As the Illinois state Senate began its impeachment trial, Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) did the nonsensical. He got out of Dodge and headed for the bright lights and big city.

After the sideshow of the possible attempt to sell the Obama Senate seat and the circus that was the process that gave us Sen. Roland Burris (D-Ill.), where else would Blagojevich want to go but the land of "If I can make it there, I'll make it anywhere" — Manhattan!

In doing so, he became one of the biggest "gets" for television in recent memory — except that seemingly anyone who wanted Blagojevich got him. Larry King, Rachel Maddow, Diane Sawyer, Geraldo Rivera. And, of course, the cringe-inducing appearance on "The View." Just when we thought Illinois's Office of the Governor had been stripped of all dignity, enter Joy Behar, mussing the Blago mane and asking for a Nixonian "I am not a crook." Could "Saturday Night Live" be next?

Poor Ann Coulter. She’s made millions spewing hate in book after book, and on television show after television show. But now Coulter wants us to feel sorry for her because NBC canceled an interview with her on yesterday morning’s “Today Show.”

The fiery blonde had been scheduled to appear to hawk her latest book, Guilty, but her appearance was canceled — and Coulter’s crying CENSORSHIP!

Nonsense. You want to talk censorship? Try getting booked as a liberal on the morning talk shows. For my latest book, Trainwreck, I was rejected by “Today,” “Good Morning America,” CBS and CNN’s morning show. But I didn’t whine about it.

There is enough that is horrible and tragic about the terrorist attacks and killings of innocent people in Mumbai (the Indian city long known in the West as Bombay) in the last several days without some careless media reporting and premature accusations by Indian officials suggesting Pakistani government responsibility making matters worse.

Full disclosure: I represented Pakistan in the 1990s, have visited the country several times, and made many close Pakistani friends during the time I helped Pakistan recover hundreds of millions of dollars the U.S. government owed it.

Last weekend two news clips caught my eye. One reported that former “SNL” comedy writer Al Franken (D) pulled ahead of Minnesota Sen. Norm Coleman (R) in that state’s senatorial contest (40-34, according to one poll). The front page of The Washington Post advised, “Comedian Becomes Serious Contender.” Franken’s campaign has been stimulated by appearances by Hillary Clinton and Al Gore, and $6 million of ads paid for by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

In a second news item, CNN announced the premiere of a new comedy-news show, starring D.L. Hughley, a stand-up comic and former L.A. gang member. Hughley commented, “I’m, like, ‘Come on, man. I barely even know how to read. I’ve got a GED.’ ” CNN stated it was entering “into the well-established genre of news delivered with a satirical smile,” according to The New York Times, which highlighted the new program in its Arts section.