Barely days into his official presidential campaign, Texas Gov. Rick Perry has been a gusher of controversial quotes, calling President Obama‘s patriotism into question, making vaguely threatening statements about Fed chairman Ben Bernanke, and now, making what some see as a blatant reference to President Obama’s race by saying that “a big black cloud” is hanging over the country. AURN White House Correspondent April Ryan, for one, wasn’t shy about calling Perry out.

Update: Video of Perry’s remarks shows he was referring explicitly to the debt. Full story here.

With the momentous news that Osama bin Laden has been killed, Saturday’s White House Correspondents Dinner feels almost like an event from a bygone era. Still, for those of you who still remember the dinner, but have already seen President Obama‘s blistering Donald Trump routine, or Seth Meyers‘ dry-roasting of the media like so many [...]

MSNBC has taken some rather pointed criticism over its upcoming A Stronger America: The Black Agenda special (airing this Sunday at noon EDT), co-hosted by Ed Schultz and Rev. Al Sharpton. The chief complaint, from across the political spectrum, has been the choice of white commentator Ed Schultz as headliner, and how it highlights the lack of diversity at the network. MSNBC had been promoting the show without billing co-host Al Sharpton, but MSNBC has now added Sharpton to the promo’s graphic, if not the accompanying voiceover.

The Washington Post did a lengthy profile on Robert Gibbs, from which the Huffington Post gleaned a list of the six biggest press corps complaints about Gibbs. There are some fair criticisms, some of which have been echoed on the record here at Mediaite, but much of the criticism of Gibbs is simply built into the divergent roles of Press Secretary and reporter.

Since taking office as the United States’ first black president, Barack Obama has taken pains to maintain the perception that he’s post-racial, that he’s everybody’s President, while taking criticism that he hasn’t done enough for black Americans. His meeting today with the Congressional Black Caucus, the source of much of that criticism, was the catalyst for an exchange at today’s White House briefing that perfectly encapsulated that tension, as Robert Gibbs fielded literally dueling questions from April Ryan and Lester Kinsolving.

At today’s briefing, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs fielded many questions about the President’s checkup on Saturday, which revealed a slightly elevated LDL cholesterol level. Gibbs confessed that the President could use a little more “party of no” when it comes to the dessert tray, and got a big laugh when he invoked the politically inconvenient salad green arugula. Check out the clip, and find out who, shockingly, is eating arugula these days.

It’s the end of the year, the time for handy lists and timelines recapping the touchstones of the past 12 months, freezing them in our ever-shortening collective memory.

Of course, some people just have to be different. Mediaite contributor and White House reporter Tommy Christopher pulls back the curtain on covering politics in 2009, and shares photos and videos that have never been seen before. Find out who the Secret Service did manage to keep out of the White House, what Joe Biden told his young mentorees, and much more.

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs got into a heated exchange with April Ryan, a reporter with American Urban Radio Networks , over the president’s social secretary Desiree Rogers and her role at the White House State Dinner controversy. Testy exchanges seem to be commonplace in this administration, but rarely does the Press Secretary compare a reporter’s question to his petulant child. Video and text after the jump.