see how little you hot for your generosity.

Anderson hasn't bother to go to Houma to the command center to tell the 20,000 military and federal personnel what a lousy job they are doing. They have been working around the clock for 61 days and have yet to find the magic wand. Anderson allowed some dumb blond last night to wail about how a moratorium on 33 oil wells was putting tens of thousands of people out of work. He didn't bother to advise the audience that it would be highly unlikely to have more than 160 people on a rig or that LA had a 6.7% unemployment rate at the end of April, 2010 and due to you generosity and $140 a barrel all have not participated in the recession that has thrown 8 million people out of work.

You are being misinformed. You deserve better. I was born in LA and still have family living there. Since childhood any attempt to regulate the oil industry was met with they will move to another country.

[janie@atthelake]

09:47 AM on 06/20/2010

agree. He is doing a good job.

[Matt12]

09:33 AM on 06/19/2010

The boy who cried wolf. The problem is that Anderson Cooper himself is also news and molds his reporting to the flavor of the day. I don’t understand why Rachel Maddow is not being credited for greater effectiveness in influencing action; I just don’t see that with Cooper. Moreover, after Katrina, he released a NYT best seller memoir and one wonders how is he going to profit this time.

[rain33]

10:31 AM on 06/19/2010

your comments are right on the spot.

[judibluiz]

12:53 PM on 06/19/2010

While I love Rachel Maddow, I disagree that Maddow is influencing ACTION in the Gulf more than Cooper. Rachel Maddow is not in Louisiana talking to the parish presidents, fishermen, and others living in the area. For instance, she didn't have first hand knowledge of the skimmers being removed from the wetlands by the Coast Guard.

I have seen Cooper do interviews with the parish presidents who have very specific complaints on the lack of response and the very next day action has been taken, as was the case with the skimmers.

I don't give a s**t if everyone on HP reviles Anderson Cooper and CNN, the only thing I DO care about is who is making a difference, who is holding Thad Allan's feet to the fire, and in this case it's Anderson Cooper.

And BTW, I do NOT think whoever it is that is in charge of the cleanup is serving Obama well in the Gulf. The government's response to the cleanup has been appalling. I'm forced to say the government's response because President Obama has said 3 times (I groan whenever he says it) that the government is in charge of the cleanup, not BP.

[xlntcat]

03:08 AM on 06/20/2010

Cooper, however, failed to report that a member of the Coast Guard babysits every affected Parish President. Moreover, try not to forget that Parish President who sobbed uncontrolably about the old people abandoned to drown in the nursing home in the aftermath of Katrina. Well, when they went to that nursing home, no one had been abandoned. No dead bodies and all you got from the liar was "my bad." The biggest loud mouth Parish President came out of the meeting with the president and Adm Allen going saying he was so sorry for all those things he had said. He was just ashamed of himself. Two day later he was back at it.

[CanterburyTale]

11:04 PM on 06/18/2010

In my opinion Anderson Cooper is truly a class act.

[From the Raft]

02:27 AM on 06/19/2010

So is Obama, but class doesn't cut it anymore.

[xlntcat]

05:09 PM on 06/19/2010

Cooper was a class act prior to CNN hiring Fox Executives who don't believe that class sells. Cooper sold you out this time.

[judibluiz]

04:44 PM on 06/20/2010

I can find nothing about CNN hiring FOX Executives. I would appreciate it if you would share your source.