Pointing out the absurdity of wall-to-wall coverage of a dead pope is in no way meant to diminish the fact that yes, indeed, a dead pope is a big deal. And, there are in fact plenty of legitimate stories and lots of interesting discussion that could take place - such as the politics of the selection of the new pope. But, as Blitzer daintily tried to broach that subject yesterday he was informed by a guest that (paraphrasing) "Catholics believe that the pope is chosen by God, so there's no need to discuss any of that."
That may in fact be true for all I know, but nonetheless God's decision-making process will play out here on Earth as as a political smackdown, and the result of that process will have fairly big international repercussions. So, for us mortals, some discussion of these issues might be useful. At least as useful as the Vatican-cam.
...and, oy, I know that when a man dies it's not the time to piss all over him and his supporters unless his last name is Wellstone, but that's no reason to lie about the views of an almost entirely unrelated group of people.
