Phil Griffin, NBC News' senior vice-president in charge of MSNBC, revealed himself to be kind of an awesome hippie in today's Los Angeles Times. "Our people are not in straitjackets," he told the paper. "They speak openly; they're passionate. There's a liveliness and richness to the conversation that you don't see on CNN or Fox." A liveliness and a richness? Tom Freston excepted, this is not the way we're used to hearing New York–based suits talk, which is why, upon reading this, we kind of fell a little bit in like with Griffin, more so when we remembered that Griffin was the guy who said to New York last year, regarding his friend Keith Olbermann, “It takes some people a long time to find their happiness." We could practically hear the sitars and were totally enchanted. Then we found his "Vows" column.

Kory Apton and Phil Griffin, then her boyfriend, walked into Joe's Fish Shack on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, for a plate of seafood. But as soon as they arrived, a Caribbean band started playing ''Here Comes the Bride.'' To her shock, Ms. Apton, wearing a blue catsuit, was the bride. Mr. Griffin had planned a surprise wedding for her.

Actually, we later learn she was wearing a blue velvet catsuit and a gold lamé jacket. Also, that every Mother's Day Griffin gives his wife a bikini, "her favorite article of clothing," that they never celebrate their wedding anniversary "because that would be too unsurprising," and that Kory's test for whether or not a marriage is happy is this: ''At the end of the day, do you want to jump into that person's arms and make out?'' Okay. There's a fine line between good, earnest hippie and gross, exhibitionist hippie, and, um, we think this might have spilled over somewhat. But we still love you, Phil! Keep on truckin'.

MSNBC Serves Political News With a Side of Opinion [LAT]