On Sunday morning’s The Chris Matthews Show, host Chris Matthews asked his panel to debate Time Magazine‘s recent cover story on the existence of Hell. This isn’t new territory for Time, who drummed up controversy (and sales) by asking “Is God Dead?” in 1966, and as panelist Becky Quick notes, has revisited the topic many times.

Veering off-topic somewhat, Matthews asked “Why does the right wing love the Old Testament so much?”

From his film work to commentary on his talk show, Bill Maher has made a career attacking religion. But he made clear last night that, to him, some religions are more equal than others, detouring from the conversation about the Florida pastor who burned a Koran to question why radical Islam, to him, seems to get a pass on violence, particularly in light of the Afghanistan killings prompted by said pastor.

What’s in a generation? The New York Times took a gander at profiling the famous-for-being-young crowd of political bloggers in Washington, DC now rapidly approaching their thirties on Friday, alternately referring to them as “brat packers” the “juicebox mafia,” and analogs to the characters (not actors) of St. Elmo’s Fire. But in labeling them upstarts in political media, the Times has exposed itself as out of touch with how rapidly generations of writers mature outside the print world.

Chris Matthews hosted a discussion on how any action in Libya seems difficult and unpopular for President Obama. Most critical of Obama was commentator Andrew Sullivan who doubted President Obama was the transformational politician that was promised, if he is willing to cave-in and follow the ideas of Hillary Clinton and John McCain.

Conservative author and blogger Andrew Sullivan announced over the weekend that he is leaving TheAtlantic.com, where he writes his “Daily Dish” blog, to join the Tina Brown-helmed Daily Beast / Newsweek merger.

Frequent Sarah Palin critic and Senior Editor for The Atlantic, Andrew Sullivan, did not disappoint in his appearance on The Chris Matthews Show. In responding to Palin’s video response to the Arizona shooting, Sullivan dismissed Palin as a political “game-player” who should have realized that “I don’t think this was the week to play a game.”

On The Chris Matthews Show, Chris Matthews hosted a discussion about President Obama’s biggest challenge in the year ahead. Most agreed that it would be best politically for Obama to completely forget about Congressional Democrats and instead focus on winning back independents, something that The Atlantic editor and blogger Andrew Sullivan thought would be easy for Obama because that is the type of “president he wants to be.”

Conservative radio host and serial race-baiter Rush Limbaugh has done it again. To no one’s surprise, Limbaugh accompanied a rant about how Barack Obama’s presidency is “graffiti on the walls of American history” with both a reference to Obama’s “gang,” and a mock-up of a “tagged” Mount Rushmore on his website.

The Atlantic’s Andrew Sullivan calls Rush out for his worn-out tactics, but fails to put a fine enough point on it. Rush Limbaugh is not only a race-baiter, he is a coward. Listen to the segment after the jump. (h/t Oliver Willis)

During Fox News’s election coverage, a night when attention should’ve been on current candidates, Shepard Smith turned his attention to his colleague Sarah Palin. If she does one day decide to run for office, Smith asked, would she talk to media outlets that aren’t Fox News, the network at which she currently has exclusive “protection”? Palin’s answer was not promising—for curious voters or for her potential candidacy.

Basically, no one has any idea what is going to happen next week when the country goes to the polls for the Midterm elections. The Dems may lose the house but not the Senate, they may lose both, they may keep both. It’s really anyone’s game right now. And depending who you watch or read any or all of these scenarios may be both great and/or devastating to the Democrats and/or Republicans.

Earlier today, Virginia Phillips, a judge of the United States District Court, issued a critical ruling suspending the U.S. military’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy on gay servicemen and women. Whether it holds up or not, it’s a powerful strike against a policy President Barack Obama says he wants repealed – but, as The Atlantic’s Andrew Sullivan pointed out, it’s a strike that may die at the hands of the Obama administration’s Justice Department.

Andrew Sullivan celebrated ten years of blogging this weekend — and last night he appeared on Charlie Rose to discuss what he has learned (or not, as the case may be) over the past decade.

Last week news broke that Sarah Palin had filed a restraining order against an 18-year-old Pennsylvania man named Shawn Christy who had been making threats against her. Andrew Sullivan thinks it’s equally as disturbing how Palin fans have reacted to the news.

There have certainly been a lot of media match-ups lately, what with Jon Stewart‘s ‘rivalry‘ with Glenn Beck, and Bill Maher‘s culture clash with Bill O’Reilly. Now The Atlantic‘s resident blogger Andrew Sullivan wants a piece of the action. Taking issue with a particular “half-baked piece of nonsense” that the “dishonest” O’Reilly uttered, Sullivan is requesting that Fox News let him bring his ‘Daily Dish’ to O’Reilly’s ‘No Spin Zone.’

Prominent gay (and Catholic) blogger Andrew Sullivan seems to think the Pope might be gay. Why does he think the notoriously homophobic Benedict XVI plays for his team? He writes: “At times, it seems to me, his gayness is almost wince-inducing. The prissy fastidiousness, the effeminate voice, the fixation on liturgy and ritual, and the over-the-top clothing accessories…” There’s more.

As Melissa Block interviewed Karen Grigsby Bates Wednesday on National Public Radio’s All Things Considered, Bates made a startling statement that may have caused many listeners to drive off the road. In describing Judge Vaughn Walker, who had just found a ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional, she said “He’s gay and out. And it doesn’t seem to be an issue for anybody, including the supporters of Proposition 8.”

Andrew Sullivan’s blog at The Atlantic is adding a major name to the masthead with news that Conor Friedersdorf is joining the blog as a “senior editor.” In addition to Friedersdorf, Sullivan is adding a new staffer–Zoe Pollock–to focus on behinds-the-scene work and to some “underblogging.”

Most of the time it’s hard to muster sympathy for Sarah Palin when it comes to her treatment at the hands of the press; this is a woman who could teach an advanced course in media relations. In fact every day I wonder if she’s doing just that with her Facebook notes. However, when it comes to the ongoing, and inappropriate speculation about her youngest son Trig, I think she has a point.

Dave Weigel has a particularly harsh take on Megyn Kelly‘s driven (some might argue obsessive) coverage of the Black Panthers story. Broadly speaking he thinks Kelly is covering the Panther story because makes for good television. But then he speculates that Kelly may have some darker motives — or at least is creating darker outcomes.

Andrés Duque–known to his Twitter and blog followers as Blabbeando–knew he was probably tweeting too much about the gay marriage vote in Argentina when Twitter cut him after only about three hours of translating the debate in the Argentina Senate.

Dave Weigel is guest-blogging (from Alaska!) this week for Andrew Sullivan — an prime guest post if there is one. In one of his posts today he addresses an issue that has come to be synonymous with Sullivan: Trig Palin.

The reporter who went undercover at a Catholic support group for gay men and outed a controversial, anti-gay Lutheran minister broke his silence in a letter to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune saying his behavior was justified and that his critics, including me, were unfair. John Townsend, a writer for the LGBT magazine Lavender in Minnesota, has [...]

The other day Andrew Breitbart offered $100,000 to anyone who would provide him with the entire Journolist email correspondence. The offer elicited a lot of amusing responses and fun counter-offers, but no one appeared terribly upset by the ethical connotations of the offer other than Andrew Sullivan, who had plenty to say.

Andrew Sullivan, who I think may pay even more attention to the family von Palin than even Joe McGinniss, thinks readers should take the latest tabloid report on the rekindling of Bristol Palin and Levi Johnston’s romance “with a grain of salt…along with all other information about the Palin famille.”

There was a lot going on on the Real Time panel last night, so much so that we may need another post to cover it. Besides the life and times of Sarah Palin, the eclectic crew– Atlantic senior editor Andrew Sullivan, Center for American Progress fellow Van Jones, and The Nation‘s Katrina Vanden Heuvel– had strong words on energy reform, the security crisis in the Middle East, and fighting wars.