When I opened my Los Angeles Times this morning, I saw an article about how the Boston bombing is affecting policy on student visas. The Times is reporting that Homeland Security will be tightening oversight for foreign students entering the U.S.

One of the friends, Azamat Tazhayakov, 19, was allowed to reenter the U.S. on a student visa even though he was no longer attending the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, where Dzhokhar Tsarnaev also studied.

Congressional Republicans have questioned how the government has dealt with visa security issues. In a three-page letter this week, Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) asked Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano for details about student visas and how Tazhayakov was able to reenter the U.S.

In a statement this week, the Homeland Security Department said that Tazhayakov entered the United States on Jan. 20 using a student visa with an expiration date of Aug. 30. Customs, which is part of Homeland Security, had not been notified that Tazhayakov had left school on Jan. 4, so he was permitted entry.

An hour later I was watching MSNBC, and the anchor substituting for Alex Witt was asking her guests about this very topic. And by “asking her guests” I mean falling all over herself to get them to slam President Obama. Here is how she posed her questions (paraphrased, but not all that much):

“Does this open the president up for criticism? Will President Obama be under fire for this? Will his critics have new ammo? Well, will they, huh? Huh?”

Okay, I made up that last question. Here is how it sounded to me:

Ooo! THIS is exactly what I needed to create some controversy, because so far, this show has been really dull. If ratings dip while I’m covering for Alex, I’m toast!

SO. Guests! WTF is up with Obama? Shouldn’t he be in a big ol’ pot of hot water for this? Isn’t the bombing all his fault anyway? Well, isn’t it? Let’s make this into more of a story, stat! Is his goose finally cooked? Will you go on the record saying that his presidency a big fat epic FAIL now? Boyoboy was he negligent, right? RIGHT?

I cannot WAIT to hear your answers to my leading questions! GO!

BENGHAZI! Oh, sorry, that just slipped out.

1. Note to Ms. SubbingForAlex: You must be more than aware that nobody needs to encourage anyone to clobber the president. He has been barraged by smears since he announced his run back in 2007. He’s been blamed for everything from Bush’s recession to personal bad hair days since forever. So stirring that pot is overkill to say the least.

2. What happened to objectivity in the media? Oh, sorry, did I say “objectivity”? My bad.

3. Not everything has to be hyped up to entertain viewers. Sweartogod.

4. Did you, or anyone, ask questions like those when GW Bush was in office and lied us into a fraudulent war?

Now, I’m sure this host is a very nice person, professional, and just trying to do her job by keeping the conversation interesting and lively, but come on.

By the way, in their statement, part of what the Homeland Security Department said was, “At the time of reentry there was no derogatory information that suggested this individual posed a national security or public safety threat.” I didn’t hear that mentioned.