My good friend Digby finished 5th in a Villager poll on who influences what we discuss.

NationalJournal.com's panel of top political bloggers was asked to join in the survey of National Journal and The Atlantic Wire about which columnists, bloggers and television or radio commentators most helped to shape their opinion or worldview. No one received votes from both the left and right; of the 63 people named in total, only 23 appeared on more than one of the 22 combined ballots.

Related coverage: See how National Journal's panel of 375 Political and Congressional Insiders responded.

LEFT-LEANING Total points

Paul Krugman 23

Rachel Maddow 16

Frank Rich 13

Bill Moyers 11

Digby 9

RIGHT-LEANING Total points
Charles Krauthammer 27

Rush Limbaugh 24

Mark Steyn 18

Jonah Goldberg 11

Eugene Volokh 9

UPDATE: As a side note, I used to be on the National Journal's voting list, but didn't have time to vote on all their polls so I didn't cast a vote or her total would have been higher. She is the best and the brightest writer we have in the liberal blogosphere and even if you do not agree with all her takes you can be sure that she's always thought provoking. Bravo Digby.

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It appears Chuck Todd didn't take too kindly to Jeremy Scahill's drubbing he received on Real Time the other night. From Glenn Greenwald:

According to Scahill (via email), Todd approached him after the Maher show and the following occurred:

Right as we walked off stage, he said to me "that was a cheap shot." I said "what are you talking about?" and he said "you know it." I then said that I monitor msm coverage very closely and asked him what was not true that I said on the show. He then replied: "that's not the point. You sullied my reputation on TV."

Media stars are so unaccustomed to being held accountable for the impact of their behavior -- especially when they're on television -- that they consider it a grievous assault on their entitlement when it happens.

Check out the entire post where Glenn's got much more on some similar events going on lately besides just his own dust up with Chuck Todd. Joe Klein got into it with Aimai of NoMoreMisterNiceBlog who happens to be I.F. Stone's granddaughter. Glenn and Marcy Wheeler had an ongoing feud with Marc Ambinder of The Atlantic. And now we've got Scahill and Todd's back and forth on Real Time.

Glenn summed all of this up much better than I could ever hope to:

Todd's condescending responses illustrate the same point as the above episodes with Klein and Ambinder: in the eyes of Beltway mavens, those who warned about and worked against the radicalism and lawbreaking of the Bush administration are the fringe, crazed, out-of-touch radicals. While Todd was fiddling around with pretty colored maps and fun polling games, Scahill was courageously investigating one of the most corrupt, dangerous and lethal private corporations in the world, yet it's Todd who understands and must solemnly explain the hardened realities of politics to Scahill, the confused and silly Leftist.

There's little question that when people look back at this period in American history, it will be difficult to comprehend what happened in the Bush era -- and especially how we blithely started a devastating war over complete fiction, while simultaneously instituting a criminal torture regime and breaking whatever laws we wanted. But far more remarkable still will be the fact that, other than a handful of low-level sacrificial lambs, those responsible -- both in politics and the establishment media -- not only suffered no consequences, but continued to wield exactly the same power, with exactly the same level of pompous self-regard, as they did before all of that happened. Looking back several decades or more from now, who will possibly be able to understand how that happened: the almost perfect inverse relationship between one's culpability and the price they paid for what they unleashed?

In fairness to Chuck Todd, he was not one of the ones out there cheerleading for the war and I really liked him when I'd see him on C-SPAN's Washington Journal about every morning when he was working for The Hotline. He's a numbers guy. He was one of the best in the business at reading and sorting through the numbers on how our elections were going to turn out. I don't think coming to MSNBC however, has been good for Chuck Todd.

And now he's on there with the rest of them repeating the narrative of how terrible for the Democrats it would be if any investigations are allowed to happen, and if anyone from the Bush administration is held accountable. It's all politics to Chuck.

Here are my thoughts on that. One of the reasons it would be turned into a game of politics is because Chuck Todd and the rest of the beltway media would report it as such, instead of a legal matter. What Chuck Todd is relaying is what the Republican Party would like to see happen if the Democrats or this Department of Justice goes after the law breaking. It would be the choice of those in the media to validate the Republicans' sniping, which would inevitably follow (and already has for that matter), or to dismiss them as playing partisan politics in order to cover up law breaking for political gain.

Of course since the media was part and parcel in allowing the atrocities of the last eight or nine years, that's never going to happen.

It's always nice to see a journalist who gets it, and Mike Lupica understands what's really going on with the anti-healthcare reform protesters:

The woman went to an airplane hangar in Belgrade, Mont., the other day, prepared to actually listen to President Obama talk about health care reform in America.

She has watched, the way the rest of us have watched, as the debate about health care has turned into a sideshow and in some cases even more of a freak show than Glenn Beck's. Now she wanted to see for herself, along with more than 1,000 others, if it would happen this way in Montana.

This is what she said about the event when it was over:

"Yes, there were a few protesters en route. But the Montanans who were excited to hear the President far outnumbered the fringe groups."

Then she said this about Obama: "He was smart, fair, funny."

So this wasn't an occasion when people with legitimate concerns and legitimate points to make were overwhelmed by the wing nuts and screamers who take their marching orders from right-wing radio and television and the Internet.

Those idiots come to these town hall meetings more to be seen than heard, and think creating chaos makes them great Americans.

Those people have been convinced by the current culture that we are dying to hear from them, and the louder the better. People who think that all they need to star in their own reality series is a couple of TV crews. But then this is Twitter America now, where no thought is supposed to go unspoken.

We hear that all of this is democracy in action. It's not. It's boom-box democracy, people thinking that if they somehow make enough noise on this subject, they can make Obama into a one-term President.

The most violent opposition isn't directed at his ideas about health care reform. It is directed at him. It is about him. They couldn't make enough of a majority to beat the Harvard-educated black guy out of the White House, so they will beat him on an issue where they see him as being most vulnerable.

In the process, they'll come after him on health care the way Kenneth Starr went after Bill Clinton on oral sex in the Oval Office.

With that kind of zealotry, screaming about government programs as if Medicare isn't one. It is why so many of them, all these wild-eyed red faces in the crowd, look completely certifiable, screaming about how Obama wants to kill Grandma, as if he's suddenly turned into Jack Kevorkian.

It took less than one year for Sarah Palin to go from being the Governor of Alaska, to VP candidate for the GOP, to civilian. She knows how to whip a crowd of bigots into a frenzy, she knows how to be folksy, but apparently, even Fox News fans don't think she's fit to hold political office. They chose for her instead, the job of homemaker: (warning: link goes to Fox News)

About a third of Americans think the best job for Palin is homemaker (32 percent), while nearly one in five see her as a television talk show host (17 percent). Vice president of the United States comes in third (14 percent), followed closely by college professor (10 percent), with president coming last (6 percent).

College professor? I'm not touching that one. It's widely known that Palin is testing the talk radio waters, but so far she's not having much luck. Radio giant Clear Channel has already passed, saying she's not capable of sustaining a full three hour show. I'm sure she could easily talk for three hours, but man, I'd need a barrel full of painkillers to make it through.

Blue Gal chimes in: Assuming that Sarah Palin's proper job is "homemaker" may appear sexist, but the question itself was sexist. Looking at the raw data for the poll (warning, also a FOX link, but essential in determining how the questions were slanted) the ONLY choices given to respondents were those listed above: President, VP, talk show host, college professor, and homemaker. Democratic respondents clearly thought the question was a joke when 45% of them said "homemaker," in other words, "stay home, Sarah." I'd like to know why 10% of Republican respondents admitted they "don't know" what job would be best for her: comin' up empty, Mister Steele? I've always said, quite sincerely, that Sarah Palin would be a huge success on the Crystal Cathedral/Focus on the Family mega-church lecture circuit.

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(Peter Asher (L) and Gordon Waller (R) - A very important wing of the British Invasion of 1964)

I was very sad to learn today that Gordon Waller (the Gordon half of Peter and Gordon) died yesterday at his home in Connecticut.

It reminded me of how much of a presence Peter and Gordon were, during the British Invasion of 1964 and just how long ago that was.

I never saw them live, but rather via television. Their popularity waned by the end of the 60's, with Peter (Asher) turning to producer and being responsible for a string of hits for artists such as Linda Ronstadt.

But it was their sound, their voices that made such an impression. Several of their early hits were written by Lennon-McCartney, and I'm sure it had much to do with their initial success, but they were talented song writers on their own.

By way of a tribute, I dug up a live version of "World Without Love" originally featured on an album "Tribute to Michael Holiday" recorded in 1964 and added as a bonus on a Japanese CD release in 2002.

I doubt if it's been heard very much. I'm sure you're all familiar with the hit studio version. I thought I would offer something special.

Because they were and Gordon was.

Right on cue, Rush Limbaugh attacks Al Franken's victory in Minnesota.

LIMBAUGH: Look at this. From Iran's press television, the state-run media in Iran: Ahmadinejad gains votes in recount, just like in our country! It had -- just like in our country. Norm Coleman wins in Minnesota in a recount, and they keep having recounts, and Al Franken wins. So they had the recount in Iran, and shazzam! Ahmadinejad gained votes!

Hmmm, what to say, what to say. Are we all living in Iran now?

Good news, Dollhouse is coming back for a second season. Maybe FOX will let Whedon do his thing for once. I heard they loved his new story arc. When will FOX learn that "stand alone" episodes don't usually work very well for Joss or most Sci-Fi shows if they want to build a loyal audience. We'll see. Here's a cool Whedon fan site.

Bad news, the creators of Reaper have left and signed with a new network so the CW is saying it may not last. It's a consistently smart and funny show so if you want to contact the CW to keep it going, click here.
Jenny Wade was a great addition to the cast as Ben's new Demon girlfriend. The Nick C Blog has more on Reaper.

Tonight is the end of a great Sci-Fi series. It's been a tremendous ride and a great triumph for Ronald D. Moore, all the other very talented writers, actors and everyone else that worked on the show. The look and feel of the space drama was intense and as suffocating to us as it was to the crew. The plot line is really about how people interact on the confined spaces of a battleship out at sea. Only the great blue waters are now the infinite wonders of space. From the mini-series until it's conclusion tonight---they have given us a great ride.

"So Say We All!"

Canada is equally impressed:

Frequently described by reviewers as "the best show on television," Newsday summed up "Battlestar's" rocket-fuelled magic like this: "You can look at this saga any way you want - as a political drama, religious debate, psychological suspenser, sci-fi adventure, deep metaphor or just plain fun -and it's scintillating from every angel."

The Los Angeles Times went further, praising "Battlestar's" ability "to anchor fantasy with vivid and recognizable human psychology." It declared the cult hit "a significant piece of television."

So as the countdown to the frackkin' end continues and fans fire through possible finale endings we ask you this: What will you do now that your Friday night sci-fi fix is heading into oblivion?

"I'll be waiting for 'Caprica,' the new spin-off," says Zotti. Set 50 years earlier, "Caprica will tell the story of how humanity first created the robotic Cylons who would later plot to destroy human civilization. The show will launch in North America in early 2010.

Wikipedia has a lot of info on the show.
You can always pick up the DVD's too. You won't be disappointed.

Heroes and The Sarah Connor Chronicles could use a little of that Jane Espenson---Ronald Moore touch.

Ray Wise is just a hoot playing the devil in the CW's pretty cool "Reaper" series. He's one of those great character actors who flies under the radar. You may remember him as Laura Palmer's father in the great "Twin Peaks" series by David Lynch.

For a little fun today: Why don't you list either your favorite characters, show or actors other than the big stars. I really love "Burn Notice," by the way...

From Go Left TV:

The collapse of mainstream media didn't happen overnight. It was the effort of years and years of work by the GOP, which culminated in the 1980's when Ronald Reagan repealed the Fairness Doctrine and loosened media ownership rules. As Mike Papantonio of Air America's Ring of Fire explains, this paved the way for media consolidation and the decline of the American press.

Part one:

Part two:

Part three:

If you thought we needed another reason to consider Joe Lieberman a wanker---there is this. I watched HBO's movie called Recount the other day and it reminded me once again about his painful appearance on Meet the Press where he gets scared out of doing what was right and does everything he can during the Florida election scandal in 2000 to get Bush elected

Download | play Download | play

Lieberman: "My own point of view, if I was there, I would give the benefit of the doubt to ballots coming in from military personnel, generally," Mr. Lieberman said on NBC's "Meet the Press." Of the local canvassing boards, he said, "If they have the capacity, I'd urge them to go back and take another look, because again, Al Gore and I don't want to ever be part of anything that would put an extra burden on the military personnel abroad."

The conciliatory words came a day after Gov. George W. Bush's campaign and its surrogates accused the Democrats of a systematic campaign to have military votes, which are presumed to strongly favor Mr. Bush, thrown out, while some service members voiced anger at that possibility.

"We're getting kicked around for saying illegal votes are illegal votes," said a Democratic congressman from Florida. "The Republicans got a lot of illegal votes counted on Friday that never would have been let in before, and now we're the ones retreating? Incredible."

Telephone: Gore is going ballistic, what the hell just happened?

Klain: I think Joe Lieberman just entered the 2004 primaries. <correction> (h/t seth)

Thanks, Joe. Help John McCain all you want.

NY Times:

"We're getting kicked around for saying illegal votes are illegal votes," said a Democratic congressman from Florida. "The Republicans got a lot of illegal votes counted on Friday that never would have been let in before, and now we're the ones retreating? Incredible."