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Once upon a time, it was considered fresh and witty for well-known journalists to play themselves in TV and film. Granted, we can’t remember when that was (anyone have an example, out there?), but such sorry grabs for attention from ego-starved news celebrities started to lose favor sometime in the late 1980s, maybe around the start of “Murphy Brown.” Hey, that doesn’t stop those hammy journalists from sacrificing any and all remaining dignity for the sake of some two-bit cameo, as a casual viewer of the “West Wing” — or observer of Larry King’s IMDB bio — can tell you. Matt Lauer’s star turn on a special live “Will & Grace” highlights just how sad and foolish these appearances have become. Lauer plays the role of “Matt Lauer,” a man who doesn’t care for Will’s shrimp recipe, catches Grace in her game of “celebrity butt tag” and pees like a lady. Classy!

Open Salon interview.

A struggling Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Penn., went nuclear Wednesday, with an ad that tries to ally challenger Bob Casey with North Korea and China. Ah, the acrid smell of desperation in the weeks before a congressional election! Be prepared for even more of these terror-filled spots in these glorious final days of Campaign 2006, all of which carry a little DNA from the mother of all scare ads: The 1964 Lyndon Johnson “Daisy Girl” ad against Barry Goldwater (bottom ad, below).

From Michael Scherer’s piece today: “The GOP seems to believe that Ford’s appeal to its most reliable voters is working. In recent days, the Republican National Committee has attempted to reverse the troubling polls in Tennessee with a television ad that both attacks Ford’s religious credentials and invokes that old standby of American politics, racial fear.”

This National Republican Senatorial Committee ad against Harold Ford sports an early mention of a Playboy connection that the party hopes will rile Christians against Ford.

Salon’s piece on Rep. Harold Ford Jr.’s senate campaign spotlights his appeal to churchgoers, as in the TV spot below.