Jake Tapper took RNC Chairman Reince Priebus to task for comparing President Obama to Captain Francesco Schettino, the Italian captain of the Costa Concordia. “Help me out here,” Tapper tweeted. “It’s ok to make light of horrific ship crashes if the people who died weren’t Americans?” He added the hashtag, “#stayclassy”

Since ABC News followed up Thursday night’s explosive CNN debate with an interview of Newt Gingrich‘s second wife, Marianne, the ethics of having brought the claim that Gingrich was interested in an open marriage into public debate has been in contention, and last night on The O’Reilly Factor, Bernie Goldberg fell squarely in the camp against putting the interview out there. Bill O’Reilly agreed: “reasonable people may disagree,” Goldberg noted, but neither felt comfortable with the information.

After The Drudge Report erupted into a four alarm fire frenzy the other night over ABC News’ report that Marianne Gingrich alleged her ex-husband Newt Gingrich wanted an “open marriage”, much anticipation was raised for Thursday night’s Nightline with Brian Ross to drop some earth-shattering revelations. CNN’s John King‘s mere mention of the report flung Thursday night’s debate into a holy mess. What juicy lurid details would emerge from this mightily-hyped segment? Secret affair videos? Explicit photographs?!

Today is a big news day in Republican presidential politics. With the South Carolina primary just days away, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, still reeling from attacks on his record at Bain Capital, negative buzz surrounding his yet-to-be-revealed tax returns, now has to deal with an ABC News Nightline report on his financial holdings in the Cayman Islands, a notorious tax haven.

Earlier this evening, the Drudge Report teased an exclusive with the single most vague headline in modern journalism history: “Network Holds Bombshell Campaign Interview.” Accompanied with the legendary “Drudge siren,” the headline left all of political Twitter waiting on bated breath, until another little tidbit was added: “Civil War at ABC News.” It took a while before the media received any more details, but it was worth it: “Newt Ex Unloads on America; Net Debates ‘Ethics’ of Airing Before Primary.”

On Thursday’s O’Reilly Factor, host Bill O’Reilly strongly pushed back against a report by ABC News’ World News Tonight that he had advanced the narrative that First Lady Michelle Obama was an “angry black woman.” “ABC News didn’t tell the audience it got its clip they used on me from the far-left web site Media Matters which is in business solely to smear non-liberal media people,” O’Reilly opined.

A week and a candidate removed from Iowa, and less than a week away from the make-or-break state of New Hampshire, six of the remaining Republican candidates (alas, Buddy Roemer was excluded yet again!) are reconvening at St. Anselm College for another debate. This debate, hosted by ABC News, Yahoo! News and WMUR-TV airs tonight on ABC at 9PM ET, but you can watch along with us here by clicking below.

Ask any supporter of Rep. Ron Paul– and even some of the Republicans competing for the presidential nomination against him– and they will tell you that the Congressman is nothing if not sincere. So perhaps it isn’t much of a shock that, when asked whether he sees himself in the Oval Office when he goes to sleep at night, he answered that, honestly, “not really,” and that he sometimes jokes that, more than an aspiration, “it’s a risk that I take.”

Republican frontrunner Newt Gingrich audaciously declared in an interview with ABC News’s Jake Tapper that he would end up winning the Republican nomination. “I’m going to be the nominee. It’s very hard not to look at the recent polls and think that the odds are very high I’m going to be the nominee,” Gingrich affirmed.

Fun fact about me: I am a sap. I cry over that Christmas Folgers commercial where the brother returns from working in Africa and his sister puts a ribbon on him and says “you’re my present.” I cry at weddings. I cry when eating Popeye’s biscuits because they’re so good, how could anything be so good? I’m crying right now because I started thinking about that Folgers commercial again.

And I cry over dog stories. Like this one.

Last week, we offered you all a little sneak peek at Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords‘ first televised interview since the January shooting that left her with a bullet to the head. This morning, Diane Sawyer paid a visit to Good Morning America to tell viewers a bit more about the interview, which airs tonight on ABC at 10 pm ET.

ABC News said goodbye to correspondent Ashleigh Banfield this week as she departs for a venture hosting a new morning program at CNN next week. Mediaite has learned that her colleagues toasted Banfield in the Executive Dining Room on her last day at the network yesterday, and ABC News President Ben Sherwood led a champagne toast to Banfield, commending her and wishing her luck on her new endeavor.

In her first television interview since the Arizona shooting spree that left her with a bullet wound to the head, Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords sat down with ABC News’ Diane Sawyer to discuss her arduous recovery and rehabilitation.

Democratic strategist James Carville appeared on Good Morning America this morning to assess the current crop of front runners in the GOP presidential field and was not shy in his both predictable and entertainingly harsh criticism of his ideological foes. Herman Cain and Mitt Romney were both targeted, but it was Texas Governor Rick Perry, who has seen a rather enormous dip in recent polls, that received the most merciless review.

On Wednesday’s edition of Good Morning America, ABC legal correspondant and Mediaite Founder Dan Abrams discussed the clash between the family and the police in the Baby Lisa case. Abrams reported that Baby Lisa’s parents will only answer questions from authorities under unusually strict guidelines e.g. if they’re asked fairly and by people who haven’t determined guilt. He noted that this was bringing a real tension into the case as police were treating them as potential suspects. “This is their child who’s missing, and people are going to hear that and say ‘I don’t care what your lawyer is telling you, you have to help them everyway that you can.’” Abrams assessed.

While 39,000 United States soldiers are likely beyond thrilled that they won’t be planning to spend this New Years Eve in Iraq, the same won’t true for some in the media. Major news outlets that have been covering the war in Iraq since its inception aren’t quite ready to withdraw their own ranks just yet.

Currently, the news catnip du jour for conservatives are Solyndra and Fast and Furious. Today, conservative media watchdog Newsbusters expressed outrage that a Fast and Furious question was left out of ABC News broadcasts of Jake Tapper‘s exclusive interview with President Obama. Fortunately, we’ve got the exchange here.

Vice President Joe Biden: foreign policy maven, train enthusiast, expert beer cooler? The Obama 2012 campaign seems to think so, as it is now featuring in its campaign store a beer koozie emblazoned with a smiling Biden, simply saying “Cheers Champ.” It’s not the only lighthearted campaign merchandise on the website– Obama supporters also have the option to purchase, say, a coffee mug with the President’s long-form birth certificate on it– but it may just be the funniest.

ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos spoke with Texas governor and GOP presidential hopeful Rick Perry about comments Perry’s wife made in South Carolina regarding the “brutalization” her husband has suffered at the hands of the press and his opponents due to his Christian faith and conservative viewpoints.

Stephanopoulos asked Perry whether he agreed with his wife’s assessment of their situation.

On Thursday’s edition of ABC’s TopLine, anchor Amy Walter asked Republican Congressman Paul Broun about his take on the Occupy Wall Street demonstration. “They don’t know why they’re there, they’re just mad!” admonished Broun. “And I see people angry in my district too but this is an attack upon business, attack upon industry, attack upon freedom and I think that’s what this is all about.”

ABC News and Yahoo! just announced plans to launch a “strategic online news alliance” that will “blend ABC News’ global newsgathering operation and unrivaled lineup of trusted anchors and reporters with Yahoo! News’ unmatched audience, depth and breadth of content.” The announcement was just made on-air of Good Morning America, a video of which will [...]

Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly visited Good Morning America to offer his take on the GOP presidential field so far, as well as whether he believes Obama’s new tactics will work to get him re-elected (Hint: NOPE.), and what sort of person would fare well.

The tension between The Rogue author Joe McGinniss and the subject of his most recent work, former Alaska governor Sarah Palin, seems to finally be rolling around to its logical conclusion. ABC News is reporting this evening that the Palin family lawyer has sent a letter to McGinniss’s publisher, Crown Publishing Group, and its corporate overlord, Random House, threatening to sue for defamation.

Mediaite founder and ABC News legal analysts Dan Abrams and HLN’s Nancy Grace went head-to-head this morning on Good Morning America, debating the Bob Ward murder trial taking place in Orlando. In a 911 call, Ward admitted to shooting his wife, but later backtracked, saying she killed herself while he tried to take the gun [...]

Disney has raised a few eyebrows with a recent ad highlighting the company’s $5 million contribution to the National September 11 Memorial & Museum. Not, solely because, you know, we’re all jealous haters who eat babies’ souls and crumble to dust at the mention of charitable works, but because the ad teeters on the line between drawing attention to a noble cause and exploiting that cause to promote its CEO, Robert Iger.

An Los Angeles Times op-ed details how, exactly, the ad veered into… uncomfy territory.