Just kidding, it's not shocking at all. In an utterly predictable turn of events but with now-predictably dramatic timing, the CPB has appointed former Republican Party co-chair Patricia Harrison, former Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs, as its incoming president and chief executive.

A group of Democratic Senators (including our Hillary) had suggested that it might be wise to put off making this appointment given all the hubbub surrounding Kenneth "Y don't we know his middle name yet?" Tomlinson's CPB's recent extracurricular activities (paying Republican lobbyists, surreptitiously hiring ultra-Conservative monitors to watchdog programming). Quoth the letter: "We find it astonishing that Ms. Harrison, given her former prominence as a partisan political figure, would even be considered as a candidate for a job that demands that the occupant be non-political."

But former chair Katherine Anderson, who chaired the search committee effort, thinks Harrison rocks: "Pat Harrison's career exemplifies outstanding leadership. She has demonstrated great strength in coalition building. She knows Capitol Hill and is devoted to public broadcasting and the mission."