Last week, the former president of the United States, George Bush I, weighed in on opinionated cable yakkers. He allowed that there was a "lack of civility" all around, and was generous enough to concede that President Obama was "entitled to civil treatment." (This is quite a lot coming a man married to Marie Antoinette, aka Barbara Bush. Who can ever forget BB’s pronouncement that the devastated Americans corralled into the Astrodome, to escape Hurricane Katrina, were actually living better than they usually did? "This is working out very well for them.")

But of course, the one-time, one-term president had to single out the talking heads on the left, referring to MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow as "sick puppies."

While I wouldn’t go so far as to call Olbermann a sick puppy, he has definitely worn thin. I once found him smart and not too over-the-top to irritate, but during last year’s campaign, he went off the rails – as did all the males on MSNBC – over the possibility that Hillary Clinton might win the Democratic nomination. And when she wouldn’t just fold up her tent and leave the campaigning field open to Obama, his head and his ego exploded, and it has been a swollen mess ever since.

Olbermann has become a parody of himself, preaching to the converted every night. He has his fans, for sure, but what he generally induces in Mr. wOw is a series of cringes. I’m on his side, but want him to shut up most of the time. And I detest that bit of business at the end: "This is the whatever day since George W. Bush declared mission accomplished in Iraq." What does that have to do with anything now? Enough. And Olbermann’s paper crunching and tossing it at the camera (his audience?) – showy and nastily aggressive.

Which brings us to Ms. Maddow. She began popping up on MSNBC as a guest, often sparring, quite enjoyably, with Pat Buchanan (and infamously, with Joe Scarborough, who did not enjoy the experience). She seemed to have been brought up through the auspices of Olbermann, they were friends. Olbermann clearly respected her. And what was not to respect? She was a breath of fresh air on cable: intelligent, prepared, reasonable, amusing, blessedly devoid of the self-activated intolerant scream button that afflicts so many.

Maddow’s star was rising, and just so we knew it, MSNBC tried to slap on a bit of eyeliner on and femme her up slightly. Not only was this unnecessary, it looked unattractive. For one brief, terrible moment Mr. wOw feared her boyish haircut was going to be poofed into some sort of faux "do." Tailored simplicity shouldn’t be messed with.

Clearly, Maddow was being groomed for her own show, and finally, it happened. Initially, however, it looked as if she was too much a creature of, and too influenced stylistically, by Olbermann. She was suddenly "cute." She made funny faces, she used funny voices. Once I turned her on to find her wearing a funny hat! She was also relentlessly snarky. That becomes tiring. And then there was that guy at the end of her show, the "pop culture" maven, or whatever he was (still is) to riff on something insubstantial. As if anything insubstantial is wanted from Rachel Maddow. She was no less intelligent, prepared and reasonable, but she was losing something valuable and unique in what appeared to be an attempt to be one of MSNBC’s frat boys. Mr. wOw was distressed.