America is a place where people can rebound mightily from great falls, but lately, it is seeming more forgiving than ever.

Politicians who market themselves as having better values, or at least the ability to know what values citizens should follow, have been proven scoundrels yet have rebounded.

The latest is in South Carolina, where the one time disgraced governor Mark Sanford won a seat on the U.S. Senate. He had lied about where he was, hiding an affair with a woman he will now marry. His divorce has been brutal, including a recent police incident for violating a stay-away order. Yet, he won.

Now, disgraced former Democratic Congressman Anthony Weiner is seeking the NYC mayor's seat. He left Congress after lying about tweeting nasty photos and thoughts to a young woman. He claimed to have been hacked, prompting many others coming out about his transgressions.


But I don't think voters are forgiving. I think they are forgetting, or rather ignoring.

That's one reason these recent scandals are hurting the president's popularity. People who like Barack Obama, they like him. People who hate him, they hate him. No one is changing their minds or looking for news that attempts to take a middle of the road search for the truth approach.

And don't look for middle-of-the-voters to mind the intrusions into the media, which is as reviled as much as the president.

Presidential candidates lead the pack in the ability to maximize any good news and attempt (usually failing) to lessen the impact of bad news.

It's the 5 p.m. Friday announcement. Sure, it can dominate a weekend, but less people watch news throughout the weekend.

But on a day like today, I always joke that it's a good time to announce that paternity admission, when the headlines are dominated with the ONE story everyone is talking about.

Everyone, except Matt Lauer, is in Boston as the search for the suspect continues, so it's worth a chuckle for the Boy Scouts to announce it may allow gay scouts.

Of course, these things are not always intentional, but it's fair to wonder. PR people should naturally be shrewd.

Yes, it's a regular feature on the "Today Show" on NBC, but today is a special edition.

I figure it was a gamble and it failed miserably, sending their top guy to Texas, where the big news was yesterday, not today. But he's there, and not looking too happy. At least he's not in London on baby bump duties.

But NBC has done great work in recent days and weeks with its news coverage. It got the drone strike story. It avoided the 'arrest has been made' mistakes in Boston, along with CBS. I saw CNBC did have note up about AP reporting an arrest but it quickly replaced with reports of no arrest from NBC reporters.

Here are some tweets about Lauer's absence from the biggest story of the week, the manhunt and shutting down of Boston, including the slaying of a police officer and killing of first suspect. This has been going on for hours, and NBC was hurt every time they updated the Texas blast story, which is relevant with 12 bodies recovered being announced.

The tweets:

daveweigel ‏@daveweigel 8m
RT @Bencjacobs: The look of unhappiness on Matt Lauer's face as he does a remote from West, Texas is spectacular

 John Walters ‏@jdubs88 9m
I understand more people have died in Texas,but any news producer who sent his best person there (Cooper, Lauer) is a numbskull. Boston...

Of course, Lauer and his team cannot escape the continued news being reported on the shameful departure, forcing out, of Ann Curry, the NYDailyNews.com is keeping as a top editor's pick.

More tweets:

Claire Zulkey ‏@Zulkey 53m
Matt Lauer looked kind of salty about being in Texas this morning.
Followed by Dr. Barbara Holstein

 Sam Rubin ‏@samontv 1h
More "Today" show bad luck. Worlds' eyes are on Boston, & Matt Lauer is live from Texas this morning. @KTLAMorningNews 100% Boston this a.m.

 Julie DiCaro ‏@JulieDiCaro 1h
I bet Matt Lauer is so pissed to be stuck in Texas.

 Ricky Engelberg ‏@rje7 1h
I'm guessing Matt Lauer is contemplating replacing himself in Texas with a scarecrow and chartering a jet to Boston. #todayshow

 FTVLive✅ ‏@FTVLive 1h
While the eyes of the world are focused on Watertown, MA..... 1832 miles away sits Matt Lauer.​ http://FTVLive.com

 John Nolte ‏@NolteNC 1h
If Today Show is doing 'Where in the world is Matt Lauer?" he's not laughing.

 Jennifer Rubin ‏@JRubinBlogger 1h
Today is really good w/out Matt Lauer.. Aunt of suspect friend said suspect friendly, beautiful, went to "diverse" high school

 Will Bunch ‏@Will_Bunch 2h
Matt Lauer down in West, Texas is like the Rosenkrantz or Guilderstern of TV news reporting today

 joseph williams ‏@jdub321 2h
#karma RT @jeffkrehely: Matt Lauer seems annoyed that he's reporting from TX, while news breaks back east. Somewhere Ann Curry smiles.

Sometimes you just talk to hear yourself, just as sometimes news folks find a story to share just to have something to write/talk/blog about.

See what I mean, even I will discuss the power outage at the Super Bowl.

Except, I don't see what the big deal is. It's not very interesting. It was timely for sure, turning a blow out game - a 28-6 Ravens lead over the struggling 49ers - into a good game by shifting momentum. The Ravens held on, barely, winning 34-31.

The power outage even affected me, as my momentum was drained and I went to bed to watch the remainder of the game. Problem was, I kept falling asleep as we went into one of the great fourth-quarters of Super Bowl history. That 34-minute delay helped make sure I slept through that final drive, a strong defensive stop by the Ravens. I realized that the Ravens were winning, dozed, and then turned it off when over. The highlights the next morning confirmed that I had missed something good.

Now, the outcry over the Janet Jackson boob was overwhelming and that grew tiresome because of the outrage, much of it feigned. However, there's no outrage over the power outage, just questions demanding immediate answers.

But it's not a front page story. It's a part of the game's story, yes, like a weather delay or snow affecting the passing and footing. But all these stories about what happened are just noise. I accept that that an abnormality caused a system to shut down. I didn't then need to know the exact details and I still don't. If it was done on purpose, then that story will interesting, when it comes. I doubt that will happen, though.

But we need something to discuss and the commercials alone don't cut it.

I, though, choose to think of and read about something else... baseball.

Wow. That was quick. It only took a few hours for L. Brooks Patterson to back down from his threat to sue the state over its impending ban on public smoking. Early on Thursday, Patterson said Oakland County would not enforce the ban.
By 4 p.m., Patterson had backed down, so quickly that our reporter was editing video from Patterson's Democratic counterpart on the county commission.
That shows just how quickly news and public opinion can be delivered. No more waiting two or three days to see how a proposal sounds. You can find out instantly.
And our readers responded forcefully, commenting furiously and mostly against Patterson.
The longtime county executive and former tough-on-crime prosecutor was stuck in the details and nuances, arguing that this new law was an unfunded mandate and the county's Health Division could never enforce it. In fact, he's a nonsmoker and supports the ban. Oh, but he stepped into it, probably hoping that anti-tax furor could help this effort.
What readers and listeners of radio today heard was a Republican saying he wasn't going to follow a law he didn't like. Ouch. It was like saying, We're not going to enforce drunken driving.
Just two years ago, polls we ran showed about 60 percent of readers were against smoking bans. Then last year, it evened out, and this winter, nearly 60 percent favored the ban.
Today, so far, and it's very early, more than 80 percent said the county should enforce the ban.
People are ready, and they were quick to respond. Luckily, some politicians are still smart enough to listen.