CBS's Erica Hill Wonders If Americans Are Being 'Scammed' By Oil Companies

On Sunday's Face the Nation, New York Times columnist Tom Friedman denounced the proposed White House plan to use the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to curb rising gas prices: "That would rank in my top five worst ideas of 2011 so far....one thing we should finally be doing is using this opportunity to have a credible energy policy that begins to reduce our addiction to oil." Friedman's idea of "credible energy policy" was to force Americans to continue to pay higher gas prices: "Gasoline is almost $4 a gallon. We know that's a red line where people really start to change their behavior. At a minimum, I'd be talking about a tax that basically says we're going to keep it at $4.

3. Matthews Wonders if Bachmann is a Willing Tool of a Conservative Conspiracy or Just a 'Zombie?'

Leave it to Chris Matthews to look at a typical, by the book, recitation of talking points appearance by Republican Congresswoman Michele Bachmann and describe it as a sign of conspiracy or lunacy. On Monday's Hardball, after Matthews played clips of Bachmann on NBC's Meet the Press, he wondered if she was trained by "a group in Virginia that teaches right wing people" to "use the most wild language" and repeat it or was she simply "behaving like a zombie?" Matthews, who is prone to make cinematic comparisons, went on to say the conservative congresswoman's appearance reminded him of The Manchurian Candidate as he questioned Democratic Representative Loretta Sanchez: "Is there some kind of playing card...A queen of diamonds, like in The Manchurian Candidate, where you flash the queen of diamonds and this congresswoman colleague of yours goes into that trance like repetition of those words?"

4. CNN's 'Expert on Extremism': 'Radical Right' Bigger Threat Than Jihadis

Mark Potok of the left-wing Southern Poverty Law Center claimed on Monday's Newsroom on CNN that radical Islam wasn't "our biggest domestic terror threat," that instead, "that pretty clearly comes from the radical right in this country." Anchor Suzanne Malveaux touted Potok as "expert on extremism" from "one of the most highly regarded non-governmental operations that are monitoring hate groups." Malveaux brought on the SPLC spokesman at the bottom of the 12 noon Eastern hour to discuss the upcoming hearings by the House Homeland Security Committee on the radicalization of American Muslims. The anchor first asked him, "From your study of tracking radical groups, potentially hate groups, what do you think of this hearing? Is al Qaeda radicalizing Muslims? Is that our biggest homegrown terrorism threat right now?"

5. On Today: Scarborough Proclaims Republicans Are 'Afraid of Barack Obama'

MSNBC's Joe Scarborough appeared on Monday's Today show to deliver a forecast of doom for Republicans on the budget fight and their 2012 presidential prospects. On their skirmish with Democrats in Congress the host of Morning Joe told NBC's Matt Lauer he thinks Republicans "have the most to lose" and in explaining the late start for GOP entrants into the 2012 race proclaimed,"they are afraid of Barack Obama."

6. 20 Months Before Election, ABC's John Berman Mocks GOP Contenders for Not Joining 2012 Race

Even though there's still a year and eight months to go until the 2012 presidential election, Good Morning America's John Berman on Monday derided the GOP field for not joining the race yet. As a mocking trombone sound played, Berman joked that Newt Gingrich "had us on the edge of our seats" last week by establishing only an exploratory website. Highlighting Mitt Romney's failure to officially enter the race, Berman offered this insulting aside: "But will it be him? What other possible explanation could there be for the fact that Romney, who was trying to shake the reputation that he was born in a business suit, has apparently has lost all of his neck ties?"

7. Christiane Amanpour Gets Cozy with Tina Brown, Touts Newsweek Editor's List of Important Women, Including Amanpour