A "week in politics" like Hillary's latest Benghazi hearing really proves the usefulness of "conservative" public-broadcasting pundit David Brooks. What better way to prove Hillary completely trounced her opponents on the public stage than your completely cooperative "conservative" expert declare the whole thing a rout for Hillary? Brooks denounced a conservative anti-Clinton "psychosis" on both his Friday appearances on the PBS NewsHour and NPR's All Things Considered.

In theory, a public-broadcasting system that provides fairness and balance -- insert cynical laughter here about theories vs. statist reality -- the conservative pundit on these shows would display more deference to the conservative notion that the Obama administration has utterly failed in Libya, and the idea of Hillary taking a "victory lap" on Libya is preposterously partisan.

On Friday's PBS Newshour, host Judy Woodruff joined liberal columnist Mark Shields in declaring that the House GOP's conservative wing is holding the Congress "hostage," with allegedly right-leaning regular and New York Times columnist David Brooks then complaining that Tea Partiers are good at "destruction," but not "construction." Brooks further griped that, "to get elected, especially as a Republican," there is an incentive for "radical rhetoric," referring to the situation as a "mental problem."

On Friday's PBS NewsHour, during a discussion of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's sagging poll numbers, host Judy Woodruff seemed unfazed by Clinton's incendiary claim that Republicans have similar views toward women as terrorists as she cited the charge as evidence that her campaign may be bouncing back.

Woodruff's suggestion came after liberal columnist and PBS regular Mark Shields warned that it is "a real problem" and "a killer" for a Democratic candidate to have poll numbers as weak as Clinton's when it comes to whether voters view her as someone who "cares about people and the needs of someone like you." After recounting that Democrats like Bill Clinton and Barack Obama had scored highly on this measure before their electoral victories, Shields fretted over her numbers:

During an appearance on Friday’s PBS NewsHour, liberal columnist Mark Shields questioned Scott Walker’s readiness to be president as he argued “there’s a lingering sort of “I can see Alaska from my front porch” of Governor Palin with him.” Shields played up liberal criticism of the Wisconsin governor and asked “Is he really ready for prime time?…So, I think Scott Walker has a great story to tell, but there is a question, is he going to be able to hit big league pitching?”

On Friday’s PBS NewsHour, liberal political commentator Mark Shields proclaimed “one of the great frauds that Republicans have perpetrated over the past generation has been this idea of voter fraud, that people are showing up, 31 cases in 14 years...So, I think she’s absolutely right. It is our responsibility to make voting available to as many people as possible who want to vote.”