Norah O'Donnell wanted a straight answer from Paul Ryan on the contradictions from Ryan's having voted for the Budget Control Act deal with its huge sequesters of spending on social services and the Defense Department, with Romney having just condemned that deal as a "mistake". A deal that the House GOP (using scorched earth tactics leading to a credit downgrade) had insisted on before they would agree to a raise in the Debt Ceiling. Ryan kept trying to rhetorically twist away from the glaring contradiction between his support for deal, and Romney's condemnation of it.

Each time Ryan tried to evade the uncomfortable question Norah O'Donnell jumped in and emphatically reiterated her pointed question.

That was an all too rare instance of journalism being committed by America's mainstream media. Norah O'Donnell was a journalistic Pitt Bull who wouldn't let go, no matter how hard Ryan struggled to evade the question he was determined not to answer. Each time Ryan tried to lead listeners away from the topic with some tangent based on tired Republican orthodoxies O'Donnell listened with an incredulous smile on her face before jumping in to demand an answer yet again.

It was a rare thing of beauty. Norah O'Donnell ROCKS!

Right after watching O'Donnell's interview I watched Paul Ryan being interviewed on ABC's This Week by George Stephanopoulos. The difference between the O'Donnell interview and the one by Stephanopoulos was as stark as night and day. Stephanopoulos's questions wen't nearly as tough, and Ryan's evasions went on and on peddling the GOP's Snake Oil with only the mildest of follow up questions by Stephanopoulos.

Face the Nation has become the hardest hitting of all the network Sunday Morning shows