Glenn, its "non sequitur" and yes, reader's personal opinions about Olbermann certainly qualify.

I'm glad I found this piece because I read the NYT story about MSNBC's announced changes and regretted, once again, the decline in reporting standards at the Times. Did they just reprint a press release w/o examining it? How can they print such nonsense? There is no need to save critical examination of a news story for the opinion page.

The most salient point you make is that MSNBC is willing to sacrifice its most profitable on-air asset because the Right tells them to. I thought money always talked, but MSNBC is worshipping other gods.

These are seriously smart and funny replies. You people have restored my faith in humanity.

This is an excellent piece. The national conversation just got serious - finally - and Obama needs to seize the day. I know McCain will not, and it is not enough to just not be stupid.

Alex, can you post about the differences in methodology among some of the polls, and why their results can be so different?

I believe that the states individually regulate whether and when convicted felons get their voting rights restored. Since the petition process for this was recently loosened (though not by much) in my home state of Florida, I'm more aware of this. Still kind of surprised that any blogger with a decent size audience would state unequivocally that convicted felons cannot vote. High school civics class anyone?

In the 2006 election in Jacksonville, with the governor's chair in play, my family included 4 voters - 3 registered Democrats and 1 Independent (who votes Democratic but is wary of shenanigans).

Two of the Democrats attempted to vote by absentee ballot, my daughter and me. I received a notice, weeks after the election, that my ballot had been disqualified because the signature on it didn't match the one on file. My signature has not changed in decades, but I guess that is an easy way to deny a voter.

My daughter - away at college - was denied even an attempt at voting. Her request for an absentee ballot was received, but the ballot never came. She contacted the Supervisor of Elections numerous times before the election before finally giving up.

That is a 50% disenfranchisement of one family using only the resources of the Supervisor of Elections - nice going, and very subtle.

The even-handed critique in this piece is in sharp contrast to the way that, say, the National Review treated its writers when they failed to toe the party line.

Now that's a democrat (small "d" intentional).

My two college-student offspring - and their friends - have been adding steadily to the Florida voter turnout. I'm not sure where tracking numbers are coming from, but these first-time voters mailed in absentee ballots more than two weeks early. Some of them drove home from Florida and Georgia colleges to attend early voting in person, not trusting the absentee ballot process.

These young people voted in the primaries, too, and in local elections earlier this fall. They are enthusiastic and committed and, I think, representative of their age group. The final numbers will tell the tale, and it will be a good one. I'm grateful these committed young adults will be running our country in the very near future.

Glenn, thanks for an excellent post. You prove that one can simultaneously be both passionate and insightful on the most important topic facing America today.

Quote from Scarborough per the NY Daily News' web site:

"I hope you understand, that was a real slip up. I apologize only to you and your children. If you're an adult, get over it."

If you're an adult, get over it? That wasn't his attitude when other people said it.

And the ease with which those two words rolled out of his mouth, and subsequent obliviousness to what he'd said, made it obvious the F-word is part of his regular vocabulary. What a hypocrite.

Glad you are staying on this story, Glenn. NBC's public responses have been disingenuous, at best, and it is well past time for them to be called to account for themselves.

Thank you for your tenacity.

Spot on post, Glenn. The canonization of Tim Russert may well have been justified on a personal basis (I didn't know him, nor do I know many saints), but I was thoroughly disgusted with his work at the time of his passing, and his deference to power had become unseemly.

If David Gregory is going the same route - and he clearly is - I'm not interested in his "interviews." How can anyone claim to be a journalist and not ask the tough questions? Do they think we don't want to know the answers?

Give me Dick Gregory instead of David.

Geneen, I must go and find your books (and yes, I'll buy them). Out of your own predicament, you see clearly the struggles and mistakes that have nothing to do with this particular Ponzi scheme. Maybe my life is a Ponzi scheme and I am simultaneously the early investor and the last one in. You gave me a lot to think about. Thanks for that.

I couldn't agree more. I'm mystified about why any Democrat would want to seat a Blago appointee and I would be furious if I were an Illinois voter. If the Senate Dems are folding because Burris is black, they are even more stupid than I thought they were (and I thought they were pretty stupid). If Obama is expending political capital on this, he is making a big mistake.

I pay a lot of attention to politics and I'm a Dem, and this really ticks me off. Imagine what this looks like to others - as Joan says, it looks like insider horse-trading, and probably is.