Right before the election, CNN is giving a Bush-bashing comedian a weekend show where he can spout off about “politics, entertainment, sports and popular culture,” Variety reported last night.

Back in March 2006, as NewsBuster’s editor Brent Baker reported at the time, D.L. Hughley slammed President Bush during an appearance on HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher: “If I hear one more person tell me how this man is a man of faith, I think I’ll lose my mother-f***ing mind.... When thousands and thousands of people were being, dying in New Orleans, this son of a bitch didn’t do sh*t, and that’s very un-Christlike to me.”

Explaining why CNN is now giving Hughley the 10pm slot on Saturdays (repeating on Sundays), CNN President Jon Klein told Variety: “D.L. is a very thoughtful, well-informed guy with unpredictable views, and I’ve always admired his comedy.” (Klein, you might remember, was the one who cancelled Crossfire in order to raise the level of discourse on CNN.)

Have CBS and Dan Rather had it with each other?

In the aftermath of Memogate, Rather's relationship with his fellow CBSers completely disintegrated. Years of pent-up frustration at Rather's autocratic management style and personnel control of CBS News came to an abrupt end as remnants of the old Cronkite guard and new-school suits coalesced to throw Rather from the anchor's chair and cast him as an occasional reporter on "60 Minutes."

It seems now that Dan may have had enough of the demotion, and that CBS is just fine with cutting the cord. Rumors are starting to spread that Rather, whose contract with CBS expires in November, is not coming back to the network. And that it's a mutual decision. CBS head Les Moonves, having succeeded in revamping his entertainment division long wanted to turn his attentions to news, only to be stymied by the prickly pear Rather, who loudly and publicly declaimed any attempts to rein him in as "destroying hard news."

The runaway success of Rupert Murdoch's Fox News Channel, founded on the premise that other news outlets are biased, is the source of much anger to lefty journalists. Most elite journalists I've encountered hate the network and the fact that it's broken through the liberal glass ceiling of news.

A great example of this was a Monday column in the LA Times by Scott Collins which instead of leading with a 38 percent ratings drop at CNN (something that's causing turmoil and repeated personnel shifts), focused on a 17 percent drop at FNC.

Inside the article, Collins allows CNN president Jonathan "Pajamas" Klein to comment on why the rival network has fallen [by half the amount his has]. Perennial ratings dropout Keith Olbermann is also quoted.

The first few sentences tell the tale