To cleanse the palate, via Mediaite, I feel about this the way I feel about the Brian Williams saga. Whenever I cringe and feel tempted to accuse the media of squandering its credibility, I catch myself and think: Listen to what you’re saying, man. Then I feel better and roll with it.

So this is the answer to CNN’s ratings troubles, I guess. The good news: For a network that used to air Piers Morgan in primetime, it’s clearly a step up. The bad news: I have to assume that the only way a smart, sober, serious reporter like Tapper would agree to participate in something as goony as this is if there’s someone standing out of frame here pointing a shotgun at him. Poor guy. As a gimmick, though, the concept is clever. Probably 80 percent of the average cable-news viewership, I’d bet, thinks they’re smarter than the talking heads onscreen. Here’s a way they can test that.

You’ll note, by the way, that Wolf Blitzer is nowhere to be found. That’s not an accident.