There's a reason why CNN is now a high profile pariah alongside its bullying brother-in-low FOX, its over the hill uncles CBS, NBC and the shiftless, perpetually late ABC.

Sex, Lies, and Videotape ruled the roost this week. The sex came in the he said, he said rumors about Trent Lott and a gay escort, and in Rudy and Judy's taxpayer funded trysts. The lies were delivered by Karl Rove and Bill Clinton, who each tried to rewrite history regarding the war in Iraq -- and Rudy (again), who had a hard time keeping his facts straight. And you can toss in Lott (again) too - unless you believe he's retiring five years early because his pastor read Ecclesiastes. As for the videotape, take your pick: we have Andy Card dissing Rove, me discussing Rove on Olbermann, Olbermann as a toon on the Simpsons, Joe Scarborough dissing CNN, and our collection of the week's Must See Video.

The "premise" that we were at the time that this "crime" took place "the defined good guys" and anyone opposing us the "defined

CNN thinks Mexicans Gone Wild is a sexier topic for our country to fight about in 2007 and 2008 than health care, education, the environment, energy, and all the other issues that got shockingly short shrift at the YouTubaganza.

In case CNN's executives and flacks thinks they've done a heckuva damage control job and put this battered debate baby to bed, here's a checklist of contradictions and disparities coming out of their mouths.

We need a real and open debate about health care. If CNN won't allow it, perhaps those of us in the blogosphere will have to do it for them.

If CNN's clumsiness in handling this weren't so hilarious, it would be (to pick a random phrase) pretty infuriating.