Just let something appear in the left-wing blogs, and within hours it's all over the echo chamber. And when that happens, the odds are good that it will pop up on the Hour of Spin. Olby may have no use for the Media Research Center, but he never misses the talking points from Atrios and his ilk. The far-left blogger published a photo that shows Harriet Miers briefing the President; it is dated the same day as the "Bin Laden Determined to Attack America" document. This tells us what about Ms Miers? Nothing, but substance has never been a requirement for partisan hacks.

And speaking of partisan hacks, Keith grabs this huge scoop and runs with it. Look! A picture of Harriet Miers! And it was taken on August 6, 2001, no less! Stop the presses! Show the picture at the very top of Countdown. Show it again two minutes later. Don't say anything about what relevance it has to the Miers nomination because then you would have to admit it has none.

For some reason, Olby brings on Tucker Carlson to discuss Miers. Yesterday Keith cited two conservative blogs (an event analogous to a planet leaving its orbit). Today he brings on the bow-tie. Of course, just as with Power Line yesterday, his sudden outreach to the conservative side of the spectrum is limited to people who are critical of the President. (If you got all your news from KO, you'd think every conservative on the planet was mad at Bush.) And there are great quotes from Olby about the President sprinkled throughout this interview:

• He didn't answer the question.
• Most of the criticism is coming from supposedly the President's base.
• He seemed weary.
• What was this news conference today about? It seems like whenever there's been a problem, somebody is saying, we'll just trot out the old "W" magic here. The last six or eight months, there has not seemed to have been a lot of "W" magic.
• Does he really believe that?
• Has he in fact become a lame-duck President?

Then it was off to Leakville, where the next big scoop was that a "new theory" has emerged. First a clip of the President who stumbled over a few words:

Those of us in the White House need--should not discuss the case.

Like an armadillo snatching an unsuspecting insect with its tongue, Olby leapt:

Remember, Freud said there is no such thing as misspeaking.

Just for a change of pace, Keith brought in John Harwood to speculate what could, might, possibly be true in the "new theory". Our understanding of AFTRA rules is that one more appearance by Harwood on the Hour of Spin, and MSNBC will have to list him in the opening credits as a co-anchor.

Finally, Olby ran a piece of free publicity for the new Edward R Murrow movie. Murrow, you see, fought against Sen Joe McCarthy, who had America "in the grip of hysteria". Keith lifted his closing line, "Good night and good luck", from Murrow. We wonder what Freud would have said about that kind of egocentric conceit.