This was an interesting day for news shows. Bachmann had won, ever so slightly defeating Ron Paul, for the Iowa straw poll - about as meaningless an exercise in futility as one can imagine. Then, right before the straw poll, cowpunch Rich Perry, currently employed as governor of Texas, announced that he was getting into the republican race. The press gave him about as much attention as they did the straw poll.

Nonetheless, David Gregory had Bachmann on "Meet the Press" for an interview. I wouldn't call it extended, but it was more than just soundbites. He did get under Bachmann's skin a few times, but pulled back when she got a little too flustered. He had played a clip of her making statements about gays - about how horrible and twisted they were. She tried to deny that she had said what she said, but she isn't that good of a lawyer. That would have been a tall order for any lawyer.

If she is the republican nominee, Obama is just about guaranteed a second term. I don't think that will happen.

But the most entertaining part of the Sunday news shows that I watched was Roger Simon's appearance on "Inside Washington." He was there taking the place of Mark Shields. I like Mark Shields, although I do think that he is almost over-exposed, but Simon's view on things, and his way of expressing them, were refreshing and right on.

For example, he summarized the Rick Perry entrance into the republican race by asking if he would end up being "all hat and no cattle." Later, he laid out the almost inevitable upcoming political scenario in which the congress passes an extension of the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, and Obama vetos it. He said, interestingly, and this is a place where I'm not sure I agree with him, that the republicans want to avoid that scenario. That suggests that there may be a deal in the works on the deficit supercommittee. I find that hard to believe.

I thought that the McLaughlin group got off on a weird tanget. They spent too much time talking about whether or not Obama's statement in the middle of the day last week when the stock market fell over 600 points was a good idea or not. It is a fact that the stock market fell another 300 plus points after his statement, but who is to say that it might not have fallen a thousand points if he hadn't made his statement. This was a cheap shot at Obama I thought, and a waste of time when there were a lot more important things to talk about.

As a sidebar, I read in a current Newsweek story about Gloria Steinham that she had Mort Zuckermann as one of her several boyfriends. Wow! No accounting for taste!