ICN is hearing that the fallout from the David Shuster suspension is rocking 30 Rock. Some staffers believe Shuster was thrown to the wolves for two reasons. One, to appease the Clinton campaign and “save” the debate to be aired on MSNBC between Clinton and Obama. Two, because they can; because Shuster is a small fry, a low man on the totem pole, and expendable. The argument would be it wouldn’t have happened to someone higher up, more important, like Olbermann or Matthews.

There may be something to both points. But at the same time I believe that’s totally irrelevent to the matter at hand. When you get right down to it, what Shuster said merited punishment of some sort. Suspension may have been severe but not something that shouldn’t have been on the table. The fact is Shuster has been dancing on the edge for years now in his reporting and commentary. When you live on the edge like that for that long, eventually you’re going to go too far. Just ask Don Imus. Imus, by the way, would be a rebuttal to the point that Shuster only got a time out because he’s small fry. They fired Imus and MSNBC’s morning ratings cratered and still haven’t recovered to where they were before he got fired.

This incident does however raise an issue that concerns MSNBC of late. And when I say of late, I mean over half a year.
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Soup Cans dug up some old footage of Anderson Cooper from his World News Now days at ABC…

Colin Powell was interviewed by Wolf Blitzer this afternoon in The Situation Room regarding the 2008 elections. Transcript highlights follow…

POWELL: I will ultimately vote for the person I believe brings to the American people the kind of vision the American people want to see for the next four years. A vision that reaches out to the rest of the world, that starts to restore confidence in America, that starts to restore favorable ratings to America.

Frankly, we’ve lost a lot in recent years…I am a Republican, but I am keeping my options open at the moment. And I am in touch with the candidates.
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Daily Live+SD Ratings for February 7, 2008

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Today was Chris Jansing’s last day at 30 Rock.

TV Squad’s Bob Sassone pens a letter to Anderson Cooper…

It would be one thing if Soledad O’Brien was doing it on her old MSNBC show The Site (ah, memories) since that show was about the web and technology. And I’m sure this would fit in well over on G4 too. But I don’t know if I want you or Katie Couric or Brian Williams actually live blogging while the news is going on.

You certainly don’t have time to blog anything too worthwhile (at least I hope you don’t - you must already be busy during commercial breaks), and it could just turn into some lame attempt at “interactivity.” In the comments last night, you answered a viewer’s question about Britney Spears and told us you were taking TheraFlu for a cold (that stuff is good - I took Comtrex one time and it made me feel worse). Yeah, that’s fun and all, but I just find it a bit disappointing that everything we do now has to have some “multi-tasking” aspect to it. I’d rather you do the show and then blog when you’re not on the air. It won’t interrupt what you’re doing on the show, and the blog posts will be more substantial.

Here are the twin Shuster apologies. This one occurred this morning on Morning Joe…

The second one occurred during Tucker. Media Matters has the video…

And this is what started it all…
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Neil Cavuto’s Ann Coulter interview yesterday got some press. The Boston Globe’s Foon Rhee blogs about the interview…

Thursday night on Fox Business Network, Coulter suggested she might hold her nose and support McCain if he picked Romney as his running mate.

“I thought it was very gentlemanly for Mitt Romney to pull out right before McCain spoke at CPAC. It occurred to me then that if McCain weren’t a dunce, what he would do is take Mitt Romney as his vice president. That is the only way I think you could get me to vote for him. That’s my final offer.

Host Neil Cavuto made sure he heard right. “Still not very comfortable with the man at the top of the ticket. But the man at the top of the ticket said himself he doesn’t know much about economics. Maybe Mitt Romney could help with that. And moreover, it would put Mitt Romney in the lead for 2012, which he says he will be looking at again,” Coulter replied.

As did USA Today’s Mark Memmott

Neil Cavuto of Fox News Channel and Fox Business Network was smack in the middle of the latest brouhaha involving Ann Coulter again yesterday.
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The Daily Pensylvanian’s Rishav Kanoria writes about Jonathan Klein’s appearance at the Annenberg Center…

Throughout the event Klein highlighted the success and appeal of CNN’s top two reporters: Cooper and Wolf Blitzer.

Klein also stressed the importance of the 10 p.m. time slot, which he considered to be emblematic of the network. He felt the network needed to revamp its style because “the stoogey, stuck-up reporter of the past is of the past.”

Continuing to speak about Cooper, Klein called him FOX News’ nightmare, rebutting a statement by FOX’s spokesperson which had dubbed Cooper ‘the Paris Hilton of TV news.’

Then Klein addressed questions about covering the presidential elections.

With the first election in decades in which none of the front runners for the presidency is an incumbent, Klein feels that there is much more at stake for voters in this election.

He believes MSNBC takes a left-wing stance and FOX takes a right-wing stance, which leaves the vast middle open for CNN. He said that the network is committed to being “aggressively independent brokers of information.”

Anderson Cooper is FNC’s nightmare? What do the ratings say about that?

Update: I don’t have Demo data but in Total Viewers, On The Record has beaten AC 360 in Total Viewers for 69 straight months…

Correction: On the Record has been #1 in the 10pm timeslot for 69 months. But that goes back to when Aaron Brown was on the air at CNN. Since AC 360 took over that slot On the Record has been #1 in Total Viewers for 26 months.

Richelle Carey in today’s Prime News email laid out some new realities regarding the direction of the show starting Monday…

We’re about to shake things up on “Prime News,” too. You might’ve noticed it’s been a few weeks since Erica Hill left. Well starting Monday, Mike Galanos and I will be making over this show. The powerful stories, emotional interviews and controversial headlines won’t be going anywhere. But we’ll be bringing them to you in a whole new way. Think “Prime News” with attitude.

So tune in tonight for the end of “Prime News” as you know it and come back Monday when we roll up our sleeves and get to the point!

The emailer who forwarded this to ICN had this to add…

When I first heard Galanos was going to be hosting Prime News.. I recalled he’d been doing those “Straight to the Point” or whatever segments where he spews lots of opinion. So now it looks like Prime News/Beck/Grace will mesh better…And btw, I don’t have a problem with this change.. But, it looks like Prime News is getting a makeover towards more opinion.

Roger Ailes sent out an email to the entire Fox News Channel staff that is all the talk today. TVNewser has the leaked memo…

I held off on blogging this because I wanted to see if it would grow legs. Maybe not legs but something is growing. FNC’s Embed Producer Aaron Bruns blog about a minor dust up that’s growing between the Clinton campaign and David Shuster regarding the latter’s verbage used to describe daughter Chelsea’s support for her mother on the campaign trail…

Clinton communications director Howard Wolfson says he “can’t envision a scenario where we would continue to engage in a debate” on MSNBC — after correspondent David Shuster said former First Daughter Chelsea Clinton has been “pimped out” by the campaign.

Shuster was referring to reports that Chelsea has been calling uncommitted superdelegates to recruit them to support her mom; those unpledged delegates have become all-important in the Democratic race, since the two candidates have been splitting delegates pledged by state primaries and caucuses virtually down the middle.

Told on a conference call that Shuster had apologized, Wolfson said “I haven’t received any phone call. I’m not aware that the Senator Clinton or Chelsea Clinton have received any phone call. I’m not familiar with any apology. It’s the kind of thing that should never be said on a national news network.”

Update: Howard Kurtz in the Washington Post says Shuster is going to offer an on-air apology.

Shuster plans to apologize tonight on “Tucker,” the 6 p.m. show on which he was filling in for host Tucker Carlson yesterday.

“The comment was completely inappropriate, and we have called the Clinton campaign to apologize,” network spokesman Jeremy Gaines said today. Phil Griffin, the NBC News executive who runs MSNBC, called Reines, telling him that the comment was clearly wrong, and tried unsuccessfully to reach Wolfson.

Update 2: David Shuster has been suspended. TVNewser has the announcement of the suspension from all NBC broadcasts.

CNN will air a special called This Week in Politics this Saturday, February 9th at 7pm ET…

A special election program called This Week in Politics, will air Saturday, Feb. 9 from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. (ET). Anchored by Tom Foreman, This Week in Politics will analyze key moments in the race to the White House and preview upcoming caucus and primary contests.

CNN correspondents and guests will discuss a wide range of topics including Saturday’s primary showdown, the impact superdelegates have on the race, whether candidates have the money to sustain their campaigns, and which of the presidential hopefuls benefit from the youth vote. Joining Tom Foreman to discuss these issues will be Donna Brazile, CNN contributor and Democratic strategist; Jeanne Cummings, POLITICO chief money and lobbying correspondent; Rich Galen, Republican strategist; Mark Halperin, senior political analyst for TIME magazine; Suzanne Malveaux, CNN White House correspondent; Bill Schneider, CNN senior political analyst; and Evan Tracey, chief operating officer of Campaign Media Analyst Group.
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Johnny Dollar scores an exclusive with Eric Burns following yesterday’s news that Burns wasn’t going to be renewed at FNC. So head on over there and read Burns’ explanation (or lack thereof) for what’s going on…

Soup Cans has the latest round up on what fomer HLN anchor mainstay Lynne Russell is doing…

CNBC announced it will air the latest of its “Millionaire Inside” series on February 14th at 9pm ET. This special is on eliminating debt…

Money is one of the leading causes of divorce in America. On Thursday, February 14th at 9PM and 12AM ET, CNBC, First in Business Worldwide, presents “The Millionaire Inside: ‘Til Debt Do Us Part,” a couples guide to eliminating debt and getting on the road to a wealthy partnership.

The one-hour CNBC special event, hosted by CNBC’s Erin Burnett in front of a live studio audience, examines how a couple’s finances directly impacts their marriage and, more importantly, arms them with the tools and actionable strategies to wipe out debt and commit to investing in their financial future together.
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The Swamp’s Mark Silva writes about what Ann Coulter said last night on FBN’s Cavuto regarding John McCain…

Tonight, on Cavuto’s show, Coulter made a new offer: “If McCain weren’t a dunce, what he would do is take Mitt Romney as his vice president,'’ she said on FOX. “That’s the only way, I think, you could get me to vote for him and that’s my final offer.”

The New York Observer’s Felix Gillette profiles former MSNBC anchor (now designated Countdown guest host) Alison Stewart…

These days, Ms. Stewart continues to contribute the occasional piece to The Nightly News with Brian Williams and to fill-in occasionally on MSNBC. In the meantime, Mr. Wolff has started occasionally popping up, in a professional capacity, at his wife’s new work place. Every so often, Mr. Wolff (who, for years, worked at ESPN) contributes sports stories to the Bryant Park Project.

Ms. Stewart said her husband’s contributions have helped the show round out its general interest approach towards the news. “One of the things we’re doing here, which is weird for NPR, I guess,” said Ms. Stewart, “is we’re trying to have a real conversation about sports. And not just, like, the scrabble tournament is happening today.”

SFGate’s Politics Blog has an update on the back and forth between the Clinton and Obama camps on what debates to do next and how FNC’s proposed debate, which Clinton accepted, is still up in the air…

Early Thursday, Hill’s campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle, turned up the heat by releasing a public letter to O’s campaign czar David Plouffe saying “I was disappointed to see that Senator Obama rejected the idea of having more debates given the fact that he and Senators Clinton have had only a single one-on-one debate. I think we can do better and so does Hillary. Senator Clinton believes voters should have more than one opportunity to see the candidates discuss the issues and has accepted five debates between now and March 4th from CNN, MSNBC, WJLA, ABC and Fox News.”

On Thursday, The O relented and said he’ll sit down agreed to hook up at at debate at Cleveland State University Tuesday, Feb. 26 — hosted by NBC News and WKYC, the NBC affiliate in Cleveland. The O also said he will soon announce that he’ll do a debate in Texas, before the primary on March 4. But no word on Fox. Not yet.