Arianna's Russert Watch is up. Guests on Meet the Press this week include former Sen. Fred Thompson, now working on Bush's team to promote Judge John Roberts' Supreme Court nomination, and Sen. Dick Durbin. She's collecting reader questions for the guests. Her suggestions for Thompson:

“Sen. Thompson, conservatives have frequently said that they want a Supreme Court nominee who will, in the words of Scott McClellan, ‘faithfully interpret our Constitution and our laws’. Don’t they really mean that they want someone who will faithfully interpret the Constitution in their way?”

“A follow-up: Be straight with us -- no hems and haws -- who was the sexiest assistant D.A. on Law and Order, Claire, Abbie, Jamie, Serena or Alexandra?”

Good news for Roman Polanski, he has won his libel suit against Vanity Fair. Many wonder why he brought the suit. Here's why.

In July, 2002, the magazine had reported Polanski propositioned another woman at Elaine's on the way to Sharon Tate's funeral. Polanski wasn't in New York at the time - he had been in London when his pregnant wife was murdered, and flew directly to L.A. He proved that at the libel trial, and eventually, even Vanity Fair conceded they were wrong. But then, they said, they were only wrong as to timing. But Mia Farrow testified that he had been brushing women's attention off after Sharon Tate's death and that he was devasted by the murder. Polanski testified by video from France, since had he gone to London where the trial was held, he would have been arrested and extradited back to the U.S. for a charge that he had sex with a 13 year old girl more than 25 years ago. Polanski fled the U.S. while on bail before sentencing on the charge. He is a French citizen and cannot be extradited from France.

Eric Alterman has started a new feature at Altercation called "Scoring Scotus." I am very flattered to have been asked by Eric to contribute to it. My first post is up today. (It's right after Major Bob, who is posting from Iraq.)

I won't be posting the same things on Altercation and TalkLeft, so I hope you will read both.

Joe Conason comes down pretty hard on jailed reporter Judith Miller. Too hard, or is he right?

Check out this hilarious column by the Minneapolis Star Tribune's conservative writer Katherine Kersten about how a spike in gang crime can be attributed to "the debilitating attitudes of the '60s," which were brought to us by liberal "intellectuals, lawyers, and entertainment executives."

In particular, she blames sexual freedom and social welfare programs.

The '60s revolution was about personal "liberation." Recreational sex? "Make love, not war." Drugs? "Whatever turns you on." Teachers, parents and police? "Challenge authority."

The '60s also launched the War on Poverty. Though well-intentioned, it created incentives for self-destructive behavior such as out-of-wedlock childbearing and welfare dependence. Its mantra was that the poor are victims without responsibilities, whose behavior has nothing to do with their plight.

[Via Paul at Eye Teeth]

The San Francisco Chronicle has this editorial saying White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan should resign. What do you think?

Also on the topic of McClellan, the media and RoveGate, see NYU Journalism Prof Jay Rosen's post on the White House and the press roll-back.

Also on Huff Post, Paul Feig turns RoveGate into a game of Clue and solves it the same way I would (at least today, I tend to go back and forth still): Colonel Dick Cheney, in the Vice President's Office, with a telephone.

And, Buzzflash engages in a little conspiracy-theorizing.

You won't want to miss this one. Tim Russert's guests will be: Matt Cooper, John Podesta, Ken Mehlman, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein.

Arianna has some questions she'd like Russert to ask. Her readers have many more in the comments.

Crooks and Liars, I'm sure, will have the video if you get up to late to watch.

Fox News' Rita Cosby has jumped ship, to MSNBC where she'll be getting her own nightly show. Good move for MSNBC, Rita is a top notch reporter and interviewer. [Via Huffington Post.]

Finally, someone addresses the MSM's excessive coverage of stories like the Runaway Bride, Michael Jackson and Tom Cruise at the expense of coverage of important issues, like genocide in Darfur.

Watch this 30 second powerful message to the media. Then go here.

by TChris

There are reasons to worry that jailing reporters will have a chilling effect on the media's willingness to report stories that are based on leaked information. On the other hand, newspapers that suppress stories for fear that reporters will be jailed if they don't reveal their sources aren't doing their job. That seems to be the case in Cleveland.

The editor of The Cleveland Plain Dealer said last night that the newspaper, acting on the advice of its lawyers, was withholding publication of two major investigative articles because they were based on illegally leaked documents and could lead to penalties against the paper and the jailing of reporters.

Plain Dealer editor Doug Clifton says the stories are "profoundly important" and of significant public interest. So why isn't the paper publishing them?

"[The lawyers] said, This is a super, super high-risk endeavor and you would, you know, you'd lose," Mr. Clifton told Editor & Publisher. "The reporters say, 'Well, we're willing to go to jail,' and I'm willing to go to jail if it gets laid on me, but the newspaper isn't willing to go to jail."

Newspapers don't actually go to jail. If the reporters are willing to take the heat, the paper should publish the story. What good is freedom of the press if the press is too chicken to exercise its freedom?

Set your tivos - MTV and VH-1 will re-air 10 hours of Live 8 tomorrow to make up for their pitiful coverage during the event. From MTV's website:

MTV and VH1 will each offer five hours of uninterrupted performance footage with differing artist lineups on Saturday. VH1 will air its Live 8 highlights from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, while MTV's batch of highlights will roll out from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Here's the lineup:

Update: The Pink Floyd reunion is starting now.

I'm watching the Who rock London....

I'll tip my hat to the new constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
...we won't get fooled again

....Meet the new boss
Same as the old boss

Still Awesome, 20 plus years later.