No one does navel gazing better than the US media on US media. Today we have a few treats on the nature of the media pack — is talk radio the big loser out of South Carolina? Meanwhile, Bill Clinton’s halo is slipping in his bid to help Hillary, but it’s a brilliant tactic that’s starving Obama of on-message oxygen and ensuring reams of free media to the Clinton campaign. Oh, and someone should put Rudy Guilliani’s head on Mount Rushmore, says Daily Kos.

The media’s pack mentality creates a new reality: Just so you know, “the media” has no mind. It cannot make decisions. Which means it does not “get behind” candidates. It does not decide to oppose your guy … or gal. Nor does it “buy” this line or “swallow” that one. It is a beast without a brain. Most of the time, it doesn’t know what it’s doing. This does not mean you cannot blame the media for things. Go right ahead! Brainless beasts at large in public life can do plenty of damage; and later on — when people ask, “What happened here?” — it sometimes does make sense to say … the beast did this. — Jay Rosen, Salon

Right wing pundits — is anyone listening? The big loser in South Carolina was, in fact, talk radio: a medium that has unmistakably collapsed in terms of impact, influence and credibility because of its hysterical and one-dimensional involvement in the GOP nomination fight. For more than a month, the leading conservative talkers in the country have broadcast identical messages in an effort to demonize Mike Huckabee and John McCain. If you’ve tuned in at all to Rush, Sean, Savage, Glenn Beck, Laura Ingraham, Mark Levin, Hugh Hewitt, Dennis Prager, and two dozen others you’ve heard a consistent drum beat of hostility toward Mac and Huck. As always, led by Rush Limbaugh (who because of talent and seniority continues to dominate the medium) the talk radio herd has ridden in precisely the same direction, insisting that McCain and Huckabee deserve no support because they’re not “real conservatives.” — Michael Medved, Townhall

The uglyness of Nevada: There’s no way that a post of modest length can convey the scale, depth, and texture of the weirdness that was the Nevada Democratic caucuses. But let me just say this: In the course of covering Bill Clinton for nearly two decades, I have been in his presence when he has held forth at great length and in mind-numbing detail on topics ranging from Arkansan watermelons to the political lessons of sumo wrestling. But never have his discursive skills been employed to more surreal effect than they were late Saturday night, in the wake of his wife’s 51-45 victory over Barack Obama, when he was overheard riffing on the turnout at Caesar’s Palace, the thrill of winning the Mirage, and the voter demographics at the Mandalay Bay. What went down in Nevada was more than bizarre, however. It was downright ugly. — Heilemann, New York Magazine

The brilliance of the Bill Clinton tactic: … regardless of whether Bill’s attacks on Obama are accurate or not, the bottom line is that his every utterance gets huge media play. Obama will never find a surrogate who can wield that kind of megaphone, even if he was so inclined. Which brings us back to Obama’s morning lament. It was a sign of weakness. A candidate never looks good when he complains about being attacked and about the general unfairness of it all. Under the rules of civility, perhaps it is unfair that he’s being double-teamed, but, as the saying goes, politics ain’t beanbag. And the Clintons are no doubt delighted with Obama’s response, because every second that he expends on them, complaining about them and trying to refute them, is one less second expended on his own message. And the Clintons will be double-teaming him for the foreseeable future, because it’s also financially smart. With the Feb. 5 mega-primaries looming, it would be prohibitively expensive to run TV ads in all the big states; the wiser Clintonian option is to dispatch Bill hither and yon, particularly to the large cities on both coasts (New York, California, and New Jersey all vote on Feb. 5), because he’s a free-media magnet. — Dick Polman’s American Debate

King holiday speech off: In the duel of King Holiday weekend speeches, there is no question that Barack Obama won. Indeed, on Sunday, he delivered the finest speech of a campaign that has heard the senator from Illinois deliver many fine speeches. Obama did so by talking about deficits. — The Nation

Florida — it’s on: Geographically, Florida is a series of mini-nations. Giuliani hopes to capitalize on retirees from the Northeast who now live in South Florida. Huckabee will look to the Panhandle and its Southern complexion for the votes of religious and social conservatives, but McCain sees significant potential support there as well because of the concentration of military veterans. The main battleground is likely to be the corridor between Tampa-St. Petersburg and Orlando, which all candidates will be plying over the next nine days. — The Washington Post

Rudy’s big head: When the world wavered and history hesitated, he never did! Yes, we’re talking Rudy “God” 9iu11ani, and what is, frankly, America’s shame: Did you know that to date, no national monument to Rudy’s transcendent greatness has not yet been erected? What’s the matter with you terrorist commies? The rest of the pantheon of America’s heroes are, by comparison, teh suck. Well, we at Daily Kos aren’t gonna sit here and listen to the rest of you bad mouth the United States of America! — Daily Kos