How it works

Street meat.

Every morning, Tammy Haddad, executive producer of MSNBC's "Hardball with Chris Matthews," hears from more than 100 aspiring commentators. They each explain why they'd be the perfect guest to spout off on the issues of the day. "We call them 'street meat,' " says Ms. Haddad. "They're always available, walking the streets, waiting for your call on their cellphones."

They are the minor-league pundits -- political consultants, professors, activists, actors, journalists, bloggers and opinionated civilians -- and they're using 21st-century stunts to troll for airtime. Some try to break out of the blogs by repeating particular phrases in their written rants, designed to pop their sites up when TV bookers search for keywords online. Others are buying air time on AM and Internet radio stations to practice their punditry. And many are turning to media advisers or partisan training programs, where they learn new rules of engagement, such as how to use food to bribe producers. The ploys can work, as networks like CNN regularly survey the field, looking for new contributors.

Debbie Schlussel, 37 years old, supports her pundit habit by practicing commercial law in suburban Detroit. She is among the most proactive B-list pundits. Almost daily, she emails her appearance schedule, availability or sharp-elbowed conservative commentaries to 5,000 people in media and politics.

Now I really don't understand why they bothered to "clean up" Times Square. The prostitutes now just use email.

Speaking of Debbie Schulussel...

Take a gander at Debbie Schlussel to get an idea of truly disgusting politicization of this tragic event. On the "huge assumptions made to further getting her Muslim hate on" spectrum, Schlussel (here's the link, but remember, you'd be giving her hits she doesn't deserve plus you're probably going to want to take a shower afterward), decides–absent any reporting that would indicate as such–that the shooter HAD to be a "Paki." When commenters tell her that's an offensive slur, Debbie doesn't take it so well. Neither does the news that it's a Chinese student on a legal visa (note: later reporting identified him as S.Korean Cho Seung-Hui, who has lived in the US since 1992). Because you know, we shouldn't take in so many foreign students AND the students should be able to carry guns on campus to protect themselves. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you conservative thinking at its finest.

And the cable news producers still take her calls.