Or is it because the political thought on the right (Rush Limbaugh, Fox News) –  sounds a little off base.

It’s probably a little of both.

But one could make a case that the cable TV folks on the left (MSNBC) are smarter, more informed, and more, shall we say, liberally educated, than the cable TV folks on the right.

For example, here’s a bit of background, harvested from Wikipedia, about our media friends’ education:

On the Right

Rush Limbaugh — two semesters and one summer at Southeast Missouri State University

Sean Hannity — dropped out of New York University and Adelphi University

Glenn Beck – one semester of college

Bill O’Reilly (an exception) — graduated Marist College.  M.A. Broadcast Jounralism from Boston University. Master of Public Administration Harvard University

On the Left

Chris Matthews — graduate of the College of the Holy Cross.  Graduate work in economics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Ed Shultz — Graduate of Minnesota State University Moorhead.

Lawrence O’Donnell — Harvard graduate

Keith Obermann — Cornell graduate

Rachel Maddow — degree in public policy from Stanford. Doctorate in political science from Oxford, which she attended on a Rhodes Scholarship.

Rush Limbaugh

Glenn Beck

Sean Hannity

Chris Matthews

Rachel Maddow

Bill O'Reilly

Ed Schultz

Lawrence O'Donnell

Keith Obermann

I like drama okay.  I love humor.  My favorite passages in books are those moments of irony — usually toward the end when you’ve lived with the characters a good while — when humor and tragedy collide.  This is what makes a masterpiece:  a work that makes us laugh, love, and cry — at the same time.

This is the best entertainment –whether it be a novel, play, show, poem, movie, or gripping news story on CNN:  the powerful story that artfully captures the bittersweet.  Throw in some incredible dancing and upbeat, familiar music, and you’ve got the makings of perfect entertainment.

Michael Jackson’s public life was the ultimate in entertainment, and his public death has allowed us to see the reel again, this time with added emotion.  The death has washed away the bad taste we had from his legal troubles (and those audacious, public buying sprees).

The performances were already mesmerizing; now they’re even better.  And — in the midst of a recession — it’s free on every cable channel (included, or course, with the cost of monthly subscription).

Is it even more poignant for those who, like me, are the same age as Michael?  Those who remember listening to a famous singing little kid while we were little kids?  It always is.

It’s the stuff from the 60′s that really makes me stop and watch: