No, not that v-word.  V . . . as in vouchers.

They might as well have been a couple of Soviet apparatchiks in 1955 discussing implementing better production procedures in diesel-engine factories.  You can talk all day about “best practices, “what works,” blah, blah, blah.  But there’s only one thing that has or will ever worked to improve the quality of any product, from football teams to cars to education: competition.

The only way to introduce real competition into education is via vouchers: giving parents and children real choice and making all schools—from government ones to parochial to private—compete on a level playing field.

But bizarrely, the concept of vouchers, let alone the word itself, never crossed the lips of either Pres. Obama or Matt Lauer during their half-hour discussion of education on this morning’s Today/Morning Joe simulcast as part of the networks’ two-day Education Nation summit. (Continued)

Fortunately, with Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough apparently acting as fierce advocates for their stricken comrade, Licht was given the best of care at the George Washington University Hospital in DC, and was treated by a top doc in the field, Vivek Deshmukh. (Continued)

Some cross-network love for Jake Tapper on Morning Joe today, as MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski expressed respect for ABC’s Jake Tapper, and disappointment that ABC News had not chosen him as permanent host of its Sunday talk show, This Week.  Instead of elevating its home-grown talent, ABC has brought in Christiane Amanpour, late of CNN, to fill the vacancy created by George Stephanopoulos’ move to Good Morning America.

Joe and Mika made their comments after rolling tape of Tapper asking Bill Clinton, in an interview aired yesterday, whether he should have been considered to fill the impending Supreme Court vacancy. (Continued)

Bob Schieffer predicts that Newt Gingrich will make a run for the presidency and Sara Palin won’t.

Appearing on The Early Show today, Schieffer saw Palin’s resignation as Alaska governor as too big of a political obstacle in the primaries.  Here’s how the Face The Nation host imagined a GOP primary opponent putting it to Palin in a debate: (Continued)

Ron Christie has to be among the most loyal Republicans around. The former aide to Dick Cheney and George Allen is a regular on Ed Schultz’s MSNBC show, where he ardently defends GOP positions, typically in the face of a liberal double-team.

So when Christie comes this close to calling on RNC Chairman Michael Steele to resign, it’s news. And that’s exactly what happened on this evening’s Ed Show . . . (Continued)