Some quick observations about the Tom Brokaw-moderated forum last night:

A theme Brokaw hammered at the entire night was how divisive politics are today and how bad it is for the country. Yet, the first question he asked the panel was directed at Fox News chief Roger Ailes and concerned whether Ailes had shifted Fox News Channel to the right in order to capture the large audience who felt alienated by the liberal media. Talk about divisive. Not satisfied with Ailes first answer, Brokaw asked the question again in a different way. Finally, Ailes told Brokaw that Shepard Smith was not a “political” anchor, that Hannity and Colmes was a debate show like Crossfire except that the anchors didn’t hate each other, to which fellow panelist Paul Begala quipped, “You didn’t have Bob Novak.” (That was Begala’s intentional funny of the night. His unintentional funny was when he said, “I like principled partisan debates.”)

Bill Clinton’s appearance via satellite made me wonder whether he will ever go away. My e-mail tells me I am not alone. One MB reader wrote:

Does anyone else find it odd that Clinton is participating on this panel? It seems so…random. and, to use a quaint term, beneath a former “leader of the free world” to be kibitzing about the media and politics with a bunch of pundits. So Ahnuld is there because his wife is a Kennedy, but what’s Clinton’s excuse? They MUST be paying him, right? Just when it seemed safe to say Jimmy Carter would manage to be BOTH the worst president and the worst former president, Clinton comes along to give him a run for his money. Oh how I wish that man would just GO AWAY. I guess I should just look on the bright side: He will only get more pathetic with age and perhaps give some of his stalwart supporters reason to wonder… I swear the man will do anything for some attention and a paycheck.

They love Ted Kennedy at Harvard. Three standing ovations.