Alterman's blood lust thwarted! The ever-slippery Robert Novak has bailed on the Arthur N. Rupe Great Debate at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he was scheduled to lock horns with Eric Alterman on May 25th. Alterman had recently crowed about the mighty battle of titans; Novak has totally screwed him. We wanted to see this one too, buddy, but we do have to give Novak the point here.

Okrent: The Exit Interview A fascinating and candid chat with departing NYT Public Editor who admits that the WMD fiasco was "very bad journalism" and who's watching the op-ed columnists with a wary eye (spoiler alert! Op-Ed is the target for his last column!). Poor Okrent, he thinks nobody at the Times likes him (though he doesn't seem to care much). Has anyone ever nicknamed him "Doc Ock" like in Spiderman II? 'Cause if no one has, we will. [Salon via The Guardian via Romenesko]

Arianna on Gutfeld: She likes him! She really likes him! Yup, she calls him "hilarious" and totally buys into his mania as she writes to David Corn: "By the way, what did you do with Byron York's gym bag?" It's obvious: she wants him to put in a good word with Gergen (and, really, who wouldn't?).