So this is what moderation looks like

Evidently, darkness. This is what Sderot residents are seeing now after a Qassam rocket hit power lines in the beleaguered city. Thank goodness Hamas has now embraced a more moderate position! Jimmy Carter's visit has worked wonders! Can he defuse the Iranian problem, too?

Another word about Hamas: can we get over the falsehood that Iran will not work with Sunnis? When Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Khaled Meshaal exchange kisses and pleasantries in public, do we think they are just discussing the sports scores?

Colbert to the rescue

Stephen Colbert is quite a phenomenon. Apparently, his "Colbert Bump" for visiting politicians may have some truth to it. This even for a basic cable show! Bill O'Reilly likes to brag that his viewers know their stuff and The Daily Show/Colbert Report's viewers are "stoned slackers." Yet viewer research by Pew shows that in fact, TDS/Colbert viewers know slightly more about the news than O'Reilly viewers (and dramatically more than FOX watchers in general). They are also more educated (31% have a college degree vs. 24% for O'Reilly), even though they are younger (26% under 30 vs. 16%). If Colbert truly does have influence on this election, may Barack Obama's act of putting "distractions" from the real issues "on notice" actually have an effect.