I saw three Sunday news talking heads shows this morning - Chris Matthews, Meet the Press, and ABC Sunday Morning. Once again, on KFVS, the CBS affiliate out of the Cape Girardeau, MO, both CBS Sunday Morning and Face the Nation were not shown - instead, they were replaced by African-American based news talk shows. These were interesting shows, and I applaud KFVS for airing them. I’m not sure they should be pre-empting Sunday Morning and Face the Nation for them - instead, let’s pre-empt other shows like stupid game shows and show more intelligent issues discussion shows more often.

I am becoming more and more convinced that Chris Matthews is trying to take over for the up and coming retirement of McLaughlin, leader of the long time “McLaughlin Group” PBS news talking head show. (featuring Pat Buchanan, Eleanor Clift, Clarence Page, and others) Matthews show is pretty much the same as McLaughlin’s, only not quite as good, even though that doesn’t mean it isn’t good. It just isn't quite an authentic as the original.

McLaughlin had his annual show where he asks his participants about what was some high water mark event in a certain issue venue that occurred during the past year. For example, he might ask the panel for their opinion on what was the biggest political blunder of the year. All of the panelist would give their opinion, and then McLaughlin would give the “final answer.”

Matthew’s show was about identical. However, it was weakened because he gave a “multiple choice” examination instead of just asking for opinions. These pre-determined answers, which most of the contestants, uh, I mean, participants, stuck to, gave the impression to me of trying to lead political thinking. That weakened the presentation. Give it up Mr. Matthews. Your opinion isn’t any better than anyone else’s. Let the talking heads talk on their own!

For example, how could two of the panelists say that Hillary’s very minor mis-speaking about Spitzer’s proposal to give undocumented workers driver’s licenses was the biggest political turning point of the year? Give me a break. I’m not for Hillary, but I’m not against her that much either. I just think that it’s time for a change, and I don’t see Hillary as a significant change. I fit right into the mainstream media’s characterization of the race, I think, but it’s true. But if anyone thinks that Hillary's answer about that question in that one debate was THE defining political moment of the year, that stretches the imagination compared with statements made by others, like former attorney general Gonzales, Larry Craig, and even Bush himself. What about Bush's statement referring to WWIII in relation to Iran? Is Chris Matthews that fixated on Hillary? Based on his facination and continuing coverage of Hillary throughout the year, I would say that Mr. Matthews has more than just a passing interest in Ms. Hillary.

Meet the Press had a long interview with Ron Paul by Tim Russert. Kristi and I both thought that Russert was mean and kind of dirty. He didn’t ask one question about the environment or public lands. He didn't give Paul one softball. Nevertheless, Paul handled himself well, and will likely get a lot more votes than predicted. There’s a lot of people out there that think that we are wasting our money protecting and arming other governments that don’t really like us. Paul makes some very bold statements about our foreign policy that I give him credit for having the nerve to say. His push for smaller government has an appeal, and his call to do away with the “income” tax is applauded by many who hate April 15. But government is never that simple, especially for a complex nation like ours. But we probably could (and are doing) do worse for a president.

Stephanopolous had Guiliani. I declared Guiliani toast several weeks ago when the news came out that he had spent city money on security for his weekend trysts to his mistress’ place. Even though he gave a decent interview, I don’t change that view.

Their roundtable was interesting. The Republicans on the panel - Will and Roberts, are now supporting McCain. McCain may be the most formidable opponent against the Democrats, and I’m sure the Dems don’t want to face him. But I think the Republicans are only doing what the Dems did 4 years ago when they picked Kerry. But it is interesting that McCain’s stock now is rising. Both Will and Roberts said that this could be a brokered convention for the Republicans - their first in decades.

Also, everyone is saying that Edwards is making some kind of surge in Iowa. Obama is starting to mention him in his stump speech. I still think Obama is going to win Iowa, New Hampshire, and S. Carolina, on the way to the nomination. But, Edwards is certainly fighting and making it interesting. And of course, the Democratic machine of the Clinton’s grinds forward, and no one knows for sure how much it will bulldoze into it’s pile when the time comes. Oh, isn’t it grand? Jan. 5, 2008 is going to be a great day for the pundits.