I can't believe that McLaughlin didn't bring up that his long time right wing commentator Pat Buchanan was the one name of a DC talking news head that popped out of Obama's mouth on the NBC "inside the White House" specials this last week when Brian Williams asked him if, when he was zapping around the TV late at night, he stumbles on some talking heads talking about him, whether he stops and listens.

Obama said, no, and basically said that he knew a lot of the folks, knew their roles, and didn't think that they had anything really new to contribute to him. He mentioned by name one name - Pat Buchanan. And, it really wasn't that derogatory. I mean, it did tend to put Buchanan in a box, but hey, he may belong there if he can't find a way out. But, as they say, all publicity is good, and Buchanan is a voice for this country (for better or worse) if he can transcend the deterioration of the republican party and remain in the mainstream, even from a more traditional "conservative" point of view. Actually, I like some of the traditional "conservative" values, such as paying your bills, and being modest.

So, why didn't McLaughlin allow that to be mentioned on his show? This happened well before Friday, and they had to know about it. Curious. I would consider it a compliment and a hype to the show to be the one mentioned, good or bad, by Obama, and all in all it wasn't that bad. So why wouldn't McLaughlin push this on his show. Afterall, he isn't afraid to insult or criticize his panelists - he does it all the time. I suspect they discussed it and made a conscious decision not to mention it. Bad decision.

WPSD (Paducah affiliate NBC, Paxton Media Group) usually has Wall St. Week in review @ 6:00am Sunday morning, Chris Matthews 6:30, Today 7, and Meet the Press 8. (central am time) Today they cut Wall St., Matthews and Meet the Press and had Today show on 2 hours. This was to accomodate the Men's Finals of the French Open.

That was bad scheduling. I know that Home Depot probably pays pretty good for "Hometime" but come on, this is Sunday morning, and we deserve at least one news show. Weekend Today, bless its heart, doesn't qualify for that.

But I did manage to watch Stephanopolous and McLaughlin Group. Of course, the first topic was Obama's Cairo speech to the Muslim community. The question discussed was not whether or not he had been "successful" in communicating with the "Muslim world," everyone agreed to that. A question was raised as to whether or not he "went too far" in capitulating the Muslims at the cost of Israel.

One of the shows, I think it was Stephanopolous, where one of the participants said that the Obama team had, by the end of the week, themselves thought that they had "gone too far." I don't know if I believe that. Doesn't seem like the kind of info that comes out of that group.

Stephanopolous had Cynthia Tucker, from the Atlanta Journal, on his show, apparently for the first time. I still think she was wrong for being so against Cynthia McKinney. It taints my view of her. But I thought that she did a good job on the show today. She needs to have a video taped debate with Cynthia McKinney to air some of the allegations she has made about McKinney over the years. Instead, we have Larry Johnson in her seat. Sure, he's an African-American Democrat, but come on, do you really the Democratic platform is better off with one more party hack rubber stamp, or someone who is going to really challenge the platform from the left?

The answer to that one is easy. But, McKinney has moved on to become the presidential candidate for the Green Party. That's a long term investment, but one that I am glad she is making. The cream rises to the top, and if McKinney stays around in the public scene long enough, she will grow in support, because she is trying to address problems that Obama won't be addressing.