Here's an update on CNN's former anchorman, Aaron Brown...

[Radio_Lady]

Personally, I miss him and can't warm up to Anderson Cooper. I just watch the other channels and vote with my remote. Looks like others seem to agree with me; Cooper's numbers are down, at least this month.

http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/magazine/daily/13168428.htm

[Jara sang]

1. Screw Aaron Brown.

Pro-war death mongering journalist who is nothing more than a mouthpiece for this fascist administration.

edited: Aaron Brown was not embedded with American troops going into Baghdad.

[Radio_Lady]

2. Well, if that's your REAL opinion, with no holds barred --

I can accept it.

So, do you like lil' Anderson Cooper with the pretty blue eyes better?

[Jara sang]

14. I don't really "like" any of them.

Watching the MSM is kind of like driving by a car wreck. I watch just to see what kind of bullshit happens next.

[BobRossi]

15. Amen.

Not a soul on MSM worth a dime.

[Reciprocity]

27. I love Keith Olbermann on MSN?

[SharonRB]

41. Keith is the best

But that's like preaching to the choir around here.

I liked Aaron Brown and was sorry to see him go. I hope he shows up somewhere else and it would be a real coup if he could get one of the top network anchor positions. He always struck me as being a pretty sincere guy.

[Radio_Lady]

43. Go Michigan! My father went there and also my son-in-law!

[SharonRB]

45. Thanks, Radio Lady

I graduated in '71 and still attend all home football games.

Go Blue!

[Radio_Lady]

47. 1971? I had have two kids who were born in 1968 and 1969!

Goodness, you're just a sweet young sprout!

My father used to sing two songs about Michigan: One was the Michigan fight song -- which I can't remember right now -- but the other went something like this:

I want to go back to Michigan
To dear Ann Arbor town
Back to Joe's and the Orient
Back to all the money I spent

(Are these lyrics around somewhere and do you know them? It's just one of those things that I recall from the 1940s while growing up. I can still hear my dad singing in the shower... er, we had a small home with very small bathrooms, back to back.)

In peace,

Radio_Lady

[SharonRB]

67. Not so young, actually

I'm 56. I feel ancient.

I'll see if I can track down the words to that song for you.

On edit:

Here you go

I want to go back to Michigan,
To dear Ann Arbor town,
Back to Joe's and the Orient,
And back to some of the money I spent,
I want to go back to Michigan,
To dear Ann Arbor town,
I want to go back; I got to go back,
To Michigan.
Oh! Father and Mother pay all the bills,
And we have all the fun,
In the friendly rivalry of college life, Hooray!
And we have to figure a helluva lot,
To tell what we have done,
With the coin we blew at dear ole' Michigan!


Enjoy!

[Radio_Lady]

68. Sharon, thank you SO MUCH! I have to send this on to my son-in-law...

(My father is gone now...) Maybe I'll get to hear it on the ukelele, which is the instrument my daughter's husband plays these days.

The lyrics to the Michigan fight song that I recall are:

Hail! to the victors valiant
Hail! to the conqu'ring heroes
Hail! Hail! to Michigan
The leaders and best!
Hail! to the victors valiant
Hail! to the conqu'ring heroes
Hail! Hail! to Michigan,
The champions of the West!

What's funny is that they call it the West! I grew up in Florida and Dad was from Pennsylvania, but now that I'm living in Oregon -- about 60 miles from the Pacific Ocean -- that's what I call the West!

In peace,

Radio_Lady

[SharonRB]

69. You're welcome Radio Lady

I just googled it and it took me out to the UofM site -- mgoblue.com.

Hope you had a happy, safe holiday.

Sharon

[catmother]

29. keith olberman is great. n/t

[Radio_Lady]

36. I watched Wolf Blitzer yesterday, and I know what's really bugging me.

I hate that half-way beard!

Maybe it reminds me of some indolent slug who doesn't have enough time to shave in the morning. And that monotone voice.

This is my personal opinion and I'm sticking with it...

GET A SCHICK, WOLF!

[glarius]

50. Not only has he got a monotone voice.....he has no variety in the way

he expresses himself....No matter what, he ALWAYS says, "thank you very much"....Never varies....Never says "thanks a lot", or any other variation of thank you....It's always "thank you very much".

[Radio_Lady]

51. Good point, Glarius. You said it best. Thanks.

[EFerrari]

70. Usually, the brain dead have a lot of trouble

producing variety. :eyes:

[skidrow]

63. Wolfs Beard Sucks!

But that is the least of my complaints. His ego is bigger than any journalist out there, and that says quite a bit.

[ohio_liberal]

16. When was he embedded?

I watched him in a studio on TV with General Clark every night. When was he embedded?

[Jara sang]

18. My bad, you are right.

I misread this from War Made Easy:

With American troops moving into action, CNN's Aaron Brown emphasized that he and his colleagues "wish them nothing but safety." He did not express any such wish for the Iraqi people in harm's way.

I read that as Aaron Brown being "with American troops".

[ohio_liberal]

21. Ok, gotcha

I didn't think he was there. I remember seeing Martin Savage (with Marines) and Walt Rogers (with Army Cav.), and Nic Robertson in Baghdad until he was expelled (*snicker*), but I didn't remember Aaron Brown being outside a studio.

[GrpCaptMandrake]

30. It was Walter Rodgers, I believe

who said, as his unit raced toward Baghdad "This is the most fun I've ever had in my life." Kinda went to prove that "bimbo" is non-gender specific.

[ohio_liberal]

48. I remember his catch phrase "tip of the spear"

He fucking said it over and over and over. I know a lot of the embeds got off playing "Army". It was pretty sickening.

[Marlie]

22. I totally agree with you..

He was a pompous ass who most of the time, was on Bush's bandwagon.
I remember how condescending he was to Michael Moore and how
horribly he treated Kitty Kelly who authored the Bush Family book.
I personally was on the tail end of a few very snooty emails when
I wrote him and I was never rude, just stating an opinion. Many
of our DU people received nasty replies from him. He was never
really on the side of truth.

[Individualist]

28. I remember those nasty replies

The war cheerleader is an asshole, IMO, and I stopped watching him when he began that warmongering crap.

[Radio_Lady]

31. I don't remember him at all. Is he still on someplace? Or did he get

some crony job somewhere?

[Individualist]

54. Your original post says you miss him,

and now you don't remember him?? :eyes:

[Radio_Lady]

56. My comment referred to Walter Rodgers, whoever he is.

Sorry about that. Sometimes these threads get mixed up!!!!

[LTR]

65. I remember too

And while some of his emails were a little abrasive, I was impressed by the fact that he actually DOES answer his own email. That's pretty impressive. Do other anchors do this?

Personally, I liked him. I always saw him as fair. Just because he asks some tougher questions does not make him a shill. It makes him a journalist.

[ewagner]

52. The worst I remember

was when he interviewed Scott Ritter about the "sealed child pornography" charge that was brought against Ritter. Aaron actually tried to badger Scott into talking about the case and told him he would be "radioactive" (I remember that term specifically) to the media from that point on if he didn't "tell what he knew".

For the most part I liked Aaron Brown but when the war came along, he jumped right on the bandwagon with the rest of the CNN crew.

[Nomen Tuum]

46. Extended unemployment is what Aaron Clown deserves

I remember how he willingly lied us into this disaster. Let justice be served and stick him on skid row for the rest of his disgusting life.

[proud2BlibKansan]

3. I got to shake Anderson Cooper's hand in Crawford

and he seemed like a right nice fellow.

[ohio_liberal]

9. I've never gotten over

the pic of the hole in his pants :D

[proud2BlibKansan]

17. I was just wondering if I should post that again LOL

I had decided to be nice to him. It was in the back - he couldn't have seen that hole.

It was mean of us to take pictures of his butt. But then again, it was purty darn funny too.

[renate]

64. I think Anderson is great

He gets his hands dirty and puts himself in incredibly unpleasant situations, not to showboat a la Geraldo but to bring us the news. Because of his family background he totally doesn't need to work so hard, but because he's a reporter, he does.

I admire him very very much.

[Todd B]

4. I hope that he ends up somewhere, I've always liked him.

Personally, I wouldn't mind seeing Olbermann and Brown, back to back, anchoring the 8-10 hours on MSNBC. He always managed to tackle some of the stories most of the other pundits wouldn't touch.

As much as I like Cooper, I just can't get in to his expanded show - 360 just works so well as a fast-paced, one hour show it just seems to drag on with the addition of a second hour.

[Radio_Lady]

7. You have to WOLF down COOPER all night long on the West Coast!

By the way, I absolutely HATE that four-sided television screen they use on "The Situation Room" -- the color is never balanced and there's an intersection where they meet that makes a subject look like he's in a gun sight (or is that site?).

Know what I mean, jelly bean?

They used a multiple screen background at one of the local Portland, Oregon station and I think they dropped it for the same reason. It looked ridiculous.

[leftstreet]

25. LOL!

Wolf down Cooper! I tried Cooper, but his stories suck. He's the evening Oprah.

Will they EVER identify that frozen airman?

[Radio_Lady]

32. One of the oddest interviews I ever saw was when a reporter

(don't remember who) spoke with a family that was NOT related to the lost airman -- they were sisters to some other young man who had been lost in a flight around the same time...

What the f***? This was NEWS?

I was in Hawaii at the time (late October) and they were doing the research they needed on the airman's body at a facility in Honolulu.

One story did show photos of how disintegrated the body, clothing and other stuff was. Heck, I wouldn't want that job, would you?

[Catshrink]

23. I like the idea of KO and AB back to back too...

but MSGOP just hired the screecher and I doubt they'd drop her this soon. Well, maybe they would -- if Natalie Holloway's body was found and the Aruba story wrapped up. Then she'd have nothing to cover.

:sarcasm:

[SharonRB]

44. That would be great

I'd so much rather have Aaron than Rita Skeeter come on after Keith. I might actually not rush to change the channel so quickly all the time. Her ratings suck and she's just to to go.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

5. I'm looking forward to seeing what he does next...

"I feel really good. I'm relaxed. I'm excited about the 'tomorrows' of my life. I'm spending a lot of time chatting with people - friends, people in this business. Mostly, I'm just enjoying it all."

And doing lots of lunches. "I feel like the king of lunch."

He broke bread yesterday with Rather. The CBS ex-anchor has been "unbelievably helpful and generous" since they met in '86, when Brown was a local star in Seattle.

"We chatted about things I should think about, and how to think about them," Brown says. "We talked about should I write, should I teach, should I do this, should I do that."

:)

[Don Claybrook]

6. How nice--he drew a line in the sand with his family

The prospect of his being around "freaked out" his daughter a bit, he says. " 'Dad's going to be home? Oh my God!' I said at one point, 'What time do you guys eat dinner out here?'

"They said, '5 or so.' I said, 'That's going to change.' We eat when I decide to cook, around 7... . I'm a cookbook cook. I just pull recipes. Any idiot can do that, and I'm any idiot."

[Radio_Lady]

8. I thought the whole article was sweet and rather disarming.

After all, he's just a guy trying to do a job and raise a family.

He showed his mettle during the attacks on NY, IMHO.

[papau]

13. I agree - I've praised and defended Aaron for years - and wish MSNBC

would pick him up.

He is a nice guy - a midwest liberal who does not bias his broadcast left or right.

[DS1]

10. Aaron Brown earned my respect when Columbia BBQd itself

While all the other anchors were dragged into the studio to repeat "Columbia blew up, we don't know why" for 14 straight hours, Aaron said F that, I'm playing golf.

Good for him.

[Radio_Lady]

33. Well, as a former talk host who had to work through all the Watergate

hearings, impeachment hearings, etc. just doing news breaks and no show -- I think he should have gone to work.

But I don't know about whatever extenuating circumstances where going on with him that February day. I was with my family in Utah and we saw the coverage around breakfast, then went off to some park to enjoy the grandkids.

[DS1]

35. I don't

We knew that the shuttle didn't land, and there were streaks over Texas, so the media put on its laughable somber act and repeated that. Over and over again.

Columbia blew up. All souls lost. NASA says :wtf:
Rinse, repeat.

It's useless news.

[Radio_Lady]

37. OK. I get it. If you've never been part of a broadcast team, however,

you really just don't have the outlook that I have. So be it. FYI, I worked for CBS Radio and was glad to have that job (first woman with a daily talk radio show in Boston). I was divorced and had two kids to feed and didn't want to get a reputation for not being dependable. Get it?

Your mileage may vary.

In peace on a Friday -- cooking pork ribs!!!

Radio_Lady

[DS1]

38. I'm saying that no reporting that day was worth anything

The Shuttle blew up.

That's all anyone knew for HOURS. So, instead of focusing on other things that happened that day, all we got was "The Shuttle blew up". "Shuttle, yep, still blown up". Total waste of time and energy. I don't care who you are, you're equally silly being paid to repeat the same thing twice a minute.

[Radio_Lady]

39. What about 9/11? Should the media have done other news?

Where is the line for you? What about the assassination of a president? Invasion of a country? Attack of the Red Tomatoes?

News is always breaking. Even on the day when the shuttle blew up, there were updates from NASA, backgrounders on the people who were lost, families interviewed, beginnings of reasoning as to why what happened did happen, etc. Same thing happened when the Challenger blew up, if you are old enough to remember that January day (I was on air then, too).

If the news media had just covered local and regional fender bender news and -- horror of horrors -- capitulated to local and/or national advertising, their telephones would have rung off the hook to demand shuttle coverage.

Sorry, but I hate to burst your bubble. Please walk a mile in media moccasins before you criticize.

Good night and good luck.

[DS1]

40. You haven't burst anything

Enjoy the chops :hi:

[Radio_Lady]

42. Ribs or chops, it's all the same. Best thing is, it ain't TURKEY!

Peace, friend! :P

[ewagner]

53. People don't recognize

that Radio and TV as "live" media have definite limitations; the most obvious of which is when events are happening in real time there isn't any opportunity to synthesize the information and distill the true story or real significant events from all the background noise. Even worse, as in the case of the shuttle disaster, there is a time gap between significant events. (e.g. The pictures of the shuttle coming apart in the sky and the gap until some of the first wreckage was actually located and, of course, until the first bodies were discovered to confirm that no one survived) Television was "stuck" filling time until the next significant event, while print journalists wrote better stories for the next news cycle.

It's inherent to the medium.

edited for spelling.

[Radio_Lady]

61. Very good description. Thanks for this post.

[renate]

62. I agree

When there's breaking news, people watch TV. It's what they do. And it's not the newscasters' fault when there's nothing to report for hours.

I admire the way they manage to keep "the shuttle blew up and that's all we know" seem like hot information. We can't blame them for the way the details are slow to come.

Now, car chases, that's a different and boring story--but I still blame the cud-chewers who watch them more than the anchors for the fact that the story stays live on the air until the boring suspect makes his boring surrender.

[NanceGreggs]

11. Thanks for the link!

As frustrated as I was at times with Brown's non-coverage of certain things (most noteably the post-election goings-on in Ohio), I realized that he was restricted by the new idiot at CNN.

After Cooper's brilliant performance during the Katrina aftermath, I held out some (thin) hope that CNN would look at its higher ratings during that period, and realize that the viewers wanted REAL news, not regurgitated WH spin. Of course, I have been sorely disappointed in that regard.

It's too bad, really; a two-hour show of REAL news, hosted by co-anchors Cooper & Brown, could have been the PERFECT nightly news show at CNN.

[apollo56]

12. Tired of Brown

Had to suffer with Brown in Seattle for years and he was going no where until CNN took him. After a time he just gets boring, he needs to change his programs off and on. He really booted out of Seattle because people fell asleep during his newscast. Nice guy but boring!

[glarius]

24. That's my opinion too....he's BORING!.....very ponderous...

As for his holding up the newspapers at the end of his show....What was that supposed to convey?....It was just dumb...meaningless..IMO...
P.S....I guess he was a nice enough guy, but I remember several DUers posting at different times that they had received snarky emails back from him when they emailed him with suggestions etc....

[lpbk2713]

19. I liked Brown.

I'd like to see him come back as an anchor for one of the major networks. This would send a message to CNN that they don't know how to run a news department.

[Bumblebee]

20. I miss him too. Do not watch Cooper -- he is okay for certain things but

not to carry a 2-hour show.

[spanone]

26. He was an anchor who 'benefitted' from the 9/11 tragedy.

Never saw him before that day.

[Radio_Lady]

34. Well, I'm not sure "benefit" is the right word. I was watching Peter

Jennings mostly that day. It was an awful occasion and Aaron Brown did an outstanding job.

As for his performances in Seattle, I cannot attest. We lived there from August 2000 to December 2000 and it was an interesting time. However, I didn't watch much local news.

[H2O Man]

49. I lost respect for him

when he betrayed RFK Jr.

[applegrove]

55. I knew he'd pop back up somewhere. And when he does - that is

the nightly news I'd watch.Go Aaron! He did great things. He was pissed when Bush tried to shut down the 9/11 commission early. He wouldn't interview that idiot who wrote "top 100 dangerous liberals" or whatever that pathetic neocon book was.

He never let himself get bullied. (Except for the run up to Iraq war but everyone just about fell for the whole thing).

[Catchawave]

57. Go Aaron....

He would work nicely in a Big Three seat :) As would Keith Olbermann:bounce:

[Jara sang]

58. I just emailed a link of this thread to Anderson as a warning.

That pro-administration war mongering "reporters" will not be tolerated.

[Marr]

59. Aaron Brown is very near the end of sympathy line, sorry.

Maybe he didn't push *all* the stories his owners wanted him to push, but he sure as hell IGNORED all the stories they wanted him to ignore.

Sorry- but in today's cess pool we call "television journalism", no one is a hero. They're all shills. Some wallow in it, some don't.

[Dances with Cats]

60. My favorite

Brown was my favorite. Bring him back!

[tjdee]

66. Prefer Aaron over Wolf "I suck" Blitzer, that's for sure.

It bothers me that Wolf Blitzer still has a job, as I don't understand what he's ever done that's of journalistic merit.

Plus, Aaron never called anyone "so, so black".

I do love Anderson though. Aaron had a tendency to pontificate and emote, which Anderson doesn't--Anderson talks without meandering along. He asks better questions IMO. Also, he's dreamy :loveya: .

I don't so much like his 360 show. I'd be willing to say that's why the numbers are down, because Aaron Brown did a straight news show at 10, not a newsmagazine or whatever 360 is.