HAPPY AND BORING. I indulged myself and skipped The O'Reilly Factor tonight. There's only so much one can be expected to take. I'm doing penance by watching Hannity & Colmes, but it's boring tonight. Sean, as usual, is wearing more make-up than Pee-wee Herman, which is always good for a chuckle. But there are no liberals for him to fight with, so the show lacks its only appeal - its car-crash-at-the-side-of-the-road quality that makes you watch despite yourself.

Rudy Giuliani? Please - he's the second-least-controversial Republican in the country after John McCain. Peggy Noonan? She can be wonderfully weird, but not tonight. Ralph Reed? Now that held some promise, but they never gave him a chance to go nutty.

Why on earth wouldn't Alan, at least, ask Reed if he and his fellow religious conservatives are pissed off that Bush is saying almost nothing about gay marriage? That might have been amusing. Instead, Reed was allowed to blather on at length about foreign policy. You'd think the guy was Prince Metternich instead of the little twerp who used to work for Pat Robertson.

Ooh, Bob Shrum's on Chris Matthews. Looks like I missed him. Damn! I want to know how the Democrats can take back the White House in 2008. Maybe by "fighting for working families," Bob? Jesus. I guess if you lose often enough, you become a pundit.