This past weekend was an embarrassment of riches for the cable news channels. Any one of the three major stories (the deaths of James Brown, and President Gerald Ford, or the execution of Saddam) would have been enough by themselves. CNN, MSNBC & Fox News were falling over themselves trying to cover each one, plus get to other events like the war and New Year’s Eve.

I found it fascinating that all three were often identified by a certain catch-phrase. Brown was "The hardest working man in showbusiness" or "The godfather of soul", Ford was the "Great Healer" or the "accidental President", while Saddam was almost continually referred to as "The Butcher of Baghdad." We can only ponder what the current resident of the Oval Office will be known as to later generations.

Admittedly I’m not a regular viewer of Fox News (big surprise there, huh?) but I have to give them credit for generally doing a respectful job on the Ford funeral & memorial services. Donna and I spent much of the time tuned to CSPAN, which covered the events and appeared to be the folks in charge of the pool feed. It was nice, at times, to not hear the various commentators and simply see and hear what was happening in ‘real time.’ To be fair though, each of the cable networks had some wonderful guests talking about the late President and his brief term in office. CSPAN also allowed folks the opportunity to call in and offer condolences or their own remembrances of the man and the era.

CNN did a good job with those parts of the James Brown services we caught, during a rather hectic weekend. It was good to hear Keith Olbermann, during the Ford services this morning, setting the pace rather than co-host Chris Matthews. I also thought Brian Williams was excellent on MSNBC whenever we were able tune in. Speaking of which, we’ve switched to watching Williams’ nightly NBC newscast over from CBS, where I have trouble taking poor Katie Couric seriously.

Just to jump into the Saddam execution debate for a moment.

If you had asked me even ten years ago about the “Death Penalty” I would have quickly told you that I was against it. While I think it is generally not a deterrent and often little more than something politicians love to debate to gather votes, I sometimes find myself thinking that in some situations it might be the only ‘punishment’ suitable. In the case of Saddam it might have been the right thing to do, but not in the fashion in which it was carried out. I believe that there was truly a rush to judgment in this case, with more than a little push from the current administration. Perhaps, there were things the former dictator and one time U.S. ally knew that certain folks didn’t want to get out. Of course, nobody loves a conspiracy theory more than I do.