Call it Bachmann Tea-Party Overdrive: Last night Jon Stewart and the Daily Show staff revealed something remarkable: That in his coverage of Michele Bachmann's so-called "Superbowl of Freedom" last weekend in D.C., Sean Hannity used footage of Glenn Beck's 9/12 event to make the Bachmann rally look bigger. By a factor of thousands. "If I didn't know any better I'd think they just put two days together and acted like they didn't," said host Jon Stewart, before going on to present video evidence that that was precisely what they did — including Hannity exclaiming over how many people cared enough about freedom to come down to be heard on a Thursday. Er, Saturday. When is the Superbowl again? (more...)

video At yesterday's White House Briefing, Jake Tapper asked Press Secretary Robert Gibbs about the Tea Party protest that was occurring on Capitol Hill yesterday. Gibbs responded by saying that he was tempted to make a joke about Tea Party speaker Jon Voight. Despite cajoling, he resisted. Despite that, we couldn't resist an attempt to get him to clarify. (more...)

video Are you familiar with Michelle Bachmann yet? Perhaps you are on the receiving end of her many email newsletters without being entirely sure why. Bachmann is a congresswoman from Minnesota who appears to have seen which way certain winds are blowing in the Republican party, and has recently gone about trying to make herself over into some sort of Glenn Beck meets Sarah Palin combination. Yesterday, perhaps in an attempt to grab some of the spotlight before Sarah Palin reseizes the airwaves during her upcoming book tour, Bachmann threw a teabagger 'Superbowl for Freedom' party in D.C. where she encouraged people to 'kill the bill.' (more...)

video Last night, Countdown host Keith Olbermann named Beck his "Worst Person" in the recurring segment, which in itself is not news. But last night he used language that rarely, if ever, is used towards another person on a news program. After calling out Beck for "invoking 9/11 just to oppose health care reform," Olbermann ended by telling him to "Go to Hell." Wow. (more...)

video Last night on The Daily Show Jon Stewart noted the different manner in which Fox News opted to cover the 9/12 tea bagger marches in September versus the similarly attended (numbers-wise) Gay Rights march this past Sunday. Short version: they didn't. Stewart speculates this round of marchers may have had a different response to the question 'Do you have anything to say to Glenn Beck?' Like, say: "Who cuts your hair and why are they so angry at you?" But with maybe a few expletives thrown in. (more...)

video "It’s true that President Obama has been tirelessly pounding the media pavement, what with flying in to the Big Apple, hugging the guv (awkward!), having a network TV heart-to-heart with David Letterman and talking climate to world leaders at the U.N., all in the past few days. But if he really wants to get his message across, maybe he should just hire Glenn Beck’s publicist. Because, let’s admit it, like it or not, we are having a Glenn Beck moment." (more...)

exclusive Mediaite has obtained an email from Fox News Vice President of News and Washington managing editor Bill Sammon to the staff of the D.C. bureau, in the wake of an FNC producer caught pumping up the crowd during the 9/12 tea party broadcast. The email, with the subject line "standards," addresses the controversy head-on: "We do not cheerlead for one cause or another," writes Sammon. Full email after the jump: (more...)

Poll/Video Video shot at last weekend's 9/12 Project protests has surfaced showing Heidi Noonan, an associate producer for Fox News, encouraging the crowd to hoot and holler behind Griff Jenkins while he talks live from the scene with Glenn Beck in the studio. (more...)

video The Washington Post ran a full-page instigating ad in today's paper from Fox News that asks: "How Did ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC And CNN Miss This Story?" referring to the D.C. tea party protests on 9/12. CNN's Rick Sanchez said "you lie!" (seriously, he said that) - since his network and all the others did cover the protests. He also played a clip of Bill O'Reilly saying CNN covered the protests. But Fox News is sticking to their guns, and WashPost is defending the ad buy. What? (Updated, with comment from FOX) (more...)

video Before Joe Wilson yelled at the President there was Muntazer al-Zaidi, the Iraqi who threw a shoe at President Bush (who it must be said demonstrated some quick reflexes!) last fall at a press conference in Baghdad to protest America's presence in Iraq. al-Zaidi was released from Iraqi jail last week, where he claimed to have been tortured, and today explains himself in the Guardian. al-Zaidi, for those of you not aware, was actually a journalist before he was a shoe-thrower. (more...)

video Despite the growing criticism from his own side of the aisle over yesterday's remarks that much of the anger directed at President Obama is racially motivated, former President Jimmy Carter kept hammering at it last night during an address in Atlanta. Only this time Carter was a tad more specific, targeting those "demonstrators" as who describe Obama "as a reincarnation of Adolf Hitler, or when they wave signs in the air that we should have buried Obama with Kennedy" as having a "racist attitude." (more...)

video President Obama just can't seem to catch a break when it comes to holding the nation's attention with details of his health care plan. Perhaps the President should embrace a 'if you can't beat'em, join'em' mentality and stage his own outburst. It may be a good last resort before all is lost. Consider this. (more...)

In the passion of yesterday's 9/12 protests against, um, something, Jay Rosen noticed that Michelle Malkin was crowing about attendance of 2 million at the protest in D.C. Also known as one out of every 130 people in America. Sensing that perhaps that number was a little high, he traced the error back to a conservative Twitterer named @pinkelephantpun, who claimed to have gotten the figure from ABC News. (Which, faster than Joe Wilson can amend an apology, ABC News denied.) In fact, ABC estimated the crowd, on the high end, at about 70,000. (more...)

PHOTOS Mediaite editor-at-large Rachel Sklar has done an excellent job of pointing out what Glenn Beck's 9/12 Project isn't, but activist Alex Lawson, who was at today's 9/12 rally in DC, is doing a great job showing what it is. (more...)

video "I launched a project back in March and it comes together Saturday, 9/12," says Glenn Beck in a Foxnews.com promo video. "Thousands of people are going to gather in Washington, D.C., and around the nation, to stand up for the principles and values that have made America great." Where was Beck today? In his New York City Studio - but he wasn't happy about it. (more...)

Today I watched one of the most bizarro TV shows that I have ever seen: Glenn Beck's 9/12 special on Fox News.

Even now, I am not sure what it had to do with 9/11 — other than completely co-opting it for Tea Partiers, Fox News, dissent and — oh yes — Glenn Beck. (more...)