As regular readers know, I, Trix the Walrus, was recently selected by Sam the Loomis to take over hosting Sunday Talk.
What you may not know is that someday – and that day may never come – I'll choose somebody to succeed me as host.
And so, with that in mind, I've set up a PayPal account and created an Amazon WishList.
Below the fold you'll find the lineup, the fine print, and more.
Welcome to the Wonkathon.
Meet The Press: Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan (D); Illinois Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn (D); Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D); Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R); Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina; Wal-Mart President & CEO Lee Scott; Google CEO Eric Schmidt.
Note: Starting tomorrow, "Meet The Press" will be hosted by David Gregory, who is perhaps best known for his dancing.
Face The Nation: Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI); Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN); Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH); Lisa Madigan; Writer/Radio host/Georgetown University professor Michael Eric Dyson.
This Week: Sen. John McCain (R-AZ); Roundtable with Gwen Ifill (PBS), Paul Krugman (The New York Times), Gerald Seib (The Wall Street Journal), and George Will (ABC News).
Fox News Sunday: Bob Corker; Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI); Illinois House GOP leader Tom Cross.
Late Edition: Sen. John Ensign (R-NV); Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA); Clinton economic advisor Gene Sperling.
The Chris Matthews Show: Andrea Mitchell (NBC News); Andrew Sullivan (The Atlantic); Eugene Robinson (The Washington Post); Ceci Connelly (The Washington Post).
Reliable Sources: Clarence Page (The Chicago Tribune); Lynn Sweet (The Chicago Sun-Times); John McCormick (The Chicago Tribune); Ray Richmond (The Hollywood Reporter); Sharon Waxman (WaxWord); Filmmaker Rod Lurie.
Fareed Zakaria GPS: Former Secretary of State Colin Powell.
While the morning shows are sure to be dominated by talk of the Blagojevich ordeal — and President-Elect Obama's scandalous lack of involvement — there were some other stories in the news this week, the biggest of which was probably the defeat of the automaker bailout bill at the hands of Senate Republicans.
Among those leading the charge against the bill was Sen. David Vitter (R-LA).
"I don't know what Sen. Vitter has against GM or the United Auto Workers or the entire domestic auto industry; whatever it is, whatever he thinks we've done, it's time for him to forgive us, just like Sen. Vitter has asked the citizens of Louisiana to forgive him, " said Johnson, president of Local 2166. Otherwise, Johnson said of Vitter, it would appear, "He'd rather pay a prostitute than pay auto workers."
Moving along, from handjobs to footsie...
The Minnesota Court of Appeals on Tuesday rejected U.S. Sen. Larry Craig's effort to withdraw his guilty plea to a misdemeanor offense of disorderly conduct in connection with a sex-sting operation.
[H]e attempted to withdraw his plea, contending that his "wide stance" had been misinterpreted by the arresting officer and that he had pleaded guilty simply to get the matter over with.
In an effort to persuade the panel to throw out Craig's guilty plea, his attorney argued that Craig's foot tapping was protected by his First Amendment right to freedom of speech.
But the judges were unpersuaded.
In closing, I'd like to remind you all to please have your pets spayed or neutered.
- Trix
Postscript: Sam Loomis will be [temporarily] returning to the helm of Sunday Talk next week to deliver a very special holiday edition. I'll be back on December 27th with an even more special holiday edition of my own.
Disclaimer: Giving me monies and/or buying me gifts will not guarantee that I choose you to host Sunday Talk... but it certainly won't hurt your chances.
Update: In last week's edition of Sunday Talk I noted that President-Elect Obama would be holding his seventh press conference since the election (after making his first post-election Sunday show appearance on "Meet The Press"). He followed that up with his eight press conference on Thursday. And now, according to Mark "Drudge Rules My World" Halperin @ The Page, Obama will holding at least two more press conferences this coming week.