american people? and if they give you permission, how do you implement it? so, in that sense, everything i've done has been a preparation for this. >> mr. speaker, thank you very much. >> best of luck. that's all for us tonight. tomorrow, we'll talk to the author of the hottest political out there. for now, ac 360 starts riets now. >> we begin tonight with breaking news. for mississippi, a judge has issued a temporary injunction just earlier this ening that's going to keep hardened prisoners behind bars. that's a response by haley barber that's out raged crime victims in their families. now, in his last days in office, barber approved full pardons for 199 people, including 14 convicted murters. mississippi hood general went back to block some of those pardons. he said they're a slap in the

face to everyone in law enforcement. first, though, four of the convicted murder who is received full pardons were released on sunday, according to the mississippi department of corrections. one link between them, as inmates, they all worked at the governor's mansion on a type of work release program. one of those men is david gatlan. the shooting victim of the family he left behind are in a word, scared. martin? >> anderson, it's been a very chaotic last couple of hours as the legal wrangling has been underway to try to at least bring to a halt. as you point out, there has been success tonight on the part of the mississippi attorney general. they've got that temporary injunction. what that means is that those who are still in prison who have not been released, they'll be in prison. as for those murderers, they're out but they'll have to report to the department of corrections on a daily basis.

right now, they are still essentially free. what that means for the families and the victims, they are not going to sleep until those men are back behind bars. >> i went for a strange drive with randy. >> you're feeling the butterflies? >> a little bit. you know, i don't know. >> we ended up at a trailer park. >> well, how does it feel to be back in the neighborhood? >> it's a little bit weird. >> that's probably because this is where he nearly died. july 2nd, 1993. the same trailer park. and that's randy on the stretcher. >> i heard the first gunshot. he had stepped up to tammy and shot her with that baby's head no more than eight inches from where he shot her. just real close. and he came around the edge of the bed, put the gun between my eyes and i turned my head sideways. that probably saved my life. >> it was a very, very bloody crime scene. two people shot in the head.

just very, very horrible. >> got to my mom's house and she came up to me and hugged me and she said he killed her, tiffany. and i knew immediately that it was david gatlan. >> david gatlan shot his estranged wife tammy ellis. and then shot her friend, randy walker. walker survived, ellis didn't. david ruth was the first police officer on scene and has never forgotten what gatlan did. >> i think he is a barbaric individual that can just senselessly cold-blooded shoot someone like that and especially holding his child. his own child. and him leave that child laying on the floor. >> but the governor saw gath r lan dimpblt. barber called him diligent and dedicated. barber also cancelled gatlan's life sentence, setting him free.

you heard right. as of early this week, david gatlan, convicted murderer is a free man. >> a full and unconditional pardon. >> yeah. >> which means he has the same rights you have. he has the same rights i have. >> including to carry a gun. >> yeah. >> do you worry about david gatlin? >> um, yes. >> are you afraid? >> i'm afraid he will come after my family, randy's family. and, like randy says, finish what he started. >> she also feels gatlin will try to contact the son he left in his dead mother's arm who is is now 18 and the family is desperately trying to protect. so with a simple swipe of the pen, barber has triggered a strange role reversal. gatlin goes free while his victims are sentenced to spend the rest of their live ins fear. it's not just gatlin. victims say they have the same fear for dozens and dozens of

convicted criminals barber turned free. >> how is the state of mississippi better off? how is the country better off? all of these guys aren't staying in mississippi. they're going to be all over the yielts. >> do you feel betrayed? >> i feel that the system worked for the victims in this family. but i feel that the governor, at that time, is the one that let this family down. not the system. >> in my heart, i would like to think that he didn't know because if he did, we've had a monster for a governor, you know. nonhuman family. >> senior analyst joins me now. attorney general, thanks for being with us. the court has just issued a temporary injunction which you sought blocking the release of any of the pardoned prisoners until the hearing takes place.

is it the sheer number of pardons? other mississippi governors have pardoned murders before. >> that's correct. but in this instance, he didn't follow what's required by the constitution. i just got out of the courtroom where the court ib shoed a temporary injunction because our constitution says in order for a pardon to issue, the person who is applying for it has to publicize in the local paper for 30 days prior to the grant of the pardon. we've already found that that wasn't done on many. the court ordered that the 21 that are presently being processed by the department of corrections, she has made the department of corrections stop processing those until we have a hearing a week from monday. the four murders and one armed robber are out and they will have to report back to the department of corrections daily. i wish we could have had gone out and arrested them, but the law wouldn't allow me to do that. so we're doing the best thing that we can. and as far as the other pardons,

we'll have to go back through all of those to see if there was any publication. >> so if there was no publication 30 days before, do you -- and the folks are still -- are out, already, having already been released, do you want to -- would you call for them to come back to prison? >> that's correct. they'll have to report to the court unless they can show that it was published. >> so all the pardon wills be null and void? >> right. they'll have to go back and serve their sentence. you know, former governor barber, he kind of ran the state and the governor's office like boss hog. this is a simple constitutional provision. it was very clear that he had to have this information. he didn't obtain it before he signed these pardons. that has caused a public safety issue. these families are afraid out here. these victims have been through a terrible amount. it's a slap in the face to all law enforcement in the state of mississippi.

i haven't had a chance to check the list, my former customers that i prosecuted years ago. so this is a significant problem. but i think we're going to get a handle on it. i think the evidence that we've already seen, he violated the constitution and those many, if not most of those so called pardons he gave will be held null and void. >> mr. hood, i wonder if i could just ask you a question about this provision requiring publication of the application for a pardon 30 days before the pardon is granted. in your experience, has this ever been done? in the earlier pardons, earlier in barber's term, had this been honored, this requirement to publish application for the part? >> yes, i mean, there's, you know, when you apply, the prohort sense you a packet what you have to do. and many of them have followed it. and, in fact, just two yores

ago, because of some of governor barber's actions, we had to pass legislation requiring him to give noes to the victim and an opportunity to be heard before he issued a pardon. so we passed a law and he signed it. he completely violated that. he never sent any information to these victims and gave them a chance to respond. it's just apparently something that they're, again, he's trying to rule the state like boss hog and he didn't think the rule applied to him. >> attorney general, a lot of folks maybe not know you are the only democrat holding statewide office in mississippi. obviously governor barber is republican. some are going to say your actions are politically motivated? >> no, there's so many upset law enforcement officers that are republicans. this isn't a partisan issue. either you followed the constitution or you didn't. the judge found that the constitution is clear that it appears the governor didn't follow it in many instances. i think by the time this is over with, everyone who can go online

and find section 124 of the mississippi constitution will agree. >> and, jeff, you agree, you just read the section. >> i have to say, i was unfamiliar with this provision. most states, and certainly the federal government, does not have this provision. the president can pardon anyone he wants. and it's been controversial. it says no pardon can go into e fekt. i think these will be overturned unless they can prove that these applications were made in the newspaper. >> governor barber has just issued a state. statement. he says, "approximately 90% of these individuals were no longer in custody and a majority of them had been out for years. the pardons were allowed to acquire professional licenses as well as hunt and vote. my decision was based upon the

recommendation of the parole board in 90% of the cases. "how do you respond? >> the statistics kind of skew the situation. i'm not talking about those who are ill that we released on medical release or suspended sentences. the only ones that we're dealing with are those that got full pardons. and i think there's probably somewhere in the neighborhood of 175 of those of the 216 total that he's issued. so we're going to just deal with those on pardons. some may have been entitled to a pardon. i mean, you know, they may have been a grandfather and done things right out there. but you've still got follow the constitution. and the governor didn't do that. he didn't assure that that publication was done in the proper manner. and now you see the results from it. >> and, jeff, for someone like that man who was convicted of murdering that woman shooting her while he was trying to shoot the other guy, is this as if that has never happened now? >> that's the thing about pardons.

it really goes back to before the american revolution. i goes back to the power of kings. it's as if he wasn't even arrested. if you're released from prison, you're a convicted felon. you can't get a gun. you can't run from office. if you have a pardon, all of that is out the window. you can buy a gun tomorrow. you can do anything that someone who was never convicted of a crime. a pardon is a really powerful tool. >> mr. attorney general, i think a lot of people may not realize there's a long history of convicted murders in the governor's mansion. do you think this is just because governor barber knew these guys that he decided to pardon them? >> yeah. there is a history for that. but, you know, you still have to follow the law and, you know, he failed to do that and do it in a proper manner. now, he had the department of corrections try to publish notices for those five who were recently released.

they were the ones that worked at the mansion. but they didn't get them done in time. they began publication, one in particular, on december 15th. and the governor signed the pardons on january 6th. so that's not 30 days. it's out of compliance with the constitution. it's not the convict's fault. but, never the less, the law is the law and we're going to have to follow it. >> let us know what you think. we're on facebook, google plus or follow me on twitte twitter @andersoncooper. also, the shadowy super pacs paying for all of those attack ads. later, the brutal and mysterious death of a journalist in syria. this is syria's dictator launches violence to his own people. let's also check in with isha.

>> reporter: he couldn't stop yawning in court the other day. van der sloot managed to stay awake and alert enough. we'll tell you about the case against him. that and much more when "360" continues. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] entune mobile technology. ♪ stronger! ♪ stand a little taller [ male announcer ] stay seamlessly connected to your smart phone. available on the reinvented 2012 camry. from toyota. ♪ never took life too seriously... till our son was born. that day, he bought life insurance.

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keeping them honest now, the big reason the republican primary battle, especially between newt gingrich and mitt romney, not surprisingly it has to do with money with a system that allows peep and companies to donate unlimited dollars and very limited accountability and no one there to obey what few rules there are. all the major candidates were there today. mitt romney trying to make it three in awe row. he finished fourth in south carolina in 2008 but is leading this time in the polls. rick perry is standing behind bain capital. newt gingrich slamming governor romney as gov erp earned proabortion. for the rest, it's a nonstop scramble to stop mitt romney. newt gingrich described it to

piers morgan. >> this is going to be armageddon. they will come in here with everything they've got, every surrogate, every add, every negative attack. at the same time, we're going to be basically drawing a sharp contrast between a georgia-reagan con sebtive and a massachusetts moderate whose progun control, pro-choice, pro liberal judge and the voters of south carolina can decide. >> you can see all of that interview on piers morgan tonight. those ads are the kind that tore him to pieces and bought by a super pac called restoring our future. restore our future has spent nearly 4$4.5 million on anti-gingrich. before you start feeling too sorry for speaker gingrich, he hopes to spend $3.5 million in south carolina including this half hour documentary entitled when mitt came to town running

in infomercial style. the supreme court's ruling that allows people, labor relations union, anyone, really, to make donations. the pacs and campaigns are not allowed to collaborate. gingrich loyalistsened former operatives run with our future. his super pac has its own sugar daddy, if you will, casino billionaire. he's written a $5 million check. as we said, though, it is very difficult to know who's donating what. super pac have timed it so that they won't have to name names until the end of the month. and, by then, the race may be close to decided. keeping them honest, it gets worse. when you look at the fec, a coalition of watchdog groups is going after it. in their words quote, the fec is one of the most dysfunctional anyonen sis in the federal

government. it goes on quote, it is unacceptable that the only agency charged with enforcing campaign rules is largely awol. here's why. it's split three to three, democratic republican each appointed by political leaders. that deadlock has stopped a number of po ten spotential investigations from revamping the rules to take these knew super packs into account. >> they promised more hearings. joinsing us now to talk about all of that in south carolina, republican strategist president george w. bush and also democratic strategist cornell belcher and eric ericson.

so, eric, the rules say super pacs can't have any contact. is there really any chance that someone would fund a 27-minute anti-romney film? >> well, probably not. they take their cues from the candidates on the campaign trail. i think the issue is overwrought by a lot of people. and most don't care. these ads are going to come one way or another. i think the only thing sillier is assuming where we're going to have peace in the middle east. >> ari, an attack like this might hurt romney. can it end up hurting gingrich as well? >> oh, i think the bain attacks are definitely going to hurt newt as well. they could also hurt romney. there's a real rally beyond romney right now. the attack on boehner is the thing that makes capitalism and job creation work. that's the risk to newt here. but anderson, i've got to remind everybody, the reason that we have super pacs is campaign

finance reform. the parties used to be the policemen. and these things are really unheard of when the parties were in charge. they advance soft money and the money flowed elsewhere. where? to the millionaires with the money. >> cornell, isn't there a chance that they're coming too soon? they might be old news to voters by the time the general election hits? >> no, because i think it reenforces a narrative that's going to happen anyway about sort of, you know, in perry's words, this vulture capitalism. so, no, i think from a democratic standpoint, you know, they can't come soon enough. it doesn't stop what we're going to do. we're still going to follow this narrative about sort of whose side mitt romney is on. i think it's interesting that republicans are now sort of latching onto that populism. and i want to say for this, if you look at a state like south carolina where you had twice unemployment as new hampshire, there's a lot more down scale. and you have, you know, that

sort of populism strain there i think is a place where a perry or a newt can take advantage of it. and you see a main street, grass roots conservativism very sus a wall street conservativism that says you can't question authority, you can't question the rich and powerful. i think it's an interesting divide and i think perry and newt are crazy like foxes to be going after it. >> eric, are you surprised that the field is still this crowded. that basically everyone got taken out in new hampshire? >> to a degree, i am. i am surprised by john huntsman moving on. i'm a little bit surprise i by rick perry staying in. althou although, these guys think they have an avenue here. i think what a lot of people miss, anderson, is that this year isn't like prior presidential election seasons. the republicans changed the calendar. up until april 3rd, pretty much every one of the delegate races are fortunate. someone could ride this wave for a while and try to build the

minimum going in to march 6th where most of them are proportional. 60% of the delegates for the republican national convention won't be decided until after april. a lot is up for grabs. we've picked 2.601%. >> that's really the last retail politics stop before florida. florida, you need big money. >> and south carolina is not even retail. this is going to be ad wars. we're now at the phase where the old fashioned tv campaigns and you show up in the state to get on tv, iowa and new hampshire are over. each candidate is hoping to be the last man standing if someone can get him one on one. i think newt is realistically the only one left who has even a chance. and he has virtually no chance at all. i'm shocked john huntsman is staying in. john huntsman to me looks like he could be dressed in a red sock uniform in the bleachers in yankee's stadium. his base is not a republican base.

and rick perry is just not doing well. he's just not credible. rick santorum, i don't see him having the money or the credibility. that's why it comes down to newt. if that money can wound mitt romney, then newt might be the last man standing, get him one-on-one. and then because of proportionate rules, this could go a long way. but newt's going to decide that. and newt could do tremendous damage and newt could never win the presidency. so newt has to make a judgment call about what does he want to get out of being in this race. does he want to take down the likely nominee and hand the election likely to barack obama or stand in and make a point. >> all right. thank you. we're following a number of stories. back with the 360 bulletin. >> reporter: anderson, nearly 13,000 people were killed by suspected drug violence. that's by the country's attorney general who said the numbers show the rate of killings is slowing.

van der sloot pled guilty of all charges. the 24-year-old dutchman will be sentenced friday. his lawyer has asked for a reduced sentence. u.s. food safety officials say they are testing all shipments of orange juice for traces of if you think side. they learned that a juice company in brazil found low levels of function side in its juice. the company hasn't been identified. anderson, try to wrap your head around this. an international team of astrologists has calculated that on average, there's more than one planet per star in the milky way. that adds up to a grand total of one hundred billion planets in all. >> when i started to thi about that, the size of the universe, my head explodes. i cannot wrap my head around it. >> reporter: no, well, keep your head as it is. >> it's crazy. >> reporter: that is crazy.

>> it will drive you insane to think about it. >> so let's leave it there. >> i don't know, i was just thinking about this the other day. >> reporter: you were? over breakfast? >> yeah, i was worried about this. >> reporter: that's what's keeping you up at night. >> all right, we'll check back with you a little bit later on. i just add how many delegates mitt romney won and how many people came out to vote. will it be the numbers. also, chaos after a deadly mortar strike. a french journalist among those killed. [ male announcer ] it's simple physics... a body at rest tends to stay at rest... while a body in motion tends to stay in motion. staying active can actually ease arthritis symptoms. but if you have arthritis, staying active can be difficult. prescription celebrex can help relieve arthritis pain

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cnn is projekted that mitt romney took seven with 39% of the vote. ron paul picked up three. you need 1144 delegates for the nomination. as for the number of voters, it was a record, but not by much. the question tonight, does that turn out signify success for the republican candidate this fall? >> anderson, we're just two contests into the republican race. but one of the big debates is are the republicans showing the necessary intensity to beat barack obama.

let's look at the iowa kau cusses. if you look at 2008 to 2012, those numbers go up. they say that's not so great. if you want to beat our president, you need more excitement, more passion than that. the republicans say we'll see you in november. we're having the same conversation after last night's primary. again, let's look at the statistics. in 2000, 20082012, that's a new record. a lot of those voters were independents. they say republicans should not be proud about that number. so where do we go next? we go to south carolina. now, this will be a red state in november by all accounts. but will we see republican intensity? the 2000 number was not matched in 2008. it turned out it went down. what will we get in 2012? that's the question. among the factors there, the darker the area, the higher the number in this screen of voter who is say they're evangelicals. are they excited about the

psblety of a romney nomination? will they get excited about the possibility of stopping him? this was a strong tea party state in 2010. again, the darker the area, the higher the percentage of tea party voters. south carolina will add to the debate about republican intensity. republicans say democrats are overstating any problem. and the reason they say that is look at this. a new poll in florida just today, despite all of this conversation about intensity, shows governor romney in one of the biggest fall battlegrounds ahead statistically in a dead heat with the president of the united states. and they look at the most recent national poll, the cbs news poll, romney-obama. again, romney slightly ahead. so republicans say this. maybe we have room to improve. maybe we need a little bit more passion, a little bit more intensity. but at this early point in the race, we think if romney is our nominee, we'd be in pretty good shape. they think if any other republican could beat him, this debate would look pretty strong

as wem. >> john, stick around. i want to bring in our chief political analyst. glor ya, you saw what john just outlined. will that pretty much be game over? >> well, look. it would be really important for him. intensity is what mitt romney has never had before. voters in the republican primaries and caucuses have been loing for the anti-romney. and what we saw in new hampshire was that 61% of the people who voted said you know what, it would be fine with them if mitt romney were actually the nominee. if he can finally focus that intensity and get people enthusiastic about his candidacy, then i think he's on his way to getting the nomination. >> well, also, john, as long as they're all splitting the more hard core conservative vote, has to feel pretty secure. >> that still underscores the challenge of unifying the party going ahead.

but romney is a no-drama candidate. he likes to stay calm. he likes to be collected. you have an evangelical base. you have a tea party base that is very antiobama. they want more red meat. they want more passion. plus, they have some policy question. so, yes, a fractured field helps governor romney. they'd have to go on with the exclamation point to be florida. there's still a challenge to be there in november even if they have reservations. >> how important do you think it is to advance the narrative of ine evidentblety. >> well, i don't think that's what they want to do. that really never works. remember hillary clinton? there was that air of inevita e inevitability. it's generally the media that makes the candidate ineflble. i think what they want to advance is the notion of erectablety which is if he goes up to barack obama.

it's to get those people who really want to be barack obama. and if he's the nominee, his vice presidential nominee. john mccane had to pick sarah palin to get the base all ginned up. >> you mention, john, the polls show romney doing very well against obama in florida. we all remember the 2011 election very crucial. >> well, the numbers are more a reflection on a vulnerable incouple bant. not having an opponent allows them to watch the republican race. but, but, he will be running with unemployment somewhere in the ballpark of 8%. as we have this conversation about if it's romney, and let's make that a capital i-f. let's see what happens in south carolina and beyond. let's say some evangelicals stay sta home. maybe african american turn out

won't be quite as high because it won't be a historic, history-making election. maybe latino is down a little bit. maybe some liberals don't like that get-mo is still open. so as we watch for intensity on the republican side, there's still a huge question mark come november about intensity on the democratic side as well. >> coming up, reports of two dozen more deaths today in syria including a french journalist. there are questions about who's responsible. we'll fiebd out what he saw coming up next. also, a search for a missing toddler focuses now on a river in maine.

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the u.s. state department as opposition groups reported 24 people killed today, including 10 in the flash port city where there was a mortar strike. the attack caught on video. take a look. the french journalist was

among those killed in the attack. there was a rally as part of a government-authorized trip. after the strike, the scene was chaos. we need to warn you, this next video is hard to watch. you're going to see the french journalist girlfriend rushing to the car where he's been moved. >> our own nick robertson was nearby when the mortar hit. he's safe tonight. nick joins me now on the phone. you left the area less than ten minutes before the attacks happened. what did you see out there? >> well, the government told us there was a pro-government rally. they told us that they'd like us to go and cover it. we said no, we've seen enough pro-government rallies and they agreed. as we were driving away from that area, the exact area of the

strike, where the incident happened that we'd been filming in the past hour, we saw the other reporters drawing a small pro-government crowd. less than 10 min uts later, we were getting phone calls to say that the others had been hit. this was an area that just before had been bustling with people. at the same time, it was very close. just a few minutes from the front lines. we've seen wounded soldiers carried in there in an ambulance just a few minutes earlier. >> is it known who's responsible for the attacks? is that possible to find out? >> i would say, at this time rkts it's impossible to find out. the government was very quick. they said the opposition knew that foreign journalists would go in there and that's why they targeted it. i can tell you that a lot of the journalists on the bus with me would question that effect. it doesn't add up. and it doesn't make sense. and we may never know who actually fired those mortar

rounds. >> most opposition groups are desperate for journalists to come tell their story. >> absolutely they are. and only yesterday, the president of syria came on the television and absolutely blamed the very same western reporters who were caught up in that attack today for being responsible for the opposition. so for making the opposition bigger than they were. he's spent several minutes of an almost two-hour western reporters and others. and, yet, as you rightly say, the opposition has looked for journalists like us to come and cover them because their message, for the most part, is it almost impossible to hear and impossible to get out. so it doesn't add up that they would be the ones. >> you were able to go -- i mean, you're under tight control by the government. you were able to go to some antigovernment protesers. i want to play a clip. >> a level of anger and passion here is absolutely powerful. we're just a few miles from the

central damascus and this is a crowd here. this is a crowd here of perhaps several thousand people. they've taken over this whole area. they've put rocks in the road to prevent the police coming in here. >> we want to be free. look at them. 32 years only because he said that. >> who killed him? who's responsible? >> the government is responsible. >> >>. >> translator: i'm afraid when i'm talking to you right now. i'm going to lift this scarf and go spoo my home and i'm not one hundred percent sure that i'm going to be safe. if not today, if not tomorrow, they will arrest me. >> and so many have been arrested. it's amazing that these people were willing to talk to you on camera even while admitting they're a frad of what happened. >> you can see the fear in their eyes. they're so desperate to get their message out.

they feel that they're depletely cut off from any meends of telling their story of what's happening with them on a daily basis. we are into that situation because a couple of the arab league monitors had gone to find out the details of how the man who was being buried in that protest, which is also a funeral, to find out details of how he had been killed. i was told by one of the protesters, that if the monitors hadn't been there, then they would have been too afraid to be out on the street. they were grabbing an opportunity even though they knew it might cost them their freedom. this all happened -- what you saw this -- happened just less than 15 minutes' drive from the center. that gives you an idea of what's going on outside this capital. >> you also spoke to progovernment supporters on the street. i want to play some of that. >> this opposition is not legal. >> it's fot real? >> legal. >> how do you mean not legal or real?

>> it's a fake. >> how tightly are you being controlled? >> um, we couldn't go home today, for example, without government permission. and we went on a bus that was organized by the government. and there were government monitors with us. they don't interfere and stop what we do, but, at the same time, we go to the locations of their choosing. we wanted to go to some of the areas where the opposition is strongest. they wouldn't let us do that. they said it's not that we're trying to hide it. we admit that these are problem areas, but it's too dangerous. at the same time, we had more freedom, we were able to roam around and get to that opposition valley. but essentially, the government here controls our time in the country. the reason i'm talking to you on the telephone is because they banned us from being into the country any light broadcast equipment. they're keeping our visa short and then extending it for a few days at a time.

so essentially wharks they're doing is keeping us on an incredibly short leash that you can imagine will be yanked if they feel we can't stress the power. i've already been told that the lady who handles us here is upset for some reason, which is just another message of intimidation that you eave got to follow the government. that's the kind of atmosphere we work under here. >> well, nic, stay safe and keep doing what you do. up next, the latest in the disappearance of 21-month-old ayla reynolds in maine. mid grade dark roast forest fresh full tank brain freeze cake donettes rolling hot dogs bag of ice anti-freeze wash and dry diesel self-serve fix a flat jumper cables 5% cashback right now, get 5% cashback at gas stations.

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time now to make news. tonight, we're making the products of the little product the shake weight. not since the thy master. let's take a walk down memory lane. think back to the first time you saw the shake weight commercials. perhaps you were in your living room when this came on the screen and you wondered is this for real? >> this is shake weight for men. and it's going to kick your butt. >> you just shake it. back and forth.

there's no motor. no batteries. and you get the rults you want. >> now, i have nothing disparaging to say about the product itself. they had to know. they just had to know that there would be parodies. and, oh, there have been some parodies. here's a little bit of one from saturday night live. >> until now, you've seen the shake weight commercial is inconvenient. sometimes, you only catch the very end of it. but, now, there is a convenient way to see the shake weight commercial every day. introducing the shake weight commercial dvd. a lightweight dvd featuring the shake weight commercial three time ins a loop, then some static and then nothing else. >> oh, yeah, this dvd is great. first of all, you can show your friends that it's an actual commercial. >> now, i, too, have been shaken to the very core. watch what happens live with real housewife.

as he wanted to do, they made us play a game. here's what happened live in the final category. >> camille, anatomy and physiology. show me your best dance moves and i'll award the pint. >> what am i doing? i don't know. >> there you go. >> she gets the point. thank you very much. anderson cooper, show me how to use this shake weight and you get the point. >> he gets the -- he kind of gets the point. >> so camille won the game, but i like to think i won on principle. there's some things i just wasn't do on tv. i won't dance, i won't sing and i won't get tricked into using a shake weight. i will, however, play a shoulder game with camille. how can you not. >> anderson, what is camille trying to communicate with her