He not only went to the Tsunami zone, but really dug in to help out when he wasn't on the air, he's been back to NOLA multiple times, and instead of hanging out at the Convenction Center he shagged a ride in boats and went out to help rescue people, he brought us the story of the blind old lady wo refused to leave her house with no roof because they wouldn't let her take her seeing-eye dog on the boats he talked and talked and she wasn't leaving, finally he took the boat rescuer aside and worked something out so they could take her dog and he guaranteed her he'd help her stay with the dog or vis-versa.. he followed up to see how she was doing several times after.. also, has and is still trying to get dogs adopted and out of the area (I'm a sucker for dogs)
He was one of the few reporters that has and is the first anchor on the ground in Israel to cover this conflict... so I'm not a CNN fan, but I do like Anderson 90% of the time. He tries not to bring any personal bias into his reporting and I appreciate that about him, too... once in a while he does, but most of the time he doesn't.
I'm with ya about Anderson Cooper - you described exactly the way I see him.
I didn't say I don't like him...