We all fire people all the time. When we decide not to return to a restaurant because the fish was over cooked or the service was poor, when we switch auto insurance carriers because we can get a better deal elsewhere, when we change the channel on our TVs or drop cable in favor of satellite we fire people. Right now Eastman Kodak Co., which recently employed nearly 150,000 people world wide, is only inches from going bankrupt. Those people were fired when the picture taking public bought digital cameras and stopped using film.

I don't know why Romney or some other of the Republican candidates does not explain this.

There is a reason the mainstream media has not touched this story:

Their job is to "spin" for this administration. And, they can't start spinning until the story stops growing. They can't get a handle on it yet.

They cannot afford to come out with a line of excuses while there is risk a new tape may emerge that undercuts those excuses.

This is not silence. They are holding their fire.

"Democrat Massachusetts Governor, Deval Patrick, wants to appoint an "interim successor"? What's that?

Assuming the Governor just goes ahead and appoints one, does an "interim" successor get to vote like a real Senator? What does the US Constitution have to say about "interim successors"?