CBS's Early Show on Wednesday somehow couldn't find time for any Republicans to comment on the most recent GOP presidential debate, and instead, brought on David Axelrod, the chief strategist for President Obama's reelection campaign, to bash the GOP. Anchors Erica Hill and Jeff Glor gave Axelrod the kid glove treatment, instead of pressing him about the issues that may negatively affect the President.

Glor began with the simplest question possible to the presidential advisor: "What did you think of the debate last night? Let's start with that." As one might expect, Axelrod bashed the Republican field in general and Herman Cain, Rick Perry, and Mitt Romney specifically. When the Democrat then singled out the former Massachusetts governor for further criticism, the anchor followed up by asking, "You've had some of your strongest words for Romney. Is he still your primary focus right now?"

Later, Hill set her sights on congressional Republicans's opposition to the President's jobs bill: "He said last night he doesn't feel there's a sense in Washington that they're moving with the urgency required. So what is the President doing then to speak directly- especially to Republican lawmakers, to help pass these individual, now, parts of his jobs plan, because he has to go back to them at some point?" When Axelrod answered by simply stating that "what he [Obama] wants to do is enlist the American people to talk to their lawmakers, to talk to the folks Capitol Hill, and tell them to act," the CBS personality replied, "But do you see that happening?"

Near the end of the segment, Glor inched closer to asking a tougher question, but didn't quite get there: "You say you're enlisting the American people, but you're also doing it in swing states. How concerned are you right now about some of those states that went your way last time around?" None of the other major issues affecting the President and his administration- the high unemployment rate, his struggling approval ratings, Fast & Furious, Solyndra, or foreign policy questions- came up during the interview.

The full transcript of Erica Hill and Jeff Glor's interview of David Axelrod, which began eight minutes into the 7 am Eastern hour:

ERICA HILL: And as Republicans look for votes, the man whose job they are eying is finishing a three-day bus tour today in Virginia.

JEFF GLOR: President Obama has been trying to build support for his jobs bill, which failed in the Senate last week, you know. On Tuesday, the President vowed to keep fighting for parts of his plan.

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: I'm everybody's president. I don't care if you're Republican or a Democrat. This is not the Republican jobs act. This is not called the Democratic jobs act. This is the American Jobs Act, (crowd cheers and applauds) and everybody will be better off if we pass it.

[CBS News Graphic: "Obama's Jobs Swing: Top Dem Advisor On Presidential Push"]

GLOR: And joining us now this morning is the President's chief campaign strategist, David Axelrod. David, good morning.

DAVID AXELROD, SENIOR OBAMA CAMPAIGN STRATEGIST: Good to be with you.

GLOR: What did you think of the debate last night? Let's start with that.

AXELROD: It was interesting, it was interesting. Look, if you were an American who is worried about jobs or how we restore security for the middle class, there wasn't much in it for you- Herman Cain wants to raise taxes on 85% of Americans; Rick Perry thinks we can drill to prosperity; and Mitt Romney thinks we need more and faster foreclosures.

But there was one revealing moment in there, when they were having that exchange that you saw on immigration, and Mitt Romney finally conceded, yes, I had illegals working on my property on- from a lawn service. He said I went to the lawn service and said, for Pete's sake, I can't have illegals- I'm running for office, and- not, it was wrong, not it was illegal- but I'm running for office. I thought that was the most unintentionally revealing moment of the debate.

[CBS News Graphic: "Presidential Pressure: Axelrod Responds to GOP Debate Attacks"]

GLOR: You've had some of your strongest words for Romney. Is he still your primary focus right now?

AXELROD: Well, I mean, I don't know who the candidate's going to be. He has been bumping along at like a quarter of the vote in the Republican primary. There seems to be a resistance to him, and I think there is a resistance to him for just the reason I said. I think there's a sense that there is no core to him. He said last night that his program- we modeled our health care program largely on what he did in Massachusetts- now, he says I never intended it to be a model for the nation. In 2007, he said, this will be a model for the nation. And time and time and time again, Governor Romney switches from one position to another, apparently because he's running for office.

HILL: Let's talk about running for office when it comes to the President. A lot of criticism over this bus tour. You know, is it campaigning? Is it not? Regardless of what it is, he says he's out there speaking to the American people because he doesn't feel he can get Washington to listen to him. He said last night he doesn't feel there's a sense in Washington that they're moving with the urgency required. So what is the President doing then to speak directly- especially to Republican lawmakers, to help pass these individual, now, parts of his jobs plan, because he has to go back to them at some point?

AXELROD: Erica, sixty-three percent of the American people support the American Jobs Act. They want action now to put people back to work, and they think that the proposals the President has put forward will work. What he wants to do is enlist the American people to talk to their lawmakers, to talk to the folks Capitol Hill, and tell them to act-

HILL: Do you see that happening? But do you see that happening? Because, obviously, the American people aren't casting the votes in this case. They've already cast them for the people who are supposed to vote for it-

AXELROD: But they're going to cast them again, and, believe me, the people on Capitol Hill are aware of that fact. I think you're going to see action on pieces of this bill moving forward. And it is important- if it's an inside game, we will never make progress. We have to do this together. The President, the American people, putting pressure on Congress, on those Republicans in Congress, who have been no, no, no, to everything the President's proposed- to say let's move together to start solving problems, instead of scoring political points.

GLOR: You say you're enlisting the American people, but you're also doing it in swing states. How concerned are you right now about some of those states that went your way last time around?

AXELROD: Well, look, I think it's going to be a close election, and anybody who says otherwise is not telling you the truth. We had the wind at our back the last time and 47% of the American people voted the other way. This is a closely divided country. We're in a tough economy. But I am very confident that we're going to win because the President has a vision about how we get people back to work, but also how we restore the security that the middle class has lost in this country for a long period of time. And, as I said, you watch that Republican debate last night- there's not a whole lot that would give you hope if you're a middle class person in this country, that they get it, that they understand what's going on in the lives of the American people.

HILL: Some criticism, too, that the hope that they may have had when President Obama came into office, which he ran on- a lot of people have lost. So they're looking at that from both sides this morning. Nice to have you in the studio with us. Thanks for coming by.

AXELROD: Thank you. Good to be with you guys- thanks for having me.

"When the Tea Party came up, immediately the reports from [NBC Nightly News anchor] Brian Williams on down" were that "they were dangerous, that they were fanatics, that they were racist," but now that the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) is on the scene the media are hailing the movement as a liberal answer to the Tea Party with a message that's "resonating," NewsBusters publisher Brent Bozell told Wall Street Journal's James Freeman yesterday.

In truth the OWS movement is just a "bunch of spoiled punks" who "don't even know what they're for," Bozell quipped in the October 18 Opinion Journal Live interview [video embedded below page break]

Bozell also discussed the media's unwillingness to delve into the Solyndra scandal…:

The biggest non-event in Washington is the press conference because I've never known in my life, I've never known anyone who can stonewall like Barack Obama can…. The press coverage of him has not been tough.

Look at Solyndra…. We just did a study on Enron vs. Solyndra. Enron at this point in its coverage had something like 289 network news stories. Solyndra: 15.

…and the media's coverage of the 2012 GOP presidential hopefuls:

There is only one person who is not getting favorable treatment, but he's escaping negative treatment, and that's Romney. There are a couple of reasons for that. One of them is that the media find him the least offensive of all the Republicans because they see him as the least conservative. They see him as the most establishment of them all.

To discuss presidential candidate Herman Cain's views on race and racism, CNN's Don Lemon aired the opinions of two African-American liberals, in addition to analysis from conservative blogger Erick Erickson.

Lemon, himself an African-American anchor who has shown his own liberal bias in the past, hosted leftist LZ Granderson of ESPN and played a clip of Democratic strategist Cornell Belcher slamming Cain as a racist at the end of CNN's 12 p.m. hour of Newsroom. [Video below the break.]

"What Herman Cain said was a racist, bigoted statement and he should be treated like a racist and bigoted person who makes those racist and bigoted statements," Belcher ranted on September 30. That clip was re-played in Lemon's segment, which insinuated that Herman Cain says such provocative things about race because of his skin color.

Cain, Lemon began, "says things….that you don't usually hear publicly from the mouth of a black man." He added later that "Cain's skin color offers him cover to say things that whites, and the other GOP candidates, wouldn't dare say."

A transcript of the segment, which aired on October 19 at 12:56 p.m. EDT, is as follows:

SUZANNE MALVEAUX: So Herman Cain breaks a vow not to talk about race. Some conservatives, they welcome his comments. But some blacks say that he is not helping to advance the discussion about racism. Don Lemon takes an in-depth look.

(Video Clip)

HERMAN CAIN, GOP presidential candidate: I am an American black conservative, an "abc," and I'm proud of it.

DON LEMON, CNN correspondent (voice-over): Herman Cain –

CAIN: I've been called a racist too.

LEMON: – says things –

CAIN: Because I won't stay on the Democrat plantation.

LEMON: – that you don't usually hear publicly from the mouth of a black man.

CAIN: Many African-Americans have been brainwashed into not being open-minded. Not even considering a conservative point of view.

LEMON: Does he have a point? CNN contributor L.Z. Granderson.

L.Z. GRANDERSON, CNN contributor: There is definitely a conversation to be had about the voting tendencies of the black community, absolutely. Is he trying to have that conversation? No, I don't think so. I don't think you can engage the black community on one side by dropping bombs like "plantation" on the other.

LEMON: Granderson questions Cain's motives.

GRANDERSON: I think he's definitely trying to use words, use phrases, even take positions that are counterintuitive of what you would think a black person would say and think, but he's not necessarily doing it from a genuine place, but from a contrarian place, from a person who's trying to generate some sort of buzz.

LEMON: It appears to be working. Cain is everywhere – from major magazines, to talk shows. His poll numbers are rising. He's drawing bigger crowds – of mostly white conservatives, Tea Party members, who according to conservative commentator Erick Erickson, are drawn to Cain's stop blaming racism message.

ERICK ERICKSON, CNN contributor: You can't deny that Herman Cain speaks for the Tea Party. They are not the homogenously white group that people characterize them as, and Herman Cain really resonates with them.

LEMON: And Cain's skin color offers him cover to say things that whites, and the other GOP candidates, wouldn't dare say.

CAIN: I don't believe racism in this country today holds anybody back in a big way.

LEMON: Imagine a white person, let alone another GOP candidate, uttering or even insinuating the same thing. Democratic strategist Cornell Belcher.

CORNELL BELCHER, Democratic strategist: What Herman Cain said was a racist, bigoted statements and should be treated like a racist and bigoted person who makes racist and bigoted statements.

ERICKSON: I think Herman Cain does get a pass largely because he's a black conservative and he can say things that black conservatives can say in the same way a black person can say things that I couldn't say or any white person couldn't say relating to their experience in the United States.

LEMON: An experience that Cain believes he's more in tune with than the black man whose job he wants.

CAIN (audio clip): He's never been a part of the black experience in America. I can talk about that. I can talk about what it really meant to be 'po' before I was poor.

LEMON: So, four years later, like candidate Obama, candidate Cain, by chance or design, has landed on America's political third rail – race.

CAIN: I often have people ask me because I happen to – I happen to be an American black conservative – aren't you angry with the history of America? What a stupid question.

LEMON: And for a candidate who has vowed not to talk about race, lately Cain is certainly doing a lot of it. Don Lemon, CNN, Atlanta.

On Wednesday's NBC Today, fill-in news anchor Savannah Guthrie shared this important presidential news with viewers: "And it's the last day of the President's bus tour through North Carolina and Virginia but it hasn't been all business for the commander in chief. At a Virginia high school he sparked a giggle-fest and even managed to break some hearts." [Audio available here]

A clip followed of a group of teenage girls asking Obama if he knew singer Justin Bieber. The President said that he did, but that Bieber had a girlfriend. Guthrie then remarked: "Oh, look at those faces….The President crushing Bieber fever one teenager at a time." [View video after the jump]

In the 8 a.m. hour, Guthrie offered an equally hard-hitting report on speculation over new construction at the White House: "Construction crews have been digging a massive mystery hole right by the West Wing for at least a year and a half….many people are left to guess, perhaps a new underground bunker, a giant swimming pool or outdoor bowling alley, or perhaps a top secret presidential man cave."

The highest-rated morning news broadcast failed to provide any updates on the Solyndra or Fast & Furious scandals on Wednesday.  

Here is a transcript of Guthrie's October 19 Obama-Bieber report:

7:18AM ET

SAVANNAH GUTHRIE: And it's the last day of the President's bus tour through North Carolina and Virginia but it hasn't been all business for the commander in chief. At a Virginia high school he sparked a giggle-fest and even managed to break some hearts.

BARACK OBAMA: Did you have a question for me?

UNIDENTIFIED GIRL: Do you know Justin Bieber.

OBAMA: I do know Justin Bieber. He's a very nice young man, he is. Although I have to say he's-

GIRL: He's short.

OBAMA: No, he's tall. And I think he's got a girlfriend , doesn't he?  

GUTHRIE: Oh, look at those faces. The President asked if the kids had any other questions for him. They didn't. It's now 7:19, now back to Matt, Ann and Al. The President crushing Bieber fever one teenager at a time.

MATT LAUER: Threw him right under the bus, there.

Sure, your heart is in that lovely liberal place.  Even so, you'd like to get away from the "Occupy" hoi-poloi soiling the streets.  No problem!  Just join the luxury-liner liberals of The Nation magazine on their upcoming cruise–assuming you have up several thousand bucks [alcohol not included] for you and the lefty you love to share a cabin!

Was watching MSNBC last night, when up popped a Nation commercial.  After the standard stuff ragging on the "toxic nonsense from the right," suddenly a cruise commercial broke out.  Yes, you can sail with Katrina vanden Heuvel, Van Jones and other leftist luminaries aboard a luxury Holland America liner!  Video and more luxury details after the jump!
 

From the promo material linked at The Nation's cruise website:

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Sure, you support the 99%. But why not do so from the comfort of your luxury cabin, surrounded by your fellow liberal 1%ers?  Reserve now!

On Wednesday's NBC Nightly News, correspondent Andrea Mitchell filed a report in which she gushed over First Lady Michelle Obama's campaign skills, dubbing her as President Obama's "not so secret political weapon."

Mitchell recounted the First Lady's campaign appearance from earlier in the day:

On the White House jobs tour today, Michelle Obama is on message, announcing 25,000 private sector jobs for veterans and military spouses over the next two years. As the campaign gains speed, the First Lady is gearing up.

Soon came a clip of the Daily Beast's Tina Brown chiming in:

Michelle Obama really brings a warmth, a personal connection, a kind of strong womanly human connection that, you know, Obama, her husband, just cannot really seem to get.

After asserting that the First Lady had been reluctant to campaign in 2008, the NBC correspondent added:

That was then. Now she's everywhere, painting houses for military families, fighting childhood obesity, today picking pumpkins, and, above all, avoiding controversy, focusing on issues with broad appeal. So, as the economy  takes a toll on her husband's polls, hers remain sky high.

After a clip of Michelle Obama at a campaign rally, Mitchell concluded: "And Michelle Obama is just getting started."

Below is a complete transcript of the report from the Wednesday, October 19, NBC Nightly News:

BRIAN WILLIAMS: President Obama continued his jobs-promoting bus tour today. He was joined today by the First Lady, which, we have noticed, is happening a lot lately. Our report tonight from NBC's Andrea Mitchell.

MICHELLE OBAMA: This is nice day. It's good to see you. You're looking good.

ANDREA MITCHELL: On a military base in Virginia, Barack Obama's not so secret political weapon.

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: How lucky am I to be married to Michelle Obama?

MITCHELL: On the White House jobs tour today, Michelle Obama is on message, announcing 25,000 private sector jobs for veterans and military spouses over the next two years. As the campaign gains speed, the First Lady is gearing up.

MICHELLE OBAMA: And I hope that all of you are fired up.

MITCHELL: She's raising millions, and, if he sometimes seems aloof, she is anything but.

MICHELLE OBAMA CLIP #1: I would like to thank all of you for planning such a lovely, intimate evening for the two of us.

(AUDIENCE LAUGHTER)

MICHELLE OBAMA CLIP #2: Who knows what will happen?

TINA BROWN, NEWSWEEK/THE DAILY BEAST: Michelle Obama really brings a warmth, a personal connection, a kind of strong womanly human connection that, you know, Obama, her husband, just cannot really seem to get.

MITCHELL: It's a transformation for a political spouse who was at first a reluctant campaigner and spent much of her first White House year focused on her children.

MICHELLE OBAMA: When Barack Obama started talking about running for President, I wasn't enthusiastic about the idea.

MITCHELL: That was then. Now she's everywhere, painting houses for military families, fighting childhood obesity, today picking pumpkins, and, above all, avoiding controversy, focusing on issues with broad appeal. So, as the economy  takes a toll on her husband's polls, hers remain sky high.

ANITA MCBRIDE, FORMER LAURA BUSH CHIEF OF STAFF: She's willing to go out there, much more comfortable than she was in 2008.

MICHELLE OBAMA IN FRONT OF APPLAUDING CROWD: Do you have his back? Are you fired up? Are you ready to go?

MITCHELL: And Michelle Obama is just getting started. Andrea Mitchell, NBC News, Washington.
 

Adam Levine, the star singer of the band Maroon 5 and a judge on the NBC American Idol ripoff The Voice, ranted against Fox News Channel on Twitter Wednesday.

Billboard reports the message was   "Dear Fox News, don't play our music on your evil f*cking channel ever again. Thank you". His comments drew a pair of tweeted responses from FNC's Greg Gutfeld and Andy Levy, hosts of the channel's late-night show Red Eye.

"Dear adam, That's not music," Gutfeld wrote, while Levy tweeted, "Dear @AdamLevine, don't make crappy f*cking music ever again. Thank you." He later added: "Maroon 5's bio strangely fails to note the band was developed by the CIA as part of its enhanced interrogation techniques program."

Ace Showbiz has more negative tweets that Levine received after his mysterious rant. (There was no suggestion on which show FNC was airing a clip of Maroon 5.)  Levine had trashed Fox's American Idol earlier for not letting its gay contestants be more "out" on the show.

Readers participating in the real world will be quite surprised to learn that, according to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, "It's very clear that private-sector jobs have been doing just fine."

At The Hill's Floor Action blog, reporter Pete Kasperowicz, writing as if the world began in early 2010, supported Reid's contention: "Private-sector jobs have increased over the last 19 months, while government jobs have lagged." I hope both gentlemen don't mind if, after excerpting a few paragraphs from Pete K's report, we look at some real numbers after the jump.

Here is the excerpt, which includes a "Blame Bush" sighting:

Reid signals government jobs must take priority over private-sector jobs

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Wednesday indicated Congress needs to worry about government jobs more than private-sector jobs, and that this is why Senate Democrats are pushing a bill aimed at shoring up teachers and first-responders.

"It's very clear that private-sector jobs have been doing just fine; it's the public-sector jobs where we've lost huge numbers, and that's what this legislation is all about," Reid said on the Senate floor.

… Reid reiterated his emphasis on creating government jobs by saying Democrats are looking to "put hundreds of thousands of people back to work teaching children, have more police patrolling our streets, firefighters fighting our fires, doing the rescue work that they do so well … that's our priority."

… Private-sector jobs have increased over the last 19 months, while government jobs have lagged. They've also seen cuts in several states that are struggling to balanced their books.

… Democrats who support the bill have said it would help save 400,000 teacher jobs and thousands of first-responder jobs that have either been cut or could soon be cut. Reid said Wednesday that these layoffs are "rooted in the last administration," but did not explain further.

Now let's look at the data (all figures are seasonally adjusted):

From its January 2008 peak to February 2010, private-sector employment fell by over 8.8 million. Since then, 2.58 million jobs have been added. Even before considering population growth in the meantime, over 6.2 million jobs haven't come back yet. Reid's suggestion that "private-sector jobs have been doing just fine" is delusional. Excuse me for believing that reporter Pete K would have dug back a bit further if a Republican or conservative had made a statement similar to Reid's.

Meanwhile, federal government employment growth began very shortly after September 2007, which "just so happens" to be when the budget year associated with the final session of Congress under Republican control ended. Federal employment is up by 238,000 in the past four years. Maybe those jobs could have been given to local first-responders.

Speaking of local education, employment grew by 290,000 from January 2005 to September 2008, and has since fallen back to where it was. That would seem to be a terrible development, but the fact is that public school enrollment in 2010 was virtually the same as it was in 2005. Thus, the crying need for hundreds of thousands more teachers above the ones we already have is unconvincing — even before looking at which states might be avoiding teacher layoff's (e.g., Wisconsin) and which ones are having to do so.

Suffice it to say that Pete Kasperowicz's coverage at the Hill was particularly pathetic.

Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.

Walter Cronkite's longtime producer Leslie Midgley once wrote that "News is what an editor decides it is." News today is what TV producers decide can help President Obama. News that hurts isn't news at all.

In the last week, network anchors like Brian Williams repeated endlessly that the "Occupy Wall Street" protests are "increasingly resonating." It’s the story reporters will declare "isn’t going away" — and they're going to see to it. They are using their microphones like yellow Hi-Liter pens to draw attention to it.

Don't you wish journalists would do the opposite on stories they want to drop down the memory hole? You'll never hear "This story has no resonance at all." That could have been said in the brief network attention paid so far to the Obama administration’s Solyndra scandal.

Most Americans could still be fooled into thinking Solyndra is a new laundry detergent, not a failed solar energy company that took a half-billion dollars in Obama "green job" loans and went belly up. It’s another Enron.

You remember Enron. In the first two months of 2002, the Big Three networks reported a stunning 198 stories on the Enron bankruptcy. Back then, Democratic Party chairman Terry McAuliffe was traveling from one studio to the next denouncing George W. Bush's "Enronomics" and "Enronizing" of Social Security. On CNN, "Crossfire" host Bill Press joked along: "I'm all for politicizing Enron."

That's shorthand for "campaign finance reform." CBS anchor Dan Rather touted "A late-night showdown tonight in the House on long-blocked legislation for an at least partially-meaningful campaign money reform bill. The bill was revived mostly by the shame of Enron."

Enron was also used to kill Social Security reforms. NBC anchor Tom Brokaw led into a Karl Rove interview: "Karl Rove was forced to sell his Enron shares at a loss last year to comply with ethics regulations. Even though thousands lost their life savings in Enron stock and 401(k) accounts, this administration is pressing ahead to allow all Americans to buy stock as part of their Social Security accounts."

Now there’s Solyndra. Team Obama doesn't want anyone "politicizing" Solyndra or trying to coin "Solyndranomics." They want minimalist coverage, and that's precisely what they're getting. Since its August 31 bankruptcy filing, ABC, CBS, and NBC have filed a grand total of 15 stories on Solyndra. That’s an Enron-to-Solyndra comparison of 24 to 1.

On October 7, the same Obama administration that pledged to be the most transparent ever cynically engaged in the late-Friday document dump. The pile included e-mails showing a top Obama fund-raiser and Energy Department official, Steven Spinner — who had supposedly recused himself from Solyndra's loan application because his wife worked at a law firm representing the solar energy company — persistently pushing his colleagues to approve the deal.

Spinner sent e-mails demanding to know: "Any word on OMB? I have the O.V.P. [Office of the Vice President] and W.H. [White House] breathing down my neck on this….How hard is this? What is he waiting for?"

Even though these e-mails were sensational enough to make it onto the front-page of The New York Times, the network "newscasts" never found a moment over the long Columbus Day weekend to mention it, just as they skipped the earlier news that Jonathan Silver, who ran the Energy Department loan program that handed more than $500 million in taxpayer money to Solyndra, had resigned. When two Solyndra executives took the Fifth Amendment before Congress in September, ABC and NBC skipped that news, too, while CBS offered about 25 seconds of coverage – which carried that smell of "This story has no resonance at all."

The media should be held accountable for their own piece of the Solyndra scandal. They aggressively sold the idea that "green jobs" would help fight off unemployment. The Washington Post crunched the numbers in September: Instead of creating 65,000 jobs, as promised, the $38 billion loan program which included Solyndra could only claim 3,545 jobs.

But no one on TV noticed that, because network coverage of the "green jobs" concept was ridiculously lopsided. "We have gotten the message. Green-collar jobs are the wave of the future," co-host Diane Sawyer cheered on ABC’s Good Morning America on April 15, 2009. Out of 52 network stories that mentioned the administration’s "green jobs" program, only four (eight percent) bothered to include any critics at all.

It will be a cold solar-paneled day in Hell before the press is embarrassed enough to admit a mistake and correct the record. For them, it's just another day, and another liberal cause. So clueless protests are "resonating," while one of the biggest energy scandals in American history is ignored. Such is the state of news today. 

Hours before Republican presidential candidates faced off in Tuesday's debate in Las Vegas, Martin Bashir took a swipe at six of them.

On the MSNBC program bearing his name, the host said that since Mitt Romney is "the inevitable candidate," the rest of the contestants are auditioning "for future employment" at Fox News (video follows with transcript and commentary):

MARTIN BASHIR: In one sense, this debate isn't really about who's going to run for president in 2012 because most experts in the field of (unintelligible) already have Mitt Romney as the inevitable candidate, and he looks well, he looks well-set. No, this debate is an audition for future employment. It's not The X Factor, it's The Fox News Factor, because even those individuals at the bottom of the polling heap know that if they can cause a stir, they, too, could secure a lucrative contract just like Sarah Palin at their favorite network.

That's quite a statement given the pathetic prime time lineup at the network Bashir works for.