Usually in the business of chronicling cable news, a debate on austerity and inflation is a pretty hard sell. In a world of Jeremiah Wrights and Sandra Flukes, the Euro crisis is rather low on the personal drama scale. This morning’s Melissa Harris-Perry shattered that conventional wisdom, with The Washington Post‘s Ezra Klein and Reason‘s Nick Gillespie going head-to-head on the woes of the Eurozone and whether the nations should continue to spend money, the sort of crosstalk-laden panel discussion host Melissa Harris-Perry had to interrupt to remind them to keep the audience in the loop.

The story of a Super PAC planning on resuscitating Rev. Jeremiah Wright as a campaign issue has raised questions on both sides of the aisle– from the ethics of doing so to why the mainstream media avoided the topic. On Fox & Friends this morning, Jonah Goldberg noted that he found in the mainstream media a “deep, nagging insecurity” about the way they handled the 2008 campaign, one that has made them somewhat hesitant to bring up issues from 2008 that could politically help the President.

Geraldo Rivera is not letting Trayvon Martin‘s wardrobe escape scrutiny as the court begins work on the George Zimmerman trial, calling his black hoodie “thug wear.” On The O’Reilly Factor last night, Rivera dismissed the THC in Martin’s bloodstream as a serious issue, but once again noted that, given his size and wardrobe, he considered it reasonable for Zimmerman to think Martin could be a criminal, something O’Reilly was quick to call profiling.

It is 2012 and the nation faces a brand new presidential election, but somehow Rev. Jeremiah Wright has become, once again, a focal point in the campaign, due in some part to a Super PAC proposal the New York Times dug up suggesting hammering that point into the political consciousness of voters. On last night’s Ed Show, host Ed Schultz argued the fairness and relevance of bringing up Wright again, and how Mitt Romney may be exposing himself to attack over his Mormon faith if he allows his campaign to go after Wright.

Dan Rather sat down with Bill Maher tonight for a candid conversation about what the news has come to these days with the rise of opinion journalism and consolidated media. In the middle of the discussion, Rather reflected on one of his most infamous reports when he was at CBS: the story of George W. Bush going AWOL during his service in the Texas Air National Guard.

In honor of Mitt Romney‘s commencement speech at Liberty University last week, Bill Maher used his show-ending New Rule tonight to question the validity of the entire university’s credentials and argue that when they give out diplomas, it “cheapens my degree from a real school.” Maher said that because of Liberty’s religious bent, the university isn’t on par with “legitimate” universities that provide students with a comprehensive education.

Watching the prim, polished Rachel Maddow show as it exists today– MSNBC’s flagship– it’s hard to recall the days Rachel Maddow was a radio host first and foremost, with some gigs on TV on the side. Her first regular stint on national television was on The Situation with Tucker Carlson– a news opinion program that preceded both Wolf Blitzer‘s The Situation Room and Jersey Shore‘s Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino, and eventually became simply Tucker, giving way to a series of programs before ceding the 9PM MSNBC spot to Maddow herself.

MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell had a strong night in ratings on Thursday as he overtook Greta Van Susteren’s On The Record in the demo. It was the second time O’Donnell beat Greta, the last being March 15, 2012. O’Donnell led MSNBC with 327,000 demo viewers to Van Susteren’s 309,000. However, Van Susteren easily topped him in total viewers , 1,411,000 to 899,000.

New York Times economic columnist and Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman added new dimensions to the art of hyperbolic overstatement on Friday with MSNBC’s Martin Bashir when he wondered aloud whether the GOP in Congress wholly consisted of moles attempting to “bring down America” from within.

The world loves Will Smith. Maybe not enough to forgive Men in Black 2, but the world still loves him. They love him so much that he’s been claimed to be one of the only black actor who can open a movie overseas. That’s a lot of love. But sometimes those overseas folk love him too much, like a Ukranian reporter who accidentally brushed his lips against those of the star and got a slap for his effort.

Fifteen minutes in the penalty box! Several cable news pundits this week looked as if they were duking it out in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, as they rhetorically crosschecked one another into the boards. There was plenty of vitriol to be spewed with Jeremiah Wright, President Obama’s visit to The View and gay marriage dominating the week’s headlines. Heated disagreements ensued and some people left with their feelings hurt.

On Friday, legal scholar and criminal defense attorney Alan Dershowitz joined journalist and author Bernie Goldberg on Fox News Channel’s America Live with Megyn Kelly to discuss the ongoing trial of George Zimmerman for the murder of Florida teen Trayvon Martin. Dershowitz and Goldberg said that the New York Times and Florida prosecutor Angela Cory had irresponsibly furthered a narrative of Zimmerman’s guilt when it appears that he acted in a manner consistent with a defense of self-defense.

For the last two weeks, much of the media focus has been on same-sex marriage, especially since President Obama completed his so-called “evolution” on the issue. This led to some pretty heated debates on cable news pitting pro-gay marriage pundits against conservative Christian leaders. And whether it was Rep. Barney Frank versus Tony Perkins, or Piers Morgan versus Bill Donohue, the socially conservative pundit’s point usually boiled down to this: We cannot take seriously any gay rights issues because homosexuality is a choice.

Author and National Review contributor Jonah Goldberg appeared on Fox News Channel on Friday to discuss the findings in a recent Fox News poll that showed young voters still supporting President Barack Obama. Goldberg was asked, simply, if young voters would support Mitt Romney – he responded bluntly, “no.” While Goldberg is probably correct, there is at least some evidence that some young voters are contemplating abandoning the President ahead of a close election in November.

On Friday morning’s edition of Rachael Ray‘s syndicated talk show, Fox News powerhouse Bill O’Reilly dropped by to talk politics, telling Ray the Republican Party is “disorganized” and joking that he and Ray should run the country.

Host of Bravo’s Inside The Actor’s Studio James Lipton stopped by CNN’s Starting Point on Friday and gave presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney some lessons in “acting human,” taking issue with the candidate’s laugh, wardrobe and mannerisms.

On Friday morning’s edition of MSNBC’s The Daily Rundown, host Chuck Todd asked Indiana’s Republican Governor Mitch Daniels whether he’d consider to participate should Mitt Romney select him as a vice-presidential candidate. Daniels shut down any potential rumors, insisting he is not interested in being vice-president, and that everyone should “make some easy money and bet against this whole idea.”

During a segment on Bravo’s Kathy Thursday, Kathy Griffin tore into Elisabeth Hasselbeck‘s critical question to President Obama on The View about gay marriage, where she wondered how he would “move things forward any more than Mitt Romney.” “Freeze. All right, I shouldn’t be freezing here, but, right away, with her attitude to the President, who was a Harvard Law professor. I’m, like, take it down a notch, bitch,” Griffin opined.

On last night’s edition of CBS’s Late Show, host David Letterman interviewed Conan O’Brien for the first time since before the Conan-Leno debacle of 2010. Predictably, one topic they discussed was Jay Leno. Both late-show personalities tore into the NBC late night host, calling him a “brat.”

Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace weighed in on leaked reports that a pro-Mitt Romney super PAC was preparing to release ads linking President Barack Obama to Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Romney repudiated that PAC and urged them not to air those ads. Wallace said that there is a “double standard” when it comes to discussing Obama’s past as opposed to Romney’s. He also said that Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) was “crazy” for not attacking Obama on his association with Wright in 2008.

On his show Thursday, an outraged Lawrence O’Donnell took on Ben Stein, who told Bill O’Reilly last night that President Barack Obama isn’t a smart man — and doesn’t measure up to the “presidential genius” of President Richard Nixon. O’Donnell pointed to Nixon’s anti-Semitic remarks, war record and impeachment, questioning why he would be the picture of said “presidential genius.”

Over the last few day’s we’ve been getting newly released information about the Trayvon Martin case. Today in particular, Special Prosecutor Angela Corey made public a cache of documents, and we also posted newly public photos of George Zimmerman, taken the night of the shooting. Now, we have surveillance video from 7-Eleven.

Should Rev. Jeremiah Wright be off limits during this general election campaign? Thus was the question Sean Hannity posed to his panel on Thursday night. Disagreeing with Mitt Romney‘s decision not to use Wright against President Barack Obama, Hannity pondered why we can’t discuss the issue.

Lemonade stands and bake sales and hug-a-thons! Oh my! The common ground being none other than Glenn Beck, who joined Bill O’Reilly on Thursday night to rail against the impending nanny state that is America.

Chris Matthews had a successful ratings night on Wednesday during his 5pm time slot on MSNBC, beating Wolf Blitzer‘s The Situation Room in both the demo and total viewers. Matthews scored 111,000 demo viewers to Blitzer’s 64,000 and 720,000 total to his CNN rival’s 430,000. Here are the rest of your Wednesday night ratings: TV [...]