Roland Martin totally reads my blog

Or at least he read enough of it to take some umbrage over my incorrect hyperbole. I erroneously reported that he was flacking for a presidential contender in my original February 14 posting. Neither the serious journalist in me or the lazy blogger inside did not vet that particular nugget out. Sincere pologizes to my readers and to Martin. Click the above link to read the previously offending, now fixed, posting.

Seriously. I mean, The Snob knows people read her blog, but I just had no knowledge it would be attention worthy of someone several rungs higher on the black journalist ladder. Not as big as Oprah. But bounds better than Juan Williams. I guess I'm going to have to start taking things half-ass seriously now. Dammit. And I was enjoying being lazy.

More NAACP Delegate Drama

Julian Bond voting along side Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Bond is now the head of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People

Can't get enough of Roland Martin's Julian Bond, "let's seat the Florida and Michigan delegates" drama? Read more from fast and furious emails between Martin and Mary Frances Berry, who helped write Julian Bond's letter to DNC head Howard Dean.

Needless to say, she doesn't really appreciate Martin's coverage:

Roland by the way what makes you disrespect Julian Bond so much as to attack him because he didn't think of doing something at one time and now that its getting closer thinks of it after complaints from his membership. Julian has paid his dues; is nothing sacred? I guess not.

She's not alone though in her anger. The comments on Roland's blog were all eye-rolls and sighs over the ineptitude of the NAACP and whether or not Julian Bond was talking out of order, making a move without the NAACP boards approval or whether they were all in on it. Either way, folks are fed up with the shenanigans.

Sayeth commentator "Lawrence":

Wow. If we can thank Barack for one thing, it's that we're seeing how out of touch, entrenched and entitled these Civil Rights leaders are. The idea that Julian Bond can't be criticized because of his prior work is extraordinary. There's an arrogance to Ms. Berry's comments that says I know best, I don't have to answer your questions, and how dare you question my motives. Well, the days of blindly following these folks are over. We honor your service, but a new day has dawned and you're going to see a bunch of 30s and 40s year old brothers and sisters taking over the reins of leadership within the community. It's too bad that the last people who understand that their time is gone, are the very people who prepped the road for the leaders they who will take their place.

Politico.com also pointed out another twist in the delegate drama. Despite the diversity of the presidential race, of the DNC's more than 700 superdelegates more than half are white men. This concerns many as it reflects who's traditionally the boss in American politics.

And here's Roland Martin on the NAACP and Julian Bond

Update: This posting erroneously stated that journalist Roland Martin had endorsed a candidate for president. He has not. The Snob apologies for the snafu.

CNN's Roland Martin blogs that NAACP President Julian Bond's sudden interest in pushing for the Michigan and Florida delegates to be seated doesn't past the smell test.

As someone who has opposed the leverage of Iowa and New Hampshire, I’m in agreement that they should not always be first. Yet that has nothing to do with today, and Bond knows it.

What is unclear is why he waited so long (he also didn’t notify the NAACP’s 64-member board of the letter) and why, according to my NAACP sources, he wrote the letter with help from Mary Frances Berry, former head of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, as well as Wade Henderson, CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights.

The letter was hurriedly drafted on Friday, as evidence by the three misspelled words in it. It’s not clear why there was such a sense of urgency to get it out, but the fact that it came to light on Tuesday night when Obama was steamrolling Clinton in Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia has some conspiracy-minded bloggers making all kinds of assertions.

Roland's column and the info he includes from Bond's letters to the DNC make things look even worse. Roland all but accuses Bond of trying to pull the ol' okie doke for the Clintons and bamboozle the election.

I'm with Roland and Al, where was the outrage last year, Julian, when Florida and Michigan needed someone with sharp elbows?

Pledging Fidelity to the Grand Poobahs of the Black Media Elite

UPDATE 1:57 p.m.: Observations from Papa Snob added

Found this on the Uppity Negro Network, a column by CNN analyst Roland Martin on PBS's Tavis Smiley who is promising a verbal thrashing of any presidential candidate who dares to snub the State of Black Union event on Feb. 23 in New Orleans, La. The big to-do is typically a well-attended event broadcasted on C-SPAN, attracting well-known black activists, politicians and intellectuals.

Naturally, Tavis is throwing his weight around trying to draw attention to this annual event.

During his commentary Thursday on the Tom Joyner Morning Show, the most listened to black radio show, Tavis said he’s invited the three top candidates, Republican frontrunner, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, and Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. He said only one has accepted, and he will wait until tomorrow for the other two to decide.

He didn’t say which one decided to attend, but on Friday, Clinton announced that she was attending.

In his commentary, Smiley said he was going to snap on those who don’t attend on Tuesday’s show, demanding that they own up to black issues and zero in on social justice issues as outlined in the book he edited, “The Covenant with Black America.”

Martin states that Obama did not attend last year's State of the Black Union because Obama was busy launching his presidential run. I'm not going to debate whether or not this was a legitimate excuse as a lot of people runing for president manage to show up at things. But Martin defends Obama emphatically about his right to not show up. As for Tavis, he never got over the snub and is going to raise hot holy hell if the Great Black (Presidential) Hope does not show up at the event.

Martin outlines the pros and cons to both Obama and Clinton's attendance. Clinton already RSVPed and Martin rightly points out she needs to be there more than anyone to repair her relationship with black voters. Obama and McCain (that'll be a shocker if he shows) are the only ones who are likely to be no shows. I'm pretty sure Huckabee would show up for shrimp cocktails and a free copy of "B-Day," but I don't know if he was invited.

Obama recently sent a letter saying he can't be at the event and asked Tavis to "reconsider" having the more than capable Michelle Obama represent him at the event. Martin said Tavis gave that idea four thumbs down.

Do you think this is a do or die situation for Obama? Does he still need to make pledges of fealty to the likes of Tavis Smiley, the black media elite? Does he need Tavis who is very influential via his work in radio, books and talk show on PBS?

I get Tavis' deal. He wants people to talk about and be aware of black issues. And he knows his event is going to be hella lame if Barack Obama is there.

Think about it. This is your big party, your show for black a American and you can't get the most popular guy in North America right now next to Will Smith and Joel Osteen? If you can't get the hope of Negroes at home and abroad? Tavis needs Obama at this event more than Obama needs to be there. Obama gives the event credibility, legitimacy. Plus, all those snobby black folks who will be there want to hob knob with the Big O. Cornell West and Aaron McGruder are going to be a little bummed if the show up to only find Shelby Foote and Andy Young, yet again. Oprah's going to need to give away cars to perk those people up.

Personally, I think Obama should go if he can. I don't think it will kill him and it will make a-plenty an uppity Negro very happy. But he shouldn't do it just because Tavis whipped out a threatdown, which is remarkable considering I didn't know Tavis was big enough to whip out those effectively.

UPDATE: Papa Snob tossed in his two cents on the matter, pointing out that Roland Martin takes the issue of blow back from the white press too lightly. Papa said if Obama attends the State of the Black Union it will be on par with answering the "your stance on affirmative action" question.

He thinks that despite the gains made racially in this country there are some issues that can still cause you to crash and burn on both sides. Like airing your opinions on Affirmative Action may disenchant whites who are for racial equality but hate race-based quotas. Another answer could disenchant blacks if you come down on the wrong side of the program they believe forces fairness on a racially reluctant job market.

Papa said Obama would have been better off if he'd gone to last year's event when he was still fund raising for his blossoming campaign. He thinks because Obama has already pissed Smiley off once he is less inclined to play nice and deal this year.

As for the blow back, Papa Snob said this event would get an insane amount of press if Obama is there. They will cover every talk, gaffe and trip to the restroom. Obama has largely avoided having the racially charged relics and warriors of the 1960s and 70s stand behind him at speeches and photo ops. But there will be no way to avoid the white folk scaring patina of race with the likes of Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson and other black people who scare/annoy white people around. The press will be looking for that embrace, that big green light from the Negroes (never mind that the Negroes, through voting, have spoken). But the press is going to murder Obama up and down with this "black enuf" issue, with the cosigning on the black agenda issues, with the "are you really a black radical in sheep's clothing" issue.

Yo no sé: McWhorter's race column - Is this Offensive?

I found this on Gawker today. It linked to an article on The Root by John McWhorter. In his column he tries to dissect the essence of blackness in "Blackness: A Quick and Dirty Primer." He attempts to define "blackness," which is where he starts to befuddle me. He bases most of the perspectives of blackness on the black American experience coupled with validating some gross stereotypes of blackness (re: dance skills, Ebonics).

McWhorter starts off referring to a recent column in the New York Times by journalist/author Jill Nelson arguing that Barack Obama's blackness has not be a serious question in the Democratic debate amongst most black people. Others, like PBS journalist Gwen Ifil also sees the race definition as a moot point.

But McWhorter sees this differently.

When Michelle Obama dismissed the question about her husband as "silliness," that was sensible: Barack Obama has proven that he understands black concerns. Too often, though, we are taught that it is "silly" to address blackness as a gradient at all. But this is evasive. We're tiptoeing around something, and it's black culture. Some people are more rooted in it than others – and there isn't a thing wrong with that.

Some say that blackness is simply a matter of color. By this analysis, anyone who raises the larger questions about black identity is apparently visually impaired. Last year, Gwen Ifill, for example, dismissed the question of whether Obama is black enough because someone who, like her, is a child of immigrant blacks might not be considered "black." But I think we all know it's not that simple. The brown-skinned person implying their skin color renders the whole issue moot is leveling a coded challenge: "Are you saying that all black people talk like rappers and eat fried chicken?"

This is where I have to admit, I got a little confused about where McWhorter was going. Then he dropped some double-edged, racially-laced, stereotype bombs.

(T)his implies that there is no such thing as black culture in a legitimate sense. But there is – and it includes Ebonics and chicken!

What is black culture? Definitions will differ. But we can't treat the definition as so "fluid" that it isn't a definition at all. I will toss out a few parameters of what "black" is:

--The dialect: which is not identical to Southern white English, and not just slang, but a sound and a series of grammatical patterns.

--Music: yes, most of hip-hop's listeners are white. But there are proportionally more black people who listen mostly to black music than there are whites who listen mostly to black music.

--Bodily carriage. Culinary tastes. Dress style. Christian commitment. Juneteenth. And yes, skill on the dance floor.

I have always thought that it's counterproductive to define blackness assuming that blackness begins and ends with having brown skin and some African ancestry in America.

Are our Caribbean cousins not "black?" Are our Brazilian, Belize, Venezuelan and Cuban brothers and sisters not black? Are Africans who didn't come here as slaves not black? The only thing we have in common is the shared love of the drum which comes directly from the motherland. Outside of that we're pretty diverse. Yes, black Americans do enjoy some similar experiences and cultural flourishes, but this has to be a joke, right? Fried chicken and Ebonics? Loving Jesus? Did the Nation of Islam fold? Did all the black Muslims die out? Do black agnostics, atheists and secular humanists not exist?

Juneteenth, while a fascinating part of history, isn't even celebrated by most blacks, as it is a regional holiday. The only thing I can halfway give him on that list is the black, non-regional dialect which is largely unique to only other African Americans, no matter what part of the country they live on and irregardless of their income levels.

But even that doesn't always hold true.

I've gone to school with a-plenty of black people who had no black American accent at all from years of only going to school with Whites. That didn't make my friends any less black. They just didn't "sound" like black people.

But McWhorter, half-jokingly I assume, continues down the path of ridiculousness.

(S)ome black people are blacker than others, as measured by their background and personal predilections. Some are not meaningfully black culturally at all. Why would this not be the case?

Especially over the past forty years, the number of black Americans growing up in all-black circumstances has decreased. The diversity of black experience is vaster than ever. For this reason, just as we will not view culturally "blacker" people as lesser, we will not view culturally less black people as suspicious. But most importantly, we cannot evade the issue by treating black culture as something so ambiguous and profound that we aren't really talking about anything at all.

I guess I can see McWhorter's point of wanting people to recognize the meaning of "blackness," to speak of it as something tangible. And black Americans do have a rich and diverse culture shaped by decades of shared experience. But I still feel he's over simplifying things. Blackness is complex. When you can look as white as Wentworth Miller and still not be white because this is America, you can't just shove him out of the black experience simply because he does not fit the racial mold. And to argue that one can become "less black" is akin to arguing that suburban raised, socially-integrated blacks have become "more white." Or, worse yet, normal, as if there was something intrinsically foul about blackness.

I've got a lot of bougie friends. I'm bougie. I was raised in a bougie part of St. Louis. But I'm still black. These things changed nothing about me living and being treated like a black woman. So to me, McWhorter is basically encouraging black people to engage in the self-destructive behavior of assigning racial litmus tests to negrotude.

I'm hoping this column is some sort attempt at Black History Month related humor considering that it's on The Root. It has to be a joke when he gets to the end and mettles out his correlations of blackness.

Ideally, no one would hear "black" as a putdown. And, if we really know what being black is about, we can say the following without anyone batting an eye:

Queen Latifah is blacker than Tiger Woods.

Alan Keyes is blacker than Barack Obama.

Jada Pinkett Smith is blacker than Colin Powell.

And, Michael Eric Dyson is blacker than me.

I guess under this logic Lil' Jon is blacker than me.** Of course, I think Lil' Jon is an offensive stereotype, but I also agree that we're both black Americans with the shared experience of being black in America. That's the litmus test if there is one.

I am black, therefore I am.

** Alan Keyes is blacker than Barack Obama? What's that based on? Skin tone? The fact that Keyes a "full" American black man and Obama is half-Kenyan? Is it because Keyes' for reparations and Obama's never broached the subject? That's what makes me think this was a joke. I don't think Jada Pinkett Smith is any blacker than Colin Powell. Powell is a Republican who has consistently talked about racial issues since he left the Joints Chiefs of Staff and has talked about his experience with pride. So, um, I don't get this methodology.

"Reverse Oreo?"

Regular Snob reader The Blue alerted me of some "reverse oreo" chatter involving Ed Bradley Award for Journalistic Hotness winner, #5 Don "Lover" Lemon on the Huffington Post. Naturally I ran over there with the quickness to investigate and found this.

(To only see the video, click here.)

What's hilarious is how SERIOUS most of the posters on HuffPo take the whole thing, essentially acting like it's the end of TV news.

Oh my God, someone said reverse oreo there and now let's have a dissertation about miscegenation and big black buck myths. How dare those two tramps trivialize our holy, sacred news!

Getting giggly over Lemon lightly hinting at being in the middle of a white lady sandwich is not the end of TV news. Paris Hilton being dragged to court with TV helicopters zig zagging over Los Angeles while FOX and CNN carry it all live? That is the end of news. Perspective! This was just folks being goofy on the CNN. The thing is on for 24 hours. You can't expect Kyra Phillips to hold back her Mandingo fantasies with the likes of Don Lemon and TJ Holmes running around. As long as she doesn't start openly hitting on Lemon on the air calling herself Sexual White Chocolate, I'm going to just laugh at this because it's funny.

Young vs. Old: The Great Barack Obama Debate

Jena 6 protesters in Washington, D.C. in 2007 and Civil Rights protesters in 1960s Seattle, Wash.

I found this comment lurking in the latest Bossip post ("JFK 2.0???") on Obama, highlighting the Kennedy endorsement. It's by someone going by the moniker "Crazy Black Lady."

“Motor Mouth” Maxine Waters just (sic) endored billary clinton for president. These niggers need to get out the way and let us have our moment.

Now I respect people's opinions but I see comments like these popping up on black topical blogs all the time, sidestepping the fact that the whole point of the Civil Rights Movement was to give people opportunities and choices. I wish Waters had backed Obama, but I respect her choice. Plus, I feel like these comments contradict the message Obama is trying to send. After all, the same people who are backing Hillary Clinton, like former NYC Mayor David Dinkins and Rep. Charlie Rangel of New York, will all, most assuredly, back Obama if he gets the nomination.

Arguing that black people should solely support Obama based on traditional black fidelity is just as ridiculous as whites backing various Republican nominees based solely on religion or whiteness. I want people to be for Obama because of his credentials, background and policy ideas along with the pride many feel about Obama being a symbol of black achievement and potential.

Also, brandishing African Americans who have fought tirelessly for the rights and concerns of African Americans as "sell-outs" is beyond ridiculous. These people aren't Alan Keyes, JC Watts or Armstrong Williams. Although I also don't feel like we should stamp scarlet letters on the chests of Black Republicans for going against type. Even some of the sell-out claims levied against them are unwarranted and I consider their actions and views far more dangerous than Andrew Young's shameless defense of the Clintons.

I also think there is a degree of naivety with some young African Americans on the level of racial progress. Many were outraged and sympathetic to the plight of the Jena 6, but are now arguing that the racial conflicts that have existed since America's inception are no longer relevant; that older blacks are still waging wars of the past. But how can racial rifts be healed when African American men make up half of the prison population when blacks are only 12 percent of the country? How can things be healed when blacks are still disenfranchised across the south, when most blacks attend inferior schools and run higher poverty rates than whites? The racial divide is deep and is felt throughout society. One can argue that the methodology of many Civil Rights Era fighters is out-of-date and inadequate (which in a lot of ways, it is), but one can't gloss over the serious problems within the black community and the serious issues many whites still have regarding black people.

Once again, the Jena 6, are a good example of this. Young African Americans banded together and used social networking groups on the internet and radio personalities to get the message out and organize one of the largest protest marches in recent history. There's no denial of that. When the mainstream media peppered long time activists Revs. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton on how the protest was organized both were forthright in pointing out they largely had little to do with it and attributed the success to others. The young were able to use the media of today to update and modernize Civil Rights protests. This was a wonderful step in the right direction. But I feel like both the young and old need each other to get things done. I just don't believe in bashing people who have fought and sacrificed on our behalf. Frustration and anger is OK and criticism is warranted and needed, but I'd rather see younger blacks try to lobby their elders to Barack Obama's campaign than spit invective in their faces for playing it safe with Hillary Clinton.

It's like cursing out your own grandmother because she doesn't like your dreadlocks. Your grandmother may be woefully out of touch but she's still your grandmother. Politely disagree with her, keep your dreds and allow love to overcome a generational divide.

I don't know. Am I wrong because I don't want to throw my grandparents under the bus? These people may be nuts but like it our not, they're our nuts.

Reason #1178 Why I don't subscribe to Ebony Magazine

I saw this cover when I was in Target this morning. It's their annual 10 hottest couples issue and who's front and center? Donkey and ex-Mrs. Babyface, Eddie Murphy and Tracie Edmonds. A duo who had a show wedding then broke up over their two week honeymoon.

But as bad as this is, what's worse on the cover is a tease to a story about whether light skinned blacks have it better than dark skinned blacks. How many times is Ebony going to re-write this tired article? See? This is why me and Ebony had to break up. The light versus dark article along with interracial dating, black college beauty queens and that whack Whitney Houston article they ran about eight years back where they didn't ask her any hard questions piss me off. Ebony never evolves. It never changes. It never challenges. It's never critical, except of black men dating white women. It's just annoying. It's vapid. It's lame.

Anyone know a better black magazine? I've tried a few others to replace Ebony in my life (I still read the occasional Jet Magazine though), but so far I'm still frustrated. I used to read Essence, but even it's lacking nowadays. I loved reading my mother's Essence, not the one that was revamped to court a younger, hipper set. This all makes me want to start my own political/fashion/celebrity/society/investigative journalism glossy mag, a la Vanity Fair, but with a more comprehensive coverage of black, Asian, Latino and biracial stars, in conjunction with their white counterparts. I don't know. Someday maybe.

They Give Good News

Some people fawn over actors. Others athletes. I, rather, drool over a man who can get me some news. God, I love a fellow in a suit and tie talking about the White House. Or a guy in combat boots and a bulletproof vest trolling the streets of Baghdad. Behind a desk. Jumping into rooms shouting, "Mike Wallace! 60 Minutes," causing everyone to scatter. I love Walter Cronkite and Dan Rather. I will never get tired of NBC's Brian "The Stiff" Williams. I love them all. Of course I'm biased. I am a journalist, so I'm partial to the sort of fellow who knows his Istanbuls from his Constantinoples. Plus journalists tend to be a pretty well-read bunch who can talk about almost anything at length and I'm a chatty nerd lover. Package that brain in a pretty body, and I'll covet it with the quickness.

For a long time my favorite journalist on television was Ed Bradley. I'm a "60 Minutes" junkie and I've had a special affinity for him since I went through that phase where I would listen to Jazz at the Lincoln Center on NPR, which he narrated, and dose off dreaming about me, Ed and a Golden Retriever having a nice day at a beach carnival or bazaar shopping for tchotskies and talking about the historical significance of Jazz music on American culture. He'd tell me about that time he got blown up while covering the Vietnam War. And we'd walk hand in hand. It ranks pretty high up on best dreams I've ever had. That one was number# 2. Number #1 is a 2005 dream of me ballroom dancing with Johnny Depp.

So, in honor of a man who was as good with his news as he was good looking, I've created the Ed Bradley Award for Journalistic Hotness.

I've done a lot of searching and watched a lot of news. Hands down, CBS and CNN have the best looking male talent, followed by NBC with ABC and FOX not even making the list. All opinion on hotness is based on my personal tastes, news reading ability and looks. Don't know what they're like in private, don't care.

So with that out of the way, here are this years recipients of the BlackSnob Ed Bradley Award for Journalistic Hotness, celebrating men who give good news, ranked in order of their amazing hotness.

The Thin Man

10. Jason Carroll (CNN): Jason would be higher on this list if he'd gain, like, 15 pounds. He is way too thin. Every time I see him on CNN reporting in the snow or extreme heat I'm afraid that he's going to pass out. But his high cheek bones mixed with his bare-bones delivery shows some promise as a TV newsman.

Mr. Reliable

9. Chris Lawrence (CNN): A regular reporter on CNN, Lawrence covers any and everything and always looks friendly and ready to go. With a little pep in his step, he comes off as reliable and trustworthy. And he's kind of cute, which of course, doesn't hurt. Just look at those chubby checks! I want to pinch them.

The Professional

8. Lester Holt (NBC/Today Show): Lester has a charming, inoffensive kind of hotness that's good anytime you have a craving for some decently done news. He's a professional and manages to be a more polished and less irritating version of Bryant Gumble.

Chipmunk Cheeked Charmer

7. Russ Mitchell (CBS/The Early Show): I first fell for Russ when he was a reporter on Channel 4 News in St. Louis. I think was in elementary or junior high school when he was promoted up to the majors at CBS News in New York. Along with reporting, Russ took over Ed Bradley's job of hosting the weekend news. I've always loved Russ' warm, but direct style of anchoring. He's a charmer with chipmunk cheeks. He's also on the CBS' morning show.

 Scotty the Magna Cum Hottie
6. Scott Pelley (CBS/60 Minutes): I've always enjoyed Scott Pelley's reporting style, but I didn't notice his fierceness until he filled in for Katie Couric one day. He sat at that desk and opened the news with things, ever-so-slightly eschew. He looked down, then cocked an eyebrow at the camera, looking America in the eye as he ripped off his eyeglasses suddenly then read the news with such ferocity that it turned into one of the best dramatic news reading I'd heard in years. I can't even remember what the news was that day, but I remembered the dash and daring do of his anchoring. When he spoke with such earnestness and urgency in a ridiculous Ron Burgundy way I thought, "Gunga Dan? Have you returned to me?" Man, that was so hot I almost needed a cigarette afterwards and I don't even smoke. He was like a thunderbolt from news heaven. I love a guy who treats news reading like grand theater. A guy who straight makes love to the news. This was much better than watching him look like an ass in his interview with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad where there was little substance in what should have been an amazing news "get." But Scotty redeemed himself on other stories were he was hot. Like walking around burning embers and falling trees in the forever burning American west, or trying to out-grey, fellow grey-headed eco action man Anderson Cooper by hanging out at the bottom of the world looking for global warming. Manly nerds. God bless 'em.

The Best Man
5. Don Lemon (CNN/News Room): His last name maybe lemon, but from the way he reads the news all I can taste is sweetness. He's my Sugar Ray Leonard of cable TV news. While not as attractive as his beyond amazing, ranked #1 CNN co-worker, Lemon possesses talent for that sweet science of professional teleprompter reading. He can read the news and ad lib on the fly with the best of them. But he's not as personable or as "crazy" as most of the reporters I love. He doesn't go freeze his ass off in Antarctica. He's managed to only tip-toe around the journalistic rim of danger. If Scott Pelley is a news guy you date, reliable yet smooth Don is the kind of news guy you marry.

Dandy Andy

4. Anderson Cooper (CNN/AC 360): Whether Anderson is in a jungle, in Iraq, wading through the floodwaters of New Orleans or in the newsroom, despite all the tight black T-shirts in the world, he's still the prettiest man in TV news. I don't know yet if he's a truly skilled interviewer or not. I've watched a lot of 360 and his appearances on "60 Minutes" and his body of work is a little choppy. From the ten-thousand presidential debates CNN has had so far all I can tell is that he's a better than Wolf Blitzer who is a crap sandwich, but not by much. Anderson does other things well. He's a lot more comfortable with humor and taking risks in an effort to redefine the anchor role. And I do enjoy the sometimes castrating conversations he has with Headline News' Erica Hill when talking about the more frivolous news of the day. So Andy's charming and affable. Endearing even. He has lovely blue eyes and greatest prematurely gray hair on television. And despite my ribbing, he does fill out a tight black t-shirt nicely. Plus, he's ambitious. His Katrina coverage was admirable and I enjoy the various environmental and social justice stories he's done. If he could tighten up that news interviewing belt a bit more, he might be higher on the list.

Win One For The "Glibster"

3. Matt Lauer (NBC/The Today Show): First off, when I searched for a picture of Matt this one was one of first ones that popped up, honest to God. I would have gone with a more normal one, but look at him! He's delicious and hairy ... not that I'm into that sort of thing. In the past when I thought of manly newsman I normally didn't think of NBC's Matt Lauer who usually looks bookish. He gives good news through his brainy, sharp wit and calm control. But then, oh then, came that time he was in Torino, Italy for the 2006 Winter Olympics. He flew down a zip line over the mountains, stopping in the middle to hang hundreds of feet above the ground. As he gave his report, dangling in the air, Today Show co-anchor Katie Couric remarked that this was the manliest she'd ever seen Matt look. And it was. I've been gaga for him ever since. Matt is a cracker jack guy in an interview. Like that nightmare of an interview with Tom Cruise, where Cruise went nuts and called Matt "glib". He even was decent during that train wreck, gum-smacking interview with Britney Spears. I know that had to be hard for a newsy guy like Matt. He shouldn't be talking to celebrities. He should be "Where in the World Is Matt Lauer?" not Barbara Walters. I don't watch the Today Show as much as I used to (which is weird as I love both Matt and Anne Curry.) So I'm not getting my Matt fix like I used to. But he's gorgeous, absolutely gorgeous.

Sexual Chocolate
2. Tiki Barber (NBC/Football Night in America/The Today Show): Ex-jock intellectual Tiki Barber is one of the most gorgeous ballers to be found and he's in the minority of ex-NFL players who don't sound like Ol' Mush Mouth or illiterate fourth graders. Tiki is a smooth guy who blends in well on the Today Show and was among the few watchable people on NBC's Football Night in America, with Keith Olbermann and Bob Costas canceling each other out with their inner dull sports nerd. Barber, on the other hand, is so polished he's chrome. And unlike the Scott Pelleys and Don Lemons of the media world, Barber is drenched in raw sex appeal. And he's wearing a suit. While reading the news. He's straight Mary Tyler Moore, turning on the world with that smile. It's like the unintentional laughter he got when he went on The Daily Show to talk  about his book and Jon Stewart remarked that he should be bigger, teasing Tiki's about his former football physique and Tiki remarked that he was "bigger where it counts." I don't think he meant to say things that way, but from the hoots and hollers in the audience everyone had a mind just as dirty as my own. But that's Tiki Barber, second sexiest man on television. King of the literate ex-jocks on TV who can conjugate a verb. If other jocks are Hershey's, Tiki is Godiva.

And #1 is ...

LL Cool TJ
1. TJ Holmes (CNN/News Room/News Desk): Have you ever seen someone be so sexy while reading the news it makes start catching feelings? Have you stayed in on the weekends just to hear a newscaster talk, just to see him smile? Did you know someone could be so smooth, so smart, so cool? TJ Holmes is cool. He's Ed Bradley cool. He hasn't done as much as Ed and isn't as well traveled, but Holmes is on the come up. He is a news man with brilliant potential. He's also the most gorgeous in a line up of gorgeous black men that CNN offers. When he and co-anchor Kyra Phillips trade barbs, or when he talks sweet to Susan Lisovicz over stock prices the chemistry is popping. Not because something is going on, but because Holmes is that smooth. He can make you believe that he could talk anything and anyone into sexy submission. Now while I have more or less a crush on all the men listed above, Holmes is the only one who I fantasize about getting whisked away in too hot journalist love heaven. Where we discuss politics and what to name our children. It's that deep. I love TJ. But I'd like to see him branch out more. Experiment a little. One can't rely on hotness alone to keep their number #1 Ed Bradley Award spot. Meant to be filled with hot men who can work the news, Ed Bradley style, kicking the inverted pyramid and taking names, all while emanating a smooth jazz vibe scored by Wynton Marcellus.

After all, Scott Pelley is one eyeglass rip-off from making a run for hottest news dude in 2009.