Anderson Cooper seems like a nice guy and all that...and maybe is sort of

[KoKo]

an "interesting reporter" but it remains to be seen where the hype of "sincere" melds with his "entitlement" from the Vanderbuilt, et al Fortune and Name.

I've liked some of his reporting...but I'm not about to go supporting ANOTHER AMERICAN DYNASTY.

We DU'ers should all be aware that it's not just "Skull & Bones" that might be controlling us...it might be the REST of the DYNASTIES.

Charming Anderson...he's getting great press and hype...but BE WARE!!!!

[Faygo Kid]

1. Well put. Rich, part of the power.

I am skeptical. I really like Keith Olbermann, right now.

[Vinnie From Indy]

2. Pretty cryptic posting

What does this statement mean?

"an "interesting reporter" but it remains to be seen where the hype of "sincere" melds with his "entitlement" from the Vanderbuilt, et al Fortune and Name."

Is Cooper a Vanderbilt? Fortune? Name? Whaaa?

[Scout1071]

5. His mother was Gloria Vanderbilt.

And father was author, Wyatt Cooper.

Big deal. Dynasty, schmymasty. If he was part of the Vanderbilt dynasty he'd be making jeans and dresses.

[TahitiNut]

32. Isn't Gloria the original "Poor Little Rich Girl"??

After googling, I see she was ... when 10 years old and fought over in a custody battle. The nomination was shifted to Barbara Hutton, but (imho) still belongs to Gloria.

[Indykatie]

6. Cooper's Mother

is Gloria Vanderbilt

[Catch22Dem]

7. Son of Gloria herself

But I love the guy and think the original post is...nevermind.

[Carni]

33. Oh no! I secretly support the Anderson Cooper cabal!

Hey what can I say...they sell his mother's jeans at costco and they're cheap.

[KoKo]

3. Anderson might have "overcome" his "pedigree and fame and fortune"

and so we shouldn't "question." But, to me, a sight called Democratic Underground" was "born for questioning." :shrug: Some Google Snips for those with "inquiring minds."

(Don't get me wrong...I like him...but worry about his "connections.")

-------------

Profile of Anderson Cooper, Journalist and CNN Anchor of 360 Degrees
... Klein calls him "the anchorperson of the future." Few realize that Cooper is
the son of heiress Gloria Vanderbilt and her 4th husband, writer Wyatt Cooper.
usliberals.about.com/od/peopleinthenews/p/AndersonCooper.htm - 27k - Cached - Similar pages

Mole Man
At 33, Anderson Cooper has been a model, a war correspondent, and an anchorman.
Now Gloria Vanderbilt's son has gone underground -- as host of a new show, ...
newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/news/people/features/4258/ - 33k - Cached - Similar pages
< More results from newyorkmetro.com > Mother's Story, A by Gloria Vanderbilt, ISBN: 0679450521
In 1988, Gloria Vanderbilt's 23-year-old son Carter committed suicide. ...
On a summer day in 1988, Carter Cooper, aged twenty-three, dropped to his death ...
www.campusi.com/isbn_0679450521.htm - 19k - Cached - Similar pages


Web Results 31 - 40 of about 322,000 for Gloria Vanderbilt Cooper. (0.12 seconds)

bookofjoe: Gloria Vanderbilt's love life - so many men, so much ...
... Frank Sinatra, Sidney Lumet, Wyatt Cooper, Roald Dahl, and Gordon Parks. ...
Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Gloria Vanderbilt's love ...
www.bookofjoe.com/2004/11/gloria_vanderbi.html - 13k - Cached - Similar pages

Anderson Cooper Loses $305000 Overnight and Other Media: Anderson ...
But newsman Cooper, Gloria Vanderbilt’s hunky son, is apparently shocked at the
notion. He told the mag: “I am unaware that I have any personal style.” ...
www.gawker.com/news/media/anderson-cooper/index.php - 37k - Cached - Similar pages

Anderson Cooper: Information From Answers.com
Cooper, the younger son of the socialite, writer, and artist Gloria Vanderbilt
and the writer Wyatt Cooper, graduated from Yale in 1989 with a degree in ...
www.answers.com/topic/anderson-cooper - 30k - Cached - Similar pages

TV News, Blog-Style: Anderson Cooper and Advocacy Journalism
Anderson Cooper, 38 years old, is an impassioned and energetic journalist ...
The son of designer and heiress Gloria Vanderbilt and her 4th husband writer ...
usliberals.about.com/b/a/203058.htm - 26k - Cached - Similar pages

Blogcritics.org: Gloria Vanderbilt's love life - so many men, so ...
... Frank Sinatra, Sidney Lumet, Wyatt Cooper, Roald Dahl, and Gordon Parks. ...
It Seemed Important at the Time : A Romance Memoir/Gloria Vanderbilt ...
blogcritics.org/archives/2004/11/20/145758.php - 52k - Cached - Similar pages
NEWSMEAT - Gloria Vanderbilt's federal campaign contributions

[SmokingJacket]

4. Eh. I don't support people because of their family background,

but I don't hold it against them either.

His work should stand on its own. So far: pretty good, no great shakes. I think he did good in New Orleans.

[KoKo]

20. Exactly...he needs' to prove himself more even that the rest of us would

but he's had an amazing career, so far. Hasn't he?

Good for him, if he deserved it and the poor guy does have a HUGE Dynasty Legacy to "overcome" just to PROVE HIMSELF.

But, why shouldn't many of our Internet Reporters for "Salon, Nation, New Yorker, New York Observer, Atlantic Monthly, Harpers, Newswee, Time Mag...etc...etc. have to come up to the standards that HIRED ANDERSON COOPER?

Weren't there MANY "new faces and voices" who could have been hired over Anderson? What gave HIM his CLAIM TO FAME...in so short a time? :shrug: Maybe they could have hired Josh Marshall, Steve Clemons, or any Salon Writer...Joe Conason, Eric Alterman...?

One could list so many folks that might have gotten the job instead of a "Vanderbuilt/Cooper."

Not saying that he isn't diserving..but how did he manage to get to the top...when so many others have equal merit? :shrug:

[SmokingJacket]

45. I don't disagree, but dang, he's in a VERY large club.

How many people have failed to get a job because the position was given to someone with impressive family connections? How many people have failed to get into a school but someone with worse grades got in because of their illustrious family legacy?

Hey, I'm someone with dirt-poor farmers for ancestors, so I know what you mean. But Anderson Cooper is a small part of a huge problem... I'd like colleges to stop the preferential treatment of children of alumni. That would be a meaningful start.

[jayctravis]

90. Sad as it is...people who have money are around the most

influential people and have the best inroad to becoming influential themselves. If you go to a good school and have a chance to network of course you're going to have a better shot at becoming a tv anchorman.

Instead of begrudging these people who they are, we should work to make it possible for *everyone* to get a chance at the education and experiences available in the world.

[Kenroy]

94. of course

we should ensure equal opportunity for all.

But this thread is about DENYING opportunity to Cooper because of his mother's background.

I saw Cooper report from the Gulf Coast after Katrina, and I think he did an incredible job. The notion that he's an asshole because he comes from money is just pure bigotry.

I've known a lot of assholes. I've known a lot of rich people. I've known a lot of poor people. The asshole quotient is the same in both groups.

[itzamirakul]

110. Anderson said that he applied to all the news stations and was

rejected, so he took his little hand-held video cameras and started going to various wars. First in South America, then in Asia, etc. He started sending reports in to news agencies that didn't have reporters on the ground in those places and they were glad to get the first hand news without having to pay to have one of their own reporters over there. So little by little, he got his credits on his own free-lance efforts until he was finally hired by someone.

He said on Larry King that he had the choice of moving back in with his mother or going to the wars and he chose the latter. Then, when his brother committed suicide I think he wanted to come back to NYC to be closer to his mother.

BTW, he has two far older brothers that his mom had by the famous composer, Leo Stokowski. I think she disowned those two boys when they sided with their father during the divorce and from what I read she has never reconciled with them. I don't know where they live.

[Im with Rosey]

24. I agree

Too many jump to the conclusion that you are bad if you have money. I thought we were open-minded here. The issue is how you deal with what is going on around you, can you make a difference?, can you stand up for what most of us here believe?, can you try to help change for the better? Let actions speak, not the money that a person has.

[jayctravis]

89. Right.

I didn't even realize Anderson Cooper came from the background he did until people started mentioning it. I don't think he goes on the air saying "I'm the son of GLORIA VANDERBILT..."

I recognize him initially as the former cool host of one of the best reality shows - THE MOLE.

[Beaverhausen]

8. The Kennedys are an American Dynasty

They aren't all big bad righties you know.

[KoKo]

26. And, the Bushies FOR SURE...are an American Dynasty without the coverage

the poor Kennedy's got when the Repugs when AFTER THEM AND (Possibly) KILLED THEM...because they were "IRISH IMMIGRANTS" and not the ENTITLED...like the Cooper/Vanderbuilts or the Great British Dynasties along with the German's that the Bushies descend from.

:D Irish Peasants who made money in the "Stock Market" don't equate with BRITISH/EURO-ROYALTY.

It's Just the Way it Is!

[devilgrrl]

9. I think he tries to be sincere but I doubt he can empathize...

with the average American citizen.

[Kenroy]

22. Why not?

Are rich people a different species?

I read a piece he wrote on CNN.com about his brother's suicide. It was very touching, and shows that no amount of wealth can protect us from the pain of life.

[SeattleGirl]

28. I think that's kind of unfair.

And it's somewhat prejudicial. It is making an assumption about somebody because they come from money. It is no better than making a negative statement about someone from a poor background or from a minority race (remember, black people in NOLA "looted" but white people "found" stuff right after Katrina?).

Maybe he does not know first hand what it is like to be dirt poor, but that does not automatically mean he is without empathy or the ability to reach out to those who have less than he, or who have been through awful things.

I'm just saying......

[devilgrrl]

62. Sure it's prejudicial...

but sorry, I can't see people who hang in the Hamptons caring much about anybody but their own kind. :shrug:

[Kenroy]

65. That's nonsense

and bigotry.

[devilgrrl]

71. Bigotry how?

The Oscar-Meyer or Pillsbury kids don't strike me that way. However, Anderson Cooper does. What else can I say?

[Kenroy]

73. well

you could say you're woefully uninformed and that knee-jerk prejudice is usually a mistake and you're sorry for engaging in it.

[devilgrrl]

81. Oh please.

I'm not apologizing for being suspicious of those born on third base. Fine, he's earned his stripes and is good at what he does and is perhaps empathetic toward those less fortunate than he. However, that doesn't excuse the fact that he had an easier time getting there than most and that I'm aloud to be annoyed by it.

[SeattleGirl]

87. Why are you suspicious of those born on third base?

More bigotry, I think. There will always be people who are born into wealthier circumstances than you, and always people born into poorer situations than you. Will you accept then, that people may resent you and think you didn't have to work very hard in your life because you, in their eyes, were born to a privilege they did not have.

The premise of the OP that started this whole thread still has me shaking my head. I don't care if someone was born rich or poor -- it's what they do with it that matters. Not every poor person is noble, and not every rich person is an empty-headed putz.

[devilgrrl]

97. Get out of here. Really?

I don't like have to like him!!!!! End of story!!!

[SeattleGirl]

98. I never said you had to like him.

To me, that's not even the issue here. It's judging somebody because of the circumstances into which they were born. I like him, you don't. So?

[July]

119. "Excuse the fact"?

Anderson Cooper had no say about the circumstances into which he was born. And the fact that most people don't even know he's GV's son suggests that he has not traded on the name and connections. Yeah, he probably has more money than all of us. So?

[SlavesandBulldozers]

88. Pillsbury kids?

you do realize that's a claymation doughboy and not a real kid right? ;)

[SeattleGirl]

75. Their own kind?

A rather bigoted statement, don't you think? Making judgements about people based on a group they happened to be associated with via birth. Hmmmmmm, let's see. So that means all blacks are crack heads and looters. All Hispanics are good only for cleaning the homes of the rich white people. All poor white people marry their cousins. Please!

Bigotry is bigotry, no matter who is perpetrating it.

[devilgrrl]

82. fine.

I hate rich white people. The older the money the more I loathe them :sarcasm:

[SlavesandBulldozers]

86. i can see them caring.

but not empathizing.

I think by and large rich understand poor people as well as poor people understand rich people, which is to say not at all.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

103. Sean Combs And Russell Simmons Hang In The Hamptons

eom

[July]

118. Two words: Ted Kennedy.

A lifelong champion of have-nots.

You don't have to BE poor to care about the poor and try to do something about poverty.

[pinto]

10. I honestly doubt a dynasty is controlling us.

ed for clarity

[devilgrrl]

13. What do you consider the Bush Crime Family then?

Huh?

[Catch22Dem]

18. A family about to lose control of EVERYTHING

And they never controlled me.

[pinto]

23. Front men for the political extremists in power at this time. Some think

they're puppets. Others think they're masterminds. I go back an' forth in the assessment. Either way, they are a group with real life political power.

Anderson Cooper is a TV guy...that's not power, it's publicity.

(on edit) Political power isn't control. They don't control me, or you, or any of us. We make decisions based on their power, but they don't control my decisions. Y'know what I mean?

[karlrschneider]

11. We don't get to choose our parents. I give him the benefit of doubt.

Look at Ron Reagan, for example...he's a bright progressive offspring of an idiot...

edit: By the way, there's nothing intrinsically wrong with a dynasty if it's a benevolent one...

[tjdee]

12. Like those stinky Kennedys and Kerrys! OMG they must be stopped!

[Cooley Hurd]

102. Don't forget the Roosevelts! Evil men, one and all!

:sarcasm:

[katty]

14. not sold on Anderson, angry goldenboys are captivating for awhile

[KoKo]

37. "captivating for awhile! ....YES...I know what you say...my worry

and that's why I stuck my head in a noose on this post...to try to point out, that things are not always what hey appear..and that "caution" sometimes is a good thing.

[katty]

60. truth of appearances-truth of reality.. caution is useful

[mondo joe]

116. Things are not always as they appear. But you have failed to show ANY

lack of consistency with appearance in the case of Anderson Cooper.

[Catch22Dem]

15. Notice the only person not making a big deal out of it is AC

He doesn't go around with a Do-you-have-any-idea-who-I-am kind of attitude. Why hold it against him? He's his own man.

[mondo joe]

16. I'd rather not judge people based on their entitlement or lack of it.

And I think it's a poor thing to be set against someone simply because of the wealth/poverty they were born into.

[Proud2BAmurkin]

17. in a true meritocracy an elite gets to prove himself too nt

nt

[MaineDem]

19. I don't think Anderson Cooper is controlling us

Everyone has to be from some family or another. I'll give him a pass on this one.

[madaboutharry]

21. The Vanderbilts may not

have as much as everyone thinks. My mom had read a book about the Gilded Age and the great fortunes and the Vanderbilt money was split up so many ways that no one person actually had the mega money that the others had. I am sorry I don't know the name of the book, but I remember being surprised by what she had told me about the Vanderbilts. I am sure he is still richer than all of us put together!

[Carni]

58. In addition some of those *old money* families were REALLY CHEAP

I have relatives by marriage that can remember growing up hungry because their wealthy parents were such tight asses they didn't feed their children.

Yes, I know that sounds hard to believe but I have seen it time and again.

[TeeYiYi]

64. There's one book . . .

. . . about her from 1980, a biography called, "Little Gloria, Happy at Last" that's pretty informative. Here's a synopsis from the author's website:

Little Gloria . . . Happy at Last

Not even Hollywood in its heyday could have dreamed up a melodrama so electrifying as the one that swirled around 10-year-old “Little Gloria” Vanderbilt in 1934 when she became the object of a scandalous custody battle between her beautiful but poor, and none too bright, mother, Gloria Morgan Vanderbilt, and her rich, powerful aunt, Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney whose own private life included several lovers and a pseudonymous novel about lesbianism. Taking the court case as her focal point, and documenting it every step of the way, Goldsmith has produced a book of fabulous readability. It is the psychological perception she brings to her story that grips so intensely, however. What she is chronicling is the whole passing parade of American and international high society at a time of tumultuous transition when the old guard was giving way to the new “café” society. And what a cast of characters she has?everything from royals (Thelma, Gloria Morgan Vanderbilt’s twin, was mistress to the Prince of Wales), grande dames, a rigid Irish Catholic Tammany judge, and a “devoted,” hideously possessive nurse, to the terrified little girl, told her mother might kill her. Over it all loomed the aura of the Lindbergh kidnapping. Goldsmith probes the motives, the secrets, the hidden longings of them all credibly and compassionately in a book that will sell and sell and sell. This book has it all.
--Publishers Weekly

Barbara Goldsmith’s book is a stunning retelling of that episode that emphasizes both its sociology and it psychology. This is the year’s most …unputdownable slice of American social history. It has virtually everything: immense wealth, the clash of strong personalities, petty bickerings, sex on Porthault sheets, British royalty and a child in psychic pain. Ms. Goldsmith paints a Proustian picture of the American upper class and the international set of which it was a part a picture that throbs with verisimilitude because it includes so much magnificent detail. It is scrupulous and well written.
--Alden Whitman, The Philadelphia Inquirer

http://www.barbaragoldsmith.com/work6.htm

In LITTLE GLORIA, Barbara Goldsmith has written the definitive biography of Gloria Vanderbilt. Vanderbilt has had a life that reads like a preposterous soap opera. Goldsmith details all of it, particularly the notorious custody trial in which Gloria's paternal aunt, Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, battled Gloria's notorious mother for custody. The fact that the focus of this well-publicized battle was just a single little girl too often is forgotten. This book is a thorough look into a fascinating footnote to history, and a glimpse at the lifestyle of America's richest family from the Gilded Age through the early years of the 20th Century. LITTLE GLORIA is required reading for students of American social history.
--HeyJudy "heyjudy" (East Hampton, NY USA)

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0394428366/qid=1129683243/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-1451784-5015235?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

TYY

[anitar1]

93. Gloria worked because she had too in order

to maintain her lifestyle. She designed, painted, and I believe she was into designing fabrics at one time. Also she had a cosmetic business. Not exactly a slouch. I think she was used by some of the men in her life. I remember reading an interview many years ago and she talked about the need to work and said she enjoyed making her own way.

[kskiska]

114. The Vanderbilt railroad fortune is long gone.

Gloria inherited comparatively little from her father. She lost most of what she had from unscrupulous managers when she started her design business. She had to begin over again from scratch. She said that the money she earned herself is much more satisfying than any that was inherited. Her last husband, Wyatt Cooper, came from a wealthy Mississippi family, though.

[Kenroy]

25. Would you like him better

if he sat on his ass and lived the life of the idle rich?

[KoKo]

38. I think one always needs to question "DYNASTY" and the Repugs

surely did a great job of "investigating" the Kennedy's and their Every Motive, whether true or not.

Cooper/Vanderbuilt should NOT be an Exception. America was founded on getting rid of Kings and Dynasties...yet they survived.

Isn't it time to really look at this?

[Kenroy]

43. well

be more specific than "look at it".

Are you saying that the children of the rich should be precluded from some careers?

And what kind of dynasty are the Vanderbilts today? His mother sells blue jeans - hardly the path to controlling the world.

I find it ridiculous to even raise these questions because his mother is wealthy. SHE has spent her life working for a living, as has Anderson. He has taken the hard way - travelling to the poorest and most dangerous parts of the world to learn his trade.

His father died when he was 10. His only brother committed suicide. But he's wealthy, so I guess none of that hurt.

[SeattleGirl]

52. One of his first assignments as a reporter was in Somalia.

And he volunteered to go there because it was not really being covered by anyone else. I doubt some of the "reporters" today who really are just party decorations would have done that!

[KoKo]

83. It's not wealth or lack of it....it's Dynasty and Connections that many

average Americans don't have. It's never the money...it's Who or Whom one knows. :shrug:

[DemocratSinceBirth]

104. How About Uber Rich Democrats

How about uber rich Democrats like Ted Kennedy, Jon Corzyne, Mark Dayton, Herb Kohl, Frak Lautenberg, Maria Cantwell




and (((((((((((((((John D Rockefeller)))))))))))))))))



Gimmeabreak!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[SeattleGirl]

106. Thank you, DSB!

That's one of the points I was trying to make in my posts on this thread, because I think the OP was, among other things, tying "rich, white" in with "republican". I don't give a s**t about the situation someone was born into as much as I care about what they do with their lives. Just because AC was born into a wealthy family doesn't make him automatically "evil" or "belonging to the other side"!

Gimmeabreak, indeed! Many people on "our" side talk about how the "othe side" see and treat the poor, disadvantaged, etc., and then do the same damned thing by claiming that anyone born into a monied family has no capacity for empathy, sympathy, etc. Makes me crazy!

Can't we just look at the person? Yes, background has an impact on all of us but it is not the end-all, be-all of who we are!

[July]

120. What constitutes this "dynasty"?

As far as I can tell, it's made up of two people, Gloria Vanderbilt and her son Anderson Cooper. Neither one has political power. GV is a socialite and sometimes a designer. Her son is a reporter who had to sell himself by freelancing until someone took a chance on him.

So what are we supposed to be looking at?

Is Cooper about to break a big story or something? Does he need to be cut down for some reason?

[renate]

27. the report on poverty he put together that was shown on Oprah...

... got rave reviews here. He seemed very sincere and thoughtful.

He did an excellent job in New Orleans and in the many DU threads about him and his reporting there, there were always a few people who had never heard that he was Gloria Vanderbilt's son, which I think says something nice about him. Can you imagine * keeping his parentage under wraps or doing anything at all with his life without his daddy's name?

I respect Anderson all the more because he could have chosen to be a society boy--he's attractive, well-spoken, charming, etc--and instead he wades through muck and floating corpses to bring us the news. If only all scions of wealthy families worked as hard and made themselves as useful as he does.

[KoKo]

42. Well ....he's taking a break from "NO's Floating Corpses" ...and has moved

on to "Sands Point" corpse. Maybe he just has an "obsession with death." :shrug: Follow that "death" wherever it leads might be his inclination.

I'm not about to enshrine him and call him a wonderful journalist because he follows Storms and Death. He needs to prove himself and why did he manage to overcome all the other worthy journalists out there?

Was it his "NAME/DYNASTY?" Or, did he get it on his own. How many "average viewers" know his background?

Our Backgrounds DO need to be taken in context. Otherwise the War in Iraq was just an "Intelligence Flub Up" and not due to years of PNAC/NEO-CON/THINK TANK Drumbeat to get us into the Islamic world.

I don't see how Cooper get's a pass and yet we look back on the Bushies and their dark affiliations to understand HOW we GOT INTO IRAQ? :shrug:

[SeattleGirl]

76. Who's giving the Bushies a pass???????

At least here on DU....

I don't understand the Jones you seem to have for AC.

[July]

121. If average viewers don't know his background,

it may be because he doesn't trade on the family name.

People who praised his NO coverage didn't praise it because he talked about death; they praised it because it was good on-the-spot reporting, and because he showed some heart while doing it, too.

Vanderbilt/Cooper vs. Bush? Please. Only one of those is a powerful political dynasty.

[applegrove]

29. So do we trash Kennedy too - all of them because of how they were

born? It is what you do with it.

[KoKo]

39. I have a post on the Kennedy's earlier in this thread where I try to

deal with that. It's kind of "hypocritical" to give Anderson a "pass" and not look at what happened to the Kennedy's.

:shrug: I'm trying to be fair here.

[Beaverhausen]

41. Fair? You are hardly being fair

You are judging Anderson far more harshly than he deserves merely because of who his parents were.

You say he needs to prove himself "more" than the average person. Why?

He probably has enough money that he could lead a completely different lifestyle and surely he doesn't "have" to work, yet he does.

and anyone who watched his NOLA coverage knows how much he was affected by it.

I really don't know where this is coming from. What is your problem with him?

[applegrove]

51. Yes - & wasn't his father a writer? Would it not make sense that

Anderson may have inherited that calling and become a journalist. I mean what exactly are the rules here?

I just get tired of the anti - Aaron Brown, Cooper threads. Seems like that a few months after they got rid of Dan Rather - the hunt was on to diminish the anchors at CNN.

[Lex]

30. So what do you know of what he has *done* in his career or life? nt

[elfin]

31. Despite the "dynasty aspect, Anderson

is an "outsider" to some degree - gay and brother of a suicide - very formative experiences outside aura of entitlement.

Earned his stripes with hard work and sincerity in my book.

[Raster]

34. and a stud muffin to boot!!!

[KoKo]

44. Lot's of folks here think he's a "stud muffin." I guess that's more

important for credibility in our media today. No wonder the hair transplants, lip enhancements, hair straighteners, eye lifts and tucks and pinches are the NORM... One must be "FOREVER YOUNG" and be a "stud muffin" to compete. :D

What about "reporting the news" in a fair and balanced way?" What about MORALS AND ETHICS?

[Lex]

48. Are you saying Anderson Cooper has no morals or ethics?

Because he's attractive and that's mutually exclusive?

:shrug:

[Beaverhausen]

49. Be specific about your criticism of him please

just disliking him because of who his parents were isn't good enough.

WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM WITH HIM???

What is wrong with his morals and ethics according to you?

[KoKo]

84. My criticism is to "be Cautious." As we would with any "Media Folk"

these days. And, to be aware of folks backgrounds because it does in some ways influence their lives...just as our own individual backgrounds influence us.

We overlook our Media Folks backgrounds because we either like or dislike what they say, but it's good to try to know the "whole person." For too long our Media has kept their private/personal lives to themselves while they rooted out every scandal or pimple on the folks they report on in politics and the entertainment world.

Given what we are all going through we need to know much more about our media and be aware that they "too" have things they bring to their reporting and punditry.

Would anyone rather not know that Chris Matthews owns down the street from Jack Welch (former NBC head) on Nantucket? Or, that White House Correspondent Nora O'Donnel is dating Repug Dan Senor of Iraq Invasion spokesperson fame? Or that Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan is married to Andrea Mitchell who reports for NBC and appears on Chris Matthews show or all the other connections between the media and WHO their Families were? How did they get where they are? The Media Controls our lives...shouldn't we know more about them? :shrug:

[SeattleGirl]

91. I am cautious.

I don't swallow whole anybody's story, and I don't automatically think someone is a certain way just because of how they present themselves. Believe me, I have met many people who seem to be decent folks, and are taken that way because of the size of their bank account, or how they dress, or speak, or any number of things, when in reality they are heartless, self-centered assholes at the very least, or serial killers at the most (Ted Bundy, anyone?).

But what I sense in the "background" or undertone of your posts is that you are not willing to give AC much credit JUST BECAUSE of the family into which he was born. That, to me, is as prejudicial and bigoted as making an assumption that a person born into a poor family is lazy, a criminal, etc (assumptions that some people also make).

I do not disagree with you that backgrounds are important, but I don't think they are the end all and be all of who a person is. Our backgrounds may shape us in many ways, but they can also be an impetus for us to grow beyond them, and be more than that to which we were born.

[mondo joe]

123. But your stated reason is not that he's media but what family he was born

to.

I think that's pretty appalling.

[mondo joe]

115. What an inane claim. Who said "stud muffin" matters MORE than reporting?

And what is his moral or ethical failing?

[PennyK]

92. Just one thing...

...you do know that he bats for the other team, right?
I mention this because I attended a Barry Manilow concert several years ago (don't ask), and the women in front of me were talking about how cute and sexy he was.

[KoKo]

35. Did Anderson "ditch" all those animals he was playing with in Gulf after

hurricanes so he could get back to his "own turf" for the latest "celebrity" murder in "Sands Point?"

What gives that he left the Gulf he was so committed to with his animals and worrying about the lives of those folks that he now is copying Dan Abrams whose father is Judy Miller's Lawyer in "Plame Gate?"

What?

[SeattleGirl]

36. Huh?

Anderson is in NOLA tonight. Perhaps you don't have 360 turned on.

And since when it is a requirement that a reporter who visits an area like NOLA after Katrina pull up stakes and move there? Are you this critical of all the volunteers who went there and helped out, and then returned home to go back to work, to their families? Should they all move to the Gulf?

Sorry, but this does not make sense. Are you slamming Anderson because his mother is Gloria Vanderbilt? Because he is a reporter? Because.....?

I saw him interviewed a week or so ago (sorry, I forgot which show it was on, maybe Larry King), and he had gone back to New York for several days in the middle of the month of coverage of the hurricane aftermath, and he said it was very difficult for him to relate to people only wanted to talk about the "reality" shows they were hooked on, cocktail party gossip, etc. He did not seem to be faking that reaction at all.

[Lex]

40. I suspect that those criticizing Anderson Cooper don't know much

about his early career at all.

[Kenroy]

46. I suspect you're right

he didn't take the easy route. He worked his ass off to get where he is.

[SeattleGirl]

47. Perhaps not.

I suppose the combination of "reporter" (so many of us are rather cynical of that title, since many "reporters" are nothing but hacks for the Bush White House) and "Vanderbilt" lead the OP to the assumption that AC is just a party decoration. Unfortunate if true, as that is just making a judgement about someone based on a few things, not on actually trying to find out who the person behind the things really is.

I myself have been impressed with his reporting, and know he is not a party decoration.

[Lex]

50. I actually did a little research on his early career after I read about

his brother's suicide.

He has earned his reporting chops. Much more so than many other reporters.

It's not hard to find out about his reporting and his commitment to covering poverty, wars, and things the American mainstream media barely cared about.

[SeattleGirl]

56. Yes he has earned them.

Unlike many others who are "reporting" these days. He may have been born into wealth, but he's earned his way to where he is by working at it. Nobody handed him his job.

[Carni]

59. How old is he? (just out of curiousity) eom

[SeattleGirl]

78. I don't know for sure, but I seem to remember 38

being mentioned somewhere.

[KoKo]

54. Maybe you could give some links to enlighten us?

Seriously...not snarking you.

[Beaverhausen]

55. So you're criticizing him without doing any research yourself?

Why didn't you look into his background - besides who his parents were - before you started this?

[KoKo]

63. I've done MY Research ...Give me Yours to refute what I say...Debate!

It's "healthy" to do debate.

[SeattleGirl]

77. What, please, is your research?

So far, it seems to be "Anderson Cooper was born into a rich family and is the son of famous people, therefore, he's a hollow, self-serving twit who is nothing but a fake." Hmmmm, I need a little more than that.

[RandomKoolzip]

122. From the wikipedia entry:

Anderson Cooper

Anderson Hays Cooper (born June 3, 1967) is a New York-based television journalist. Since September 8, 2003, he has anchored Anderson Cooper 360°, a fast-paced weeknight news program on the CNN television network.

Cooper is the younger son of the writer Wyatt Cooper and the socialite, writer, and artist Gloria Vanderbilt. His older brother, Carter, died in August 1988 at age 23 by jumping from the 14th floor terrace of Vanderbilt's New York City luxury apartment. Gloria Vanderbilt later wrote about her son's death in her book, "A Mother's Story."

Cooper attended The Dalton School in New York City and graduated from Yale in 1989 with a degree in political science. He also studied Vietnamese at the University of Hanoi.

When he graduated from Yale but could not land a job with a major news organization, Cooper set off on his own to a variety of war-torn regions around the globe, filming news reports and sending them to Channel One News, an MTV-style news program broadcast to many schools in the United States. He reported from Bosnia, Rwanda, and Somalia, among other places. He was occasionally shot at. During his trip in Africa he came down with malaria.

Cooper became a correspondent for ABC News and co-anchored ABC World News Now, but in 2000 he took a job as the host of ABC's reality show The Mole. One executive publicly predicted his move to reality TV would mean the end of his career as a newscaster. However, he left The Mole after its second season to return to broadcast news, now at CNN, in 2001. In 2003 he was made anchor of Anderson Cooper 360°, and in 2005 he was given an additional role as co-anchor on NewsNight with Aaron Brown.


Okay, I admit I'm torn here, because yes, this really IS jumping into the hardest aspects of journalism with both feet, getting malaria and all, but the fact remains that he couldn't have HAD those experiences without buttloads of moolah at his disposal. I mean, who has the ducats to hire a professional camera crew and trek off to the far corners of the world and just pretend to be TV journalist in order to get a job as one? It's like he bought himself a "ticket" to professional TV journalism. Some middle or lower-class up-and-comer, without access to a family fortune, would have just had to accept defeat or bust their ass, and end up getting some shitty local anchorman job in TangyTaint, Arkansas.

On the other hand, who in their right mind would travel to Rwanda during their big ethnic conflict to see what was going down without a mandate from a professional News organization? That's some dangerous shit, jack.

So, for me at least, I'm seeing soem noble aspects to Cooper, while still feeling my underclass resentment towards the way in which he "broke into" journalism.

[fleabert]

53. have you read this?

great article written by AC, very telling about his character.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/08/16/brother/

[SeattleGirl]

61. Thanks for posting this link, fleabert

Someone had mentioned this on another thread, but I had not had the time to read it then. Just read it. Wow.

[fleabert]

66. I know. He's an amazing person.

wealth does not shield one from real life, unfortunately. It can make it easier to bear in many ways, but it is not a cure-all.

anyone who says this man has not suffered or that he cannot relate to human suffering, doesn't have a clue what they are talking about.

[SeattleGirl]

80. Amen, fleabert!

Again, thanks for posting this link. I appreciated being able to read it, since as I said, I missed being able to read it when it was originally posted.

[Carni]

67. I didn't need to read that

That piece was enough proof for me to never question him again
(not being a smart ass)

[fleabert]

68. never question?

I still question my own mother! (and better to be a smart ass than a dumb one)

I am just saying he's obviously a good person, and that counts for something in my book.

[Carni]

69. Ok so I was exagerating

But the person that wrote that isn't some whorish neo-con.

I was skeptical of AC until I read that--now I think he does what he can JMO

[Kenroy]

70. It is a very moving piece

isn't it?

And it says a lot about Cooper and his character. Those who think he can't possibly be empathetic because of his wealth are just stone-cold bigots.

[Carni]

74. I agree it choked me up

And it didn't sound like contrived bullshit--it sounded very real and from the heart.

[fleabert]

99. :blush:

I totally read your post wrong. i WAS being a smart ass, and I apologize! I thought you were saying the complete opposite of what you said...

bad eyeballs, bad eyeballs! ("wasn't" has two more letters and an apostrophe, compared to 'was')

:blush:

:hi:

[Carni]

108. No problem Fleabert!

I was being sincere but it could have been taken as a smart assed remark (I actually realized that after I posted it because it could have sounded sarcastic)

I was very impressed with that article by AC thanks for posting it!

[Rhiannon12866]

109. Wow. Thank you. I'd been meaning to read this.

I watched his incredible coverage of the hurricane and thought that this must have been a life-changing experience for him. I had no idea. His life was already indelibly changed...;(

[fleabert]

112. you are welcome, I felt the same way. there is another article

posted in this thread, with a subject line similar to mine, that one is even better.

[applegrove]

57. Seems like as soon as "new anchors" took up the mantle of speaking

the news to America - freepers are hot on the trail of them. It was only a few months after Rather resigned - that they started in on Aaron Brown.

My guess would be that CNN has wisely teamed up two anchors so that they could better share the "lightening bolt". Likewise - nightline now has three anchors. They have been after that anchor for years.

It started in July - just a few weeks after Jennings died - the attack on Aaron Brown.

In Africa - there was a dictator who was not only a dictator - he also read the nightly news. Like that dictator - the Repuke machine knows the importance of the nightly news anchors to the mood and truths of their country.

They will not stop until they have "one of their own" - Hannity, Oreilly, whomever, reading the nightly news.

Perhaps Rove will be the anchor on Faux in a few weeks.

The goons just never stop.

The assault on the news & how it is delivered.

The neocon desire that "the only information come from them". They want to decide how we see the world.

If it was not Cooper and Brown who were under attack - it would be Williams.

[CarolNYC]

72. Interesting I should find this post now

I just finished watching my tape of Anderson on Letterman last night. Although I'd heard of his early career from someone before it was interesting to see him talk about it.

Do you know that when he got out of college, he tried to get an entry level job at ABC but failed so he took a camera with him and recorded his own stories from places like Burma and Somalia and sent them in to Channel 1 which airs news stories in high schools and such....He says he took "The Mole" job becuase ABC offered it to him at a time when he was working on a news program overnight and it was, I think he called it "life destroying". But he didn't enjoy working on the show and said, especially after 9/11 he realized he didn't want to be a reality TV host and wanted to get back into news.

I give him a lot of credit for working as he did, going into war zones without any kind of protection, making his own job...Doesn't seem like he traded on his family connections to get where he is if you ask me.

And he seems like a really nice guy and very sincere.

He's one of my favorites.

[Beausoir]

79. He came from a wealthy background...therefore...

he can't be trusted??

What a stupid and facile mindset.

[mondo joe]

117. Y'know, like Ted Kennedy, FDR, Eleanor Roosevelt and all those other

born to wealth types.

[CarolNYC]

85. link

This is an excellent article to read if you want a little insight into Anderson....

http://newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/news/features/14301/index.html

[fleabert]

100. that man should run for president.

i'd vote for him in a heartbeat.

(if he's pro-choice, which I bet he is)

[Booster]

95. Maybe it's just me, but I don't consider all rich people a "dynasty".

Anderson's mother may have "controlled" women when it came to buying clothes, but I don't get the connection to the word "dynasty". We shouldn't stereotype people just because they are rich anymore than we should stereotype people who are poor, like the repugs did re: the people in NO who were "finding"/"looting". Makes us no better than them.

[Hidden Stillness]

96. I Also Agree; Mixed Feelings, Not That Impressed

I remember an early report that Andy Vandybilt did on an ABC newsmagazine--it might have been "20/20," I don't remember; it was quite a few years ago now. It was about supermarket employees who could not survive on their wages, (minimum wage), but the strange thing was that Cooper claimed they could not find any national supermarket chain that only paid minimum wage, and therefore did the report on a regional Southern chain that did not advertise with ABC. The report, although good, was then followed by commercials from ABC sponsors, two of which I remember, and knew very well at the time, underpaid their employees with minimum wage levels, and no raises. One, I worked at for a while--no overtime even then, and if you changed jobs within the store--for example, went from cashier to stock--the store, on its official records, "fired" you, so you had a new start date, as if you had just begun there. This was to cheat people out of seniority, benefits, etc. I always thought it was outrageous that Little Andy Vandybilt could not manage to notice the abuses of...ABC's own sponsors.

The response to Andy Rich Boy on Oprah was mixed, not "raves," and I wish, along with yelling at Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu in Louisiana, after Landrieu had fought so long, unsuccesfully, to get Bush and Republicans to build up the levees--they never did--Cooper had even once done the same to Bush or a Republican. I never heard it. It is nicer when honesty is not so convenient.

[cynatnite]

101. His lineage has little to do with my opinion of him...

Watching his reporting is why I like him. He's done a good job and goes after the story. He's not afraid to get his hands dirty and he connects with people very well.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

105. You're Joking Right

You almost got me.....

[wickerwoman]

107. I could never bring myself to like Anderson Cooper.

I didn't even know anything about his family until I read that article on his brother's suicide, but I've disliked him ever since I was in high school and forced, for seven minutes every day (not counting commercials) to watch him on Channel One. I remember a report he did from a hotel room in Kuwait during the first Gulf War. You could hear the explosions in the background and AC was crouching behind his hotel bed in his otherwise undisturbed room in tears, begging someone to take him out of there. After the report, the anchors were all congratulating him on his "brave" coverage and his decision to show it even though he really looking like a spoiled ass but I thought it was a lot of self-indulgent clap-trap. What about the Kuwaitis you blow-dried nitwits?

I guess he sort of personifies for me everything that's wrong with modern American journalism. It should be about the story, not the reporter, but somehow in every story I've ever seen AC tries to make it about him and his experience. Maybe this is his cloying way of "bringing the story home" but I find it condescending in the extreme. Ditto the article about his brother. I'm sorry about his personal tragedy but it just rubs me the wrong way. For a writer, it's great, for a journalist, it's just more self-indulgent navel gazing.

[SheepyMcSheepster]

111. I have respect for Cooper

over the years i have seen him go from a channel 1 reporter out in the field to a very late night co-anchor on one of the 24 our news networks.

he maybe priviliged but he has definetely worked to get where he is in the news business to where he is now.

[mondo joe]

113. Yeah, like that Ted Kennedy. He sucks.

:eyes: