Fundraising master of disaster Ron Paul has just discovered a new, old wrinkle on his famed “money bombs,” Investor’s Business Daily‘s Andrew Malcolm reports that a group of bodacious Paul supporters has unveiled a charmingly anachronistic fundraising gimmick: a pin-up calendar. For just $24.95 (plus shipping), Ronulans can take home a year’s worth of kitschy, politically-themed tableaux that hearken back to a simpler time.

So much for the “new niceness.” From today until Wednesday, Salon’s War Room blog will be revealing its list of the 30 “worst” pundits currently stinking up the media. The inventory is being written by Alex Pareene, who learned the art of biting commentary at Gawker.

While delivering remarks in the Rose Garden about financial regulatory reform, President Obama was briefly upstaged by a scurrying rodent. The critter’s cameo sparked heated debate over its zoological identity (was it a rat? a mouse? a vole? WTF is a vole?), some Zapruder-esque photos, and a raft of rodential quips. The little guy even got a Drudge link and a Twitter shout-out from Press Secretary Robert Gibbs.

A couple of weeks ago, I asked the burning question “Is Keith Olbermann Losing it?” While I was concerned more with the Countdown host’s loosening perspective, several media critics have since wondered if the show’s ratings portend its imminent demise. As the LA Times’ Andrew Malcolm puts it, are we counting down the last days of Countdown? More importantly, can Countdown be saved? Yup and here’s how.

Give credit where credit is due: Keith Olbermann‘s Friday apology, however slight, was a rare thing, indeed, in the world of political punditry. While I don’t doubt that Keith had a true moment of self-recognition here, I’m also fairly certain that this apology was equal parts reflection and self-preservation. Will it be enough to stave off the Jon Stewart Wrath-O-Matic?

Just hours after Jon Stewart‘s sharply observant takedown of Keith Olbermann‘s Special Comment segments, the Countdown host launched into a diatribe that made Stewart’s segment look like a love letter. In railing against yesterday’s hotly debated Supreme Court decision, he effectively said it was worse than slavery, and compared Floyd Abrams, who is Jewish, to a Nazi.

Is Keith losing it?

Steve Krakauer wondered, Friday, if the LA Times would make Countdown’s “Worst Persons” list for mixing Keith Olbermann’s newscast up with MTV’s “Jackass” in its TV listings. Sure enough, it did. In the number 3 spot, Olbermann went off on a long, mean-spirited rant to counter what he imagined to be an insult to his audience size.