Say what you will, but watching him melt down nightly over this has made for some superb television. If you want a scare segment on Internet creeps, you watch the Factor; if you want nutroots vaudeville, you watch Olby. If you want a man in the grip of an almost Sullivanesque political neurosis, you turn it to CNN, baby, and just groove on it with Sanch.

Here we find the nuance in full flower: not only is Rick himself comfortable with the word “bitchy,” he giggles along merrily as Stephanie Miller drops the B-bomb later in the show. The vagaries of when “bitch” is and isn’t permitted are left unclear, although unlike with racial slurs, hostile intent does seem to be required. Either that or the speaker — or, rather, listener — has to be running for leader of the free world. If you want the west’s greatest nuclear arsenal at your disposal, it seems, you had best be prepared to step to some ill-mannered voter spouting profanity you might hear in a middle-school schoolyard.

You’ll be happy to know this was culled from fully 13 minutes of discussion. For dessert, here’s Gibby batting him around on yesterday’s radio show; even Howard Kurtz, who shares a network with Sanchez, thinks he’s off the deep end. Exit question: Sanchez is bumped tonight due to the Democratic debate, but does he dare come back with another segment on this on Friday night? The odds stand at 3-1.