There was a bit of unexpected compassion last night, from none other than Bill O’Reilly, who gave Mike Huckabee a virtual pat on the back and told him “there, there, dear. It’s not your fault,” while discussing Huck’s sentence commutation of apparent mass cop murderer Maurice Clemmons (who appears to have now been shot and killed by the police). Well, gosh. The next thing you know, O’Reilly will be calling Huckleberry up on the phone, and fantasizing about taking a falafel to his spectacular boobs. Not that I disagree with Bill-O (about the commutation, not Mike’s spectacular boobs), but do you think this is the same reaction he’d have for, say, a Mario Cuomo or Mike Dukakis in similar circumstances? Maybe Bill’s just getting soft in his old age (I think part of his settlement with Andrea Mackris might have been a requirement to add saltpeter to his diet).

NY Congressman Maurice Hinchey went on MSNBC to declare that the Bushies deliberately let Osama bin Laden escape from Afghanistan in order to justify the invasion of Iraq. Well, that’s just crazy talk, of course. Until you actually take a look at what transpired, that is. Then maybe it doesn’t seem so crazy after all.

Speaking of Afghanistan, President Obama yesterday whomped up his orders to the military, which were then hermetically sealed in a mayonnaise jar outside Funk & Wagnalls’ porch. Tonight, Obama cracks the seal and is expected to tell us that he’s sending 30,000 more non openly-gay troops over there. Congratulations, Mr. President, you’ve bought yourself a war. I’m sure you can count on the full support and respect of Republicans from here on out. Anything else would be treason with our men and women in harm’s way. Right?

Although it’s likely to become just a footnote in the history of the Obama administration when compared to his War in Afghanistan, the debate on health care reform continues in the Senate. Yesterday, a CBO report requested by Evan Bayh (by Bayh) stated that the current Senate version of the legislation would raise current insurance premiums, but that subsidies would actually reduce premiums for a majority (57%) of people. This, of course, resulted in reports by “serious” news outlets that insurance premiums would rise substantially.

Well, time to go seize the day.