Today is a glorious day, for I have discovered something so rare it is almost non-existent in today’s media world: giving context to things. On his CNN show today, Fareed Zakaria discussed Mitt Romney‘s unfortunate comments about the poor, which have done nothing to help his public image, but Zakaria actually defended Romney. He blamed the media for taking Romney’s comments out of context to get the juicy soundbite of the former businessman seemingly ignoring the plight of poor people.

In an interview with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria on Sunday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said America was hated around the world and should re-examine their policies. “They should see where the problem is — maybe the problem is in the United States itself. This is a friendly recommendation,” Ahmadinejad said.

It’s been an earth-shattering week for Middle Eastern dictators, and with the fall of Muammar Gaddafi, many in the region are turning their eyes towards Syria’s Bashar al-Assad and Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, as their people continue to struggle (though less violently) from within to free themselves from their regime. Ahmadinejad, meanwhile, is doing a round of media in America, talking to Fareed Zakaria in an interview airing tomorrow on CNN, and asking that the international community respect Syria’s relationship with its citizens.

Speaking last night on CNN’s Fareed Zakaria‘s GPS, former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld expressed regret for the caution the Bush Administration used when discussing radical Islam, and worry for the Obama Administration which has been “much worse” — “they won’t even use the word,” he says. “Tongue tied” by political correctness and principles of religious freedom, he is concerned that proper threat has not been conveyed, and that it’s therefore been difficult to defeat “the enemy.”

Fareed Zakaria is getting sick and tired of all this partisanship in American politics, but unlike many political commentators, he has refused to blame one side or another. Instead, on his program this morning, Zakaria claimed the system was broken– not that it was too bureaucratic and cumbersome, but that having separation of powers in our government has made it so difficult to pass legislation that it may have directly caused the S&P credit downgrade.

On his GPS program Sunday morning, Fareed Zakaria told viewers that he thinks “liberals need to grow up” and realize that President Obama’s oratorical gifts have their limits. The declaration has earned him sharp rebuke among liberals, but also from conservative sites like Newsbusters, each of whom see Zakaria’s premise at odds with reality.

Finger-pointing is perhaps Capitol Hill’s most beloved pastime, though some may argue that in light of America’s first credit downgrade and a month of financial gridlock, it has evolved from hobby to obsession. Mediaite has already looked at some of the media figures whose profiles have risen and fallen over debt crisis, but who were they blaming to get there? The answer is a hodgepodge of President Obama the Tea Party, and, given it’s 2011, a surprisingly frequent President Bush references.Below are some highlights in the Political Mediasphere Blame Game over the past month that say little about who is actually to blame for our current economic roles (other than, of course, “everyone”) and a lot about how easily recyclable political narratives can be.

CNN’s Fareed Zakaria is not optimistic that the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, the much publicized “Super Committee” from the debt deal, will be able to achieve any type of “super” results. Instead, Zakaria predicts a compromise will be virtually impossible as both political parties are now likely to dig their heels in even deeper on their positions, with the economy suffering as a result.

The opinion news media (and, ahem, those who cover it) have experienced something of a love/hate relationship to the debt crisis. On the one hand, it’s nearly impossible to create engaging, insightful commentary on the fact that something is still not happening. But, then again, the opinion news machine is nothing if not creative in what it elects to report on and the narratives spun out of these headlines. So let’s take a moment and analyze those in the media who came out on top in their coverage of the debt discussions, be that coverage straightforward reporting or subjective analysis, and those who dropped the ball somewhere along the way.

Fareed Zakaria is quickly building a reputation for sharing frank and candid opinions on political factions with whom he holds in particularly low esteem. Take for example last night’s conversation he had with AC360 host Anderson Cooper regarding House GOP members sympathetic to the Tea Party movement, who Zakaria feels were doing no less than taking the nation hostage over an inflexibility on raising the federal debt ceiling.

The rhetoric against the Tea Party movement has escalated in extremism during the debt ceiling debate, partially because many on the left and in the center considered the Tea Party members of Congress the only thing standing between America maintaining its credit rating and defaulting on the debt. On tonight’s O’Reilly Factor, Bill O’Reilly and Bernie Goldberg differed on the level of outrage about that, but both took the time to chuckle about their aversion to labeling “real terrorists” but quickness to drop the word on domestic opponents.

CNN host Fareed Zakaria is deeply concerned for the future of America, and on last night’s Anderson Cooper 360º took the Tea Party to task for what he considered the “hijacking” of the nation by the Tea Party. Citing the strange bedfellow Charles Krauthammer as a level head on the issue, Zakaria called the Tea Party’s opposition to raising the debt ceiling “fundamentally anti-democratic” and hoped the President was “seriously exploring” the 14th Amendment escape hatch to passing a budget.

“Why,” asks CNN’s Fareed Zakaria, “have the Tea Party become so prominent? Why is it able to dominate Washington?” As Zakaria sees it, the current climate within Washington itself encourages smaller, special interest movements like the Tea Party to flourish and capture the ears of the major parties and of Congress because American politics in general has changed to promote this type of “political narrowcasting.”

In an interview with NPR, Fareed Zakaria says his network, CNN, ” is getting smarter…you can feel it in the stories,” under the leadership of Mark Whitaker, CNN’s managing editor and executive vice president. “You can feel it in the depth with which they’re covered, the kinds of people in terms of guests who are brought on air, the ways in which issues are discussed.”

Ann Coulter fears mobs. Her aversion to uncontrolled rabbles is at the heart of her new book, Demonic, and colors everything from her disdain for political figures that engage in blind “groupthink” to her lament that Jon Stewart deserves a smarter audience than the one he has. Mediaite caught up with Coulter last Friday why America could face a second French Revolution, which cable news interviewer lied about reading her new book, and the smartest people on MSNBC.

Fareed Zakaria spoke today on his CNN show about how he was intrigued by Iceland’s decision to throw out their Constitution and create a new governing document for the nation. Even more exciting and unique, was Iceland’s decision to accept suggestions for the new Constitution through social media applications like Twitter and Facebook, from all of its 320,000 citizens.

Earlier this week, CNN‘s Fareed Zakaria made the strange admission that he met with President Obama to discuss international issues. Our own Colby Hall called it a “stunning revelation”, which Howard Kurtz quoted on Reliable Sources today as he made the point that in his opinion, such meetings should have been disclosed.

Fareed Zakaria is a well respected journalist with a proven track record in both print and broadcast media. As Editor at Large for Time magazine, and on his CNN program Fareed Zakaria GPS, the Indian-American writer/personality has a specific focus on international news issues. So it may come as no surprise to some that he revealed to his CNN cohort Eliot Spitzer that he meets with President Obama to discuss many international issues.

Bloomberg is reporting that Pakistan will allow U.S. interrogation of Osama bin Laden‘s wives taken into custody after the U.S. mission in Abbottabad that resulted in the killing of the al Qaeda. This came up last night on CNN’s AC 360 and guest Fareed Zakaria told host Anderson Cooper that this was perhaps a way for Pakistan to diminish the deep embarrassment of having bin Laden ostensibly caught hiding in plain sight in their country.

Former Secretary of State  Condoleezza Rice, followed up her smash-mouth Lawrence O’Donnell interview with a more cordial appearance on Sunday morning’s Fareed Zakaria GPS, and while she was far more gracious than former Bush Chief of Staff Andy Card (who accused President Obama of “pound(ing) his chest” over the Osama bin Laden slaying)

A cable news feud pitting two unlikely characters against each other, Fox’s Glenn Beck and CNN’s Fareed Zakaria, shows no sign of slowing. On NBC’s Tonight Show Thursday, Zakaria (alongside at least two Kardashians) mocked Beck, his chalkboard and his math skills. “I corrected his math,” he said. When Jay Leno asked about Beck’s comments that Zakaria is an “America basher and useful idiot,” Zakaria smilingly shot back.

On Glenn Beck’s television show yesterday, he brought up one of his favorite pieces of literature, Cass Sunstein’s 2008 essay on conspiracy theorists (PDF) which lists ways the government might combat them. One suggestion advises the government to “hire credible private parties to engage in counterspeech.” On today’s radio show, Beck told us who one of these private parties might be; none other than Fareed Zakaria!

The all-out war between Glenn Beck and George Soros to make Godwin’s Law an official scientifically-accepted principle continued this weekend on CNN, where the billionaire told Fareed Zakaria that Fox News’ “falsehoods” were similar to what succeeded in Weimar Germany. On tonight’s Factor, Bill O’Reilly tried to make sense of Soros’ continued escalation of the feud while regular guest Bernie Goldberg wondered why Zakaria allowed that language to begin with.

In an interview with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria set to air on Zakaria’s GPS this weekend, billionaire financier George Soros responds to recent comments made about him by Fox’s Glenn Beck, saying Beck’s comments about Soros would be funny if “people saw the joke in it.” Soros accuses Beck–and News Corp owner Rupert Murdoch–of “telling the people some falsehoods and…leading the government in the wrong direction.”

In an interview set to air this weekend, George Soros accuses President Obama of “losing control” and letting Republicans set the agenda on the economy. Talking to CNN’s Fareed Zakaria, the billionaire investor says “President Obama has lost control of the agenda. The agenda is now in the hands of the Republican Party.”