This morning on Squawk Box, Representatives Connie Mack and Frederica Wilson (R and D of Florida respectively) appeared to discuss their state’s primary and the status of the 2012 race as a whole. Mack, a self admitted Mitt Romney supporter, explained why he thought his candidate of choice was the only one able to get us off “the road to Greece,” while Wilson explained that President Obama was “the education President” and…oh, who gives a crap. None of the viewers watching could hear anything they said over the sound of Wilson’s hat. Seriously, what is up with that hat?

As part of our one-part series Project: In Vino, Mediaite set out to capture media elites, gathered to fête Hardball host Chris Matthews‘ Jack Kennedy: Elusive Hero, in their alcohol-lubricated natural habitat, and maybe to drink some of it ourselves. With the aid of a hidden camera, I ventured to MSNBC’s book party Tuesday night to tear the lid off of this den of open bars and Wagyu beef hors d’oeuvres.

Earlier, we reported on House Majority Leader Eric Cantor‘s attempt to suggest that billionaire Warren Buffett does not support what Cantor called the “Buffet Rule.”

Press Secretary Jay Carney fielded several questions on the subject at today’s briefing, pointing out, as we did, that Buffett’s remarks were entirely consistent with President Obama‘s “Buffett Rule,” despite “I’m sure, accidental blogging by Republican leaders, and tweeting” that “misconstrued, at best” Buffett’s remarks.

On his YouTube channel, and in a tweet from communications director Brad Dayspring, Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) is pushing a CNBC clip that he claims shows that “Warren Buffet Seems To Disagree With President Obama’s ‘Buffet Rule’,” and that he “refuses to endorse the President’s Jobs Bill.”

Unfortunately for Cantor, there’s no “there” there, as Buffett tells Andrew Ross Sorkin that he hasn’t seen all of the details of the President’s plan, so he doesn’t really know if he agrees with all of it. Stop the presses!

On this morning’s edition of CNBC’s Squawk Box, discussion turned to the News of the World phone hacking scandal that has embroiled News Corp. when host Joe Kernen took an interesting tack. His claim: that some on the left see a culture of corruption infesting other News Corp. entities. In Kernen’s view, “liberals think that [...]

CNBC announced today that New York Times financial columnist Andrew Ross Sorkin is taking over as co-host of the program Squawk Box. An internal memo sent out to CNBC staff explained that Sorkin is replacing former co-host Carl Quintanilla, who left the program earlier this week for the network’s morning show Squawk on the Street, [...]

Chris Matthews was wondering when President Obama was going to stand up and fight for everyday Americans who are waiting for the economy to rebound the way it has for everyone on Wall Street. Matthews bluntly asked his guests “why doesn’t Obama point at the rich guys?” While Andrew Ross Sorkin admitted that might appeal to some, the reality is that Obama still needs the business community. Yet CNBC’s Jim Cramer more readily agreed with the message Matthews wants Obama to send.

On Monday’s Morning Joe, an ad for newly-minted 2012 GOP presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty (R-MN) was the jumping-off point for a discussion of the slowly-gelling Republican field. With “Generic Republican” leading the polls, New York Times columnist Andrew Ross Sorkin underscored just how generic the party’s most credible candidates are, confusing Pawlenty with former Ambassador John Huntsman.

With a critical mass of GOP candidates now confirmed for 2012, Bill Maher leapt at the opportunity to judge them. After a few incorrect assessments on who is in and who isn’t confirmed (Gary Johnson isn’t confirmed, but Mike Huckabee is?), Maher specifically went after Newt Gingrich‘s record, challenging his reputation as an “ideas guy” and instead arguing that “he’s an idiot who has always been wrong about every single thing he has ever talked about.”

Too Big To Fail, Andrew Ross Sorkin‘s exposé on the 2008 financial crisis, is being adapted into a movie for HBO, and the cast list has been announced today. Paul Giamatti, whose past performance in John Adams makes him no stranger to HBO adaptations, will be playing Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, William Hurt will be playing former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, and Billy Crudup will probably have to apply a bit of blush to play the perpetually ruddy current Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner.

It’s very unusual for New York Times-people to take their squabbles public. But today, Paul Krugman did just that in a blog post entitled “Andrew Ross Sorkin Owes Several People An Apology.” Yikes!

Like those who enjoy their car-chases, their full-frontal nudes, their dance-and-song ensembles, the strip of the populace tickled by the thought of Hank Paulson cringing over a toilet is now, evidently, sufficient to launch a movie.

The year 2009 had many media bright spots, break-out stars, dominating networks and game-changing technologies. The Mediaite 50 collects the finest, most exemplary innovators and influencers of the year, defining a media moment in time and setting the agenda as we move forward. See the full list after the jump:

Anyone who works in media these days — especially online — knows that it can be an all-consuming lifestyle, caught up in the immediacy of the 24-7 news cycle and very much given to being swept up by the wildly fluctuating highs and lows of the moment. That’s why it’s so nice to step back [...]

The New York Times is reporting that Comcast Corp and General Electric Co are closer to a deal to give Comcast a 51 percent stake in NBC Universal and that a formal announcement may be made in the coming week. Mediaite has learned from an industry source familiar with the negotiations that Comcast will in fact be formally announcing its acquisition of NBC Universal this week.

A look at the Power Grid this week reveals a few fixtures that never waver. But just behind them in the rest of the top ten all it takes is a big scoop or scandal to send ripples through the rest of the rankings. Here are the big shake-ups from the past week and a look at what caused them:

It’s no secret that we’re obsessed with competition and we get our kicks from big movement on the Power Grid. Recently malady has been responsible for movement in the rankings: just look at Dr. Sanjay Gupta and New York Times reporter Andrew Ross Sorkin . But who were the other big movers and shakers, and why the fluctuation? Find out inside.

An article in week’s issue of Time titled “Business Journalism: A Vanishing Necessity?” suggests that the recent demise of Portfolio, as well as the current financial struggles of Business Week, are some sort of measure that business journalism itself is under threat. Really? Perhaps the real problem is that Time needs to widen its definition of “business journalism.”