KT Tunstall--Black Horse and the Cherry Tree

No, no, no, no, these are not the ones for me. I'm looking at the bobblehead parade and I'm wondering how much more decisively Obama would have to have won before David Gregory would stop inviting the non-President of the United States John McCain as a guest. I mean, how many times did Tim Russert have on Al Gore or John Kerry during GWB's terms? It would be one thing if Gregory mentioned the absolute idiocy of bringing Sarah Palin to the national attention, but you know he'd never do that.

Elsewhere along the dial, the prevailing topics are Sonia Sotomayor's upcoming nomination hearings and of course, health care. If you want a good laugh, you may want to check C-Span, where their "Newsmakers" show will highlight two Republican representatives (Burgess-TX, Cassidy-LA), who will map out the Republican health care plans. One would presume it would be a VERY short program: "Privatize! We don't wanna be no socialist country!" Done.

ABC's "This Week" - Sens. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., and Jon Kyl, R-Ariz.

CBS' "Face the Nation" - Sens. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Jeff Sessions, R-Ala.

NBC's "Meet the Press" - Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

NBC's "The Chris Matthews Show" - Panel: Dan Rather, Joan Biskupic, Helene Cooper, Pete Williams. Topics: How will Sonia Sotomayor change the U.S. Supreme Court if she is confirmed? How has President Obama made himself so effective at absorbing shocks? Will the Republicans support a health care bill with new taxes? YES: 7 NO: 5; Will Republicans unite as a bloc to oppose any health care reform bill? YES: 9 NO: 3.

CNN's "State of the Union/Reliable Sources" - Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius; Sens. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., Judd Gregg, R-N.H., Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., and Kent Conrad, D-N.D.; Rep. Patrick Murphy, D-Pa.

CNN's "Fareed Zakaria GPS" - U.S. Secretary of Treasury Tim Geithner on the economic crisis. Did those green shoots we were seeing turn brown? And is Geithner doing enough to fix the problem? Plus, one of the biggest thorns in Prime Minister Putin's side. Obama quietly met with him in Russia this week. You'll hear from the leader of the Russian opposition, Boris Nemtsov.

"Fox News Sunday" - Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and John Cornyn, R-Texas; Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va.

So what's catching your eye this morning?

   After the shocking death of NBC's Tim Russert on Friday that stunned the political world, NBC News' signature show is now without an anchor. The LA Times says they have heard that the network is considering three hosts already under contract.

Speculation on possible successors centers on three on-air personalities already under contract to NBC: David Gregory, the former White House correspondent recently given his own MSNBC show, "Race for the White House"; Chris Matthews, host of MSNBC's long-running "Hardball"; and Joe Scarborough, the former congressman and host of "Morning Joe" on MSNBC, according to talent representatives who declined to speak on the record for fear of jeopardizing relationships with network management...read on

I would say that Gregory will be the fill-in host for the time being, but in my mind, he's not strong enough to take over the show full time. Scott Collins writes that Olbermann is considered an ideologue, so he's out of the running too, but if that's the case, then The Scar should also not be a real possibility. If NBC had ever considered Chris as a viable candidate for the job, then he would have hosted MTP already as a fill-in for Russert when he took time off from the show in the past. Matthews never had a shot there and since he barely reads the tele-prompter, so I'd say he's got no shot either. NBC might give him a few shows anyway, but I don't see him as a realistic choice. I think NBC has to either promote some local talent that we haven't had a chance to see yet or look outside their circle and find a strong personality to take over the reigns of the number one Sunday talk show that brings in at least fifty million dollars a year. Chuck Todd is not the answer either so, who do you think should take over the show?

Above is a brief segment from Senator Hillary Clinton's vote for the Iraq War resolution. The complete speech can be seen in its entirety here (part 1) and here (part 2).

This morning on Meet the Press sparks flew as Russert brought up Senator Clinton's vote yet again. Transcript is here.

Download | play Download | play

Tim Russert contrasts what she said at the time with what Barack Obama said in 2002 (then an Illinois state senator):

"I know that Saddam poses no imminent and direct threat to the United States, or to his neighbors. ... I know that even a successful war against Iraq will require a U.S. occupation of undetermined length, at undetermined cost, with undetermined consequences. I know that" "invasion of Iraq without a clear rationale" "without strong international support will only fan the flames of the Middle East, and encourage the worst, rather than the best, impulses of the Arab world, and strengthen the recruitment arm of al-Qaeda. I am not opposed to all wars. I'm opposed to dumb wars."

RUSSERT: Who had the better judgment at that time?

Senator Clinton briefly outlined why she voted as she did, that her vote was not one for preemptive war but for further UN weapons inspections, and that she had President Bush's personal assurances that all avenues would be taken to prevent war, war as an option only of last resort.

Then a curious thing takes place. Rather than debate Senator Obama's judgment with her own, there is a long, rather tortured argument over the consistency of Obama's statements on the Iraq War, voting patterns over funding, and even questions about his political motivations. It was all rather perplexing to watch, seemingly taken from the Karl Rove playbook of attacking your opponent's strength.

Obama shot back:

I have to point out that instead of telling the American people about her positive vision for America, Senator Clinton spent an hour talking about me and my record in a way that was flat out wrong. She suggested that I didn't clearly and unambiguously oppose the war in Iraq when it is absolutely clear and anyone who has followed this knows that I did. I stood up against the war when she was voting for it, at a time when she didn't read the intelligence reports or give diplomacy a chance. ...I have to say that she started this campaign saying that she wanted to make history and lately she has been spending a lot of time rewriting it. I know that in Washington it is acceptable to say or do anything it takes to get elected but I really don't think that is the kind of politics that is good for our party and I don't think it is good for our country and I think that the American people will reject it in this election.

Since New Hampshire this election seems to have entered a new, decidedly more personal phase. One which incidentally does not include John Edwards as he was barely mentioned, either by Mrs Clinton or by Russert.

A reader emailed us this clip and it's pretty funny.

                                                                          Ziaspace Video not currently available