Fox News contributor and right-of-center pollster Frank Luntz held a focus group yesterday for Hannity and the results were remarkable for a couple of reasons. First, the speech that Obama made announcing the extension of the Bush Tax Cuts saw a far more positive response from GOP participants than those who self-identified as Democrats. Secondly, and perhaps more entertainingly, the follow up discussion was like a scene from The Jerry Springer Show. Woof.

Tonight was only Keith Olbermann‘s second show back from “exile,” and, while he seemed to have taken his temporary suspension with an air of whimsy last night, today he tackled the subject of journalists and political donations seriously, inviting two fellow journalists– the Daily Beast‘s Howard Kurtz and The Nation’s Greg Mitchell– to give their takes, since “I think you may have heard of my point of view here.”

This clip from this morning’s Morning Joe is currently making the rounds due to Peggy Noonan’s remark that today’s Mass. special election GOP candidate Scott Brown is popular because he “looks like an American.” Actually, Noonan’s remark may be the least offensive to come out of this morning’s chat session on the subject, Donny Deutsch thinks the fact Brown not black or a woman may offer a “visceral comfort” to voters.

Last week we reported the sad news that Editor & Publisher would be shutting down by the end of the year. We noted how the demise of the 125 year-old newspaper trade magazine was “a sign of how badly that industry has been hammered over the past few years, and further calls into question its future survival.” Well not so fast! Today E&P announced plans to publish their January issue, and teases in the headline: “Hope Remains?” Could this be a Christmas miracle?

Attorney General Eric Holder‘s decision to bring Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four others detained at Guantanamo Bay to trial at a New York City courthouse was received with mixed reaction Friday, both on the political spectrum and in the media world. As a service to you, let’s review where this story has been and where its likely to go, at least in the world of the opinion press.

This morning, New York Times reporter Stephen Farrell was freed from his captors in northern Afghanistan by a military raid that took the life of his interpreter. As in the case of David Rohde, the Times asked news outlets not to report on Farrell’s capture, although fortunately his was a shorter ordeal than Rohde’s. Some may argue that this violates journalistic ethics; here’s why they’re wrong.