I watched the debut of “Weekends with Maury and Connie” on MSNBC this afternoon. It’s hosted by husband-and-wife Mary Povich and Connie Chung.

One of their guests (via satellite) was Melanie Sloan of CREW, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.

I’ve never seen Melanie Sloan on TV before. (She is a regular guest on Al Franken’s radio show.)

She appeared today on Weekends with Maury and Connie to discuss corrupt lobbyist Jack Abramoff and Congressmen who have had dealings with him.

Connie Chung asked, How will prosecutors be able to prove their case against members of Congress? Since Jack Abramoff is corrupt, Chung implied, jurors can’t just take him at his word.

Sloan replied that evidence will include emails and testimony from aides to Tom DeLay (including Michael Scanlon.)

Sloan also said that Congressman Bob Ney (R-OH) is “going down” for his deals with Abramoff.

Maury Povich replied, You don’t know that. He’ll be investigated, but you don’t know that he’s going down.

Sloan replied that she’s confident that Ney is going down.

Then Povich said that arguably the two things Congress is good at are 1) doing nothing, and 2) over-reacting. He asked if Congress may over-react to the Jack Abramoff scandal and stop good lobbying.

Sloan replied there is no danger of that; corporations and environmental groups will always try to influence Congress.

« About the Show »

Weekends with Maury and Connie is on Saturday afternoons. It’s a half-hour show (unlike most shows on MSNBC which are an hour or more). I like the fact that this show is shorter, and I plan to watch it next Saturday.

It isn’t a Left vs. Right show. Neither Mary Povich nor Connie Chung stated political opinions, or slanted all their questions.