Anyone else surprised at John McLaughlin of The McLaughlin Group lately?

I used to be a regular watcher of the PBS show "The McLaughlin Group" but grew weary of the constant shout fests and quit watching it.

Every now and then I'll watch it and during the last year or so have been very pleasantly surprised at some of John McLaughlin's comments and how hard he has been on Shrub.

Then today the guy actually was making favorable comments about Al Gore.

Anyone else surprised at some of this?

he's a former JESUIT...and one thing ya gotta say about those guys, they are NOT STUPID. Even the ones who leave because they want to use their organs, or because they got the toss because they couldn't conform in other ways...none of them are dunces.

JMcL may be a shit, but he's no dummy. There's only so long ya can carry water for a total shite!

-say, last summer, more or less. I actually watch him more because he tries to bring new stuff and thinks ahead. And for all my dislike of Pat Buchanan, at times the old guy gets stuff absolutely right rather a lot these days. Which makes the MG better than all the sycophancy pundit shows that fill up the rest of Friday night and Sunday morning.

I'm sorry to say that Eleanor Clift is not running ahead of the curve much anymore, though. If she were it would all be a lot more fun to watch. I'm no Hillary critic, but Clift is cheerleading her rather too obviously for this early on.

McLaughlin is right that moderate Republicans are looking for somewhere to go, for someone moderate-conservative and from outside their very screwed up hardliner-run Party.

And like Lex, I saw the change in him a while back. Making favorable comments about Al Gore doesn't endear me to him as much as it would to some, but...at least it's entertaining evidence that he's come around...sort of.

invade a defenseless country that never did us any harm.

This was really emphazied during the '04 debates when JM practically called Bush out as being a total dunce. I agree that someone with a Jesuit background could not support Bush for very long.

I like it when he goes up against the right-wing talking points that come out of the mouth of that editor of the Washington Times, Tony Blankly

I see JM as an old-school Eisenhower Republican who realizes he has a lot more in common with many Democrats. He also has been very much against the war.